"Top 10" Kids' Picks Of The Hottest New Toys

Duracell Announces "Top 10" Kids' Picks Of The Hottest New Toys For The Holiday Season

The results are in! Kids across America have voted interactive puppy Poo-Chi ‘best in show’ in the 13th Annual DURACELL® ULTRA Kids' Choice Toy Survey™. ‘Top Dog’ Poo-Chi, by Tiger Electronics, is an electronic canine companion who uses light, sound and touch sensors to respond to kids' commands.

This year, Poo-Chi led a diverse field of challenging toys and games that scored high with American kids. The kid-tested, kid-approved "Top 10" toys of the 2000 survey are:

1. Poo-Chi (Tiger Electronics)

2. Slithering Jake the RC Snake (Fisher Price)

3. Championship Challenge (Lego Company)

4. Dragonfly (Toymax)

5. Micro Machines NASCAR Raceway Playset (Hasbro)

6. Max Steel Action Figures (Mattel)

7. Crayola Color Wonder Fun Desk (Binney & Smith)

8. Explorer Globe (Leap Frog)

9. Frigits Deluxe (Think of It!)

10.Feltland Starter House (Small World Toys)

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"This year we've seen an unusually broad spectrum of toys make it into the "Top 10", with kids embracing a variety of toy types and trends," said Julie Creighton, director of the American survey. "Although toys like Poo-Chi, Frigits Deluxe and the Explorer Globe all challenge children's minds, other top-ranked toys focus more heavily on physical activity and sports, and still others on imaginative play."

The survey results are based on the votes of more than 400 children, ages 4 to 11, who "play-tested" 22 of the year's best new toys and games for a seven-day period. Toy testing was conducted during September at YMCA after-school centres in 15 major American cities.

The "Top 10" toys represent a range of the best new non-battery-operated and battery-operated toys from a variety of categories, including arts and crafts, group games and physically active games. Based on individual experiences with each toy, each child chose a first, second and third favourite. The rankings from each child were then compiled to develop the overall "Top 10" Kids' Picks.

Boys will be Boys … and Girls will be Girls
2000 saw a clear gender-divide among the favourites, with the boys' number one-ranked Championship Challenge ranking outside the girls' "Top 10." Other toys in the boys' "Top 10" that ranked outside the girls' list of favourites were the Micro Machines NASCAR Raceway Playset and Max Steel Action Figures.

Similarly, the Crayola Color Wonder Fun Desk, Feltland Starter House and Explorer Globe all made the overall and girls' "Top 10", but ranked outside the boys' top picks. Poo-Chi, the overall winner, was the number one ranked toy among girls, but took sixth place in the boys' list, while Slithering Jake the RC Snake, which ranked second overall, was the only toy to rank in both the boys' and girls' top five.

The Toy Testing Process
Each year in America, hundreds of toys are submitted for inclusion in the DURACELL ULTRA Kids' Choice Toy Survey. The Duracell Toy Team, a panel that includes an independent toy industry expert, evaluates each toy against strict criteria. All toys that are selected to be "play-tested must encourage social interaction and creativity, provide long-lasting play appeal, be appropriate for both boys and girls and must not encourage aggressive behaviour." Kids then test these toys at 15 YMCAs throughout America and vote for their favourites.

"For 13 years in America, Duracell has been pleased to provide a forum where children's opinions really count in predicting which toys are going to be 'most wanted' for the holiday season,” said Ann Davin, manager, public relations, Duracell, USA.

What Does This Mean For New Zealand?

Jenny Peploe, Marketing Director, Duracell New Zealand is sure the trends overseas will soon be seen in New Zealand. “We’ve already witnessed the popularity of Poo-Chi here. It will be interesting to see how many of the American Top 10 will become best-sellers in New Zealand this Christmas.”

“Launched in New Zealand on July 1st, Poo-Chi sales have been really encouraging” said Sheryl Fenn, Product Manager, Hasbro New Zealand (NZ distributors for Tiger Electronics). “It is selling extremely well both in NZ and internationally, and we predict that Poo-Chi will be on many ‘wish-lists’ this Christmas.”

Web Site Information
Internet users can access the list of the year's "Top 10" Kids' Picks by visiting the 13th Annual DURACELL ULTRA Kids' Choice Toy Survey Web site at www.duracell.com/ToySurvey.

About Duracell
As part of The Gillette Company, Duracell is the world’s market leader in high-performance alkaline batteries. Duracell also markets high power lithium, zinc air and rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries. With headquarters in Bethel, Connecticut, USA, Duracell sells its batteries throughout the world, primarily under the DURACELL trademark.

Prepared on behalf of Gillette New Zealand by Goode Communication Ltd. For further information please phone Katie Mills of Goode Communication, telephone (09) 480 9948 or email katie@goodepr.co.nz

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