FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2005  

 

Digital Research, Inc.  Announces
2005 T.O.Y. Award Winners

(Kennebunk, ME): Digital Research, Inc., (DRI) announces the highly anticipated winners of FamilyFun magazine’s 2005 Toy of the Year (T.O.Y.) Awards.  DRI, a Kennebunk-based marketing research firm, developed and administers the nationally recognized annual program for FamilyFun.  

The Top 10 Toys of 2005 are:  

            1. Knights' Empire Castle (ages 5-7, $179, Playmobil)

            2. 3D Pool Table (ages 10-12, $129, Zocker Toys)

            3. Shake 'N Go! Speedway (ages 3-4, $39, Fisher-Price)

            4. ChatNow (ages 8-9, $74, Hasbro)

            5. Slurpee Drink Maker (ages 8-9, $30, Spin Master)

            6. Darth Vader Voice Changer (ages 3-4, $29, Hasbro)

            7. Go Go TV (ages 5-7, $60, Toy Quest)

            8. Pyrates Dread Eye's Phantom (ages 8-9, $50, Mega Bloks)

            9. Nylint Rock Crawler (ages 10-12, $150, Funrise)

            10. Card Kit (ages 10-12, $10, American Girl)  

DRI founded the T.O.Y. Awards in 1992.  Heralded “a laurel as coveted in the toy industry as the Oscar is in Hollywood” by the Wall Street Journal, the T.O.Y. Awards have identified many sought-after toys over the years, such as Bratz, Rescue Heroes, and Tickle Me Elmo.  

This year, 170 companies entered 520 toys for consideration.  Testing began in Kennebunk in June, where 130 of DRI’s expert kid testers played with and voted for their favorite toys, narrowing the list to 63 finalists.   

DRI’s team of research professionals moderated the play sessions, tallied the winning votes, and calculated the rankings according to age and category.  The finalists moved on to the next round of testing at 17 KinderCare Learning Centers across the country.  In total, more than 30,000 hours of play time were logged.  

Twenty-one winners were selected overall, including the Top 10 awards. This year’s winners were recently announced at the Children's Museum of Manhattan , and appeared in the November issue of FamilyFun magazine.  DRI donates hundreds of the “gently loved” toys submitted for testing to local charities.  

DRI is a leading provider of marketing research services in the consumer goods, publishing, health care and travel and tourism industries.  DRI’s wide range of services include customer satisfaction studies, advertising effectiveness analysis, website conversion studies, and research on the economic impact of tourism.  A pioneer in the field of online research, DRI is a two-time recipient of the American Marketing Association’s EXPLOR Award (Exemplary Performance and Leadership in Online Research).    

For more information about the 2005 T.O.Y. Awards and DRI’s custom marketing research solutions, contact DRI at 207-985-7660 or at www.DigitalResearch.com.