Category
Life-Stages
Constructible Franchises
Trend cluster
Category
Mess-Filled
Play
Toy brands offer hands-on activities that encourage messy play.
3.7
Trend score
Trend
What is the Mess-Filled Play trend?
Mess-Filled Play: Tapping into a bit of nostalgia, toy brands are reverting back to hands-on activities that not only encourage interactivity, but that entail mess as part of the process . Appealing to various sensory elements, brands are offering kids toys that encourage behavior like getting your clothes wet to creating custom-made slime. This turn toward more messy, hands-on activities suggests a shift back to not only more analog activities for kids, but activities that encourage disorganized, unconventional play.
Trend themes
Themes within the Mess-Filled Play trend
Three behaviours holding the trend together01
Sensory play
The trend of offering toys that encourage multi-sensory, hands-on and often messy play appeals to nostalgia and a shift back to unconventional activities.
02
Customization
Brands that offer toys that can be customized and personalized provide an opportunity for unique engagement with consumers and differentiation from competitors.
03
Chance-based games
Games that rely on chance, suspense, and often involve messy or gross elements provide unique, highly shareable, and viral content for social media.
Industry implications
What the Mess-Filled Play trend means for industry
Where the trend changes the playbookFor
Toy Industry
Opportunities exist for toy makers to create multi-sensory, hands-on experiences and highly-sharable games that appeal to social media consumption and reward repeat purchases.
For
Social Media
Creative and challenging games and experiences that generate uniquely hilarious, gross, or surprising content encourage social media sharing and engagement.
For
Consumer Goods
Companies that can create customizable products that engage consumers with more immersive and experiential play or activities can differentiate from competitors and provide highly promising upsell opportunities.
Workshop question
In what ways could you adapt your product or service to be simpler in design and function? What nostalgic elements could you integrate?
Trend signals
Trend signals for Mess-Filled Play
Trend score 3.7 out of 10, from popularity 60%, activity 43%, freshness 8%.
Popularity60%
Activity43%
Freshness8%
Audience
50%Men
50%Women
- Gen Alpha
- Gen Z
- Millennial (not a primary audience)
- Gen X (not a primary audience)
- Boomer (not a primary audience)
Market
North America
Evidence
Examples of the Mess-Filled Play trend
4 featured examples from May 11, 2017 to Mar 7, 2018CategoryLife-Stages
Soaking Watermelon Toys
Yulu's 'Watermelon Smash' Turns Cooling Off with Water into a Fun Game
Disruptive innovation opportunity: Explore new game concepts and toy designs to cater to consumers' desire for interactive and entertaining play experiences.
CategoryLife-Stages
DIY Slime Playsets
Canal Toys' 'So Slime DIY' Range Makes Slime with the Addition of Water
The toy industry can leverage the trend of customizable playsets to create a wider range of DIY kits that meet the demand for interactive and experiential play.
CategoryLife-Stages
Stinky Family-Friendly Board Games
YouTubers Jake and Ty Demonstrate How to Play 'Who Tooted?'
Opportunity for toy and game companies to develop and market family-friendly board games.
CategoryLife-Stages
Sculpting Clay Stepping Games
Hasbro's 'Don't Step In It' Has Players Avoid a Squishy Compound
Innovative game concepts like 'Don't Step In It' have the potential to drive growth and interest in the toy industry.
