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Brand innovation and design agency Echo reveals its latest work with one of the most beloved of confectionery brands, SMARTIES in redesigning a range of ‘Topper toys’ made of 100% plastic free materials. The Toppers toys offer travel sized games for families to play with whilst on holiday. SMARTIES plastic free commitments helped broaden Echo’s creative process to think outside the box whilst maintaining the playfulness of the brand and a Learning Experience for kids. The final toys offer 2 sets of card games and wooden story dice which tap into the thinker, dreamer, creator archetypes. The products launch alongside a number of downloadable learning resources developed to offer children an interactive personalised brand experience and the opportunity to Learn Through Play.

Pete Cowie, Account Director at Echo, commented: “Following the launch of SMARTIES music creator in 2020 - a physical and digitally interactive toy that enables children to create their own tunes - Smarties came to us with the ambition to extend and relaunch their range of toppers for children with their Plastics Free Commitments front of mind.”

The sustainably made toys are a further extension of Nestlé’s commitment that all packaging will be recyclable or reusable by 2025. Earlier this year, Smarties packaging transitioned to 100% recyclable paper, being the first global confectionery brand to do so.

As part of the work, Echo reviewed the multi-dimensional concept of SMARTIES’ Learn Through Play range, which sees physical brand packaging converge with online play. The range was then extended to create products that encourage developmental and constructive play, incorporating positive reward systems that resolve the tensions between ‘learning’ and ‘treating’. Creative play is essential to child development. As such, Echo worked with child development expert, Sian Williams, to create these.

Susie Whittaker, Senior Designer at Echo, commented: “Our three types of play (thinker, creator and dreamer) are really engaging and fun ways for children to learn, so we wanted to ensure they remained at the heart of the new toys we created. We also wanted to use this opportunity to introduce new characters to the SMARTIES worlds, and in doing so have produced 4 new exciting worlds for children to explore. in a uniquely SMARTIES way.”

Each topper is designed in the recognisable, playful and fun SMARTIES colour palette but new to this range is the use of sustainable materials which comply with SMARTIES Plastics Free Commitments. Through focusing on printed materials for this generation of Toppers, we have further opened up the Learn Through Play opportunities for the Toppers. The sustainability credentials of the toys have been further enhanced through removing printed instructions and game boards which can now be accessed online.

Tamara Spada, Marketing Manager at SMARTIES, commented: “Every child has a unique way of learning, be it as a Thinker Creator or Dreamer. We at Smarties want to nurture this development, and the new Smarties Toppers do exactly that! Kids can create colourful stories with our Story Dice, have fun with the family and friends using our Travel Cards, and of course enjoy our delicious, colourful Smarties too.”

The products will be sold exclusively and in addition to the rest of the SMARTIES Learn Through Play range in the travel retail sector across Europe and Asia from June 2021.