New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) is putting in place a publicity campaign to highlight India’s first toy fair, which is scheduled to be held between 27 February and 2 March and aims to promote the indigenous toy industry, senior government officials have told ThePrint.
The virtual fair — which a government statement mentioned is in “line with the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a global hub for the toy industry” — will be publicised through a multimedia campaign that will include a new jingle, a range of articles in newspapers, and a variety of interviews and discussions on state-owned broadcasters, besides actively engaging social media to generate awareness on the fair. The plan also includes engaging a private FM channels to highlight the event.
A ministry official said there are plans to engage journalists throughout the duration of the fair. “This involves creating a virtual press lounge that will include their bites on the event,” the official told ThePrint, adding that there are also plans to commission articles on the subject to “expert media persons”.
A second official said it was discussed in a recent meeting that the government will hold orientation of radio jockeys of private FM channels to publicise the fair in the run-up to and during the event.
ThePrint contacted the I&B ministry through email for a comment but is yet to receive a response.
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Other publicity plans include Textile Minister Smriti Irani writing an article on the fair and the Bureau of Outreach Communication issuing an advertisement on the event.
The publicity campaign will start in the weeks prior to the event and will continue through the end of the toy fair.
The campaign also includes roping in state-owned broadcasters All India Radio and Doordarshan who would be broadcasting bytes and interviews of major exhibitors at the fair and top toy makers.
The regional units of the broadcasters will also be actively involved in covering the event holding discussions on related themes.
Ministry sources told ThePrint that all the media units under the I&B ministry have been tasked with publicising the the website for the event, which was launched last week, and the infographics and images related to the event, across all social media platforms.
The toy fair
According to the government statement, the fair aims to provide an impetus to the underlying themes of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “vocal for local” campaigns, launched by the government to promote indigenous industries.
“The India Toy Fair 2021 intends to bring policy makers, toy manufacturers and distributors, investors, industry experts, MSMEs, artisans, start-ups, children, parents and teachers together on a common platform, in a bid to propel the growth of the Indian toy industry, giving it a global competitive edge,” the statement has mentioned.
The fair will include 1,000 virtual stalls, webinars by state governments, knowledge sessions with engaging panel discussions or webinars on diverse topics by experts on areas including toy-based learning, craft demonstrations, competitions, quizzes, virtual tours, product launches.
Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, recently said around eight to nine toy clusters are in the pipeline and they are meant to create world class infrastructure to integrate production chains and encourage exports.
The government had earlier launched an inter-ministerial initiative called Toycathon 2021, which would include participation of groups to innovate, design and conceptualise toys and will end later this month.
The size of the toy market in India is estimated at $1 billion but 80 per cent of the toys are imported.
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Good initiative. Would love to order something.