THOMAS GUNN takes Toy Soldiers to Web 2.0 with Toy Collector
Traditional toy soldier maker Thomas Gunn has been one of Toy Collector’s biggest supporters since our launch – and they’ve certainly made use of the facilities!
To start with, they took advantage of the promotional aspects of ToyPedia – our wiki-based online database of toys and models – providing complete listings of all their products past and present, plus images – making sure that collectors browsing the listings are able to know exactly what they’ve got and exactly what they need to add to their collections. They’re also set to be the first company to sign up to the ToyPedia Update Scheme, whereby companies submit their updates on a regular rolling basis to make sure their ToyPedia listings always stay bang up to date.
They’ve also been big proponents of using Prize Draws to attract new fans to their brand. We’ve had regular Thomas Gunn prize draws like this one with sets of their soldiers going to lucky winners worldwide, all of whom have gotten a chance to experience firsthand the Thomas Gunn quality – and hopefully they (and some of the entrants who didn’t win) have gone on to become collectors and fans of the brand themselves!
We’ve also had regular news updates from Thomas Gunn in the news section – our aim has always been to ensure that the toy news section is one of the leading places for toy news updates on the web and it’s certainly one of the best places to get TG updates (here an example)!
Thomas Gunn blogs too – posting about their upcoming releases, new models and much more besides – giving them a valuable outlet for communication with potential customers who can leave comments on blog posts as well as messaging them direct on the site via the PM system, of course.
And it goes without saying that they’ve got image galleries for all those photos you’ll also find on ToyPedia, and a Yellow Pages entry in the Toy Soldier Manufacturers section, should you be looking to find them there. There are even a couple of Thomas Gunn-related videos in the videos section on ToyPedia (here an example)!
Up next, we’re hoping to persuade them to start a Group for their collectors with its own forum (it might be private, i.e. upon invitation only or open to all) and have them or one of their many retailers sell on our market – watch this space!
Their figures may be models of men from the 20th century, but there’s no doubt that Thomas Gunn are very much with us in the 21st!
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