Hasbro Opens Littlest Pet Shop Boutique
Hasbro is setting up a temporary Littlest Pet Shop boutique in New York City to promote the brand’s newly launched Virtual Interactive Pets (VIP) plush line.
The shop, located at 587 Fifth Ave., opens today. Inside, visitors can walk through the VIP world and earn “Kibble” currency for prizes by visiting different onsite activities. For example, girls can take photos with their favorite pet or test their skills at a memory game assembling foam pieces to make a super sundae.
Hasbro will hand out T-shirts, pens, mouse pads and other items based on the amount of Kibble points visitors earn at the boutique.
The effort marks the first time Hasbro opened a pop-up shop to promote one of its brands., the company said. The shop was created to generated excitement around the newest Littlest Pet Shop product and to call attention to its New York launch this month.
The boutique mimics the look and feel of the brand’s new virtual world that girls can visit
at http://www.littlestpetshop.com. Each of the five plush animals includes a code people use to unlock a virtual portal. On the site, girls can interact with their toy’s digital counterpart.
“With such a vast fan base, we thought wouldn’t it be a great idea to bring this virtual word to life?” said Audrey DeSimone, Hasbro spokesperson said. “People can walk in and see it, touch it and feel it.”
The boutique is open through Oct. 21 and from Oct. 25-28.
Street teams will be on hand distributing postcards and $2 off coupons for a pet plush product redeemable at the shop or at a retail store. In addition, a fleet of purple-colored cabs decorated with Littlest Pet Shop branding, will roam the streets of New York to help raise awareness, DeSimone said.
Print ads in the New York Times, TV spots, PR and radio promotions support the shop.
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