Chicago Toy and Game Fair organizer People of Play and its assets will be merged into Toy Fair organizer The Toy Association, with People of Play founder Mary Couzin joining the senior leadership team of The Toy Association. In her new role, Couzin will continue to manage the assets she’s bringing to the association, including the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (see “Chicago Toy and Game Fair 2023“), The Toy & Game Innovation Excellence Awards (The TAGIEs}, The Bloom Report, which she acquired in 2020 (see “Chitag Takes Over ‘The Bloom Report’“), and others.
The move puts The Toy Association in a deeper relationship with the inventor and design community, and adds a successful consumer show in the holiday season to their troubled show portfolio, which has been attempting to regain its footing since the Covid pandemic (see “Toy Fair Backs Down“).
Couzin was inducted into The Toy Association’s Toy Industry Hall of Fame last fall (see “Couzin Inducted into Toy Hall of Fame“).
Source: ICv2