For over 40 years, Kinder has brought joy to children’s lives with the small toys found inside Kinder eggs, but now the brand is taking this one step further and evolving the play experience with the launch of Applaydu.
Applaydu combines both physical and digital play to offer a new and enhanced play experience for families.
Designed for children from four to nine years old – but fun for the whole family – Applaydu provides an unbranded experience and is designed to foster bonding time as parents and their children can play and discover together.
The name Applaydu reflects Kinder’s aim to create an app that provides play, edutainment and fun, according to Kinder brand manager, Michelle Anisseh.
“The fact that Applaydu is free to download and users can enjoy the app with full functionality regardless of whether they purchase a Kinder Surprise or not, has been really well received. Since launch, we have had over 100,000 downloads in Australia,” she told Retailbiz in a recent interview.
Another feature which has received positive feedback from parents is the safety control features. “Applaydu provides a family friendly, safe and controlled environment, free from ads and in-app purchases, and includes Parental Control features such as activities reports and adaptive difficulty to ensure complete peace of mind for parents,” Anisseh said.
“Parents are also loving the fact that the app is enjoyable for the whole family – from bringing Kinder Surprise friends to life through augmented reality to diving into a fun and colourful universe, embarking on adventures, taking on challenges and exploring new worlds.”
Kinder worked with Gameloft for brands to develop Applaydu. Oxford University’s Department of Education also provided Kinder with a set of guidelines to help the development of the app, which helps children’s progression through games that encourage learning in areas such as mathematics, reading and writing, as well as memory.
“Applaydu is designed for interactivity, which is key in supporting children’s products to help kids discover and play in an entertaining and engaging way. Within the app, the environments, characters and stories are built to spark their imagination and stimulate their ability to learn new things through games, interactive stories, activities and more,” Anisseh said.
Kinder is now working on new opportunities in the AR and digital space. “The next evolution of Applaydu will tie into seasonal occasions like Christmas and Easter, with app theming and new playability functions for toys found in our seasonal product range.”
From January 2022, new Applaydu features will support the popular Kinder Natoons collection, allowing families to learn more about animals and the importance of protecting their natural habitats.
Applaydu can be downloaded now for free from the App Store or Google Play and is compatible with all Android and iOS devices starting from Android 4.4 and iOS 12.