CHIKA CHAKA CHATTER: YOUR WEEKLY UPDATE FROM MIKE & MEL - VOL. 1, ISSUE 1

 

Weekly Update 11/30/24 – 12/6/24

A Personal Note & Exciting Updates from Chika Chaka

 Looking Back, Moving Forward – from Mel

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or “Friendsgiving”) weekend!

This time of year is a beautiful opportunity to reflect on gratitude—for what we have and those who mean so much to us. This Thanksgiving held special meaning for our family.

You may have noticed we’ve been quieter this year. My father’s illness required much of our focus and energy, and family always comes first. After ASTRA in the spring, I spent four months between Indiana and Florida supporting Dad and the family as best I could. On September 30, we said goodbye to an incredible man, Vincent Bailey. It’s been a challenging time emotionally and physically for all of us.

Now, as the year draws to a close, I’m deeply grateful for the love and resilience that have carried us through. With renewed energy, we’re excited to ramp back up and prepare our adorable Chika Chaka chums for a bright future filled with joy, life, and laughter.

Here’s what we’ve been up to recently and what’s ahead for Chika Chaka…

 

    Team Wins

• We’re back on social media and have even added a couple of apps. We’re now on

        BlueSky and

        WhatNot

                If you’re not familiar with these, you’re going to want to check them out.

• We had a ball giving shout outs and reading all the incredible posts for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. WOW!! What a fantastic community we have in the toy world.

 

Project Updates

• We revived our blog on Blogger and decided why not turn it into a Vlog and Podcast. 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♂️I’m self-conscious about putting stuff like that out there, but I’m starting to enjoy it now that we’re on Week 2. New blog posts about toys, kids, nostalgia and other funky stuff premier on Mondays. Vlogs are released on YouTube on Tuesdays; and Podcasts are released on Wednesdays on your favorite podcast platform such as Spotify or Apple. M&M Funky Five Jive is a 15 min.-or-less podcast bringing you fun and nostalgia as we discuss our take on toys, kids and other funky stuff.

• Coming soon, you can purchase Chika Chaka on Amazon with Prime! FBA is going to change the way we do business. While we’re tweaking this feature, you can still find Chika Chaka on our website chikachakatoy.com and limited specialty toy retailers.

•  Mike has been putting his heart and soul into bringing the amazing Chika Chaka characters and their “human” friends to life. His amazing artistic chops are going to “wow” kids everywhere with our animated shorts. Just like anything worth doing well, it takes time to master the (new) tools of the trade. We’re getting closer. In the meantime, you can see a little sample by checking out our new How to Play video on our website and YouTube.

• Some models can be very difficult to work with. 😖 Not our models. 😍LOL! We did a winter wonderland holiday session with some real dolls, and they didn’t’ complain one bit. We posted them yesterday so check them out on social media.

 New Opportunities

 ·  The upcoming year has got us revved up about how we can expand our reach. That means in-store events, festivals, and park appearances. Stay tuned!

 Looking Ahead

 ·   Lots of big plans for cross-platform promotions for retailers and customers are on the horizon - Chika Chaka Challenge, Chika Chaka Chums... 😁Check back each week to stay up to date.

 

 In Closing

Thank you for your support. We appreciate you.

 

Weekly motivation:

“Focus on your strengths and pursue what you love—success will naturally follow”.