Early research and interviews with parents told us they felt two things when looking at childcare; panic that there would be no spaces left at their favoured centre, and worry that they were leaving their child to fend for themselves. This led us to build a brand that saw things with a blend of simplicity and imagination, just like a child. These two key factors allowed us to inject the brand values into the product design (simplicity) and create a playful system that never grew tiresome (imagination). So many brands often forget their end user, with Toddle we made sure never to forget about designing with children's best interests in mind.

The Toddle application was designed from the ground up to make life easy for parents. An intuitive search feature allows parents to search in and around their suburb, with rich profile pages giving real insight into what it’s like for kids who attend a centre, while showing live data on fees and vacancies. Shortlisting and comparison tools have been developed to show options side by side, with the ability to enquire to multiple shortlisted centres with one click. We even launched a My Toddle account for advanced shortlisting and enquiry functionality, with the ability to keep track of your enquiries.

Confusion was a feeling shared by most during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially children, who were left wondering what on earth was going on. Which is why we set to work helping parents and child care providers communicate with children under five about the pandemic in a language they could understand. At the heart of the campaign is Toddle’s ‘The Boogers Are Coming’ storybook and animation. Using a set of ‘Little Monsters’ characters we created for the brand (based on the six personality archetypes of children), the story is designed to educate them about germs, how they spread, and how they should behave. The story and the way it was designed for children helped to position Toddle as a voice of authority in the child care space.

Poppins worked with Toddle from the very beginning, all the way through until they acquired their biggest competitor to become the number one child care platform in Australia. The product development grew enquiries to paying customers on the website by over 90%, and the marketing campaigns were covered by some of the biggest publications in the country. All in all, our work with Toddle is something the whole Poppins team is incredibly proud of.