Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.
Hello, Mom’s Choice readers! Today we have a special treat for you all, we had the honor of talking with the CEO of Jooki, Christine Brendle. Jooki is the amazing company behind the Mom’s Choice Award-Winning kids’ music/story player, Jooki 2! The Jooki 2 is a Bluetooth screen-free speaker that lets kids listen to audio content they want, whenever they want, from music and stories to audiobooks and lullabies. The Jooki 2 is such a fun little device that is sure to be a huge hit with your little ones! Keep reading to find out more about Christine Brendle and her award-winning product, Jooki 2!
MCA: Hi Christine, thank you so much for joining us today! The Jooki 2 is such a great product that would make a great Christmas gift for any toddler or child. Can I start the interview by having you tell us more about Jooki 2!
CHRISTINE BRENDLE, CEO OF JOOKI.
Christine: Jooki 2 is an all-around improved version of the original Jooki, the high-quality sound Wi-Fi and BlueTooth enabled speaker for a screen-free childhood. Jooki was born out of a problem experienced by countless parents: when you give a mobile phone to a young child, the child disappears behind the screen and any interaction becomes difficult.
Jooki’s solution is to substitute sound for screens. Young kids naturally understand music, and the stories they are told stimulate their imaginations. Music, songs, and stories have long been used in parenting toolboxes around the world, and this is exactly where Jooki’s vision fits.
Jooki’s founders realized that no modern quality speaker had been designed for kids. So they created Jooki, both a speaker and a toy with innovative ergonomic and tech solutions – which are now patented.
MCA: Jooki certainly is a one-of-a-kind product! Tell us more about the new Jooki 2 Bluetooth screen-free speaker and how it is different from other products like it on the market?
Christine: Jooki offers high-quality sound, an application that easily lets parents associate audio content such as MP3 files or Spotify playlists with Jooki, and an operating mode really adapted to young kids, where their remote control is a figurine or a token.
A key differentiator for Jooki is the ability for parents to very easily change the content associated with a token or figurine. Jooki is ultimately more economical for families. The content associated with Jooki stays relevant to a young child growing up. As a result, Jooki is not a toy that is put aside after a few weeks, but rather tool kids need, to play the soundtrack of their young lives.
MCA: That is very well said! The combination of play, music, and stories in audio format has so many benefits for children and can be very effective to serve their emotional, intellectual, social, and creative developmental needs. How does a parent set up Jooki?
Christine: The first step is to charge Jooki and play the playlists associated with the blue and orange tokens that come with every Jooki. Next Is to connect Jooki with your 2.4GZ Wi-Fi router. Last is to associate playlists with tokens and figurines or organize playlists with the Jooki app.
A short video describing these steps is available here.
Parents are also able to access other how-to videos on the support website.
MCA: Is Jooki safe for kids’ ears?
Christine: By default, Jooki ships with a software volume limitation compatible with 3-year-old toy safety standards. Parents can disable that volume limit from the Parental Controls in the Jooki app.
MCA: Which audio formats does Jooki work with?
Christine: In addition to all the tracks available in Spotify, parents can upload MP3 and OGG audio files (without DRM protection).
MCA: Can you describe to us what ToyTouch technology is?
Christine: This is the patented innovation from Muuselabs the Belgium company that invented Jooki: it includes the process by which a playlist is triggered when a figurine/token is placed on Jooki
MCA: What’s coming next up for Jooki?
THE MCA AWARD-WINNING PRODUCT, JOOKI 2!
Christine: Along with the new speaker, Jooki will launch its own audio content platform Jooki Play. This will be the first audio streaming service dedicated to children. Jooki Play offers a large library of popular music and audiobooks suitable for children aged 3 to 9 years old.
Jooki builds an ecosystem with multiple entry points: firstly with the speaker and toy for the kids and secondly with the audio subscription that gives parents loads of inspiring audio content to engage their fast-growing child.
This approach increases the long-term value to the customer and strengthens the connection with Jooki.
MCA: Wow, that is amazing, talk about a great children’s product! Thank you for a wonderful interview and for sharing all about your new award-winning product with us, we hope to hear from you again very soon!
You can learn more about Christine Brendle and her award-winning product, Jooki 2 by visiting her MCA Shop pages.