The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023
Toy8 turned a phone screening into a nationwide child-development check.
Toy8 and McCann built a digital developmental-screening service that lets a parent assess a child without waiting for a scarce clinic visit.
Toy Eight · McCann Japan
the move
Malaysia's two-year lockdown left a hidden problem: children whose development lagged could go unnoticed because developmental checkups were not available to everyone as they are in Japan.
Rather than building clinics, Toy8 built a digital developmental-screening service deliverable on a phone. A parent runs the screening at home and gets an early signal, removing the clinic wait that causes many cases to surface late.
Toy8 was already working with the government to make checkups universal and planned to expand the service across other ASEAN countries. The format made the scarce service scalable rather than rationed.
The work took a Gold in the Innovation category and a Silver in Creative Data at Spikes Asia 2023, a signal that the jury saw it as a real service rather than a demo.
why it works
- It moves the first diagnostic step out of a scarce clinic and onto a personal phone
- Early detection means a child can get help while intervention is easiest
- A national rollout is possible without building physical infrastructure
- The format scales across borders, not just within one clinic network
what transfers
Where a service is chronically scarce, scale it by moving the first step onto a device the user already has.
what came after
Toy8 expanded the nationwide digital screening service in Malaysia and planned to carry it to other ASEAN countries, having earned a Gold and a Silver at Spikes Asia 2023 for the innovation and the data behind it.
references
- McCann Wins a Gold and a Silver at Spikes Asia 2023 for "TOY8 SCREENING"
- Spikes Asia announces 2023 Innovation shortlist
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