Ty (stylized as ty) is an American

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

headquartered in

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

, a suburb of Chicago. It was founded by

Ty Warner H. Ty Warner (born September 3, 1944) is an American billionaire toy manufacturer, businessman, and former actor. He is the CEO, sole owner and founder of Ty Inc. which manufactures and distributes stuffed toys, including Beanie Babies and other li ...

in 1986. It designs, develops and sells products, most notably

Beanie Babies Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman H. Ty Warner, who founded Ty Inc. in 1986. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets ("beans") rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, mo ...

, exclusively to specialty markets worldwide.

Internet

First business-to-consumer Website

Ty was the first business to produce a

direct-to-consumer Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

website designed to engage their market. This is a major contributing factor to the early and rapidly growing popularity of

. By the time the first iteration of the Ty Web site was published in late 1995, only 14% of Americans were using the Internet. In tandem with the launch of the Ty Website, all Beanie Baby hangtags had the Ty Website

URL A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...

and a

call to action Call to Action (CTA) is an American organization that advocates a variety of changes in the Catholic Church. Call To Action's goals are to change church teachings in such areas as mandatory celibacy for priests, the male-only priesthood, the selec ...

printed underneath the poems and birthdays that commanded audiences to visit the company Web site with text that read: ''Visit our web page!!!'' As a result, consumers were visiting the Ty Web site by the thousands to gain information about Beanie Babies, which was completely unprecedented at the time. Ty was the first business to leverage their Web site to connect and engage with consumers of their products. This effort evolved into the world's first

Internet sensation Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include Internet memes, such as popular themes, catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more widesp ...

Fundraising

Ty has been involved in a large amount of fundraising. Some has been through the sale of certain Beanie Babies, with the proceeds have been donated to various causes. It has also been through other means, such as voting for a fee. One such fundraising Beanie Baby was Ariel, made to raise funds for the

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs. Founded in 1988 ...

. Its sales raised a total of $3.4 million for the foundation. Others include Aware and Awareness, sold to raise funds for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

research and awareness; and Barbaro, created in memory of Barbaro the Horse, to raise funds for the

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, commonly referred to as Penn Vet was founded in 1884. It has two campuses; the main campus is located in Philadelphia, and a second campus is located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. A ...

, which tried to save the horse. Ty has also raised money for the 2004

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

with a beanie called ChariTee; one, signed by

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

was auctioned for $455. Ty was the shirt sponsor of

Portsmouth FC Portsmouth Football Club is a professional football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, which compete in . They are also known as ''Pompey'', a local nickname used by both HMNB Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth; the ''Pompey'' nick ...

from 2002 to 2005, in which the club was promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. A beanie baby named "Cito" was given out to school children in

Montecito, California Montecito (Spanish for "Little mountain") is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California.McCormack, Don (1999). ''McCormack's Guides Santa Barbara and Ventura 2000''. Mccormacks Guides. p. 58. . Located ...

to welcome them back to school after the area was affected by the

2018 Southern California mudflows A series of mudflows occurred in Southern California in early January 2018, particularly affecting areas northwest of Montecito in Santa Barbara County. The incident was responsible for 23 deaths, although the body of one of the victims has never ...

References

External links

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AboutBeanies
- Beanie Baby history and information {{Teddy Bears 1986 establishments in the United States Beanie Babies Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois Oak Brook, Illinois Toy companies established in 1986 Toy companies of the United States