What’s a suitable age for a boy to start putting down his toys? Hot Wheels seems to think the answer is pretty much never.

This summer, the toy car company is reaching out to a wider target demographic of males, looking to keep all ages young at heart with events, tours and sponsorships.

The everything-to-do-with-cars promotional campaign features a new Hot Wheels website, a promotional live tour that will be making stops at the Honda Indy and Canada Diecast Convention in Toronto and a lineup of new Hot Wheels toys. The brand is also hosting a party in Toronto to live-screen the ‘Fearless at the 500’ stunt being performed in Indianapolis by the Hot Wheels stunt team that is set to mark the Indy 500’s 100th anniversary race on May 29.

‘While we continue to offer a great line of Hot Wheels toys that are continuously evolving with today’s trends, we want to also expand into areas that would interest an older target audience,’ says Melissa Chau, brand manager, Hot Wheels. ‘Things like clothing, video games and online gaming.’

For Hot Wheels, targeting a broader range of consumers is a challenging task.

‘We found the best way to do that is through online and social media,’ explains Chau. ‘We have been working vigorously on our website, but we also have additional layers in support of that, which includes Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.’

Campaign events will be supported through TV, online and OOH advertising. Promotional spots include TV and display ads on CP24, hockey arena board ads as well as tune in spots, online banner ads and contests on both YTV and Teletoon.

‘We were a sponsor at last year’s Honda Indy [Niagara Falls] but this year we will have a [more] dominant presence with double the amount of track signage, on-site activation, on-site 30-second TV spots and public announcements,’ says Chau.

Creative was handled by Trojan One, with Carat undertaking the media buy.