S Is For Stan (Lee), (FAO) Schwarz, Star Wars, Scrabble, Spin Master & Slinky

S Is For Stan (Lee), (FAO) Schwarz, Star Wars, Scrabble, Spin Master & Slinky

STAN LEE

Has there been a single person who has had as much influence on the toy business as Stan Lee? Aside from Walt Disney & George Lucas perhaps there aren’t many obvious objections to declaring Stan Lee to be the single most influential person in the history of toys. Stan created (or co-created) Spider Man, the Hulk, Iron Man and The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Dr. Strange and Black Widow. These comic book superheroes have yielded some of the best-selling toys of all time. Hats off to Stan Lee for his monumental impact on the world of family entertainment and toys especially.

FAO SCHWARZ

This iconic toy store started out in Baltimore in 1862 before moving to New York City. The company was founded by a German immigrant whose name was Frederick August Otto Schwarz. The company expanded through the 1990s, building up a store portfolio of around 40 stores. The company then hit some hard times and there were multiple changes in ownership (including famous toy retailer Toys R Us). The FAO Schwarz brand is still operating today, with the flagship store now based in the Rockefeller building in Manhattan.

STAR WARS

Star Wars was the first movie to create a merchandising and toy licensing phenomena. The depth and breadth of the movie and the broader Star Wars ‘universe’ have supported a massive cross category toy program ever since the first movie came out way back in 1977. The total franchise has thus far grossed more than $10bn USD at the global box office, with more than 300 million Star Wars action figures sold during the first cinematic trilogy wave from 1977 to 1985. Even when there were no movies for years, Star Wars still remained a top toy property throughout.

SCRABBLE

Scrabble is one of THE classic board games of all time, with more than 150 million games sold to date and with more than 1 million games selling each year still in North America. The game was originally invented by American architect Alfred Mosher Butts in 1938. The game was originally titled ‘Lexiko’ before Busts changed the name to ‘Criss Cross Words’. Butts struggled to make a commercial success of the game though and sold the rights to entrepreneur James Brunot. Scrabble’s timeless appeal lies in its softly educational topic and format, alongside the competition to win by laying down the highest scoring words.

SPIN MASTER

Spin Master is now one of the world’s biggest toy companies with offices around the world and a full portfolio of brands including newer entertainment properties such as Paw Patrol, alongside an ever growing portfolio of classic toys & games – including Rubiks Cube and Meccano. Original started in 1994 by two childhood friends – Ronnen Harary and Anton Rabie, with 3rd co-founder Ben Varadi joining not that long after, the company has seen meteoric growth over time.

SLINKY

The Slinky was invented by a Naval Engineer in the USA – Richard T. James – way back in 1943. The Slinky has sold in excess of 300 million units, and even had a supporting role in the Toy Story movie franchise! Generations of children have wowed at Slinky moving down the stairs in a controlled way all on its own. The simplicity of play combined with the cleverness of the technical design make Slinky an iconic, classic and timeless toy!

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

R Is For Rubiks Cube, R2D2, Rainbow Loom & Ravensburger – Toy Industry A To Z

R Is For Rubiks Cube, R2D2, Rainbow Loom & Ravensburger – Toy Industry A To Z

RUBIKS CUBE

One of the most iconic toys of all time, Rubiks Cube is reported to have sold more than 400 million cubes over time. Originally invented in the 1970s, the cube was brought to market by Tom Kremer (a true legend of the toy industry) and businessman Tibor Laczi. Generations of families have experienced the frustration of trying to solve the puzzles conundrum, and a much smaller number have enjoyed the sheer pleasure of getting those sides of the colourful cube to match up!

R2D2

While we cover Star Wars elsewhere in this series, we would be remiss not to mention perhaps the most impactful toy robot or ‘Droid’ to ever grace the toy aisles. When Star Wars first come to the fore, the most surprisingly love characters were the non-living characters like R2D2 & C3PO. For more than 40 years toys based on this much-loved droid have been selling well in the toy aisles. The more recent success of characters like BB8 owe it all to the granddaddy of them all, R2D2!

RAINBOW LOOM

Rainbow Loom launched one of the biggest toy trends the world has ever seen. The Loom Band phenomenon was just gigantic, with children across the world buying huge quantities of elastic bands & creating their own bracelets and other items. Rainbow Loom was created and brought to market by Choon Ng – you can find out more about his story on our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast episode, when we had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Choon, listen here:

https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/how-to-start-a-global-toy-trend-with-choon-ng

RAVENSBURGER

Ravensburger has been in business since 1883, with the company being famous across Europe and beyond for puzzles and board games. Notable products from Ravensburger include the highly innovative Puzzleball brand, Gravitrax and Memory.

We run a Consultancy business helping toy & games companies get ahead. For more information, check out www.KidsBrandInsight.com/services

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board advised. If you are interested in finding out more about this, check out the link to our services above.

P Is For Play-Doh, Princess, Power Rangers and Pokémon – A To Z Of The Toy Business

P Is For Play-Doh, Princess, Power Rangers and Pokémon – A To Z Of The Toy Business

PLAY-DOH

Not many people know that Play-Doh started life in the 1930s being marketed as a wallpaper cleaner. Today millions of children play with Play-Doh products, with a mix of the dough as a stimulator of the touch sense, combined with entertaining plastics addons by which the child can extrude dough and create interesting things. Over time there have been various ‘brand icons’ for the brand, with the Play-Doh Pixie featuring in the early days, followed by Play-Doh Pete a beret wearing chirpy cherub of a character through to more recent times when the Doh-Doh’s have come to the fore. Play-Doh’s timeless play pattern and the fact that the brand is so strong in a marketplace with strong ‘me too’ presence makes Play-Doh one of the most effective brands in the toy business.

PRINCESS

Whether Disney or otherwise, Princesses have had a huge impact on the toy business. The topic of gender and toys is very contentious these days, but what is indisputable is that hundreds of millions of girls have played with Princess dolls over time. So many movies, classic books and other media forms have been very successful by being all about Princesses. Over time, the character, temperament and behaviours of Princesses have adapted to the changing times in terms of gender equality. For many little girls, playing with Princesses allows them to develop their identity.

POWER RANGERS Power Rangers has been a top selling brand since the 1990s. According to Wikipedia the brand had generated more than $6billion in toy sales by 2001. The basic premise of Power Rangers is a group of ‘goodies’ constantly battling with characterised monsters and baddies. The Power Rangers are all martial arts experts who can fight with great skill and courage. The TV series output is already up to 27 series, and there has also been several movies released, with more potentially in the offing. While some parents and commentators question the violence featured, multiple generations of children have loved this franchise. Major toy company Hasbro acquired the Power Rangers brand in 2018 for a purchase price in the region of $500m USD.

POKEMON

Pokémon has some similarities with Power Rangers – Pokémon also came out of Japan and has largely been driven by TV content over time. Pokémon trading card games have been a massive and consistent seller for more than 20 years. Pokémon Go gave the brand a massive boost and brought the brand to a whole new generation of kids. Pokémon toys have also been very successful over time, with more than 34 billion cards sold over time (!).

We run a Consultancy business helping toy & games companies get ahead. For more information, check out www.KidsBrandInsight.com/services

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board advised. If you are interested in finding out more about this, check out the link to our services above.