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WRAPPING UP: TOY & GAMES MARKET 2024, PLUS TOY MANUFACTURING IN VIETNAM, BOARD GAMES SUCCESS FACTORS & WORKING WITH DISTRIBUTORS

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Well, we nearly made it to the end of 2024. It's been another 'interesting' year in the Toy & Game biz. We'll wait & see the real market data for the full year, but it's going to go down as tough year in general. A weak movie slate, relatively weak consumer demand and a lot of geopolitical turbulence.

On the bright side, expectations were set fairly low in general, and I think that inventory should be reasonable at year end, unlike some of the previous few years.

The outlook for 2025 is better in my opinion. The movie slates look much stronger, which is a good start point. But also companies invested a lot in their own brands in 2024, and should be able to reap the benefits of that for a few years going forward in terms of higher sales on higher profitability products.

The big news in terms of turbulence heading into 2025 is of course the return of President Trump in the U.S. It was an interesting ride last time around, and this time it certainly looks like he has trade wars and tariffs in mind. Since his re-election, we have been very busy with customers scrambling around for alternative production sources to China. 2025 should be good years for the Toy factories we work with in Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

Anyway, I wanted to close out our content contributions for 2024 by sharing some recently released Videos where I run through some key topics related to Toys & Games:

VIETNAM TOY MANUFACTURING

This video looks at where Vietnam sits in the grand scheme of Toy & Game manufacturing. I recorded this on a recent trip to this very intriguing country. It was hot, so apologies in advance for my attire and bedraggled appearance, but the video gives a good overview of Vietnam's manufacturing and also explains why Vietnam will never be 'The next China' when it comes to production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1LUoc0HFh4

TOY DISTRIBUTORS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

This video is hopefully fairly self-explanatory, it looks at working with distributors, the pros, the cons and the things to watch out for. Very few Toy & Game companies have truly global distribution, pretty much every company in our industry relies on distributors to some degree, so this should be relevant for all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB-dhDGLv14

BOARD GAMES BUSINESS: SUCCESS FACTOR No. 1

There is one underlying and annoyingly obvious success factor in the business of Games. Watch this video to find out more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5JL-1_0LcY

BOARD GAME BIZ Podcast

On that last topic of Games, one of my realisations in 2024 was that I wasn't doing enough work in the Games category, which has always been my favourite space in the broader Toy biz. So, as part of doing more in the Games world, I launched a new podcast recently in case you missed that. There are 7 episodes currently up, and more pre-recorded set to be released soon. So if you want to know more about the commercial side of the (non-digital) Games business, check out the podcast here: https://sites.libsyn.com/556277

Artificial Intelligence: How It Will Affect International Distribution For Toys & Games?

These are incredible times we’re living through. If artificial intelligence has not yet started to considerably affect your work, then you might want to put your head outside of your bunker!

I watched a Video recently about how quickly AI is advancing, and the speaker highlighted that A.I. large language models like Chat GPT et al currently have an equivalent IQ of about 120, which is higher than the average human – most people have an IQ between 85 and 115 apparently, so we’re already looking at something that is on a par or a bit more intelligent than most human beings. But the speaker went on to say that these large language models now have an IQ of 120 on pretty much everything that humans have ever known, which no human could get anywhere near competing with.

Oh and by the way, I watched this video about a month ago, so the 120 IQ is already higher than that…and in 5- or 10-years time we’ll be looking at an intelligence so far beyond human intelligence that there is no meaningful way to quantify it or compare it with humans.

But aside from the massive societal, ethical and existential questions that raises, professionally we are all trying to embrace and adapt to these incredible new tools that have been placed in our laps, we are also though already having to manage considerable change.

The question is what are the specific implications for the Toy & Game business. This article will look at how A.I. will impact selling your products overseas, and later articles will look at other parts of our business that will be disrupted.

THE TRIPOD OF INTERNATIONAL SALES FOR TOYS & GAMES

There are three key elements to successfully selling your Toys & Games into international distribution:

1. The product

2. Knowing who to sell to

3. Human connection, interaction and trust.

Let’s run those one by one:

1. THE PRODUCT

There are a few rare individuals who can get away with selling crappy products year after year because they are so good at the process of selling, but there are not many of them. The Toy & Game business is a product driven business, and products are in abundance, therefore having a product which has a compelling proposition for distributors, retailers and consumers around the world is critical.

We’ll look in more detail in subsequent articles about how A.I. is impacting the product development process, but from the perspective of international or export sales, the major impact of A.I. is as a research tool for both product development and sales people. Whereas once you maybe would have to send a letter, and then eventually could make a phone call, or could visit an annual trade show to find out about local product culture in different countries, now Large Language Models (LLMs) make that process really easy. You can literally just type into one of these LLMs your query and get an ever increasingly better answer. Maybe you won’t get quite as good an answer as the top people in the local market could give you yet, but it’s still remarkably good.

So before you even make a product you can investigate cultural fit and try to analyse how likely your product is to resonate in certain key markets to a level far higher than ever before, even on a global level. That’s all without leaving the office!

2. KNOWING WHO TO SELL TO

One of the biggest insider advantages in this business of Toys & Games is knowing who to sell to. It’s knowing which potential partners have good reputations and which have bad ones, it’s knowing who is more likely to be a good fit with your product based on years of experience and learning.

LLMs make one part of that process so much easier – when I first used these systems to research distributors and retailers, the response was kind of useless, it would mix up retailers with distributors, and not provide meaningful, helpful information. Now the quality of answer is really helpful and getting better every day.

So I would say that the era of knowledge-based business advantage creating a ‘Moat’ around your company or around your advantage is nearly gone and will soon likely disappear.

Currently the LLMS I am using are not that great at finding the exact right person to talk to in a company, but that will inevitably come very soon.

The part of knowing who to sell to that LLMs will find much more difficult is our knowledge of personalities and behaviours of key individuals within an organisation. For example, one of the distributors I have known for a long time has two key contacts to submit new products to: the Managing Director/Owner and the Purchasing Manager. It’s the job of the Purchasing Manager to buy in new products for them to distribute, but basically this guy is so inundated that he is very unresponsive, and I am sure doesn’t even look at a lot of communications, he certainly is not communicative back. Now ideally of course you want to pitch new products face to face to try to influence the person with your amazing selling skills and loveable personality (!), but the issue is that in reality we can’t always do that on every project/every product. Because I know how the company works, I understand that if I send a new product or product line direct to the Managing Director, he will just forward it to the Purchasing Manager…BUT critically, the Purchasing Manager will then have to pay it some attention because it was sent to him by his boss, and so he will want to at least have a valid reason for not choosing that product, so he will inevitably have to seriously look at the product or the email. And if the product is compelling, he is therefore going to notice and is more likely to buy the product in to distribute, or on a more micro level is more likely to respond to my query.

Now that’s a very elongated example, but that’s the point…for as long as buying decisions are made by humans, human factors will apply, and as we all know, humans are not entirely rational, there are all kinds of crazy emotional and social factors in human decision making. AND, that’s the part I can’t see LLMs eradicating in a hurry.

3. HUMAN CONNECTION, INTERACTION & TRUST

As the saying goes, people buy from people. In a world where there is a mass of products to choose from, some of what influences the buying decisions are human factors. This isn’t just who your customers like on a personality basis, it’s also about how much they trust you and your company to deliver what you say you will deliver and to help them resolve over stock issues or retailer complaints. In effect, by agreeing to distribute your products, your international distributors are placing their hard-earned customer relationships at jeopardy because they are placing their faith in you and your company to deliver for them.

There is no doubt in my mind that A.I. can and will develop a very persuasive way of interacting with humans, because it can easily work out what is effective and why it was effective, and eventually will learn to manipulate humans into changing their behaviours, but what is much harder is actually building real trust from A.I.

Here’s a story I tell a lot (apologies if you’ve read or heard me say this 10 times before), I pitched a product to a distributor the first time I met him, and he really liked it and wanted to run it. But there was always a reason not to, always something else that seemed a bit more attractive. And so I went on presenting this same product to the distributor for 7 years until eventually he went ahead and decided to run the product, which was a great success for him. Now you could argue that it took 7 years to persuade him to sell the product due to my failings as a sales person. But other people bought the same product in Year 1. The issue with this guy was that he didn’t know me, and so while he liked the product, he didn’t trust my ability to deliver it to him with no manufacturing problems, safety infringements or customer service delays which would have damaged his precious customer relationships.

Again, I’m not sure how A.I. would have made that sale…it could have logically outlined the benefits of the product, but how would it persuade that guy to take the leap of faith that was built up over 7 long years?

CONCLUSION/NEXT STEPS

Let’s face it, we’re all kind of screwed…LLMS and other forms of A.I. are going to get so good that we are at great risk of becoming both redundant and sidelined in terms of commercial operations. The only question though is how long is that process going to take, and how do we with our more limited intelligence direct and harness this soon to be much greater intelligence to drive our careers and businesses forward?

As I see it, there are two critical elements to your ongoing success across the next wonderfully exciting but also somewhat terrifying decade:

1. Focus on meaningful human connection – this is still our massive advantage. People buy from people, AND anyone who has been around the block a few times in this business knows that you can’t accurately predict what crazy humans will buy using intelligence!

a. The one thing that A.I. is not is human. It might be way smarter, more efficient, cheaper and all of that, but it ain’t a person, that will remain humankinds’ advantage for some time.

2. Be ahead of the Game on exploring and using A.I. versus your competition

a. The ostrich in the sand approach will not work here. (Some) humans are going to become ludicrously more effective with these A.I. tools like large language models. You need to be in the top few of your peers for exploring and putting these technologies to work in your professional capacity.

Exciting and scary times lie ahead, but one thing I know – the late-night beers at Nuremberg, the intuition to know what your customer wants and how to best manage them, these are things we need to continue to embrace as humanity’s advantage…

…and on the topic of building my own human connections, see you in the bar at the upcoming shows!

N.B. This article was written entirely by a maladjusted human with all the shortcomings that entails, although both CHAT GPT & Copilot were asked to give ideas towards the article, they were unusually not that useful on this occasion! All of the images accompanying this article WERE generated by A.I. tools.

FACTORIES WE REPRESENT

We represent the following factories both in and outside of China. All of these factories have the necessary certifications, have capacity, have a history of successfully supplying other Toy & Game companies and who are very much open for business:

Plastic Toy Factory in China (managed from Hong Kong) – strong track record of decades of supplying Toy companies around the world.

Board Games supplier in China – I have worked with this vendor for 20 years, they have supplied dozens of major & minor customers of mine.

Games factory in Vietnam – supplying cardboard, wood & plastic Games.

Games factory in India – supplying major Toy & Game companies with cardboard & plastic games.

Plastic & Electronic Toy Factory in India – major supplier, having supplied 4 out of 5 of the world’s biggest Toy Cos.

Plush factory in India -leading Plush factory with strong R&D skills.

If you would like more information on any of these factories or if you need help with a strategic approach to Sourcing or want to find specific factory types, please feel free to drop me a message.

The BOARD GAME BIZ Podcast

Exciting news for the Games business, our all-new BOARD GAME BIZ podcast has now gone live, with 7 Episodes available covering a wide range of commercial topics relating to the business of Board aka Tabletop Games.

If you want to check out this new podcast series, just click here to listen!

EPISODE 1 - OVERVIEW OF THE BOARD GAME BUSINESS

In Episode 1, we start with a comprehensive overview of the Board Games business. We explore the key components that drive the board game market. Whether you're an aspiring game creator, a Game entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or simply a Board Game enthusiast, this episode will provide valuable insights into the commercial intricacies of the industry.

Click here to listen to this episode: https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/an-overview-of-the-board-games-business

EPISODE 2 - UNDERSTANDING HOW BOARD GAMES RETAIL WORKS

Navigating the retail landscape can be complex, but it's essential for the success of any board game. From selecting the right distribution channels to understanding retail pricing strategies, we'll cover it all. We'll also discuss how to establish and maintain relationships with retailers, the importance of packaging and shelf appeal, and how to leverage retail data to boost your game’s performance.

Whether you're a game developer looking to get your product on store shelves or a retailer wanting to enhance your board game offerings, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you succeed. Let’s dive into the world of board games retail and uncover the strategies that can make your game a hit!

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/episode-2-understanding-how-board-games-retail-works

EPISODE 3 - THE MANY BENEFITS OF PLAYING BOARD GAMES

Board games are not just about fun and entertainment—they offer a multitude of benefits that can enrich people's lives in various ways. From fostering social connections and improving cognitive skills to reducing stress and enhancing creativity, the impact of board games goes far beyond the gaming table. We'll uncover how playing board games can strengthen family bonds, develop strategic thinking, and even boost mental health.

Whether you're a casual player, a dedicated gamer, or someone interested in the positive effects of board games, this episode is packed with insights that will make you appreciate the true value of this timeless hobby. We feel it's important to run through these very many benefits of Games so that you feel real motivation to sell more Games, the more Games you sell, and the more Games people play, the more good we do for humanity!

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/episode-3-the-many-benefits-of-playing-board-games

EPISODE 4 - 5 COMMON REASONS WHY PEOPLE FAIL TO GET THEIR GAME TO MARKET

Bringing a board game to market can be an exciting yet challenging journey. Many aspiring game designers face obstacles that prevent their game from reaching store shelves. Today, we'll explore the top five reasons why these efforts often fall short. From common pitfalls in game design and production issues to marketing mistakes and distribution challenges, we'll provide valuable insights to help you avoid these traps and successfully launch your game.

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/episode-4-5-common-reasons-why-people-fail-to-get-their-game-to-market

EPISODE 5 - HOW TO SELL BOARD GAMES

Today, we'll explore the essential steps to successfully market and sell your board game. From understanding your target audience and crafting compelling pitches to leveraging social media and maximizing retail opportunities, we'll cover all the bases. We'll also discuss common pitfalls and how to avoid them, ensuring that your game not only reaches the market but thrives.

Whether you're a newcomer eager to launch your first game or a seasoned pro looking to boost your sales, this episode is packed with valuable tips and tactics to help you succeed. Let's get started and unlock the secrets to selling board games!

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/episode-5-how-to-sell-board-games

EPISODE 6 - INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR BOARD GAMES, WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Whether you're an indie game designer looking to take your first steps into the global market or a seasoned publisher aiming to expand your reach, navigating international distribution can be a complex and daunting task. In this episode, we'll uncover the essential aspects of getting your games from your headquarters to the hands of players across the world.

We'll explore critical components such as the importance of cultural sensitivity and localization to ensure your game resonates with diverse audiences.

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/episode-6-international-distribution-for-board-games-what-you-need-to-know

EPISODE 7 - REALITY CHECK: CAN YOU EARN A LIVING FROM GAMES?

Making a living through board games or tabletop games might seem like a dream come true, but is it truly feasible? In this episode, we dive deep into the economics and realities of the board game industry. We'll explore what it takes to turn your passion into a full-time career, from designing and publishing your own games to working within the industry in various roles.

The episode is hosted by our very own Games business veteran Steve Reece, who has worked in the business of Board Games since the turn of the millennium, thus proving that any idiot can make a living in this realm if they are excessively lucky :)

https://sites.libsyn.com/556277/ep-7-reality-check-can-you-earn-a-living-from-board-games

Watch out for more insightful episodes coming soon. if you have particular topics you think we could record an episode on, please feel free to hit reply, and if we feel we can make an entire episode from your topic we will do our best!

GEOPOLITICAL RISKS FACING THE TOY & GAME BUSINESS

The Toy business does not live and work in a bubble. We are influenced and impacted by what is going on in the world around us. Which today means that those working in the Toy industry are faced with a more complicated macro environment, in which many international norms we had come to take for granted are being challenged and this is in turn increasing risks of disruption for our businesses. This article was recently published on The Spirit Of Play Blog, part of the official website of the Spielwarenmesse, the world’s biggest Toy trade show.

https://www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/mag/markets/geopolitical-risks-for-the-toy-industry/

THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATON: IMPACT ON THE TOY & GAME BUSINESS

BACKGROUND

The American people have re-elected President Trump, he returns as only the second President ever to be re-elected for a non-consecutive term. This article is going to look at the implications of Trump’s return to office. As a non-American, I will not risk the ire of US citizens by passing comment on the rights and wrongs of US domestic Politics, but Trump’s return will affect the whole world, and will have a potentially major impact on the Toy & Game business, and we need to think about the implications of that carefully and take appropriate responsive actions.

WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE LAST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WHICH AFFECTED THE TOY & GAME BUSINESS?

The first Trump administration had one major impact on the Toy & Game business: it accelerated the ebbing away of Toy & Game production from China to other countries. First time round, Trump’s fiery rhetoric towards China, and the action to impose tariffs on various product categories that didn’t quite reach Toys but got quite close highlighted the risk of our industry being so heavily dependent on China’s massively capable and experienced Toy factories.

Our Consultancy business: www.ToyTeamAsia.com saw a massive upsurge in Toy & Game companies seeking assistance with strategic sourcing diversification, as the perceived risk of being so heavily reliant on China became much more top of mind.

To keep that in context though, what we saw was an increase in the rate of production ebbing away from China, but even today, China is still the dominant force in Toy manufacturing with around 80% of the global market. So the rate of change accelerated, btu be under no mistake, China is fundamentally critical to the ability of the business of Toys & Games to meet demand, if China’s Toy factories all closed today, forget Christmas for the next sales cycle!

WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN THIS TIME ROUND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S 2ND TERM?

It’s not always straightforward to listen to Trump and understand what actions he and his administration will definitively take…, because rhetoric is such a fundamental part of Politics today, but it looks very likely that Trump will renew his approach to China in terms of a more aggressive and protectionist strategy. Earlier this year, Trump stated that if he regained office, he was considering adding 60% tariffs on all goods from China. Of course there is a big difference between threatening to impose 60% tariffs and actually doing it, but tariffs on that scale could be catastrophic for our industry, with c. 80% of Toys still coming from China today, a 60% tariff rate would lead to considerable price inflation and most likely a resultant slump in demand. The counter argument would of course be twofold: a). Increasing tariffs on China would give domestic American Toy producers better chance of competing b). Other countries could take up some production and presuming they do not suffer from equally punitive tariffs could really accelerate Toy production due to suddenly finding a massive price advantage versus Chinese factories.

To be somewhat contentious you could say that both of those counter arguments might work theoretically but would come nowhere near being practical solutions to the huge production capacity the Toy & Game business requires every year. In terms of domestic Toy production ramping up in the U.S., there could definitely be some growth there, but it is very unlikely to suddenly ramp up from where it is today to equal the c. $35 billion of production coming out of China every year currently, that is just not possible quickly. It is possible, if not likely over a couple of decades, but not in a hurry.

And as far as other production hubs are concerned, the issue is not whether they can all together eventually equal China’s Toy & Game production capacity and capability, the issue is that they are going to struggle to be able to replace $35 billion of capacity in the next decade, let alone in the next year or two!

My prediction here (which is just an opinion, this is not fact), is that 60% tariffs will be too disruptive on the domestic economy of the U.S. to fully implement at this stage, but that Trump will gain advantage by making the threat. Conversely though, what I don’t see as likely is no tariffs at all. We really should at this stage be budgeting for some degree of tariffs on Toys coming out of China. Which is not going to be easy to swallow. According to some reports, one factor which prevented Trump’s administration from putting tariffs on Toys last time round was that he was advised that stopping Americans from being able to put presents under the tree was not going to be a vote winner. Hopefully that sentiment prevails again this time round, but at the very least it would be prudent to start budgeting for some tariffs to mitigate the financial impact.

One further factor to consider is Trump’s appointment of Senator Marco Rubio to the position of Secretary of State. Rubio is described in the U.S. media as being ‘hawkish’ on China. It seems unlikely that Rubio will take a soft approach towards U.S. relations with China. So whereas last time around the Trump administration had some voices and opinions which tempered certain more hawkish strategies towards China on the basis of the potential impact on the US in general, and the US economy specifically, Rubio seems more likely to support strong competitive practises vis a vis China. The fact that China announced sanctions against Rubio (and other lawmakers) in response to U.S. sanctions on China due to matters relating to Hong Kong is another indicator that this incoming administration could have a relationship with China which is full of friction and tension.

I’m hoping for our industry that the 60% tariffs aren’t implemented on Toys & Games, but hope is a very poor strategy. It’s going to be a tricky few years ahead I believe, and so it’s important to plan for this and manage it as best as we can.

HOW RISK ANALYSIS HAS CHANGED SOURCING STRATEGIES

One of the biggest observations you can see with regards to Toy & Game production strategies is that risk analysis and risk aversion becomes a strong driving force across the last decade. If you own/run an independent Toy company, you can take whatever approach you like to the way geopolitics and the ebb and flow of economies is affecting our industry.

However, if you are a stock market listed giant of a company like Walmart for example (market cap at time of writing $687 billion, making Walmart the 13th most valuable company on the planet at the time of writing), then you have to take a strategic approach. And how that works in big stock market listed companies is that a perceived risk leads to change and counteraction, regardless of whether that risk comes to fruition or not.

So due to all the geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China, Walmart has been heavily pressuring suppliers to move a big chunk of production out of China so they can try to mitigate the risk of major supply disruption due to a). Potential tensions, blockades or even potential military action in the Taiwan strait b). Tariffs or other punitive trade measures c). Disruption to supply capacity and capability caused by demographic trends leading to worker shortages.

Right now then in major corporations, the same risk calculations are being rerun with the added risk of 60% tariffs, or if not 60% at least some further disincentives to source Toys from China. The reality is that if you are spending $billions on inventory like Walmart or like the major Toy & Game companies, you can’t move that scale of production quickly, at least not without massive turmoil, frictions and snafus! So if your strategy to Sourcing is to sit and wait and see what happens, you can definitely expect these big risk averse companies to have taken up much of any alternative production capacity in alternative production hubs like Mexico, Vietnam, India and Indonesia. If you want to play the ostrich in the sand strategy leading up to Trump’s return to office, then good luck finding capacity when you really need it.

IN CONCLUSION

These are turbulent times, and change is ongoing. From my personal and professional view, I love China, and like many of you reading this, I have a lot of friends in China and Hong Kong, and our company is still actively finding new customers for some really good Toy & Game factories in China, and we are not stopping that work. I am also a lover of Chinese history and culture, starting from my childhood obsession with Eastern martial arts and martial arts movies, through to today when I read ancient Chinese military strategy books for fun! So the analysis herein comes not from any anti-China sentiment – be very clear about this: China’s Toy & Game factories make it so easy for us in comparison with other places we can manufacture Toys, but it’s just hard to see how the 2nd Trump administration won’t accelerate the rate of production moving outside China.

N.B. there are some other implications of Trump’s return for the U.S. domestic Toy market, but as an outsider, I think there are better placed people to comment on those implications which include most likely less regulation and less focus on environmental issues and sustainability.

FACTORIES WE REPRESENT

Plastic Toy Factory in China (managed from Hong Kong) – strong track record of decades of supplying Toy companies around the world.

Board Games supplier in China – I have worked with this vendor for 20 years, they have supplied dozens of major & minor customers of mine.

Games factory in Vietnam – supplying cardboard, wood & plastic Games.

Games factory in India – supplying major Toy & Game companies with cardboard & plastic games.

Plastic & Electronic Toy Factory in India – major supplier, having supplied 4 out of 5 of the world’s biggest Toy Cos.

Plush factory in India - leading Plush factory with strong R&D skills.

If you would like more information on any of these factories or if you need help with a strategic approach to Sourcing or want to find specific factory types, please feel free to get in touch.

PLAYING AT BUSINESS PODCAST

Did you know that my company publishes a podcast all about how to succeed in the Toy & Game business? At the time of writing we have 110 episodes live. The podcast has been running since 2018, and there are plenty of updates published throughout the year. You can find the podcast on Apple here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/playing-at-business-toy-game-business-podcast-with/id1389778170 or you can listen via Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4INDb6E2xALOm1gAoC3oYj?si=36a12c5be3a34078 or to go to where we Host the show, click here: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

EPISODE 110: SO YOU INVENTED A BOARD GAME, NOW WHAT? HOW TO COMMERCIALLY LAUNCH YOUR GAME.

In this episode of the PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast we take a look at what the steps are to bring a new board Game to market.

https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/ep-110-so-you-invented-a-board-game-now-what-how-to-commercially-launch-your-game

KIDS BRAND INSIGHT: YOUTUBE CHANNEL

A recent review of all our Toy & Game business content output from the last decade and a half revealed that we had been severely under using YouTube. Partly that’s due to my having the ‘perfect face for radio’, but it’s something we’re currently working to remedy.

So if you watch a lot of YouTube to find out more about what is going on in the Toy & Game business, maybe you want to subscribe to our channel too, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@kidsbrandinsight1679

COMING SOON: THE BOARD GAME BIZ PODCAST

Well this is big news from us. We will very soon be launching a new podcast exclusively focused on the business of Board Games. Five episodes have been pre-recorded and will go live in the next week or two. If the business of Board Games is your thang, stand by :)

We run a Toy & Game business growth accelerator program. We have run this program with many up-and-coming companies, and we run through our process to review your progress to date, identify your strengths and weaknesses versus your competition and to ramp up your Sales efforts. If you want to find out more on how this service works, just click here: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services

PS Just one final thing...we have been using AWeber as our automated email software since 2011. We have many tens of thousands of email opens since then, might even be 100k+. We still use AWeber because it is intuitive and easy to use, and offers easily understandable metrics at a minimal price. If you want to check out AWeber for your own email marketing, just check it out here: https://www.aweber.com/easy-email.htm?id=377817

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