C Is For: Cute Toys Like Care Bears... And China

C Is For: Cute Toys Like Care Bears... And China

‘Cute’ is a massive thing for the toy business. Toys which are super cute and huggable are often very compelling for children. The younger a child is the more their sense of touch takes priority over the other senses. That’s why a really cute, soft toy will be loved by kids.

Care Bears is an iconic toy brand first launched in the 1980s, and now back in the market via Basic Fun. More than $1billion of Care Bear toys have been sold across retail. There are a number of ‘best practise’ elements of Care Bears to observe: first, a range of characters with different looks, colours and characteristics. They also have a distinctive and presumably ownable pattern on their tummies to differentiate them from any other teddy bear products in market. Care Bears (as the name suggests) encourage caring for other people, something which is very appealing for parents who are trying to teach their kids the right way to interact with other people and the world in general. And then finally (of course) they are super huggable and cute!

China has been a force in the toy business for many decades. Originally entering the toy manufacturing sector with massive and cheap labour force as the attraction for toy companies competing in the massively price sensitive business of toys. Today China is many things to the toy business – it still remains the primary hub for toy manufacturing globally, although the country as a whole is transitioning upwards in terms of manufacturing capabilities there is still a massive array of toy factories of all sizes and shapes. But as the economy in China increasingly moves beyond cheap products to more advanced manufacturing, China’s growing domestic market is the second biggest in the world and growing.

Do you need help to grow sales for your toy company? We help people from all around the world to sell more toys, both in their home markets and into export markets. For more information on how we do this, check out our services here: www.KidsBrandInsight.com/services

Have you listened to our Playing At Business podcast? We talk about selling toys & games, interview successful people from across the toy business & we look at key trends in the toy & game business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

A To Z Of The Toy Business – B Is For Brands Like Barbie

A To Z Of The Toy Business – B Is For Brands Like Barbie

Brands are so important in the toy business. Because our childhood is such a pivotal time for human beings, our childhood experiences become deeply engrained within us. We form a strong emotional attachment to the toys & games we play with as children. If we play with a particular toy when we are young, and that toy is still around when we are buying toys for our own children, we are much more likely to buy the toys we loved, albeit (hopefully) updated and modernised for the times.

One brand which has very definitely passed the test of time is Barbie. Originally launched as far back as 1959, playing with Barbie has been a rite of passage for generations of young children. Barbie has tended to reflect the times, in terms of fashions but also in terms of society and social narrative. In recent years Barbie has become broader in terms of inclusivity to reflect the zeitgeist of the times, and in the process remaining an integral part of the childhood of many children.

Brands in the toy business though are not just about warm rosy feelings of nostalgia. They are also about hard cash. Barbie alone generates more than $1bn (USD) per year for brand owner Mattel. Barbie obviously isn’t the only toy brand delivering massive sales, brands are ubiquitous in the toy business. In many ways in fact, the goal of every toy company should be to create, build and commercially exploit brands. In a business where more than two thirds of toy products on shelf each year are new, brands become highly profitable as they often need less marketing, can often carry forward into subsequent years, sometimes need less investment and are more likely to be listed by retailers.

Brands can also create significant tangible brand equity. If you look at the history of growth for major toy companies, the big landmarks along the way are often major acquisitions of toy brands. The most recent example would be Spin Master’s acquisition of Rubik’s brand and the iconic Rubik’s cube.

Brands are the fundamental foundation of most toy companies enjoying longevity and sustainable growth.

Do you need help to grow sales for your toy company? We help people from all around the world to sell more toys, both in their home markets and into export markets. For more information on how we do this, check out our services here: www.KidsBrandInsight.com/services

Have you listened to our Playing At Business podcast? We talk about selling toys & games, interview successful people from across the toy business & we look at key trends in the toy & game business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

A To Z Of The Toy Business – A is for Action Man

A To Z Of The Toy Business – A is for Action Man

Action Man is to the European toy market (at least historically speaking) what G.I. Joe is to the U.S. market. Launched way back in 1966, at first the appeal or potential of Action Man was questioned because the prevailing attitude of the time was that boys would not want to play with ‘dolls’. The same thought process applied in the U.S. to G.I. Joe, and in both cases was proven quickly to be erroneous. Boys loved Action Man, for all the reasons we would today recognise – the value of imaginative play & development of how to interact with the world around.

Originally Action Man was a military character, to appeal to generations of children whose parents or grandparents had been through World War 2, during a time when the impact of WW2 in popular culture was at its strongest – this was the era of the epic, all-star WW2 movies.

Hasbro relaunched Action Man in the 1990s and saw big success in the European toy market for around a decade with Action Man being one of the major toy brands in the European market during this period. The themes and clothing were changed during this time, to make Action Man more of an adventurer and extreme sportsman and to reflect the zeitgeist of the time, whereby militaristic toys were no longer approved of by parents.

Eventually the second coming of Action Man faded away, and due to Hasbro’s increasing focus on global product development and launches, it became apparently harder and harder to justify local product development for Europe. At one point in time Hasbro had a centre of design excellence with some of the best creative people in the toy industry at their European HQ in London, but as with all things in the toy business, the world moved on, and Action Man faded from a prime position in toy retail to a fond memory…

…that is until UK company Art & Science International brought to market a range of retro Action Man products under license from Hasbro. You can find those products here: https://www.actionman.com/the-range.php

Rumours occasionally swirl around relating to a full reboot of Action Man, but for now it remains a fond memory of many adults who played with the toys as children themselves, and at least retro Action Man products are now available again!

Our team has worked with and for Hasbro, owner of the Action man brand. We have also Consulted for more than 100 other toy companies. To find out more about our toy & game business Consultancy services, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com

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