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.

O Is For Outdoor Toys, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, Optimus Prime and Operation – A To Z Of The Toy Busines

O Is For Outdoor Toys, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, Optimus Prime and Operation – A To Z Of The Toy Business

OUTDOOR TOYS

This category brings to mind sandy beaches, playing fields and back yards, along with boisterous energetic children playing with outdoor toys. The benefit for toy companies of course in running products in this category is counter seasonal cashflow. While most toy companies tend to have minimal revenues in the first half of the year, companies selling outdoor toys can achieve significant sales to balance out the cashflow challenges of being reliant on back end of year sales. Brands like Nerf, Frisbee and Bunch O Balloons enjoy strong sales at a time of year where most other toy companies are in the red.

OLE KIRK KRISTIANSEN was a Danish carpenter who founded Lego way back in 1932. Understandably based on his profession, Lego’s first products were wooden toys. The move to plastic toys came about when the company purchased an injection moulding machine in 1947. Not all was plain sailing though, the Great Depression hit Denmark and hit sales of non-toy products which acted as the spur for Mr. Kristiansen to enter the toy business. Then in 1942 the Nazi’s occupied Germany, and soon after a fire destroyed his factory and stock. From these humble beginnings, Ole Kirk Kristiansen and his successors have grown Lego into the largest toy brand in the world. Therefore, it would be a strong argument to make that no other individual has had a bigger long-term impact on the toy business than Mr. Kristiansen.

OPTIMUS PRIME

The Transformers brand has been with us since 1984, and the most prominent character in the Transformers universe is of course Optimus Prime. The leader of the Autobots in their endless struggle against the evil and duplicity of the Decepticons, Optimus Prime is an iconic character and toy. As the Transformers brand evolved into a successful movie franchise, so Optimus Prime stepped to the fore of the movie world – bringing Transformers to a whole new generation.

OPERATION

When thinking of classic board games, Operation is normally towards the top of the list. Invented by John Spinello (an industrial design student) back in 1964. The game features fairly basic technology whereby players have to try to remove ‘organs’ from a patient without causing the buzzer to buzz and the nose to glow red. In more recent times licensed co-branded versions of the game have launched with a fair degree of commercial sense. Licensed versions brought to market include Star Wars, Shrek and Spider Man as the central character/patient.

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.