Y IS FOR YU GI OH, YNON & YO-YO – TOY INDUSTRY A TO Z
YU GI OH
Yu Gi Oh has been a massive thang in trading card games for a couple of decades or more. The franchise is centred around manga style animation content featuring a boy and a trading card game. To date the physical product trading card game has sold more than 25 BILLION (!) cards. This perennial brand doesn’t seem to capture quite the headlines of fellow Japanese animation franchise Pokémon, but nevertheless it has been a major force at the checkouts.
YNON KREIZ
Ynon Kreiz is an American-Israeli businessman who is in the process of successfully turning around Mattel’s global business after a few tough years. Kreiz succeeded former Google exec Margo Georgiadis, and in doing so took over a company with softening sales, an iconic flagship brand in Barbie which had not embraced and updated the brand image for the social media age and a company massively behind long term rival Hasbro in terms of transitioning from toy company to entertainment company. Since taking the helm of Mattel in 2018, Mattel’s fortunes have improved and Kreiz’s strategy and execution of strategy has made a major positive impact.
YO-YO
One thing you can guarantee in the toy business is that every few years Yo-Yos will make a comeback. But unlike most iconic toys we have today, the Yo-Yo did not come to the fore in the 20th century…in fact, according to Wikipedia, there is an ancient Greek vase which was found well preserved showing a child playing with a Yo-Yo way back in 44BC! Yo-Yos were also around in the 17th century where they were known as ‘bandalores’. The Yo-Yo therefore proves that classic play patterns are truly timeless.
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