TOY FAIR 2018
Talkin’ Toys
YULU: MORE PLAY, MORE FUN The Toy Book chats with Jochem Van Rijn and Thijmen De Schipper, co-presidents of Yulu Toys, about what’s next for 2018. Tic Tac Tongue
Tell us about YULU’s background. How did the company get its start? During our time at University in the Netherlands in 2014, we sold our first company to the Netherlands government. With different opportunities coming our way, we chose to follow our passion and start a toy and game company. Our unique difference is that we are focused on building play experiences for kids and adults that combine digital insights along with play innovation to create the best new toys and games. The past year has been a whirlwind with the support we received from customers and retailers worldwide, and our team continues to expand, with our focus on making next year a huge year. This is your second North American International Toy Fair. What’s new for this year? Yes, this is our second official Toy Fair! We are thrilled to expand our extremely successful Spy Code line to a full range of toys for kids and parents. We are also building
our additional brands in other segments behind our Helix line of outdoor games, as well as a broad portfolio of games and skill toys for kids and adults. We are excited about the new Tic Tac Tongue game where kids turn into lizards and compete to get the most bug cards. We have a collection of other surprises in the games category that get kids out of their seats and moving around the house, as well as our innovative next-generation skill toy, called Flip Finz, which challenges kids to master more than 100 different tricks. This addictive toy allows kids to twirl it and flip it and it also lights up, making for awesome tricks both day and night. We can’t wait to show off the great new collection. YULU’s Spy games line did very well at retail last year. How do you plan to expand on that success? We were thrilled with the response to the Spy Code line last year. This year, we’re continuing with our Spy Code games Operation: Escape, Break Free, and Safe Breaker to help kids master their missions and become expert spies. We are focused on growing Spy Code and have a lot of great ideas for the future of this brand, and knowing the spy trend is mas-
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sive gives us so much opportunity to grow for years to come. YULU will continue to expand into the active play category this year. What sparked the idea for the new line? The early focus of the company began with active play games, and that remains something we are very passionate about. We are fans of competitive activity games, and the Helix brand of games brings new innovation that turns traditional yard games into a modern play experience. Our new line for 2018 includes Helix Power Swing Football and Hyper Ball, Light Up Spinner, and Sling Stix— each brings new technology that helps kids amp up their play to super high performance. What does the future hold for YULU? As a young new toy company, we couldn’t be more excited for our future. We have an awesome innovations team designing for us that is really creative, and they help us to deliver fun and exciting products for the marketplace. We believe this year we have a very strong and broad line for consumers with a variety of product and price points for retailers, so it’s really a win-win for everyone. »