Madame Alexander will bring the dolls back to Nordstrom in September with all 10 characters in four different sizes, from a 20-inch doll to an eight-inch plush key chain. Stone America also facilitated a deal in which Pearson Publishing has signed on to create children’s books based on the characters, also launching in September. When you ask Menzies where she sees StinkyKids a year from now, or five years from now, she’s not afraid to dream big. She speaks hopefully of StinkyKids with new outfits, StinkyKids with their own plush pets, a line of StinkyKids books, an interactive website, and even pitching StinkyKids to a television network for a possible animation. “Rob Stone and I always joke,” says Menzies. “We say we’ll know we’ve made it big when StinkyKids has their own float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” ■
The Toy Book also spoke with Gale Jarvis, president of Alexander Doll Company, to understand the evolution of StinkyKids from the manufacturer’s perspective. The Toy Book: Why was StinkyKids the right property for you? Jarvis: When we first saw it, we liked it because it had such a wonderful message for kids that we believe in as a company: everybody is a leader of good. The dolls are all multi-racial, with both boys and girls. and they all come with a card that distinguishes their personalities—like trading cards, which we think is really fun. They all have different characteristics. It reinforces a lot of value systems that are a good message to send. It’s a message that parents like to reinforce as well, and they’re also very affordable. The Toy Book: Do you often get pitches from such little-known entrepreneurs? How do you know which ones to gamble on? Jarvis: We get a lot of people who have ideas, and they pursue us, and we look at them. We look for things that fit into our line, into what we have, that supplement what we’re already doing or that we’ve done. And this fit in very nicely. We look at lots of things, and we evaluate how they work within our company, and if they’re meaningful to us. We felt that this was meaningful to us. We have enough experience in dolls and cloth dolls to know what generally works. The Toy Book: Where do you see Madame Alexander and StinkyKids going together in the next year, or in the next five years? Jarvis: I think we’ll have all kinds of clothing and accessories and additional characters. We’d like to have all kinds of things to make the line bigger, to make it a concept unto itself. We think Britt’s a great partner to work with. She’s really an entrepreneur who loves what she does, and this is a great asset to the whole product line. Already we’ve gotten a very strong reaction. Everybody likes the message; it’s a really wholesome, great story. ■
28 • THE TOY BOOK
JULY/AUGUST 2010