Toyworld jun 2015

June 2015 volume 4 issue 9

June 2015 volume 4 issue 9

The business magazine with a passion for toys

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The Team...

CONTENTS June 2015 volume 4 issue 9

John Baulch

Publisher and Managing Editor john@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 408 07932 651 207

Emily Ansell Elfer

20 Las Vegas Licensing Expo Preview

40 Tech Toys

Deputy Editor emily@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 407

Daniel Rich

Editorial Assistant daniel@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 406

News

Opinion

Features

07 From the Publisher

24 Touching Base

19 Toy Trust: Fundraising Update

08 News

36 NPD Column

16 Industry Moves

38 Talking Shop

20 Las Vegas Licensing Expo Preview

18 Marketing World

50 Lutz Muller

20 Licensing world

58 Viewpoint

40 Tech Toys 52 Wheeled Toys 62 Retailer Profile: Waterstones

82 Allegedly

64 Art and Craft

Mark Austin

Advertisement Manager mark@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 405

Contributors David Ripley | Jim Hawker | Dan Salem | Lutz Muller | Mark Buschhaus | Stephen Barnes | The NPD Group

Graeme Thomas

Production Manager graeme@toyworldmag.co.uk 07792 889 919

52 Wheeled Toys

64 Art and Craft

Anita Baulch

Circulation Manager anita@toyworldmag.co.uk 01923 711 439

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I from the publisher

John Baulch - @Baulchtweet

’m writing this month’s column having just returned from another hugely enjoyable and productive trip to Harrogate for the Toymaster Show.

There’s a well-worn script which almost writes itself after just about every Toy Fair or buying show – the mood felt positive, orders were being written, attendance seemed steady and so on – but the truth is all those things applied and more.

What I particularly admire about the Toymaster event is the camaraderie amongst attendees, evidenced in many ways, such as a group of members spontaneously arranging to get together at the end of an afternoon to discuss common challenges they all face. It’s also evident at the evening events: I sat next to an Irish retailer I’d never met before, the most sprightly 82 year old I’ve ever encountered, whose family originally opened a shop selling toys back in the 1800s and whose grand-daughter will be the seventh generation of the family to work in the business.

You certainly wouldn’t get that at an Argos or Toys R Us conference.

I also love the openness and candour of the members, and their ability to cut through the sort of corporate jargon you often hear at toy gatherings with some incredibly frank observations – they certainly like to tell it like it is, whether commenting on suppliers and their ranges (one major toy company was labelled ‘clueless’ by a prominent indie of my acquaintance), licences (apparently a couple of last year’s stellar performers are heading south at a rate of knots) or even their retail competitors (a story I heard about how one independent attempted to dissuade another independent from opening a new branch near to them almost beggared belief ). I also had some delightfully frank conversations about the Star Wars room upstairs: few in the toy community will be surprised to hear that the over-zealous approach of the Disney police came in for some gentle ribbing (dubbing videos to avoid naming classic characters and vehicles, which anyone even vaguely aware of Star Wars would know, seems at best over-protective – as one retailer said to me, “I think we all know what the flying hero vehicle is called”).

Apart from from last month’s AIS event, the Toymaster Show represents the first time after Toy Fair when such a large group of people from the toy community congregates in one place, so it provides a useful barometer on how the year is panning out so far. If I was pushed for a summary, I would say it has been a very British start to the year: less ‘everything is awesome’, more ‘everything is sort of ok, not too bad.’ Whether the recent election result will boost confidence amongst both

the business community and consumers remains to be seen, but it arguably offers a degree of shortterm stability which will be welcomed by most people. There have even been promises of cutting red tape for small businesses – retailers have been specifically mentioned – but quite what that suggestion entails in reality remains to be seen.

In the short term, we have the summer months to look forward to, with the promise of better weather and the release of a number of blockbuster movies, including the eagerlyanticipated Minions movie. I absolutely loved the two Despicable Me films, the trailers for the new movie have been very amusing and there is certainly no shortage of Minions product for toy retailers to stock. The questions is, though, is there too much merchandise? We’ve already seen with both Moshi Monsters and Frozen how an overproliferation of licensed product can contribute to the hastening of a popular property’s demise.

Indeed, while I have little doubt that many core Frozen items will continue to sell well this year, one wonders whether the brand would have enjoyed a far longer life if retailers hadn’t been scared off by the sheer volume of Frozen product being offered to them during Toy Fair season.

Several major retailers suggested to me that they had revised their strategy in the light of the overabundance of new lines they had seen, and in some ways you can’t blame them for adopting a cautious approach.

This month’s Licensing Expo in Las Vegas will give licensees and retailers the chance to weigh up the pros and cons of established and new properties from across the spectrum. Our overview of this year’s show starts on page 23, focusing on a selection of the exhibitors with licences of interest to licensees and retailers in the UK kids’ market.

I’ll also be posting a daily blog from the show on the Toy World website, so if you want to know what’s happening in Vegas, I’ll do my best to bring you the latest news and gossip from the show.

Earlier in the column I referred to the refreshing honesty of attendees at the Toymaster Show: I can certainly testify that this ‘call a spade’ approach extends to comments about the trade press. I was introduced to one lady I had never met, and when her first words were “I get a lot of magazines and most of them go straight in the bin”, my heart sank. Thankfully, she wasn’t finished: “But I have to say I love reading Toy World.” It’s lovely to hear first-hand that people are enjoying what we do: we’re not big on gimmicks, but we always strive to deliver the most interesting and informative content in print and online, and that ultimately translates into more readers. As we stand on the verge of entering our fifth year of publishing Toy World, it’s nice to know that most people appreciate that content will always be king.

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Peterkin acquires Brookite

Management buyout at Casdon

A management bid to buy Casdon is set to go ahead.

Casdon has reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended offer by Paul Cassidy, chairman of Casdon; Linda, Paul’s wife; Phil Cassidy, joint managing director of Casdon and Peter Cassidy, joint managing director of Casdon.

The Cassidy family currently own 51% of the company and wish to provide shareholders with an opportunity to sell their shares in a single event at a fair price.

Funding to support the bid has been provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate Transations team and directly from Paul Cassidy.

Phil Cassidy commented: “We wanted to return full control of the company to the immediate family.”

Peterkin has announced the acquisition of Brookite.

Nigel Seary, managing director, Peterkin, commented: “The Brookite brand has a fantastic heritage, having been in existence for over 100 years.

We are delighted to take control of the strings and aim to soar to even greater heights for years to come.

There’s a synergy between the two long established family businesses that make this a perfect match.”

Mandy and Nick Harrison of Brookite added: “The decision to sell the business after four generations of family ownership was not easy, but we are thrilled to be handing the Brookite brand to Peterkin, a company whose way doing of business is very much in line with our own.”

Character Group posts record first half performance

Character Group’s revenue increased by 24% over the six month period to end of February. Its revenue in the first half of its new financial year was £58.16 million, against £46.87 million in the comparable 2014 period. Gross profit amounted to £22.08 million, compared to £14.16 million at the half-way point in 2014. The group is reporting a profit before tax in the period under review of £8.53 million; profit before tax for the six months to 28th February 2014 was £3.07 million.

Executive chairman Richard King commented: “I am delighted to be able to report a record performance for the first half of the current financial year. Our market share has continued to rise, reinforcing our position as one of the UK’s leading toy companies.

Overall, we were encouraged by trading in the run up to the crucial 2014 autumn/Christmas season, where we witnessed strong sales at consumer level from across our brands. Pleasingly, this continued through Christmas and assisted us to deliver a strong first half, which was ahead of management expectations.

“Current trading remains very encouraging. We have had a great reception to our product portfolio from both the retailers and media, this follows on from our customers’ reactions to our offer at various trade expos. Therefore, we expect this season’s ranges to deliver in terms of demand and sales at consumer level across both our UK and international markets. With four months to go to complete our financial year, the Board is confident that the Company can deliver another year of solid progress, which will achieve current market expectations for the year ending 31st August 2015.”

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Leicester’s Dominoes Toys shuts up shop

Dominoes Toys has pulled out of the Fenwick department store and closed its online business Toys on Your Screen. The move comes following the decision of company owner Steve Sansom to take early retirement.

Dominoes was once a prominent fixture on Leicester’s High Street, selling toys, games and art and crafts materials to generations of children and families.

The much-loved store closed in late 2013 and was placed into administration.

In February this year, plans were announced to open a store inside Fenwick, in Market Street, taking on a handful of staff. However the store traded for less than three months before the decision was made to pull the plug.

Steve explained: “I was hoping to pass the company on to other people and that has just not worked out. The online business was doing well, but it really is just a case of personal circumstances. Everybody has been very good to us, and I’ve enjoyed the time I have been doing Dominoes.”

Sales are up at K’nex

K’nex has revealed that sales are up 400% in the UK, following a strong spring performance including in excess of 400 TVRs during the Easter period.

Paul Fogarty, K’nex UK managing director, commented: “K-force, our brand new line of buildable, customisable blasters were created to satisfy consumer demand after research revealed thousands of fans were already searching for K’nex blasters. We are confident that this range will be a key growth driver for us in the UK market.

“With its qualities of scale, movement and open-ended creativity, we believe K’nex is uniquely placed to bring genuine innovation to the construction aisle during 2015. This year, all new launches will be supported with kids’ press partnerships and online activity to increase awareness.”

The K’nex Mighty Makers is another new line – offering a fresh approach to construction play for girls with Stem learning experiences brought to life through aviation, horticulture and marine biology themed playsets.

K’nex Beasts Alive is also new and incorporates dinosaur and dragon themed builds with motorised walking and wing movements.

@toyworldmag

newsanalysis Reaching for the stars Emily Ansell Elfer speaks to Star Cutouts’ sales manager James Purcell about the company’s expansion plans and hot licences for 2015.

How did the Star Cutouts adventure start?

Around 2002, Ian Ravey and his brother Colin were both working independently when they had the idea for the company. One of their partners was working at a cinema and complained that the cardboard cutouts were being stolen. Colin was working for Game at the time and found that the same thing happened when cutouts were displayed in the store. That’s when the thought hit him – if people are willing to steal these then surely there’s a business for selling them.

How has 2015 been for you so far?

So far, this year has been absolute madness. It’s been so busy. We are in the middle of massive expansion plan. We now have the unit next-door to our original space in Manchester and we also have another three printing presses coming in. It’s important that we expand the factory to keep up with demand – the printers were working 24/7 over the Christmas period.

Can you tell us a bit about the new additions to your Dreamworks licences?

We started with How to Train Your Dragon and the response was absolutely awesome. We have just launched the Shrek cutout and the Kung Fu Panda with more characters to come. With the new Shrek theme park in London, it’s a popular theme at the moment so we’ve got more characters being designed as we speak.

What makes Star Cutouts a great partner for a licensor?

We’re completely based in Manchester so, unlike companies based abroad, we can print as many or as few items as we need, get them out there and react to the market at the right time rather than working with two months lead time and missing the boat.

When you need confidence and a PRODUCT TESTING service you can trust, let us care for you through supporting your business with our network of worldwide laboratories.

Your industry is our focus Call us for EN 17025/CPSIA accredited Product Testing and Certification of Toys and Textiles.

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Do you have any new launches planned for the next couple of months?

We’ve signed with Hello Kitty and the product should be coming through within the next month or so.

Why should toy retailers consider stocking your products?

What we do really hit me when I was at Toy Fair and a little girl came over and threw her arms round a couple of Peppa Pig cutouts on the stand. It makes you realise that it’s not just a bit piece of cardboard, it’s something that people really invest in and means something to them. A two metre cutout to a Star Wars fan is simply amazing.

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Let’s get creative!

PAUL LAMOND GAMES LIMITED 31 Newington Green, Islington, London N16 9PU Tel: 020 7254 0100 Fax: 020 7254 3400 Web: www.paul-lamond.com

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Alex Brands opens European business

newsanalysis

Alex Brands has announced the opening of its European business operating in the UK. Distribution of Alex Toys, a well-established brand in the USA, is being tranferred from Cuckoo.

Justin Wraight, president of Alex Brands Europe, commented: “It is a very exciting time for the Alex Brands’ European business with over 140 new lines being launched, including some great new concepts like Backyard Safari, as well as items from Alex. I look forward to working with the UK customers and I am very confident that we will continue to build an excellent business together.

“I am also delighted to announce that our logistics partner is Import Services.

Based in Southampton, Import Services is one of the leading toy logistics companies in the UK and, along with significantly enhanced stock levels, I am sure will offer a great service to us and our clients.

“I will be expanding the sales coverage over the coming months to include key accounts and additional field territories. Whilst we will try and reach out to each of the existing Alex Toys clients over the coming weeks, please do not hesitate to contact us if you require additional information.”

Spreading some magic Niamh Sherwin-Barry, co-founder of The Irish Fairy Door Company, offers Toy World an insight into its product offering.

Why should retailers be working with The Irish Fairy Door Company?

The Irish Fairy Door Company offers retailers a fresh new product line unlike any other, which focuses on harnessing magic and the power of belief to enhance creative play. The beautifully hand-crafted wooden Irish Fairy Door itself delivers an imaginative experience children can share with parents, carers and siblings.

IMC Toys backs Club Petz with TV campaign

What makes the doors so special?

From choosing where to install their door, to deciding upon a name for their fairy, children’s imaginations are ignited right away by the high quality wooden doors. In addition, the doors offer families longevity of play: once they’ve registered their fairy’s name on the website, families gain access to a range of play ideas, stories and content direct from Fairy Valley, ensuring the door is far more than simply a decorative item – it’s a portal to a whole new world of activity.

In addition to the doors, what other products do you offer?

With a broad range of accessories also available from The Irish Fairy Door Company, retailers have the perfect opportunity to secure repeat business from families and children who want to enhance their fairy’s home somehow. The accessibly-priced brand extensions include colourful wall decals of trees, toadstools and picket fences, which can be used to create whole environments for the fairy door. There are also fairy-sized welcome doormats, tiny bottles of fairy dust and miniature washing lines with boy or girl fairy clothing. The range even extends into imaginative story books and tooth fairy plates, which make perfect gifts or are at the perfect pricepoint for children to spend their own pocket money on.

IMC Toys launched its biggest ever TV campaign on 25th May across its feature plush range, Club Petz.

Established products in the range include Lucy the Dog (best-selling plush of 2014), Blu Blu the Dolphin, CacaMax and Funny Monkey. New introductions include Kao Kao, an interactive sensor activated koala and Charlie Talkie, a parrot who repeats what you say.

The Club Petz campaigns will kick start IMC Toys’ TV advertisement activity for Q3 and Q4. The company has plans to increase its TV spend by 90% and has outlined plans for multi-channel campaigns. Alongside its TV activity, IMC toys has an integrated marketing strategy including print, social media and online activity.

Managing director Terry Crew commented: “TV advertisements are a hugely important part of our business and a key driver for our future growth. Our 2015 TV plans are representative of our commitment to our products and licences.

I’m confident that these plans will generate strong sales for our retailers and hopefully result in success stories like Lucy the Dog.” The campaign began during the May half-term and runs through to December.

Shop Direct to stop Littlewoods catalogue

Shop Direct has called time on the Littlewoods catalogue after more than 80 years to focus on the online business.

Customers will still be able to make telephone orders and a small brochure showcasing leading products will be available.

Online accounts make up more than 90% of the company’s sales and the catalogue side of the business has already been significantly cut down – just 300,000 copies of the latest catalogue were printed, in contrast to five million five years ago.

Alex Baldock, chief executive, said: “This is a big step in Shop Direct’s transformation and, importantly, it’s one that’s been led by our customers.

They’ve embraced online at a phenomenal pace – this is where they’re browsing and where they’re buying.

“We want to spend in areas that really matter to our customer. We know they want a slick, easy online experience and they want it tailored for them. We’re going to give them what they want.”

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Ravensburger to distribute Brio

Ravensburger will become the new distributor for Brio in the UK and Ireland from 1st July.

An agreement has been reached for the change in distribution arrangements, following Ravensburger’s acquisition of Brio in January.

Marbel has been the exclusive distributor of Brio in the UK and Ireland since 2011 and will continue to stock, distribute and market the product range until 30th June.

Brio, Marbel and Ravensburger say they will work closely together to ensure the smoothest possible transition and Ravensburger will issue further information to all customers in due course.

A statement from Ravensburger said: “We would like to thank Marbel for the successful work they have done in developing the Brio brand in this market and for the professional way in which they are handling the transition. Ravensburger looks forward to growing the Brio brand and business together with all UK customers in the future.”

Magformers unveils new sales team

Magformers has appointed Simon McCrickard and Chris Singleton as national sales managers to work with the newly formed UK company.

Magfomers are super-powerful, magnetic construction toys and come in a range of sets which are suitable for kids from 18 months up to eighteen years. The UK company started trading at the beginning of May and is a subsidiary of the Korean parent company. Global sales in 2014 topped US$ 100 Million (retail value) and are particularly strong in USA. Through Magformers, children can develop their understanding of mathematics and creativity while building whatever they can imagine, from houses, towers, castles, cars, aeroplanes to robots and even animals and flowers.

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newsanalysis Parragon branches out Toy World caught up with Wendy Friedman, president – creative at Parragon, to learn more about the company’s toy offering.

Parragon has been publishing books for over 25 years, what made you enter the toy and gift market?

The retail market and book market are experiencing significant structural shifts and the speed of this change is likely to intensify.

Parragon wants to be at the forefront of adapting to this, which means we need to be innovative with our product offering and in how we get products to consumers with our retail partners.

Broadening our offering enables us to provide retailers with a one-stop solution of dynamic, cross category products that can be merchandised together on shelf.

Can you tell us a bit about your new Kit and Gift division?

Our Kit and Gift teams foster an environment where idea generation and creativity is driven by emerging trends, styles and new technologies across the world. Now over 20 people strong, the teams embrace a collaborative culture, sharing ideas and finding ways to successfully commercialise creativity. Within the next year, we’ll be developing a range of craft kits, gifts and toys that fulfil consumer desire for authenticity, personalisation and customisation. We’re creating multiple new own-brand imprints, such as Professor Murphy’s Emporium of Entertainment, as well as a range of science and technology kits. We will also be looking to extend our existing portfolio of partnerships with leading global licensed brands.

Why should toy buyers partner with Parragon?

Our innovative, multi-platform line of gifts and kits for children go far beyond books. Each of our kits promises to foster creativity through crafts, design, science and technology or enabling creative play. Always inclusive of a book, our kits dive into new crazes emerging for children. These products provide toy retailers with an opportunity to capture sales from children with pocket money to spend, someone looking to buy a present or a parent wanting to buy their child a creative kit that will aid their educational development.

We’re proud of our relationships with brands such as Disney, Marvel, Mattel and Nickelodeon. These relationships enable us to offer retailers compelling products to complement existing popular brands.

What new products can we look forward to in 2015?

Next month will see the launch of our Ultimate Selfie Kit, a trend-driven gift set that taps into the craze of taking selfies.

The set includes a selfie stick, props for pictures and a how-to book. Following the launch of our musical Disney Sweet Dreams Library Carousel last year, we’re introducing two new skus to the range, Disney Frozen and Disney Doc McStuffins. In August, we’re extending our children’s craft kits, with the launch of Smittens and Hat-Tastic. We’re excited to be introducing four new lines to our Happy Tins format, featuring Disney Frozen’s Olaf, Minnie Mouse, Marvel Avengers Assemble and Paw Patrol. We will also be extending our baby and toddler range, Little Learners, with the launch of two Book and Plush gift sets, as well as a Baby Milestones Sticker Gift Set.

Toy World 14

The Irish Fairy Door Company brings its magic to the United Kingdom Parents and children love our magical interactive journey with exclusive weekly stories and play ideas direct from Fairy Valley

Handcrafted in Ireland from sustainable wood.

Suitable for families with boys and girls of all ages.

Discover the whole range at www.theirishfairydoorcompany.com

“The very idea that the magical can bring parent and child together in a play situation is wonderful,” Dr Amanda Gummer, psychologist and founder fundamentallychildren.com.

theirishfairydoorcompany @irishfairydoor

10. – 13.9.2015 Experience diversity, discover new ideas!

A guarantee of diversity for over 50 years: The leading international trade fair for the baby and toddler outtting sector. In addition to plenty of new ideas, you can also look forward to the Kids Design Award 2015. Aspiring young designers present trendsetting design concepts.

Let yourself be inspired – we are looking forward to seeing you! www.kindundjugend.com International Business Media Services 42 Christchurch Road | Ringwood | BH24 3JU | United Kingdom | Tel.: +44 1425 486830 | info@koelnmesse.co.uk

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industry moves experienced and well placed to be the newest member of the Jumbo team.

The Entertainer has appointed Steve Williams as director of logistics, a role which holds full board responsibility for the company’s logistics functions. He will support the company’s continued expansion and oversee the move of the entire distribution operation this summer with the distribution centre set to treble its current capacity.

Jumbo Games has recruited a new sales agent, Dave Glicksman, with a specific remit for London and the South East. Dave has an extensive background in toy and licensed trade sales, which dates back to 1973.

Renowned across the industry, he is

Vivid has promoted Eric Rossi to European managing director, which will see him add the UK and Eire to his current responsibilities for Vivid France/Belgium and Crayola European distribution. Eric has been with Vivid since September 2012, having previously held senior European positions at both Hasbro and Tomy.

100 listed Merlin Group runs theme parks and attractions across all four continents, including Legoland Centres, Sea Life, Alton Towers, Chessington, Thorpe Park, London Eye and Madame Tussauds.

Oliver will oversee UK and Ireland, extending the company’s reach across the marketplace whilst continuing to grow its existing customer-base.

Mattel UK has appointed Simon Price as director of consumer products in the UK and Nordics.

Simon originally worked for Mattel between 2002 and 2004 in the sales team. Most recently, he has been working for Universal Music Group as senior director for digital and new business for the Benelux region.

Sambro has appointed a new sales director, Oliver Williams. Previously, national account manager UK and IE at Wooky, Oliver has worked in the industry for over a decade. At Sambro,

Former Vivid Imaginations director Neil Bandtock has a new assignment as global retail director at Merlin Entertainment Group. The FTSE

Pioneer Europe has announced the appointment of Brett Smith as its new commercial manager. Brett will be responsible for sales team leadership, developing national account relationships, and other general management responsibilities.

Brett joins Pioneer Europe with over 23 years’ experience in retail store operations, marketing and procurement, and field staff management.

Clive Wooster sets up new consultancy

Clive Wooster has set up a new consultancy business, CWC Projects.

Clive has 25 years’ experience in the toy and nursery industry, working across all EMEA territories. Along with proven leadership in change management, launching new brands and company start-ups, he has expertise in coordinating people, places, brands and clients into successful businesses.

Clive commented: “Change and new challenges are a constant in any business and the toy and nursery industry is no exception. Having the right experience and expertise in place at the right time is important and CWC Projects has been set up to provide that service. We are able to supply expertise in sales, marketing and general management; interim management; organisational re-structuring; company start- ups in UK and Europe; sales and management training and strategic planning and commercial strategy.”

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marketing world The toy trade’s no.1 resource for marketing news and opinion

Lego launches ground-breaking Kronkiwongi campaign Lego has teamed up with Facebook on a new social media campaign which is designed to encourage and celebrate creativity in children around the world.

What happens when you ask a child to build something which essentially doesn’t exist? This simple but fascinating premise is the basis for a new social media campaign which Lego has launched. It’s the latest in a long line of marketing initiatives from Lego which seek to push creative boundaries and engage consumers by focusing on the very essence of the Lego brand: pure creativity.

The word Kronkiwongi was chosen precisely because it bears no resemblance to anything in the real world: no definition can be found online or in a dictionary. It can mean whatever a child wants it to mean: there is no right and wrong. There are no instructions or suggestions – the campaign message simply asks parents ‘what does your child’s Kronkiwongi look like?’ and leaves the rest to them.

The four week campaign launched on Facebook and the first three weeks content consisted of pre-shot videos featuring children who have been asked to make a Kronkiwongi. The fourth week of the campaign featured usergenerated content from around the world.

Lars Silberbauer, Lego’s global director of social media and search marketing, commented: “We filmed these kids in their own home, and the results are fantastic – you simply can’t script this stuff.”

Scrabble sponsors adventurer James Ketchell

Schleich to appear at Mark Warner holiday clubs this summer

Scrabble is sponsoring James Ketchell as he attempts to beat the current record of rowing 3,600 miles across the Indian Ocean within 85 days.

James began rowing alongside epilepsy sufferer Ashley Wilson on 9th May to raise money for the Young Epilepsy, Elifar Foundation and Scouts charities. During the row, the pair will be playing Scrabble for entertainment.

James commented: “As a keen Scrabble player, I am looking forward to testing my wordsmith skills against Ash as we embark on this epic challenge. The challenge is not only physical, but also about mental strength so Scrabble is a great way to ensure we keep our minds active and focused whilst at sea.”

When holidaying at Mark Warner’s resorts this summer, children from three years will be able to benefit from Schleich’s wild life and prehistoric figurines in its play areas.

Following a decision by the group to include Schleich toys in five of its play areas, children will be able to explore their imaginations whilst creating their own prehistoric and underwater adventures with the dinosaur and ocean themed sets. The decision takes effect immediately, with regular refreshing of themes within the children’s clubs taking place throughout the summer.

Laura Bull, marketing manager, Schleich UK, said: “The team at Schleich is delighted by the news that its core figurines have been chosen by the Mark Warner Group as a part of its children’s club this summer. The demographic is perfect for our products and the groups’ ethos in creating the perfect environment for families on their holidays is a great match for our brand.

“Access to the toys will not only mean that imaginative play at its purest will be available for the children, but it will also add to the awareness of the brand at a time when children are enjoying their family holidays.”

Character launches national Cra-Z-Sand sandcastle campaign Characters Options has launched a search for the young sandcastle builder of the year in celebration of its new sand play brand, Cra-Z-Sand.

The competition opens in time for half term and will run throughout the summer holidays, culminating in one young beach goer being named the Cra-Z-Sand-Castle Artist of the Year.

The campaign comes off the back of a strong spring launch for Cra-Z-Sand with good opening sales figures already reported. The brand has many playsets and price points of the compound that can be moulded without the need for water, and appears to come to life in children’s hands.

Mark Hunt, marketing manager, commented: “We are delighted with the early success of our Cra-ZSand brand. Our TV advertising ensured the brand got off to a great start and will continue through the coming weeks. Added to this is the positive response we have had from the influential mummy blogging community. Now with the launch of our sandcastle competition, which will be promoted all summer long through UKMums.TV, we hope to gain further brand awareness whilst looking forward to seeing the creativity of the children and their parents who are taking their family holidays to the beach.

“For retailers however, the support does not end there as we also have full POS support with a stunning FSDU that will make great impact in store.”

Toy World 18

ToyTrust It’s a sporting few weeks ahead for The Toy Trust which will help work off the excess pounds gained during the first ever Toy Trust Big Cake Bake last month. Read on to see what’s in store for June!

Are you ready for The Big Thames Challenge

With just days to go to the Big Thames Challenge, here’s a last minute run down of what’s happening when and where.

The 300 people taking part will assemble at the SPECIAL KIDS...GOING PLACES! Crowne Plaza in Marlow on Saturday 6th of June, where they will endeavour to complete a 74km bike ride to Oxford through a mixed terrain, a run 6th JUNE 2015 of 20Km, a walk of 20km or a 10km family walk.

For all the runners, riders and walkers there will be one common objective, to raise funds for three deserving children’s charities under one umbrella – Special Kids Going Places. The event has moved this year after being a bike ride on the Isle of Wight and before that a hike up the famous Three Peaks. The new central location has opened up the challenge to more toy industry colleagues than ever before. The route maps are now published so if you want to cheer them on along the way go to www.btha.co.uk/toy-trust/fundraising/ for more information.

BIG THAMES CHALLENGE

For those who have followed or taken part in the summer challenge over the last few years, here are some facts that you probably didn’t know.

This is the fourth annual toy trust challenge - in that time: • • • •

573 participants have taken part in the past three years 39,042 miles have been ridden or walked 405 mountains or 266 vertical miles have been climbed (enough to enter low earth orbit twice!)

A total of £468,000 has been raised for our nominated Big Challenge charities

Diary of events

Kicking off 6 weeks of sports for the industry

Toy Trust Golf Day 28th May

Big Thames Challenge 6th June 2015

Hasbro Football and Netball Tournament 3rd July 2015 Contact Matt@btha.co.uk for details of the events

The Big Thames Challenge – Interview with one of the triathletes

This summer’s challenge has been open for all who want to join in and help raise funds for the Toy Trust, but this year a separate event will test even the best amongst them: The Triathlon, a gruelling 1500m swim, 49km bike ride and 10K, run. With almost 20 industry professionals taking part, here’s some insight as to why one of them, Hasbro brand manager Andrew Brown, is taking on this mega challenge.

Specialist sport: - Sailing, Cycling and rowing.

Since 2010 you’ve undertaken Toy Trust endeavours such as your record breaking solo row across the Atlantic, but why do think the annual challenge is such an important part of the industry?

There are two elements to this; internally within each company and externally when everyone comes together on the day.

Internally there’s always a great buzz around the impending event, concerning both the physical challenge of getting round the course and the challenge of trying to beat the previous year’s fundraising total. Be it head shaving, leg waxing, cakes sales, car washes or movie screenings there’s a sequence of fun events that get everyone, outside of those actually doing the challenge, behind the team’s efforts.

The day itself is great fun with an amazing atmosphere. Events like these are a wonderful leveller; everyone is there to tackle their own challenge and is experiencing the same nerves and excitement. The result of these mutual emotions is an incredible camaraderie, with people helping and encouraging each other, both in their own teams and others they meet on their way. We work

in a fiercely competitive industry, but on this occasion we all come together with a focus for others, particularly for children. The combined power of this and the cash that is raised through the event is incredible.

From the three disciplines – which are you fearing most?

Running and Swimming equally Have you set yourself a target time?

Yes but do I have to share it? I would like to do the swim in under 30 mins, the cycle in under 1hr 15 and the run in under 50 mins What training will you be doing in the month leading up to the challenge?

Running wise, we have a work charity running club set up in preparation for the Toy Trust, so have been doing 2, 5km runs each week with them, and then a longer 10-12km run on the weekends. For swimming I’ll be attempting to swim at least 1km three times a week and then a longer swim on the weekends and then finally for the ride, I’m planning on cycling in to work once a week, which is a 60km round trip.

The Toy Trust thanks and wishes luck to everyone taking part in the Big Thames Challenge and encourages the entire industry to get behind them with sponsorship of the teams.

Toy World 19

licensing world The toy trade’s no.1 resource for licensing news and opinion

Posh Paws releases Tsum Tsum character collections

Disney Tsum Tsums is the latest craze in collectible toys for tweens and Posh Paws is releasing Tsum Tsum character collections throughout this year and into 2016.

Tsum Tsums are small round plush toys of Disney’s most beloved characters and are designed to be stackable, so fans can build up their collections.

Tsum Tsum comes from a smart-phone gaming app that was originally launched in Japan but is now available around the world.

Posh Paws will release Tsum Tsum Series 1 and 2 to all retailers this July and characters include Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Marie, Donald, Stitch, Lady, Dumbo, Goofy, Pluto, Piglet and Eeyore. There will also be a variety of sizes available and more characters released in September and November.

Lauren Hayward, group brand manager at Posh Paws, commented: “You just have to look at the product and you know that Tsum Tsum is going to be a hugely successful collectible for fans of all ages. We’re delighted to be working with Disney on this exciting new property. The Tsum Tsum range is an exciting, fun offering for consumers and we cannot wait to bring more characters to the market.”

Star Cutouts extends licensed range

Star Cutouts has announced it has launched new additions to its Dreamworks licences, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda’s Po Ping, with life-sized cardboard cut outs.

With the success of the Shrek musical, an ongoing tour planned until February 2016, the opening of the Shrek Adventure in London and the new Puss in Boots series, popularity surrounding the licence has grown. New Shrek characters are also launching soon.

Kung Fu Panda’s Po Ping has also been added to the company’s growing Dreamworks range ahead of the new film scheduled for release in 2016.

Hamleys unveils Lego X-Wing

Hamleys celebrated official Star Wars Day, 4th May, by launching the UK’s first sit-on Lego X-Wing Starfighter. Visitors to the London store over the bank holiday weekend had the chance to sit in the cockpit of the structure, which was made from 100,000 Lego bricks.

The model took a team of four professional Lego builders one whole month to build. It is the UK’s only Lego X-Wing.

Robert Phillips, of professional Lego builders Bright Bricks, said: “It was a tough but enjoyable build. We were worried whether we’d finish, but the force was strong with us and we are very pleased with the Lego X-Wing.”

Hamleys’ marketing and events manager Francesca Francois added: “This is a very exciting year for Star Wars fans and we are delighted to have had such a fantastic Lego model added to our collection.”

The new Lego Star Wars collection is available now nationwide.

Kidicraft launches National Geographic stationery Kidicraft has been granted the exclusive distribution rights to the National Geographic range of lenticular 3D stationery and puzzles within the UK and Republic of Ireland.

This collection ranges from playing cards to puzzles and bookmarks to stationery kits.

Each item is printed in lenticular 3D, giving depth and detail to every image.

An array of images have been used within the collection, covering everything from sharks to giant pandas.

Director Roy Greenwood commented: “National Geographic is a licence that almost everyone recognises and we are very excited to announce the launch.”

Kidicraft will have full stock availability in September with pre-orders for the range now being taken.

Licensing World 20

licensingworld Maps Toys and Radz ink Shopkins deal

Cartamundi launches Frozen tri-pack game

Cartamundi has announced the launch of Frozen tri-pack, a three-in-one pack of card games inspired by the hit Disney film.

The game was released following the demand for last year’s Frozen two-inone game and the continuing popularity of the film. It will contain a Happy Families game, a Mega Memo game and a specially designed Frozen action game.

The tri-pack will be housed in a triple tuckbox format, will include artwork featuring the leading characters and is expected to enjoy a strong retail performance in the run-up to Christmas due to the success of the film and popularity of the DVD. Cartamundi has also produced a version of Frozen for its digitally enhanced Shuffle range. It’s a matching game in which the app for Shuffle Frozen helps the user to count crystals.

Trudi Bishop, head of marketing and licensing, Cartamundi, said: “The continuing appeal of one of the best-loved and most successful animated films ever has sustained a strong and continuing demand for new product to follow the success of our two-in-one game. With Frozen tri-pack and Frozen Shuffle we have captured the magic of the film in two wonderful new formats.”

Maps Toys and Radz have signed a licensing deal with Moose Toys to create a new Shopkins line. The new partnership will see Maps introduce a new range of Shopkins Radz. The collectible toys and fashion accessories are based on the Shopkins characters.

The new range aims to encourage repeat purchases so children can collect every character. There are multiple CDU possibilities and a clip enables each character to be attached to bags, clothing and keychains.

Dirk Kiefer, MD at Maps Toys, commented: “As a company we have been looking to expand our portfolio into licensed ranges for a while. The Shopkins licence is growing from strength to strength with some great companies on board. We are excited about creating a range that fans will love and one that offers retailers the opportunity to extend their range.

There will be various ways in which retailers can display stock in store to maximise sales.”

Panini football stickers are coming home

Hornby on track with Thomas for 2015

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Hornby are teaming up to re-launch a classic collection of train sets, locomotives and rolling stock designed to introduce budding train enthusiasts to the world of Thomas and providing a starting platform for young Hornby collectors.

The Thomas the Tank Engine set comes complete with classic Thomas, Annie, Clarabel and an oval electric track.

Percy and The Mail Train includes Percy, an operating mail coach, red vent van and an oval electric track.

The Hornby Thomas the Tank Engine range will be available in time for Christmas.

The Football Association has confirmed a new four-year deal with Panini meaning the England team will complete the company’s set of national federations.

The team will feature in a range of products sold across the world, featuring global stars such as Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere.

The first collectible series, following the team on their quest to qualify for UEFA Euro 2016 in France, will be distributed globally.

Although traditional football stickers and trading cards will form the basis of this partnership, Panini’s expansion in other product areas will bring additional merchandise, including 3D collectibles, digital and multi-media format collections.

The FA and Panini will offer experiences for collectors, creating a swap shop in the family enclosure of Wembley Stadium where fans can complete their collections, and experience the latest Panini products.

Peter Warsop, group licensing director, said: “Panini is delighted to be back working with The FA. Panini is dedicated to its collectors and their aspirations to get authentic and official products; The FA agreement completes an important piece of the jigsaw as well as the official tournament rights for events such as Euro 2016. England joins other Federations to ensure 100% authenticity. Our first endeavours to bring official FA content to fans will be seen shortly in our introductory Adrenalyn XL trading card game, The Road to Euro. Panini is also using England Team assets within its official FIFA Women’s World Cup sticker album to be launched in May.”

Licensing World 22

Feature

I

Licensing Expo Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas

n a matter of days, the global licensing community will be heading to Las Vegas for Licensing Expo, the largest licensing show in the world. A healthy sprinkling of licensees and retailers from UK traditionally attend at the show, and Toy World will be present too, seeking out the latest hot properties which will be vying for attention over the coming months.

Over the next few pages, we round-up a selection of licensors which will be exhibiting and the properties they’ll be focusing on at this year’s event.

This year’s show runs for three days (9th-11th June), however presentations and meetings start on Monday 8th, the day before Licensing Expo officially opens.

Over 400 exhibitors occupy booths on the show floor, from global giants of the licensing world through to companies offering some of the most unusual and offbeat properties for sale that you’re ever likely to

encounter. In addition, numerous licensing representatives from across the globe conduct meetings in coffee bars and restaurants throughout the Mandalay Bay complex, and the networking opportunities continue long into the night.

The selection of properties over the next few pages will hopefully give you a flavour of what can be seen at the show, but from previous experience, a number of brand new licences are kept under wraps until the exhibition opens, and others will emerge as ‘ones to watch’ over the course of the week. So for an eye-witness report of what’s happening at Licensing Expo 2015, visit the Toy World website (www.toyworldmag.co.uk) from 10th June to read John Baulch’s daily blog from the show. In

the meantime, Toy World presents a round-up of some of the key licenses of interest to the UK toy and kids’ licensing community....

Warner Bros.

Sega Europe

Stand N139

Stand F147

Sega is looking to build on a strong start to the licensing programme for Sonic Boom. The television series has already successfully debuted on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on Canal J and Gulli in France in November 2014, and will be arriving on screens across EMEA this summer.

The series is an ensemble comedy consisting of 52 x 11-minute standalone episodes, packed full of high-adrenaline action.

The new Sonic Boom master toy line from Tomy has enjoyed a strong launch in France and the US, and will roll out across the rest of EMEA this summer. The toys will embody the real essence of Sonic: speed, action and comedic characteristics.

In addition, Winning Moves will be launching Sonic Boom Top Trumps and Monopoly games this autumn. For apparel, Sega has announced it is working with TVM Fashion Lab to launch a range of adults and children’s t-shirts for the UK market, the first of which will be available in Tesco stores this summer. Sega has also signed a deal with Oceania Trading to bring a range of Sonic Boom branded children’s headphones and speakers to market. The range will launch this autumn across UK and Eire.

With more than 3,700 active licensees, Warner Bros.

Consumer Products continues to offer a rich portfolio of entertainment properties.

The DC Comics universe leads the charge with support for the highly anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is set for release on 25th March, 2016. All-new animated content entitled Batman Unlimited, inspired

by Mattel’s new Batman toy line, will see support from master toy partner Mattel, Rubies and more. Pre-school partner Fisher-Price will expand its successful Imaginext DC Super Friends toy line as new animated content is announced in support of the brand.

DC Super Hero Girls, the new girl-targeted Super Hero universe in partnership with Mattel, is set to take the girls space by storm when it launches in the autumn of 2015. Starring the female Super Heroes and Super-Villains of DC Comics, this initiative will include digital content and TV specials, while made-for-videos, publishing, toys, apparel and other products will begin to rollout in 2016.

Currently in production as part of an expanded creative partnership between Warner Bros. Entertainment and J.K. Rowling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first in a new film series from Rowling’s world of witches and wizards, inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook.

Scooby-Doo is building excitement at retail with support from Lego, featuring Scooby-Doo and the Gang in five new sets and in never-before-seen animated content in Lego form.

Toy World 23

touchingbase

Sponsored by

That’s show business In this month’s edition of Touching Base, Emily Ansell Elfer speaks to companies attending the Las Vegas Licensing Expo about the key opportunities at this year’s show.

Outfit7 Iza Login

Talking Tom and Friends is our lead property and the brand we’ll be showcasing to new and existing partners at this year’s Licensing Expo. Talking Tom and Friends has a unique licensing proposition: the lovable 3D characters were born in the app space and have now permeated through a multitude of entertainment channels, including a recently launched CGI animated series, a global licensing and merchandising program and a chart-topping sensation on YouTube.

We launched our 3D animated series Talking Tom and Friends on 30th April on the YouTube kids app and TalkingTomandFriends.com. The series follows the adventures and hijinks of the optimistic gang as they make their own reality TV show from the (relative) comfort of Tom’s garage-turned-app studio. We are very excited to introduce a new character to the series: Hank, played by Tom Kenny of SpongeBob Squarepants fame.

The show fully fleshes out the characters, showing off each distinct personality, which we feel adds much greater licensing potential for the brand. The show also offers fans a new way to engage with the property like never before. It’s a really exciting time for Talking Tom and Friends and we’re looking forward to sharing our latest developments with partners and potential partners in Vegas.

The licensing business is an established and mature business. In the past, licensees had a better idea of the lifecycle of a new IP property coming to the market.

Now, with the development of new technologies, especially digital IP, everything is turned around. There are so many platforms and channels; and so much competition. A new IP can be on the market in a few months, and can disappear just as fast. So licensors have to do a lot to make sure their properties are not just a flash in the pan and grow strategically. Not only that, but we must be able to communicate that to licensees and show that we are there to support our properties. It does appear though that things are starting to bounce back a bit and manufacturers are again looking for new properties.

Talking Tom and Friends has been on the market for five years now, and the brand’s popularity is still on the rise. With 2.6 billion downloads, 250 million monthly active users and an animated series launch (with 52x11 planned); we are confident that this is the right time to start to really focus on also building our consumer products business.

Aardman

Nickelodeon

Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit, and Morph are our flagship properties.

However It’s also Aardman’s 40th anniversary in 2016, so we’ll be happy to discuss opportunities across our whole back catalogue at the show.

Shaun the Sheep the Movie has its North American theatrical debut on 7th August via Lionsgate. With the 130 episodes that are broadcast through Amazon Prime, this gives us a good platform to build a merchandise programme for the US Market. We’ll also be looking to build on the strong movie success around the world as we develop or open new markets.

We have a variety of key properties for the show this year. The evergreen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will feature along with the ever-important SpongeBob SquarePants. Our pre-school offering has never been more robust with properties including Dora and Friends, Paw Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines and Lily’s Driftwood Bay. The main opportunity for us at the show is to meet with key UK licensees and retailers to share news about the brands, our research, our plans, our successes and focus and what this means for them.

At the show, we meet to build the ongoing strategies for brands and products, look at new ranges for existing brands as well as the possibilities surrounding new brand launches.

It is great to also see the new brands and the excitement in the industry across the globe with other exhibitors showcasing their new ranges and products.

Competition is always fierce for licensors and shelf space is getting harder to win and retain.

Investing in defining points of difference for retailers and demonstrating the value and reach of our properties across multiple touch points is key.

Rob Goodchild

Marianne James

Toy World 24

AT BOOTH O145

To make an appointment please contact:- product.licensing@bbc.co.uk

Doctor Who logo © 2009 and TM BBC. Licensed by BBC WW Ltd.

COME AND SEE US

Cartoon Network Enterprises, Turner

Sega

Jason Rice This year’s Licensing Expo will see Sega showcasing the continued extension of its most iconic brand, Sonic The Hedgehog, with its new CG series Sonic Boom. Already a ratings winner in the US and France, Sonic Boom is set to roll out this year across international broadcasters in key markets supported by master toy partner Tomy. The full breadth of the Sega portfolio, including our Sega retro collection and Football Manager, will also be presented during the Licensing Expo. We are looking forward to exploring opportunities with our international partners.

Licensing Expo presents us with a great opportunity to showcase our IPs to an international audience across all sectors: manufacturers, distributors, retailers and agents. It’s the one event in the calendar which gives us a global platform to explore new business across multiple product categories in established and emerging markets. We are always on the lookout for new partnerships, product innovations and ground breaking ways to extend our IPs further. Licensing Expo is a great event for us to fully explore these types of opportunities.

The market is dominated by a handful of very powerful brand owners who dominate retail space. In a time where retailers in many key markets are consolidating and reducing the number of licences they support, it is harder than ever to attain a depth and breadth of retail support across the key categories.

Johanne Broadfield

Cartoon Network Enterprises will be showcasing Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, Mixels and also new IP. There are also some big global reveals in the pipeline that will be unveiled at the show.

The one key opportunity at the show for us is scale. International Licensing Expo is a prime opportunity to showcase our portfolio of properties to retailers and licensees from right around the world.

Specifically, we’ll be using Licensing Expo to highlight the momentum behind Adventure Time and lay out our plans for the rest of 2015 and 2016. The Amazing World of Gumball continues to delight our global audiences as a top rating show – we’ll be sharing updates on the licensing programme and looking to build further on that across all regions. Powerpuff Girls is a top global priority for Cartoon Network – we’ll be revealing updates at the show, with more to follow at Brand Licensing Europe in October. We will also be presenting new IP to the industry.

The biggest challenge in licensing at the moment is also the biggest opportunity (and it’s not the economy) – it’s understanding brand engagement.

The new generation of kids is hardwired for choice and control. Only the most engaging and discoverable brands will win in that space.

BBC Worldwide

Rovio Entertainment

We’re launching the brand new property Hey Duggee, the hit new children’s show from the CBeebies channel, complemented by a beautifully designed range of toys from our UK Master Toy Licensee Golden Bear. Of course our established Global brands Doctor Who, Sherlock, BBC Earth and Top Gear will also be a main focus.

Vegas is the place where licensors and licensees from around the world come together – this makes for an exciting and commercially rewarding week. It’s an opportunity to talk market trends, network with key influencers and forge new partnerships.

It’s a tough market, but we’re lucky we have such fabulous content, that our viewing audiences engage with. Well-loved and well known, established TV shows, like Doctor Who, or brand new offerings like Hey Duggee. Doctor Who merchandise continues to sell strongly across many regions and we have some brand new global partnerships which we anticipate will encourage deeper engagement and bring even more fans into the franchise.

The Angry Birds movie will lead our presentation slate for Expo. It’s the first full-length feature from the Angry Birds franchise set for release in May 2016. Rovio Entertainment is heading up the production and Sony Pictures Entertainment is on board to expertly manage all film distribution and marketing. It’s a seminal moment in our company’s history as we transition towards our ambition of being a fully-fledged entertainment company with gaming at its heart.

Licensing Expo provides us with an opportunity to showcase the Angry Birds franchise to the global licensing community. It’s a great opportunity to connect with the world’s best retailers and licensees and to educate the industry on the depth of the Angry Birds franchise and the constant developments coming from within Rovio Entertainment.

One of the biggest and most exciting challenges for licensors is understanding the ever-changing digital space and using it effectively to develop products and connect with consumers.

Clare Piggott

Naz Cuevas

WORKING TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN

Leading The Way In Toy Safety & Quality • PRODUCT TESTING • QUALITY INSPECTIONS • MANUFACTURING AUDITS • DESIGN EVALUATIONS • CHEMICAL SAFETY ASSESSMENTS • ADVISORY SERVICES W: ul.com/toys

E: qaenquiries@ul.com

T: 0118 927 3340

Toy World 26

FOR LICENSING QUERIES, PLEASE CONTACT: US, CANADA & LATIN AMERICA: René Flores Email: rene.flores@sega.com Tel: +1 415 701 3935

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: Jason Rice Email: jason.rice@sega.com Tel: +44 (0) 208 996 4568

REST OF WORLD: Yukari Takeuchi Email: yukari.takeuchi@sega.com Tel: +81 3 6871 7122

www.sonicthehedgehog.com @sonic_hedgehog /sonic

© SEGA / OuiDo ! Productions.

SB_TW_SP_240x315_V4.indd 1

21/04/2015 08:49

Licensing Expo Las Vegas

DreamWorks

BBC

Stand S155

Stand O145

Launched in January 2015, CBeebies show Hey Duggee has quickly become one of the highest rating pre-school shows on the channel, consistently winning its timeslot and achieving 6m BBC iPlayer views so far this year. The show is based around The Squirrel Club, a children’s playgroup run by a big friendly dog called Duggee, where the children have adventures and earn badges for their accomplishments. Master toy licensee Golden Bear will be launching a TV advertised range of plush and plastics for Hey Duggee including Woof Woof Duggee, the Soft Toy Talking Squirrels and the Squirrel Club Playset. Penguin Books will launch a companion publishing range for summer and Immediate Media will be launching a Hey Duggee magazine this autumn.

Doctor Who continues to be a key property for the BBC, following the successful launch of series 8 on BBC One and the arrival of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, which attracted more than 9.2 million viewers, making it the biggest launch episode since 2010. Series 9 sees the return of the Doctor to screens later this year, making 2015 an exciting year for Doctor Who. Master toy licensee Character Options will be introducing new additions including the Hovering Dalek, Cyber Attack Sonic Blast Game and Walking Talking Cyberman. New products will also be launched by Zeon, Funko and Vibe, as well as publishing companies Panini and Titan. This autumn will also see the arrival of the hotly anticipated Doctor Who Lego range, with sets arriving in stores around the globe in the run-up to Christmas.

The 2015 Sherlock product range includes vinyl figures from Titan and a range of bedding from DreamTex, while Underground Toys will be launching a gifting range into the UK and US with Sherlock action, mini and plush figures, as well as bobble heads.

The BAFTA award-winning Something Special increases product lines and licensees for 2015 after a successful 2014 and the brand’s inclusion at the recently launched CBeebies Land at Alton Towers.

Golden Bear has already experienced great success with the Mr Tumble Talking Plush in 2014, with over 200,000 sold to date, a 44% uplift on last year. Golden Bear TV advertised a selection of products from its Mr Tumble range in March, and it will be repeating the exercise in the run-up to Christmas. New product lines and licensees for 2015 include HTI for Move and Groove scooters, quad skates, bikes and balance bikes. Other new arrivals include books from Egmont, an electronic learning aid from KD Group, homewares from Zak and partywear, bags and stationery from BBC Worldwide’s DSP team.

Popular CBeebies show Sarah & Duck’s merchandise line features plush toys from Posh Paws, a planner from Carousel Calendars, with further BBC DVDs and a CBeebies Special Magazine from Immediate Media to follow later this year. New bedroom decoration lines from Legends Wall Art, and bedding from Dreamtex will hit retail this autumn.

DreamWorks Animation offers a broad portfolio of new and classic properties for film, television and online across multiple categories.

Highlighted properties include the upcoming Trolls and DinoTrux, as well as DreamWorks Dragons, Kung Fu Panda and Voltron. DreamWorks Classics will continue to engage fans with initiatives around Felix, Noddy, Lassie, and Waldo. Franchise favorites Shrek and Madagascar, along with the recent smash hit Home, will also be on show. 2015 will also see the debut of AwesomenessTV as a standalone presence on the show floor. The multi-platform media company continues to captivate an enormous audience with short and long form content, led by an ever-expanding roster of incredible talent.

Zodiak Kids Stand W186

Brand new comedy-adventure pre-school show Floogals will be making its debut. The 52 x 11 minute series is set to launch in the USA in early 2016.

Floogals is a combination of photo real CGI and live-action which follows the adventures of three aliens who’ve landed on Earth, where everything is fascinating to them - from ice cubes to bubble baths, birthday cakes to rabbits, garden hoses, trumpets and escaped hamsters.

The aliens send back daily reports to their planet Floog on what they’ve discovered. Through the daily missions of the aliens, children will gain a greater understanding of the world around them just as they are learning about the world and how it works themselves, with a hearty helping of humour along the way.

Rovio Stand C121

With over 2.8 billion downloads, Angry Birds continues to celebrate its position as the most downloaded game of all time.

The first full-length movie from the Angry Birds franchise, which hit the big screens in May, marks a significant stride towards Rovio’s ambition of being an all-encompassing entertainment company for modern times with games at its heart. A raft of licensing partners have already signed up to the movie-licensing programme for the UK, including Aykroyds/TDP, Fashion UK, VMC Accessories, Spearmark, Character World, Roy Lowe & Sons and Grosvenor, with additional partners to be announced in the run up to the show.

Through its commitment to engaging with its fans through physical, digital, physical-digi products and interesting partnerships, Rovio also boasts one of entertainment industry’s most engaged audiences with 170 million active monthly users across all platforms. The content pipeline is bolstered by the release of new game genres including Puzzle Match 3: Jolly Jam and Stella Pop.

Toy World 28

Licensing Expo Las Vegas

Discovery

Aardman

Stand S187

Stand N194

Aardman has enjoyed a successful start to the year with the Shaun the Sheep the Movie launching in spring to widespread acclaim, achieving a strong box office performance and four and five star reviews across the board.

The TV show, now in production on its fifth series, is already successful on kids’ channels in 170 territories. There is also a brand new 30 minute special in production, which is set to premiere at Christmas.

The brand continues to expand its portfolio of live events and attractions, with the Shaun in the City charity arts trail set to be a summer highlight in the UK. Similar art exhibitions are planned for China and Japan later in 2015 and early 2016.

As the movie opens across the world and with the much anticipated US release imminent, Aardman continues to develop an international licensing programme for the property across a host of core categories and the company is planning to present new product opportunities and style themes for 20152016 and beyond at Licensing Expo.

Aardman is also looking forward to celebrating its 40 year anniversary next year and the studio is planning a host of special events, exhibitions and commemorative merchandise ranges to mark the occasion.

Discovery Kids is looking for new licensing partners to deliver products that are fun, enriching and interactive, while encouraging real world discovery and adventure.

Targeting kids ages 6-12, the brand is looking to expand across the toy, interactive games, youth electronics, outdoor activity, apparel and publishing categories.

Animal Planet encourages consumers to explore their connection to the animal world, and Animal Planet toy lines continue to enjoy success around the globe. A recently renewed partnership with Toys “R” Us in North America sees the Animal Planet toy line featured across a 20 ft. space at Toys “R” Us stores. Last year, the partnership expanded to Australia and continues to grow worldwide. Initially launched in Asia in 2013, a partnership with Mojo for Animal Planet figurines has expanded to Europe this year. New for 2015, Animal Planet and Mojo will introduce a line of miniature collectible figurines, as well as new skus representing the mystical genre such as dragons and dinosaurs.

ITV Studios Stand A121

Thunderbirds Are Go, the highly anticipated new boys’ action adventure series, will spearhead this year’s presentation slate which will also feature Classic Thunderbirds, iconic toy property Playmobil and the new “inspired by Playmobil” kids’ TV series Super 4.

Thunderbirds Are Go is the ground-breaking remake of the classic 1960s TV series. The new show, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Classic Thunderbirds later this year, is produced using a unique cutting-edge blend of CG animation and live-action miniatures. The series successfully debuted on TV screens in the UK at the beginning of April and has international broadcast partners secured in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Middle East.

ITV is making significant strides in bringing the Thunderbirds Are Go franchise to a new generation of children aged 5-11 years and to new international audiences. The brand has already secured an extensive raft of licensing partners in the UK and with products poised to launch at retail from Q3 2015, the licensing programme for the series spans all major categories including toys, publishing, digital, apparel accessories, wheeled, health and beauty, nightwear and homeware.

eOne Stand H139

eOne continues to accelerate the international expansion of its preschool entertainment property, Peppa Pig. Merchandise has recently launched in France and Germany in addition to Russia, and South East Asia, where the TV show is attracting strong ratings. In the US, the property is poised for the roll out of Peppa merchandise at retailers including Walmart and Target for the first time, as well as new product categories from a host of new licensees. Peppa Pig is now on track to exceed $1billion in retail sales worldwide in 2015.

With over 65 licensees globally, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom is also gaining momentum in a number of international territories. The property expanded in the UK last year following a brand refresh and the addition of new master toy partner. Spain now has a successful consumer products programme and there are early signs of commercial success in Australia. eOne will also showcase pan-European licensing opportunities for the upcoming DreamWorks Studios film, The BFG. Adapted from Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book and directed by Steven Spielberg, The BFG movie is set for release in summer 2016.

Toy World 30

animated series

Licensing Expo Las Vegas

Nickelodeon Stand O133

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues to perform strongly, with the commercial success of the core toy line resonating through to launches of other categories.

With the success of products based on the TV series, along with the demand for the comic, retrolook and the most recent incarnation of the property, The Half-Shell Heroes, the Turtles have turned retail green. A second theatrical film is in production with new, exciting partnerships to be announced in due course.

SpongeBob SquarePants is another core property which is enjoying an upswing following high fashion partnerships and launches. The Beatrix Ong collection launches at Collette this summer and sets the tone for soon to be announced apparel partnerships. There will also be further launches across all categories in the coming months. Spongebob has enjoyed a major increase in toy sales over the past year and the property now has across the board toy listings in the UK, including the major grocery accounts.

Nickelodeon will also be showcasing its extensive range of pre-school properties, including Dora and Friends, the hugely popular Paw Patrol and the new STEM-inspired Blaze and the Monster Machines. The charming Lily’s Driftwood Bay completes the pre-school portfolio: the imaginative animated series has given rise to a style guide geared towards classic toys, homeware and preschool apparel. Nickelodeon will be announcing the first licensing partners for the property shortly.

Outfit 7 Stand B147

Outfit 7 will be highlighting Talking Tom and Friends - a new animated series featuring an all-star voice cast led by Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Colin Hanks (Fargo) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants). The 3D animated series will debut this spring on the brand’s dedicated YouTube channel, as well as airing on the YouTube Kids app. There are plans for the show to roll out on various platforms by the end of the year, including TV, VOD and home entertainment. The franchise also boasts 2.5 billion downloads across its 15 family-friendly apps, a production deal for a full-length feature film and supporting global licensing and merchandise programme.

Outfit7 will be seeking innovative new local and global partners across various categories to develop the brand’s licensing programme, in order to gain greater retail presence across the world. Currently, Outfit7’s licensing programme has over 40 global licensees.

Saban Brands Stand A98

Pokémon Stand R197

Pokémon has become a global brand bolstered by TV and movie animations, a trading card game and numerous licensed products. Massive boosts for the brand came with the global launch of new video games for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems in 2013 and 2014. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y have sold over 13 million copies since October 2013, while Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire have sold more than 9 million units since the games’ launch in November 2014.These releases have been supported by cross-category advertising campaigns, showcasing the trading card game and the video games which inspired them.

Commercial successes have been coupled with the growth of a comprehensive slate of new European licensees across a variety of categories, including confectionery, apparel and footwear, stationery and posters and video game accessories. These new deals have complemented The Pokémon Company International’s existing slate of licensees, including master toy partner Tomy and Winning Moves for board games.

Looking to the future, 2016 will see the Pokémon brand celebrating a significant milestone in the history of the brand as it reaches 20 years since it was first launched. The company is excited by the business opportunities that this special year presents to potential licensees and promotional partners in Europe.

Power Rangers Dino Charge premiered on Nickelodeon in the U.S. this February and the show will roll out globally over the rest of 2015.

The dinosaur theme has always been among the strongest for Power Rangers, so Saban Brands expects this season to be one of the biggest to-date. On the digital front, Saban has launched a brand-new Power Rangers website, with new online games, downloadable activities, character profiles, episode clips and much more. In addition to the television series, Saban Brands has announced a live-action feature film which will re-envision the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which is slated to launch January 13, 2017.

Saban has also re-imagined the Popples characters from the popular 1980’s toy line and television series and has unveiled the show as a Netflix original series for kids, which will be available exclusively for all Netflix members worldwide. Popples will be accompanied by a full consumer products programme, with Spin Master leading as global master toy licensee. There will be a global rollout of product across multiple categories and channels in autumn 2016.

Saban Brands and Cirque du Soleil Média have announced Luna Petunia as the title for their upcoming original pre-school property, inspired by the fantastical worlds of the Cirque du Soleil brand. The series will chronicle the adventures of a little girl named Luna Petunia who lives in our world and plays in a dreamland where she learns how to make the impossible possible.

Luna Petunia will first come to life as a new series in 2016, followed by a full consumer products line and interactive and digital content.

Toy World 32

5

Licensing Expo Las Vegas

Stand by for action Toy world spoke to Trudi Hayward, at ITV Studios Global Entertainment, about the new Thunderbirds are Go Series What reception has the new Thunderbirds are Go series received?

We’ve had a fantastic response to Thunderbirds Are Go across the board and in particular from the press.

The media can be fairly sceptical about remakes but we were delighted by the positive reception the show has received. We’re also really pleased with the interest in our new female character Kayo, Tracy Island’s Head of Security. It’s so important that shows have strong female role models and the public seem to agree with us that she’s a great addition to the team.

How are the initial viewing figures looking?

The ratings for the UK broadcast debut in April were outstanding. The first two episodes aired back to back on ITV and attracted a consolidated audience of nearly 3 million viewers. After the premiere, the series has continued to attract strong ratings as it simultaneously airs on children’s channel CITV in addition to ITV. The show is performing exceptionally well among its target audience of boys aged 6-11.

How important was it to retain classic elements which would appeal to fans of the original show?

During the production process, we took a very careful and considered approach, as we wanted to make a show that was going to be really special.

We had to find the right balance between old and new, so that the series appealed to both a modern audience and loyal fans of the original show. One of the ways we achieved this was by creating a unique visual

aesthetic for the new show. It carefully blends modern CG animation techniques for the craft and characters, but all the backgrounds are models, achieved in just the same way as the original. It was also crucial for us to retain the key values of selfless heroism, family and bravery that were so central to the storytelling in the original; these themes are just as relevant to a child today as they were fifty years ago.

What feedback have you had from the retail community?

We’ve had excellent support from the retail community. The comprehensive marketing campaign has had a positive effect, engaging kids and adults. This activity has also attracted the attention of retail buyers, who have witnessed the build up to the successful TV launch and the impact of the new show.

We are also getting positive feedback about the increased number of searches for Thunderbirds merchandise online. As a result, a number of retailers have ramped up their marketing prior to the Vivid toy launch in July. We have all the key retailers in place, including online, grocery and mail order. They’re proactively backing the brand ahead of the product launches and leading into the Christmas period.

What are the key release dates for toys and other licensed merchandise?

Vivid’s toy range is launching in July in the UK. Then from Q3 this year, other products will begin rolling out from GB Eye, MV Sports, Smith & Brooks, Simon & Shuster and Kokomo.

Toy World 34

Trudi Haywood SVP Head of global merchandise

What plans are in place for the global roll-out of the show?

The series is proving to be extremely popular in other territories. We’ve already signed broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and Israel, with several others to be announced shortly. The show will launch later this year in Japan, Israel and the Middle East, with the other markets following closely in 2016.

How difficult is it competing with huge budget movies such as Star Wars, Avengers and Minions?

The boys’ market is currently saturated and with the significant marketing support behind huge budget movies such as Avengers and Star Wars, it’s becoming challenging for new properties to break through.

Fortunately for us, Thunderbirds Are Go already has a long-standing heritage and high levels of consumer loyalty. We also have a strong pipeline of content for the brand, with a second series of the show already in production. Unlike film properties, we see the benefit of having regular exposure in households each week, which enables us to build a solid fan base for the brand, while encouraging consumers to interact with the show between broadcasts.

In Theaters May 2016 For licensing opportunities, contact: Naz.cuevas@rovio.com , EVP Global Consumer Products | Randi.spieker@rovio.com, VP Consumer Products North America

Visit us at our Booth: C121 | www.rovio.com | #angrybirds | AngryBirds_ToyWorld_ad_240x315.indd 1

20/05/15 14:43

NPD Column Collectibles - small toys with a big impact The NPD Group’s Rory Partis ... continues to be popular Top 10 Fastest Growing Subclasses Total Toys in 2015. The success of Value Gained £m FY 2014 vs 2013 World Cup stickers does seem to have boosted the sales of similar items this year; we have seen a Building Sets 16 significant uplift in sticker 72.4 Craft Kits 31 95.1 and trading card items, 63.2 Action Figures 35 85.2 some football related and Fashion Themed 77.4 26 some not. In fact, if we look Dolls/Figures 97.8 20.7 at the top 20 items for the 53 Collectible Trade Toys&Acc 31.6 Collectible Trading Toys 46.4 Robotic/Interact Playmates 21 56.1 category, 16 of those items Blasters/Shooters & 34.7 24 Accessories 42.9 are new compared to 2014.

74.9 Playground Equipment 7 80.2 This is certainly not what Electronic Entertainment ex 27.9 1 8 Tablets you would expect from a 32.8 57.1 Sport Activities & Games 8 category in decline. As well 61.7 as football continuing to be popular, there are some Source: NPD EPoS Retail Tracking The NPD Group, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential big licences in the top 20, including Minecraft and Frozen. One of the standout properties of this year - Shopkins - could also be considered a collectible item. This range has brought in over £5m in the latest YTD April data, making it a top 20 property and, moreover, the top new property for the year.

The Lego Minifigures range also continues to sell well, having firmly established itself as a perennial performer within the toy market.

Hence the Collectibles sector presents a good example of first impression not always being accurate. At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that collectibles are having a lacklustre year – but this really isn’t the case, it’s just that with the huge sales of stickers last year it was always going to be tough to replicate those sales. In reality, the under £5 price point is flat versus YTD April last year, and it would seem that collecting is definitely still a significant trend in toys.

204.8

237.8

Yr/Yr

A

n area of the toy market that contributed a large percentage of sales to the value growth figure in 2014 was the collectibles category.

As it was a World Cup year, stickers inevitably performed well, but there were also impressive sales from a number of other collectable lines. This lead to a rather impressive +12% growth in volume for 2014, which was one of the standout figures in most of the NPD presentations. As we all know though, one of the downsides to a great performance is how to replicate this the following year. The 2014 performance has led to some discussion as to how the toy market in 2015 was going to cope without the addition of collectible stickers and loom band crazes to help the market. So how are we faring so far this year?

A quick glance at the topline market data indicates a mixed performance for the collectible toys category; current value growth is +7% (YTD Week 19 2015) but the volume figure vs last year is -3% for the same period. In fact if we look at the latest full month of available data, volume for April was -13% in 2015 vs last year. If we look back to this time last year, the Lego Movie had been in cinemas for a month, with the result that Lego Minifigures were selling extremely well, while World Cup sticker mania was just starting. If we factor in sales of loom bands, you can see why this year’s figure is down as much as it is.

If we specifically look at the Collectible Trading Toys & Accessories category, it is -20% vs YTD April last year. When you consider the volume of stickers that were sold last year (nearly 16 million packs), perhaps this figure isn’t too surprising, but it certainly does make life tough when trying to replicate last year’s numbers.

However, the sheer size of the value for collectibles last year shouldn’t mask the fact that the category

2013

2014

1

Rory Partis

executive director

The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food/food service, home, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless.

To monitor what’s happening in the ever-changing toy market, NPD collects point-of-sale information from all major toy retailers. This information, combined with our analysts’ industry perspectives, delivers a comprehensive view of what’s selling and where. We also field over 12m consumer surveys annually to help industry leaders understand why consumers shop where they shop and why they buy what they buy.

For more information visit www.npd.com. Follow NPD on Twitter @npdgroup

Toy World 36

talking shop The master plan Toy World’s Daniel Rich speaks to independent retailers about the hot topics of the month. This month, Toymaster members share new discoveries and surprise ranges based on their experiences of the Toymaster May Show.

Janice Pattison Owner, Ducklings Toy Shop, Marlborough, Wiltshire The Toymaster Show was a successful event.

It was busy but not too busy and a good social event.

We were looking to add a little variation to our existing lines and possibly find some new suppliers to increase our point of difference from the larger toy chains.

We were able to see some advance previews of Star Wars merchandise, some suppliers new to Toymaster and some new products from old favourites. Probably the most curious thing that surprised me was the number of suppliers ranging sand.

As a Toymaster member the Toymaster Show is a great opportunity to take stock mid-year, we can fill any gaps and back any obvious winners, as well as get feedback from suppliers. We also meet both formally and informally with other Toymaster members to exchange ideas.

We enjoy the trip to Harrogate and look forward to catching up with other retailers and refreshing our memories about the new products announced at Toy Fair but not yet released.

We keep on top of trends by reading toy trade magazines, attending trade shows and most importantly listening to what our

customers have to say.

I think customers who prefer shopping somewhere that’s a bit more fun and a little different to online retailers and multiple toy shops are important and have a positive impact on our business.

At Ducklings Toy Shop we are looking forward to our fourth anniversary and will possibly be celebrating with the introduction

of a loyalty card, thanks to the supportive comments from other Toymaster retailers.

Looking ahead to the summer, I think travel and board games will be popular for journeys and the inevitable but occasional wet days. Then there’s paddling pools and essential outdoor toys for the promised glorious summer. I also think Shopkins will be a strong seller.

Connectable & Collectable

making toys Limited For more information call:

0843 557 4062

4 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FY

or email:

sales@epochmakingtoys.com

Toy World 38

indie viewpoint Home and away

A

James Waddelove Manager, Storktown Toymaster, Leigh, Lancashire The Toymaster Show was a great experience and really intense but in a good way, in the sense that you miss it the week after. We were looking out for the major trends this year plus anything fresh and exciting. It’s great for members to get a lot of stock ordered in for the year, which helps when you are busy and hands on at the store. It’s a great time to put the Toymaster catalogue lines down and of course this year there were more November and show specials than ever before.

It’s brilliant having a show all under one roof where it’s work hard, play hard and great to see all the other Toymaster members too, after all, we are a membership.

When it comes to keeping on top of trends we obviously make sure to attend the Toymaster Show, we also listen to our customers and read the trade magazines. Additionally we’re on social media and communicate with our followers via Twitter.

I think the market is so dilute and varied, we are really working hard on getting customers in store, currently we are running competitions with the help of Twitter, making the store more fun and using Toby and the Toymaster window displays.

I am looking forward to the Minions film, I have a really good feeling about it and think the licensed products will sell well – and with the Toymaster window and a couple of stuarts running around the store I’m sure it will be. There was a lot of good stuff at the show, if I had to pick one it would be Crazy Legs Scooby Doo from Character Options.

Toy Division, the Toymaster band playing to a full dance floor of toy industry and Toymaster members was also a highlight.

For more information call:

making toys Limited.

s we write this, we are sitting in the departure lounge at Glasgow airport, just waiting for our flight after a showroom visit to Martin Grossman. We have been saying we would come up Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes here for a while, and Martin Toy Barnhaus finally wore us down. We left from Gatwick in the sun, and arrived in Scotland in the pouring rain. We were pleasantly surprised to find a chauffeur waiting for us, until we realised it was Martin himself. We were well looked after for the day, and with Martin buying the lunch, we were sold. And I think he has realised that if we eat before we buy, it is a recipe for success. All joking aside, it was definitely a worthwhile visit. We are visiting more showrooms this year, and spending quality time away out of the office to look at ranges. Oh, and a final update from Glasgow, it is still raining 6 hours after we arrived.

Since our last column, we managed to re-open our Crawley store in the week timescale that we set. We had a cracking re- opening weekend, and the feedback from customers has been fantastic. To us, it feels like a new shop. It feels wider, even though it definitely isn’t, and this is all down to new lighting. The new LED panels have made that much difference that we are planning to roll it out to several of our shops later this year.

We will be using our brand enhancement rebate from Toymaster to help fund this, and must say that investing in your shops is definitely worth doing.

Heading into summer now, we are reaching the anniversary of the loom craze for the next few months. Even though we are not going to hit the heights of last year in arts and crafts, there is still lots going on in the category this year. Sand seems to be the main focus for 2015. There’s Kinetic Sand from Spinmaster, Cra-z-sand from Character Options and we have just seen Grossman’s Magic Sand, which is very competitively priced. The early sales on these ranges have been good for us across all price points.

Playdoh sales have been strong this year, with Marvel Can-Heads and the My Little Pony Style Salon lines being popular new additions. For the back end of the year, we like the Easy Nail Spa from Character Options, and the Paint Maker from Crayola.

The major event for this month was of course, the Toymaster show. And as usual, it did not disappoint, with a full three intense days of buying, eating drinking and networking. For that week each year, the Toy Trade seems to take over Harrogate.

Wherever you are, whether in the hotel, or a bar or restaurant in town, you will always meet someone from the industry.

There were certainly some great deals to be had. We felt that Worlds Apart had some really strong deals on a wide range of their products, including the Playtents and Go Glow lights, and there were some good early buys from Hornby too. There were also a lot of deals available from suppliers for Black Friday this year, as it is definitely something we will be getting behind even more. The show was well attended, and hats off to the Toymaster guys for organising another great event. We have next year’s in our diary already.

0843 557 4062 or email: sales@epochmakingtoys.com

4 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FY

Toy World 39

Feature

Tech toys

Tech savvy Tech toys continue to evolve at an increasingly rapid rate. Daniel Rich investigates why the future is now and what opportunities this burgeoning category offers toy retailers.

T

he tech toy category performed strongly in 2014 following the introduction of a host of new products and technological advancements capturing the imaginations of children and adults alike. This sector typically represents short product life cycles where the majority of volume is done in the latter part of the year, but due to their higher price points, tech toys often represent a higher pound-per-unit earnings potential.

Vivid recently took over the Kids Tech Trail at the Gadget Show Live and experienced first-hand the intense interest in tech products for children. Mary Wood, marketing director at Vivid, revealed: “We were swamped with kids and parents equally interested in the next hot tech product, whether it was mums looking at My Friend Freddy for younger children or dads and boys competing for the fastest lap time with Real FX.” Kyna Covington, UK trade marketing manager, KD UK, adds: “Technological advancements really are what many children today are looking for in their toys, whether it’s in the form of an interactive talking toy or the latest tablet, watch or phone. Tech toys give retailers the opportunity to add a fun interactive experience in-store, but also offer their customers a range of price points.”

There is now a tech savvy generation of children who have been born into a society of mobile phones, instant messaging, iPads, VOD and social media.

Technology in their broader world is becoming commonplace, and this is transferring to the tech toys category.

Richard Yanofsky, president of WowWee Canada (distributed by Trends UK) offers his opinion: “We are seeing a dramatic shift that surrounds the notion of kids getting older younger, which is creating great opportunities. The transition around kids’ play patterns is being affected more and more by technology and its successful application to learning, daily life and entertainment licensing. Kids’ products are becoming more sophisticated and more connected. We see it as a huge opportunity and hope to be part of this continued progression, one that sees technology delivered to a younger demographic, which is really quite exciting.”

Mary Wood concurs and also draws attention to the protection of children: “Expectations are high and manufacturers need to deliver toys that will engage, educate and entertain in a way that is relevant for a tech savvy child. Safety is paramount and we have a responsibility as an industry to ensure our children are protected. With more and more children being exposed to tech toys, we need to make sure safety standards keep in line.”

Tech toys often represent the latest in commercial technologies and can also appeal to an older

Vivid

consumer. Stocking these types of products gives toy retailers another way to maintain a hold on maturing customers that typically would have graduated from the toy aisle into other categories like video games and consumer electronics.

Rebecca Lazarus explains how VTech keeps up to date with the adult tech sector and applies it to the category: “The wearable tech sector is performing well and we believe this will continue with the introduction of Kidizoom Smartwatch Plus. Another example of taking a popular trend in the adult sector in to the children’s market is the Kidizoom Action Cam that launched earlier this year.

“Technology is continually changing and at a fast rate, it wasn’t that long ago it was computers, then laptops, tablets and now hand held smart devices like the new DigiGo. VTech respond to this by transferring trends from adults into fun toys for children and adding innovation in order to keep fresh. For example, this year we are launching the Kidizoom Duo. With a dual front and back lens, children can press once and get two photos or switch between the two. Adding photo effects will ensure great amusement and the stop motion video creator and five games will provide plenty of fun.”

Emma Eden, marketing manager at Spin Master, explains how tech toys will also win over parents: “A great selling point of Meccanoid personal robot is that it is very relevant in terms of coding, which has recently become part of the national school curriculum.

Children are very engaged and it helps them to learn in a fun way.”

It is vital for retailers to keep abreast of what’s new and performing strongly in this ever-changing and evolving category.

Emma speaks of other new product launches at Spin Master: “We had a fantastic 2014 with our Zoomer range of robotic electronic pets. We introduced Zoomer Dino alongside the original Zoomer Dalmatian and its innovation really stood it apart.

“We also launched Zoomer Zuppies and these

Toy World 40

interactive personal puppies will have a makeover later this year with the addition of an interactive toy and the ability to interact with each other. There are further Zoomer product launches to come in 2015.

“We are also awaiting the launch of the Meccanoid.

The Meccanoid G15 KS has had a fantastic reaction and Spin Master has announced that a smaller version, the Meccanoid G15, will also be available this year. We have a huge launch campaign planned for those who haven’t already seen the Meccanoid in action.”

Mary Wood emphasises that tech toys are also available at lower price points: “My Friend Cayla Princess or iQue Intelligent Robot are more naturally a Christmas purchase but technology doesn’t have to be expensive, as we have proven with our Colour Alive products from Crayola. For as little as £6.99, you can buy a colouring book with special pens, download the free app and see the pictures you have coloured in come to life.

She also acknowledges that licences can help extend the life of a product. “Take Vivid’s Real FX Slotless racing set as an example, first and foremost it has to perform in its own right in launch year but, assuming it is successful, then bringing licensed versions to the market would be a natural next step.”

Ginette McGee, owner of Toytown Seaford, offers a frank and honest opinion from a retail perspective: “Over the six years I’ve been in toys, I’ve seen many app related toys which were simply cases of toy manufacturers adding a piece of plastic to an app,” she comments. “However, I believe people are starting to think more creatively; creating an app to enhance a toy as opposed to the other way round. One of the stand out products at Olympia this year was the iMagic set from Marvin’s Magic, out later this year. In this case, both the toy and the app are essential; one without the other just doesn’t work and it is at an affordable price.”

With a wealth of products available at a variety of price points there is no end to benefits that tech toys offer, although one thing remains certain – the future is tech.

Capture your adventures, wherever you are!

Takes photos and videos on the go

Comes with a waterproof case and mounts

Attach it to bikes, skateboards and more

Add photo effects and stop motion videos

TV Promoted 2015

For more details please contact 01235 555545 trade_sales@vtech.com

Toyworld Action Cam ad 0415 v2.indd 1

OUT

NOW

07-05-2015 04:59:03 PM

Tech toys

Smart magic for smart kids

Emily Ansell Elfer speaks to Marvin’s Magic creator Marvin Berglas about Marvin’s iMagic – new interactive magic sets that combine traditional magic with digital fun.

Tell us a bit about the iMagic range…

It’s basically a bumper collection of magical props that combine with a unique app to unveil incredible interactive smart magic. It performs as a normal magic set but the app really cranks things up to the next level, using augmented reality technology, video magic effects and classic interactive props. The sets are also really easy to use – we have done the clever thinking behind the scenes so children can really concentrate on their performance. Marvin’s iMagic includes some amazing things that have never been seen before in any magic set worldwide and we have had commendations from some of the top international magicians but the product is simple enough for a child just to have fun. It’s also exceptional value – the app is free is and you get more than 25 tricks all with video instructions and props.

How did the idea for the Marvin’s iMagic sets come about?

I’m very involved in the magic fraternity and have witnessed the technological developments. At Marvin’s Magic, we wanted to create smart magic for smart devices, by combining some of the timeless props that remain a magician’s trusted friend with the latest technology. There are a lot of toys out there with apps that haven’t had the best reaction, whereas we’re blowing people’s minds with some of the stuff we can do.

What’s your favourite magic trick from the iMagic range?

There are so many I really am having fun with. For example the thought of a chosen card that seems to magically appear in a puff of smoke through your phone....only to materialise for real inside an empty box. We’ve also developed what looks like a real x-ray machine. Someone puts a dice inside a canister which is then hidden inside anther canister. If you put your phone to that canister, it magically creates an x-ray and you can actually appear to see what’s inside and know the number it landed on. It’s amazing.

Do you think technology will play a big part in the future of magic?

I think magic should be about using everyday objects and, these days, phones are everyday objects. Every child seems to have a phone on them and has access to smart devices from a young age. I’m not keen on the idea of technology for technology’s sake but what we’re doing is actually enhancing the experience – you can have a lot of fun and be interactive.

What response have you had to the range so far?

We have had an amazing response. People have got very excited. It’s going to be sold internationally and there will be a TV advertising campaign and a very big social media campaign. We are listed by all the big boys and the independents as well and we’ve got different versions to keep it unique. It’s a wonderful product. I’m most excited and proud about what we’ve achieved with this – we’ve really taken magic to the next level.

Marvin’s iMagic is due for international launch in autumn 2015.

The wowWee factor

Toy World caught up with Richard Yanofsky, President of WowWee Canada to talk about the Tech Toy sector.

What makes a strong seller in this category?

Originality and visibility are two of the critical drivers of success.

Our MiP robot has delivered on both those fronts, and it also addresses the age compression issue. We are in a new age as far as product expectations are concerned: the payoff needs to be a lot higher now, while the connected part of play will become a lot more prevalent.

How does WowWee approach the sector from a product development perspective?

Our approach focuses on what it means to be innovative. New technologies come and go all the time and it’s important to adapt and change with the times. Consequently our R&D model is a key ingredient to remaining relevant and original, with a deep understanding of how to execute and build a successful product.

The seasonality of the industry in general has always been a factor, although we are now dealing with a more compressed selling window. That said, when you hit on an item that really resonates with the end user, it can become a perennial seller, as is the case with Robosapien.

Younger kids are using tech, what does this mean for the category?

We are seeing a dramatic shift that surrounds the notion of kids getting older younger, which is creating both challenges and opportunity.

Kids’ products at all levels are becoming more sophisticated and more connected. The fallout of this is forcing manufacturers and retailers to think differently and not necessarily continue with past protocols that are not as relevant as they once were.

What challenges do you think this sector faces?

Coping with the conflicting forces of expensive development, short product life cycles, while creating a gratifying and informative experience for a customer is a challenge. The infrastructure and process required to be successful is one that has to address vast and speedy access to tech and information. I also think our retail partners are resetting their orientation as to how they create a different type of shopping experience for their customers, which can now be supported with other types of digital assets.

What is the key to success in the Tech Toys category?

They key to maintaining your competitive position is through constant innovation and the successful marriage of new ideas and play patterns to emerging tech. We have adopted a more global approach to how we solicit ideas and develop technology partnerships.

Our new Miposaur robot and Rev cars are good examples of how the latest technology can be incorporated into a toy in order to enhance the play experience. Rev cars think for themselves and are equipped with technology that enables them to battle intelligently against other cars without needing a track in an untethered ecosystem. We have worked very diligently on supplying product and ideas that emulate the reality of video game play in an analogue world.

Toy World 42

Tech toys

Character Options 01616 339 800 | www.character-online.com

The Teksta brand’s latest addition is The Scorpion. The Teksta Scorpion’s interactivity is controlled with an infrared remote that straps to the back of the child’s hand to allow a full 360 degree control of realistic movement. It features articulate giant pincers which can pick up objects or compete with two or more other Scorpions.

The Teksta Scorpion will add an altogether different choice for fans who this spring have also discovered the interactive Teksta Newborns. The Teksta Scorpion will launch with heavy TV advertising plus a digital and print robot wars style campaign.

Clever Keet is a bird that sings, moves, talks, flaps its wings and even pushes along a cart. It comes with a playground and accessories and has pre-loaded phrases, the ability to speak, repeat and can mash up words too.

KD UK

GP Flair

01727 827 194 | www.kdplanet.com/uk

020 8643 0320 | sales@flairplc.co.uk The Xeno family’s Xeno Koopies are interactive monsters. They bounce, shake and roll across the floor and react when the cheeks are squeezed or the ears or tails are pulled. Xeno Koopies’ feature eyes which glow in the dark, six touch sensors, over 70 sound settings and interact with each other and the original Xeno figures.

Xeno has over 10 emotions, including happy, sad, hungry, unwell and playful, and over 40 different eye expressions on its LCD graphic eyes. Xeno sings, dances and has five mini games for enhanced interactivity, there is also a free app to play additional games.

Flair’s new HoverTech range combines battle, precision and the latest technology for battling air adventures. HoverTech Target FX has a built-in floor sensor enabling it to hover 1.5m above the ground. Once flying the drone can be shot down from the sky using the dart blaster.

HoverTech Battle FX includes two target sensors and a set of blasters so can be played solo or with a friend. Hit either target and the drone falls from the sky. With Smart Tech technology, once hit, the drone hovers down for a soft landing and the game is reset. Built into the drone is a ceiling sensor that enables it to hover 1.5m from the ceiling. An altitude timer also enables outdoor play.

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Peppa’s Play & Learn Smart Watch includes mini games to help teach children about numbers, letters, characters, observation and music. It also has a motion sensor with two games using the technology in order to help children understand cause and effect. In addition, there is a voice recorder for children to record their voice and a distorted version plays back. Plus there’s a clock, alarm clock and various settings to customise the watch.

The fourth generation Kurio includes Kurio Tab 2 and Kurio Smart.

Kurio Tab 2 is built on the success of the 2014 Kurio Tab, complete with games, educational apps, ebooks, multimedia apps, an Intel processor and access to Google Play. It has two player Kurio Motion games including mountain biking, gliding, rafting and dancing. The games are multilevel and multiplayer.

Kurio Smart is a two in one device, it is a tablet and a PC due to the detachable keyboard. It includes Microsoft Office 365 software for use of programs such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint; apps such as Skype, Minion Rush and Sonic Dash. As with Kurio Tab 2, as well as Kurio Smart is preloaded with multiplayer motion games. Both Kurio devices come with KurioGenius parental controls to set time limits, set age appropriate apps and apply website filtering for multiple user profiles.

The Bear Who REA LLY K now s Yo u!

Personalise with cute details and special dates for Freddy Bear to talk about

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His mouth moves when he talks Touch & tip sensor

Heavyweight TV campaign from launch Digital and Social Media plan targeting parents Consumer shows

Tech toys

LeapFrog

01895 202 840 | www.leapfrog.com LeapBand is worn on the wrist and has 50 activity challenges set out by a virtual pet.

On-screen games educate about nutrition and the principles of exercise. Features include a built-in accelerometer, high-resolution colour screen, rechargeable battery and splash-proof design. Parents are able to set school and night time modes through LeapFrog Connect, to select days and times when LeapBand will work as a watch only, but continue to track and reward activity.

LeapPad3 is the most recent addition to the LeapPad line. The five-inch tablet is the fastest high-performance tablet from LeapFrog, it is kid-smart, kid-safe and kid-tough.

LeapTV combines activity and movement with the educational curriculum. The system offers an educator-approved library of over 100 cartridge and/or digital games and videos that blend a comprehensive curriculum with age-appropriate gameplay.

The LeapTV library has LeapFrog’s Just For Me learning elements so that games automatically adjust to cater for each child’s age and ability. Several games have a multiplayer function and parents can manage each child’s profile, change wireless settings and set parental controls on the console. The LeapTV system includes the console, motion-sensing camera, camera mount, transforming controller with wrist strap, HDMI cable, 16GB of memory and built-in wi-fi for downloading apps. It also includes a bonus game, Pet Play World.

Vivid

01473 322 000 | www.drumondpark.com My Friend Freddy Bear can be linked to a free downloadable app. Details about a child can be typed into the app which Freddy Bear will talk about. In-app activities have three levels of difficulty plus there are stories and family photo albums. When not connected to a smart device, Freddy Bear will talk when he’s cuddled or tipped upside down.

The i-Que Intelligent Robot can also be linked to an app. i-Que can answer questions about almost anything. It also has games, trivia, sound effects and dances. When not connected to the app, i-Que is like an articulated action figure with sounds, phrases, lights and movement.

My Friend Cayla, the doll which interacts via an app, will be given a new outfit for next Christmas and will benefit from enhanced personalisation. Also new is My Friend Cayla Princess with a bespoke princess-themed app and accessories.

The Colour Alive books use the traditional colouring play pattern but, when combined with the free app, bring the picture to life in the colours that have been used. Using augmented reality children can interact and take selfies with their own designed characters.

Trends

01295 768 078 | www.trendsuk.co.uk REVs are the new Robotic Enhanced Vehicles that are app-enabled and built for battle. REVs think and fight for themselves and are equipped with BeaconSense technology, a proprietary indoor GPS system that senses the vehicles’ surroundings and navigates them accordingly. REV does not require a special surface or mat to play on, and a limitless number of people can enter the game. REV starter kits come with two specially-equipped vehicles. Download the free app onto an iOS or Android smart device, whilst setting the second REV to autonomous mode. The user can compete against REVs in multiple game modes like chase and evade and capture the flag.

The MiPosaur is an intelligent robotic creature with an evolving intelligence and personality. It can sense its own surroundings and environment, and interact with them. In addition to featuring GestureSense technology that allows the user to control it with the swipe of a hand, the MiPosaur has sturdy MIP (Mobile Inverted Pendulum, created with the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab) balance and comes with an interactive TrackBall equipped with BeaconSense technology. With it, the MiPosaur can chase the trackball, play with it, guard it, as well as alter its moods depending on the various interactions. The MiPosaur is fully interactive with the MiP robot and a BLE enabled app, compatible with both iOS and Android smart devices.

Toy World 46

Look smart, feel smart, get smart!

SMART

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Peppa Pig© Astley Baker Davies Ltd/ Entertainment One UK Ltd 2003

T: 01727 827 194

KD UK, First Floor, The Annexe, Salisbury Hall, St Albans AL2 1BU

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Tech toys

VTech

01235 546 810 | www.vtech.co.uk The Kidizoom Action Cam comes with a waterproof case and mounts for bikes and skateboards.

The Kidizoom Smartwatch Plus launches later this year in three new colours (light blue, green and cerise), the 8-in-1 watch takes photos, videos, voice recordings and has games. There are features such as a calculator and new packaging. The watch can be connected to the VTech Learning Lodge to download more watch faces and games, including licensed character designs.

After the success of V. Smile and V.Smile Motion, VTech will launch a new, high definition connected TV educational gaming console, InnoTV, in autumn/ winter. Cartridges from characters will be available that work across both the InnoTab Max and InnoTV. DigiGo, a hand held smart device is set to be a success this autumn/winter, transferring an adult trend into a toy. DigiGo has a 4.3” screen and the built in VTech Kid Connect software allows parents to communicate with their child via an approved smart phone, by sending and receiving texts, instant voice messages, photos and drawings. With DigiGo, children can use motion, sound and touch with the included stylus, to play games. With a 180° rotating camera and over 60 photo effects it is ideal for taking photos and videos. Children can also listen to MP3 songs or watch videos. With access to VTech’s Learning Lodge, different games, music tracks, e-books and age appropriate apps can be downloaded on to the DigiGo.

Hero product “DigiGo is a prime example of VTech identifying a trend in the adult market and transferring it into children’s toys, whilst ensuring it has the durability required for this sector and at a much lower price point. DigiGo will be supported with a strong above the line marketing campaign, with a heavy PR and TV focus.”

Rebecca Lazarus, senior brand manager

Spin Master 01628 535 000 | www.spinmastertoys.co.uk

Meccano’s new Meccanoid G15 and G15KS are two foot and four foot tall personal robots which are constructed using Meccano parts. The easy to use open source robotic building platform makes them accessible to a range of ages and skill sets. Meccanoid uses its on board Mecca Brain and voice recognition to say thousands of phrases, tell jokes, offer facts, play games, initiate conversations and give high-fives.

New Zoomer Kitty is a robotic kitten with realistic sounds and movements. The IR sensors in its eyes enable precise head and motion tracking – it will follow your hand or its toy and interact accordingly with its surroundings. Zoomer Kitty will purr loudly, vibrates its body when petted and its eyes change colour to indicate different moods and modes. Tricks include singing and dancing.

Zoomer Zuppies Zuppy Love are interactive pups that can play games, sing and perform an assortment of tricks and now come with an interactive toy. Zuppy Love pups can socialise and communicate when together.

Chomplingz are a new addition to the Zoomer range. These dinosaurs interact when their tails are pulled. Chomplingz can play catch with the accessory included and a variety of games such as Hot Hands or can be set on guard mode.

Hero product “Meccanoid is a pair of interactive personal Meccano robots that make building and programming easy for children. They respond to voice commands with over 1000 phrases, can dance, tell jokes, play games and even give you a high-five. We have a huge launch campaign planned including TV advertising, digital, in-store and PR featuring some fantastic TV appearances.”

Emma Eden, marketing manager

Clementoni 0203 206 1398 | www.clementoni.com/en

Mio the robot is a scientific kit that allows the user to build their very own robot. Once assembled, the robot can be programmed to undertake a number of different tasks such as a treasure hunt, predict your robot journey or litter picker and many other activities. The kit comes with a number of accessories and includes two electronic motors and LED lights.

The robot can be transformed using its interchangeable components included within the set. The manual includes detailed steps, information on electronics and how to operate the robot to its full ability. The robot kit is also Science Museum approved.

Toy World 48

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Opinion The Hybrids are stepping up their pace

By Lutz Muller CEO of Klosters Trading Corporation, a provider of competitive insights in the mass retail space in the USA and Europe.

T

he hybrids exploded on to the U.S. toy space in 2011 when the Skylanders of Activision made their first appearance. And some appearance it was. The combination of a video game and physical toy figures hit the toy market place like a tornado and racked up more than a billion US Dollars in retail sales by end of 2012. And then came Disney’s Infinity in 2013 and Nintendo’s Amiibo in 2014. There was also Spinmaster’s entry with SickBricks this year.

It soon became clear to the buyers at the major retailers that the hybrids were in fact not a video game, as still considered by NPD, but rather a toy in that some 80% of the Skylanders’ business was and is in its physical toy figures – a percentage that also applied to Disney’s Infinity later on. They also noticed that the hybrids were clearly making inroads into major toy categories and that 75% of the toy figure sales were in the Action Figures segment.

The traditional Action Figure market is basically owned by Hasbro on the strength of its Disney licences – Star Wars, Transformers, Guardians, Avengers – and it seems that the company was a little slow in seeing that the Skylanders represented a major threat to its core business.

This is how the U.S. market developed: graph 1

Source: Klosters Retailer Panel You also can see a similar trend when you look at shelf space at the U.S. majors in graph 2.

When you look at these two charts you will see an interesting phenomenon.

Hasbro’s action figure business dropped as the hybrids established themselves between 2011 and 2013 but then in 2014, this trend reversed itself – Hasbro did well and the hybrids stalled. Also, in shelf space terms, you see a similar development. Hasbro’s Action Figure shelf space expanded significantly from a very low level at the end of 2013 during the first half of 2014 whereas that of the hybrids sharply declined in the same time period.

graph 2

It so happens also that in 2014 there was an unprecedented slew of strong action figure movies – Spiderman, Transformers, Guardians plus the StarWars Rebels TV series. Hasbro had all these licences for its action figure business whereas none of the hybrids did. What this suggests is that the hybrids do not only invade traditional action figure territory but that they, in turn, are also affected negatively when the traditional toys have an edge because of their licences.

If there is indeed this correlation then 2015 should be particularly interesting because both Hasbro’s Action Figures and Disney’s Infinity are focusing on the blockbuster movie of the year - Star Wars: The Force Awakens, scheduled for release on December 18. Hasbro is expected to launch a very strong range of Action Figures under this latest Star Wars theme come September 4. In turn, Infinity will do the same with the release scheduled to coincide with the opening of the movie. In other words, you will have Disney’s Infinity and Hasbro, Disney’s licensee, go head to head.

To add to this already very interesting picture, Lego is now also entering the hybrid space in earnest this year and is clearly targeting the action figure category. Lego made a half-hearted attempt to enter the hybrid space with Lego Fusion last year but it never got traction because the game was only playable on smart phones and tablets whereas the hybrid market is virtually totally linked to consoles – Sony’s PS3 and 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One and 360 and Nintendo’s WII and WII U. The buyers thought at the time that it was a test case by which Lego was trying to determine to what extent this new technology could either hurt or hinder its core business and it was only later that it decided that a viable hybrid entry would allow a successful invasion of other toy categories.

Their new Dimensions hybrid range will be released on September 27, featuring such action figure icons as DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings and Batman in addition to the Lego Movie, The Wizard of Oz, Lego Ninjago and Back to the Future.

In addition, there are two Warner movies scheduled for Lego – The Lego

Toy World 50

Batman movie in 2017 and the Lego Sequel in 2018. I assume that there will be new Dimensions products coinciding with both.

Unlike Lego Fusion, Dimensions will be playable on all major consoles and will hence directly compete with both the Skylanders and Infinity.

The buyers believe that the two licence-driven entries – Disney’s Infinity and Lego’s Dimensions – will at least in the short term not only dominate the hybrid space at the expense of Activision’s Skylanders but will also have a vastly stronger impact on the traditional Action Figure toy segment than what we have seen so far.

They also think that Disney’s Star Wars toy strategy is saying something about the Company’s long term business vision. Firstly, by giving the Star Wars licence to Infinity Disney is telling the world that their top brands are reserved for Infinity and will not be licenced to another hybrid manufacturer. This would seem to prevent Hasbro from advancing to the next level in the Action Figure category – the hybrids - at least as far as Disney brands are concerned. With Lego now moving into the same field with pretty much all the remaining good licences, Hasbro is also prevented from a viable non-Disney licence stream in case they wanted to enter the hybrid field.

Equally importantly, Infinity appears to be a trail blazer for Disney. Up to this point, the company always licensed its brands to toy manufacturers such as Hasbro and Mattel. When the company developed Infinity all of their own, and went directly to the retailers rather than just licensing the thing to a manufacturer and raking in the royalties, it made the toy buyers at the major retailers sit up and take notice. Was this the shape of Disney’s future consumer WowWee ToyWorld 138x210:Layout 1 15/04/2015 12:55 Page 1

product strategy or was this just an outlier by which the company played in the hybrids space and left traditional toys to its licensing partners – notably Hasbro? It looked for a while that the latter was the case but now the buyers are no longer that certain. They take their cue from the very recent launch of Tsum Tsum Babies, a hopeful successor to the famous Beany Babies of the nineteennineties.

Tsum Tsum is, just like the Beany Babies, a plush product and the range was first launched by Disney last year in Japan and proved to be extremely successful. The company then rolled them out to their own stores where, again, the product flew off the shelves.

The national buyers at the large retailers absolutely salivated at the thought of getting their mittens on to it. This has now finally happened and Target has had an end cap since middle of April. Movement seems brisk, in spite of a total lack of promotional or advertising support, and shelf space at Target has doubled since then. The range is also available at Amazon but not yet at Wal-Mart or ToysRUs. The significant aspect of all this is that Disney, again, has not gone the licence route but is selling the toys directly to the major retailers.

The major question the buyers are asking – what about Mattel? It seems to them that a hybrid version of Barbie and its fashion doll universe would be just the thing to turn this iconic brand around. So far, no sign of anybody going this route in the doll arena which leaves the buyers gnawing their fingernails and asking themselves just when and by whom this is eventually going to happen.

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Feature

Wheeled toys

Rolling stock As we head into the warmer months, hoping the infamous great British summer will be kind to us, toy companies across the board are releasing a host of new wheeled toys aimed at older kids. Daniel Rich looks at how to spot a scorcher this summer.

W

heeled toys are a great way to coax older kids away from games consoles to the great outdoors and encourage activity, where they will improve their fitness and develop motor skills, balance and coordination. Learning to ride a bike is a rite of passage and something that will never go out of fashion, but where does the opportunity lay for toy retailers?

Jonathan Kirkley, marketing director at re:creation, points out the importance of correctly merchandising the products and how, despite the unpredictable summer weather, wheeled toys are year-round sellers.

“Wheeled toys offer stand out and have an impact in-store. With the support of strong POS they can create a real focal point and, as demonstrated by the success of our electric scooters, can offer the opportunity of year round big-ticket purchases,” he says. “This is a dynamic and exciting category that offers evergreen strong sellers as well as on-trend product. With the skates, skateboards and scooters categories all growing, retailers have much to capitalise upon.”

Ying Pickavance, senior category and brand manager at Hy-Pro, reiterates the demand for the category: “Wheeled toys are mostly bought for children as gifts throughout the year, they are a great way to attract customers into stores as they are constantly in demand. Electric scooters and bikes have proven particularly popular in recent years.”

The sector has shown that, to have a strong seller, designs, price and product specification are all key factors. Scooters, skateboards and bikes are timeless but it is important for companies to innovate in order to stand out and offer the consumer something fresh.

Ali Anstee, marketing manager, Kiddimoto, commented: “Keeping kids active and healthy is such a big issue for parents and the government that wheeled toys is a great market to be in. As awareness of balance bikes increases and more parents see the advantages of balance bikes over stabilisers, there will be huge growth and even more challenges to embrace.” re:creation is experiencing year-on-year growth in the first quarter with its electric scooter range.

According to NPD market data for January to March 2015, the company has seen an impressive 163% growth for the E90 scooter.

Jonathan comments: “Our range of Razor S Sport scooters are also benefitting from the

Kiddimoto overall marketing activity and are performing very well too. Innovation and quality that is backed up with effective marketing is a good recipe for success in this market.”

Traditional accessories still have a place in the market as Ali explained: “Colourful designs that come with matching accessories are performing really strongly. Parents and kids love the fact that they can get a helmet that matches their bike and it’s a great opportunity for retailers to upsell.”

While Phil Ratcliffe, sales and marketing director at MV, outlines the important role licensing and advertising plays within the category’s appeal: “We have new Disney ranges including Princess, Star Wars and Avengers.

Evergreen licences such as Batman are always strong sellers and provide parents with the confidence to buy. In addition to our character licensed ranges, we have also developed our own extreme wheeled brand Stunted, which is backed by year-round TV promotion.”

Jonathan Kirkley agrees that strong marketing and advertising can, to an extent, define what is sought after by children. He explains that a strong, aspirational marketing campaign can drive demand and cool factor for an item. The company has certainly seen this through its Electrify your Ride campaign and, following its first ever spring TV campaign for electric scooters, the numbers are speaking for themselves.

Toy World 52

Jonathan elaborates, explaining how retailers can be assisted: “We aim to support retailers through exciting and informative POS materials that suit the environment, whether that is clear and concise hang tags or aspirational video content driving conversion.”

He has also noticed a trend of growing popularity for the category among parents: “We’re seeing an increased number of adults taking to kick scooters or electric scooters. It is no longer the domain of just kids – we’re seeing more parents grabbing their A5 Lux to join their children on the school run, a trend we expect to see continue. Attitudes among parents have also focused on seeking out products that offer quality for lasting use rather than just opting for the lowest priced option.”

Finally, Phil believes that the popularity of online shopping can assist retailers and eliminate risk: “The growth of on-line shopping allows retailers the opportunity to run a much broader range of wheeled toys without any stock risk, as the goods are often stored and delivered by the producer/licensee.”

Next month we will complete our look at wheeled toys with a feature on the younger side of the sector, but for now take a look at what’s on offer in the older side of the category over the next few pages.

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Wheeled toys

H. Grossman 01416 132 525 | www.ozbozz.com

The Despicable Me 2 range includes Minions skateboards, satchel skateboards, scooters, bikes, balance bikes, helmets, pogos and inline skates.

The Speedy Scooter features an aluminium deck and steel T bar steering to provide stability. The scooter is available in a variety of colours and has a speedometer which logs speeds in km or mph and records the fastest speed.

The e-star electric scooter is battery powered and is suitable for anyone under 70kg. It takes between 6-8 hours to charge. Once fully charged it will run for 8-10 kms at a time and can achieve a top speed of 12km.

For older children is the Elektra brand encompassing quad skates, hog trikes, skateboards, skateboards, scooters, quad boots and inline skates. The Elektra brand is a co-ordinated range designed in neon colours and includes matching safety gear.

The Torq scooter range is robust, tidy and tough. It is designed to carry up to 100kg in weight and is suitable for older children. The scooters have been designed with a tough aluminium chassis and a non-adjustable one piece T bar system. The high strength steering bar is fitted with a triple stacked clamp for extra strength and has a 360 degree rotational mechanism for turning.

Hero product “Our Stunted Scooter range has had huge growth for four consecutive years and once again is having massive TV support on CITV and Cartoon Network. The range design has been completely refreshed for 2015 and the feedback from retailers has been incredible.”

Phil Ratcliffe, sales and marketing director

Hy-Pro

01582 670 100 | www.hy-pro.co.uk The Zinc Flyte case scooter range is aimed at both children and adults, it currently includes the case scooter and the backpack scooter.

The multifunctional Flyte case scooter is protected by worldwide design rights and patents. Designed with an integrated footplate which folds into the case, this scooter can be used as a pull along trolley or even luggage when the handle bars have been lowered. The Flyte case scooter is lightweight, compact and impact resistant.

The backpack scooter, also part of the Zinc’s Flyte range, provides a solution for kids on the go. Equipped with compartments, the footplate will fit securely into the backpack. This allows children to carry the scooter in the Zinc backpack whilst the scooter is not in use.

Supported by a marketing campaign, Zinc Flyte will launch in the summer of 2015.

Hero product “Volt Sport is our never-seen-before, brand new electric scooter. It incorporates the natural stopping motion children use when braking, making it perfect for beginners who want to learn how to use an electric scooter. This slick scooter is available in many bright colours and will keep kids active and busy during the summer.”

Ying Pickavance, senior category and brand manager

Toy World 54

MV Sports

01217 488 000 | www.mvsports.co.uk Marvel’s Avengers is set to be the superhero hit of the spring/summer with Avengers 2 Age of Ultron released earlier this year. MV has created a range of character driven products including 14” and 16” bikes, skateboards, scooters and helmets.

MV’s Stormtrooper-inspired range of skateboards, scooters, bikes and helmets has been popular since its launch. It offers a new option for retailers in advance of the Star Wars Episode VII launch later this year.

A new introduction of Batman products, such as the 3D Bat Helmet with realistic features and ears, are also available. The 14” Bat Bike has a bat shaped plaque, fin and graphics.

The re-launch of Thunderbirds Are Go is already a hit. Characters and vehicles have been introduced to a new generation and MV is currently working on a range of scooters and skateboards.

MV’s Stunted range consists of stunt scooters and has been enhanced with the addition of the XTS and XTC top spec scooters for the skate park and new Voodoo Dirt Scooter for off road. It is backed with heavyweight and sustained TV support.

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5/14/15 10:05 PM

Wheeled toys

re:creation

01189 736 222 | www.recreationltd.co.uk Kick and stunt scooters remain at the heart of Razor’s offering in 2015. The popular Beast stunt scooter continues to be a focus while new addition for the second half of the year, the Party Pop Scooter, includes a light-up deck. The Razor S Sport scooter continues to perform, finishing the first quarter of 2015 as the UK’s number one non-licensed kick scooter available.

Razor’s electric scooter portfolio has been driven by re:creation’s Electrify Your Ride marketing campaign which saw the E100 hit the number eight spot for total toy industry before Christmas. The RX200 also joins the electric scooter portfolio for the second half of the year. It features a higher torque motor and off-road 60 psi pneumatic tyres.

The Crazy Cart XL is for older teens and adults and has already proved a hit with the motoring press including an online showcase by the Top Gear magazine team. re:creation will continue its commitment to heavyweight TV support throughout the year and ongoing high impact PR and event activity will keep the Razor brand name top of mind.

Hero product “The Razor S Sport Scooter is a funky and robust ride, it is a firm favourite. It continues to deliver great results and finished the first quarter this year as the UK’s number one non-licensed kick scooter.”

Jonathan Kirkley, marketing director

HTi

01253 775 544 | sales@htigroup.co.uk HTI’s own scooter brand, Rïpp, provides a range of high spec, high detail scooters and accessories for older kids.

The R500, R900 Pro Series and Dirt Rider offer solutions for both track riders and all-terrain.

The Rïpp Dirt Rider all terrain scooter features 200mm air tyres, ABEC-5 bearings, alloy deck, Y bar, four bolt clamp, oversized stem, heavy duty rear brake and is available in four colours.

The Rïpp Pro Series Stunt Scooter features aluminium cut-out decks, grind rails, three or four bolt clamps, PU wheels with alloy core, ABEC bearings and soft touch grips. Available in a range of designs, these scooters are ideal for performing tricks and stunts.

The Rïpp helmets and protection pads have been designed to complement the scooter range and complete HTi’s Rïpp offering.

Kiddimoto

01749 871 175 | www.kiddimoto.co.uk Kiddimoto has developed original soap box racers and created the BoxKart which includes contemporary features, including a handbrake, pneumatic tyres and adjustable frame.

The kart needs to be assembled and built before use. The pneumatic tyres absorb bumps on rugged terrain and the working handbrake and steering makes mastering the route manageable for children. The fully adjustable frame increases the BoxKart’s longevity. The BoxKart is available “The BoxKart is such a simple idea in various designs, from a classic natural wood but one that resonates with so many through to a selection of racing stripes. parents – especially dads. Whenever

Hero product

we take it out on the road, people are always coming up to us to tell us about the one they made when they were younger out of old pallets and pram wheels. Their enthusiasm is contagious and we can’t wait to see families enjoying the BoxKart this summer.”

Ali Anstee, marketing manager

Toy World 56

viewpoint Toy World shares insight and opinion

David Ripley COO of Winning Moves

Royal Toys & Games

The month of May turned out to be a very busy period for the media, with the press going into overdrive with the birth of the royal baby Charlotte and the General Election.

Consumer product companies have become very adept at PR releases around these very high profile events, riding on the back of the media frenzy in an effort to push their brands and products into the

Jim Hawker co-founder of Threepipe PR and digital marketing agency.

La Vie en Rose

After years of talking the talk in the parenting and toys sector I have finally become a Dad to a beautiful baby girl called Rose. There can’t be many new Dads that received congratulatory personal emails from more than half of the UK’s top toy companies and on behalf of the newly extended family, I would like to say thanks for all your kind wishes.

Not only has this been an exciting personal adventure as Rose turns one month old this week, but professionally, I have been

spotlight – usually through a very tenuous link to the event in question.

I think Disney showed amazing restraint in not taking an angle on their Princess range of Dolls and Peterkin also had a strong angle with their King puzzles range.

Other puzzle manufacturers were quick to react with dedicated royal baby puzzles and my own company, Winning Moves which is based just a stone throw from St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, the hospital of choice for many royal births, were equally efficient in launching a dedicated limited edition Game of Crowns Top Trumps deck.

Prince Harry’s trip to Australia also drew plenty of media attention and coincided with the birth of the latest royal princess.

During his public events he was continually given pink soft toys as gifts for princess Charlotte – looking at the volume he was given he probably managed to comfortably stuff a 20ft container.

A new display at Buckingham Palace will showcase the toys that our current Queen played with as a child which includes dolls,

prams and tea-sets. It is less apparent what some of the more recent royal generations are playing with as their toys by royal approval. If the general public were made aware of the actual products used and therefore by association endorsed by the children of the royal family, what type of demand would royal endorsement trigger?

The month of May also saw the release of the latest edition of the Times rich list – where the Queen has slipped to number 285th (HRH was 1st in 1989) with an estimated fortune of £330m – hard times indeed.

Maybe with such a limited nest egg the royals would consider sponsorship contracts to endorse offerings from some Great British toy related manufacturing companies such as Hornby, Winning Moves, Gibson’s, Trunki or Orchard?

I have had nothing back yet from my local MP regarding removing VAT from Educational and Physical play toys. I think they have been focussing on other matters.

fascinated to see what gifts people have chosen to buy for Rose! Of course I read NPD data and have a good view on what licences and what categories are performing well but it is interesting to see the choices that your closest friends and family make at first hand.

What has struck me most has been the pink versus blue debate. This started very early on in my wife’s pregnancy as we were constantly asked what sex of child we were going to have. We chose not to know and were greeted by the question about how we were then going to decorate the baby’s room! My wife and I were quite baffled by this question as it seemed right from the start that friends and family were keen we paint walls blue or pink, depending on the sex of the child.

Of course, this is all against the backdrop of the campaign by ‘Let Toys be Toys’ which is aiming to eradicate the retailer recommendation of products according to sex. I am largely in favour of the campaign but based on the evidence of the gifts received, I can safely say that people do actively choose to ‘pinkwash’ a baby girl.

Whether this is based on the signposting of retailers or because people have been

conditioned to purchase in this way, the pink movement is still clearly winning.

Our flat is fit to bursting with Peppa Pig and teddy bears of all descriptions and I am seriously looking for ways to invest into Jellycat as they are clearly doing a great job of reaching ‘gifters’. Retailer wise, Baby Gap seems to be the most popular followed closely

by John Lewis. Baby Bjorn and Bugaboo (none of which we have chosen) also seem to be leading the way when it comes to choice of carrier and travel systems.

Having worked in this sector for a long time now, I feel like we have had a massive head start versus other couples who haven’t had the benefit of being immersed in this confusing world of product choice. Straight away I have known which brands to buy (with the wife’s permission of course!) but it is interesting to go through this process for the first time and see the way that ‘the system’ recommends one product over another.

Next month I am heading to LA to attend the biggest video games conference of the year and have decided to take the family with me. Wish me luck (as well as the others on the plane)!

Toy World 58

Dan Salem Managing director at Prism Media Productions

Balancing Act

The year is already racing by, and as media planning becomes ever more complex driven by technology, fragmentation and the need to deliver innovation, are we forgetting about our audience.

On a recent trip to the circus it was comforting that the children’s favourite part was the slapstick humour of the clowns; knocking into each other, falling over, surprising each other and making obvious mistakes.

It made me realize just how little children

have actually changed since we were their age. Yes, they may spend too much time glued to their various screen devices, but what makes them tick is still the same, and that is because it is still linked to their psychological development.

This is further evidenced by the fact that the top 50 toys still feature many of the classic brands kids & families have enjoyed for decades, such as Lego and Monopoly.

While toy brands are adapting to new technologies and mixing traditional play with tech, the same balance is required when it comes to marketing. We are constantly told that traditional TV is in decline, and digital and VOD is the new world order. But in my opinion, it is important to adopt a measured approach.

There have been plenty of losers over the past few years with companies combining toys with technology, but the winners have always been those which have balanced the play patterns of traditional toys with relevant technology which can enhance the play value.

Moreover, a recent test by a well known retailer using VOD channels and TV showed

that VOD on its own failed to make any impact on sales. And while solus TV did shift the dial, when both formats were combined there was a significant impact on sales and enquiries.

With marketing budgets always under pressure, even with confirmed listings , it can be all too easy to focus activity on a single medium. And while, research has shown that a big focused campaign is often more successful that a slow burn one, adopting a more balanced use of different media platforms means success is considerably more likely.

This should also be reflected in the use of creative, where it is important to develop different content to fit the different platforms being used. By working collaboratively with your agencies and distributors at the earliest opportunity, there is more likelihood of delivering great balanced advertising content.

There are those who favour taking a risk in the hope of bigger rewards. But for the long term, like all investments, a balanced portfolio is always the best approach.

YEAR ROUN D T V ADV ERTIS ING

The UK’s No. 1 Electric Scooter Brand*

RAZO SALE R +86%S * *Source: NPD Jan-Mar ÂŁ Value

Tel: 0118 973 6222 | e:mail: sales@recreationltd.co.uk | website: www.recreationltd.co.uk

Toy World 59

viewpoint

Amazon – are there clouds on the horizon?

John Baulch publisher and managing editor, Toy World

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mazon is a company which divides opinion like few others.

The retailer’s seemingly inexorable march towards dominance of the online market in the USA and Europe continues apace, while at the same time a number of its business practices have been called into question. Its influence on the global toy market grows with each passing year, while leaving some toy companies with a growing sense of unease at the potential longterm impact it is having on traditional bricks and mortar accounts.

On the positive side, there are numerous third-party sellers which have come to depend on Amazon for their very existence, while many independent bricks and mortar retailers accept that life would be a lot harder for them without the incremental business they generate via Amazon and other online channels.

Online shopping is also becoming increasingly popular with consumers. Whether this is down to convenience, preferential pricing or simply a fascination with technology, more and more shoppers have been turning away from the High Street in favour of ordering goods from their own home or their mobile. It has been suggested by some observers that as much as one third of UK toy sales will be transacted online by 2018. Across the globe, the pattern is similar: non-food store sales are flat and footfall is declining, forcing traditional retailers to realign their assets and resources, placing greater emphasis on their ecommerce offering in the process. There’s no doubt that Amazon’s sales performance is one of the major factors behind this global retail

transformation.

But are there a few clouds beginning to form on the horizon? Amazon has just released its annual results, which point to a significant slowdown in Britain. Amazon’s 2014 UK sales were $7.29 billion (£4.46 billion) — a rise of around $800 million on the previous year. By comparison, UK revenues rose by $1 billion to $6.48 billion in 2012 and by $1.4 billion to $5.35 billion in 2011. If you take into consideration the fluctuating dollar-sterling exchange rate, UK growth is estimated at 14 per cent last year on a like-for-like basis — down from 22 per cent in 2012 and 31 per cent in 2013. Of course, most retailers would be delighted with double digit growth, but the fact that the growth rate has halved in the past two years has taken a few observers by surprise.

So what might be behind the slowdown?

Perhaps Amazon’s continuing bad press has persuaded some consumers to turn away from the retailer. The retailer’s stance on paying tax has been particularly controversial in times of austerity: in 2013 Amazon paid just £4.2m in tax, equivalent to 0.1% of the company’s UK sales revenue. (Ironically, this sum was virtually identical to the amount that Amazon received in subsidiaries from the UK government during the same period). It must be stressed that Amazon has done nothing illegal: it operates fully within the laws and regulations. But nevertheless there are questions of morality over Amazon’s corporate structure: ownership of Amazon.co.uk was transferred to a Luxembourg company in 2006. Its UK operation is classed as a fulfilment business, basically equating it to a delivery company like UPS or DHL. The Public Accounts Select Committee left Amazon in no doubt how it views this arrangement.

If Amazon’s approach to taxation has been a contentious subject, its unwillingness to tackle companies selling infringing product on its site has attracted no less ire from the business community. Matters came to a head last summer when it transpired that the top-selling toy on Amazon was a knock-off Frozen doll, complete with fake packaging. It would be unthinkable for a specialist toy retailer’s top-selling line to be an illegal copy, but Amazon seemed unwilling to deal with the issue and its silence on the matter was overwhelming. Perhaps this is no surprise, given the organisation’s well-documented reluctance to engage with the media.

Amazon has also been accused of bullying behaviour towards both staff and its suppliers.

A 2013 BBC investigation uncovered working conditions that an expert said could cause mental and physical illness, including punishments for talking and timed toilet breaks, while it has been one of the companies most frequently cited in

Toy World 60

the controversial ‘zero hours’ contract debate.

Meanwhile, toy companies have nervously looked on from afar as Amazon has become embroiled in a series of high-profile spats with major global publishing companies over its terms of business, knowing that if Amazon continues to grow more powerful in the toy arena that a similar fate could await them in years to come.

Consumers are also finding that Amazon’s business model is changing. Just before the latest results were announced, Amazon doubled the amount of money customers need to spend to qualify for free delivery. Until 2013, items were sent free to customers. In 2013 Amazon introduced a £10 minimum spend, and that price has now doubled to £20. The move is thought to be an attempt to encourage more customers to take up its £79 Amazon Prime service, but it represents a major increase in a short period of time. The knock-on effect for toy retailers could be significant: with many toy purchases throughout the year falling into the sub £20 bracket, Amazon may now find itself a more expensive option than its bricks and mortar competitors when the delivery charge is added to the retail price. For many years, retailers have complained about the lack of a level playing field when it comes to competing with Amazon: they have no choice but to pay rent and rates (and tax), all of which have to be factored into the pricing equation.

Yet for all Amazon’s remarkable revenue growth, the company has still not demonstrated that it can generate profits consistently. Since the company was created, shareholders have backed Jeff Bezos and his annual statements that Amazon was not about short-term profits. He has long expressed his disdain for short-term profitability, emphasising the need to invest funds into growing and evolving the business. In his vision, profits will come later. However, when you are valued at 112 times expected earnings, as Amazon is, investors inevitably have high expectations. And it’s worth noting that the retailer has never paid a dividend to its shareholders. One wonders how long their patience will last: what if Amazon gets to $200bn in revenue and still doesn’t make a profit.

So is Amazon simply an over-valued logistics company or will its unrivalled distribution network and state-of-the-art online technology enable it to overcome its challenges? And how does Amazon see its future – as the dominant player in the online space or a retailer that embraces every possible distribution channel.

Recently, there have been trials of click and collect services at bricks and mortar stores and even rumours of Amazon opening its own physical stores: should that prove to be the case, the wheel really will have turned full circle.

Make_A_Bar_Ad TOY_WORLD.indd 1

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Retail profile

Toys and games signal bright future for Waterstones Deputy editor Emily Ansell Elfer spoke to Waterstones’ related product buyer (toys and games), Kit Clothier, to learn more about the company’s expanding toys and games offering.

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sea-change has swept over the world of books in recent years.

With e-books and online retailers proving a hit with consumers, one couldn’t help but wonder whether Britain’s largest bookshop chain, Waterstones, would suffer.

However, the company has swum against the tide and, as well as reporting a 5% rise in physical book sales in December, is becoming a real contender in the toys and games sector.

Related product buyer (toys and games) Kit Clothier says that there was no light bulb moment when the company decided to expand its product offering, but it is something that the team have been building on for many years.

“I’m really glad people have noticed the changes within our shops – it’s an on-going process, but we’re proud of what has been achieved so far,” he adds. “Our shops have always had a natural link with licensed toys – for instance the sustained success of books like the Gruffalo or Very Hungry Caterpillar has great parity with stocking related products.”

Kit says that, around five years ago, it became

clear that the landscape of bookselling had changed substantially and that Waterstones needed to evolve with it.

Veteran bookseller James Daunt joined the company as MD in 2011 and had a very clear view on how this could be achieved. His vision involved expanding the stock to include products that complemented the books.

“We’ll always be a bookshop first and foremost, it’s essential that we don’t lose touch with that,” says Kit. “As the mix of product changes, it is a real balancing act to get the feel of the stores just right – there is an element of trial and error, but we have arrived at a point where we have a good idea of what makes a Waterstones product.”

When it comes to selecting stock, Kit says that Waterstones works hard to ensure that the products fit well within each individual store.

He explains: “We have some of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff you could imagine, and they have gone out of their way to engender a community of dedicated gamers locally.

Across the estate, we have stores in a wide variety of market types and we do a lot of work on making sure

Toy World 62

the local range suits them, however there have also been some lines that have done well across the board.”

The company is doing very well in the board game category at the moment, with what Kit calls “the renaissance of strategy games”. Games that went flying off the shelves last year include Bananagrams and Dobble, as well as some potentially less familiar games like Bird and Bug Bingo which are produced by Laurence King via Thames & Hudson.

In 2014, the company placed a lot of emphasis on growing its smaller impulse and pocket money lines and found this was excellently received. This time round, attention has shifted to the children’s gifting range.

Kit remains quite tight lipped about the developments in this area, but says Waterstones has pushed the boundaries and the resulting shop displays should be impressive. He also says that people should look out for an expansion in the company’s craft and hobby range.

Another development is the newly updated Waterstones.com. Toys and games were not previously heavily featured on the website, but now play a prominent role and it is hoped that this will further boost sales.

Kit says that there is a much wider range of suppliers to choose from in the toy trade, compared to the book trade. The company is currently working with a number of strong companies, including Underground Toys, Rainbow Designs, Galt, Keycraft, Esdevium and House of Marbles – but there is always room for more.

Kit concludes: “I am always on the lookout for new products that would be a fit for the business and some of our biggest successes this past year have come from new trading relationships. There are a lot of good reasons to work with us. I’d like to say that our winning personalities would be top of the list, but there is also the chance to see your products in new locations across the UK and be a part of an area that continues to grow.”

Feature

Arts & Crafts

Feeling crafty Emily Ansell Elfer looks at the art and craft sector and discovers how companies plan to follow last year’s loom band craze.

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rt and craft is generally recognised as a steady sector with lots of incremental purchase potential.

However, the loom band craze was like nothing seen before in the category and really shone the spotlight onto a traditional sector.

All of a sudden, crafting was cool again.

The danger of any craze is not being able to anniversary that business once it dies. Speaking to companies working in the art and craft sector, the clear feeling is that the long term winners are those that have the hot item, supported by a strong everyday line.

David Allan, sales and marketing director at DKL, says the good thing about crazes is that they attract new consumers to the market and help with sales of other products.

“There will always be crazes but these tend to be short lived,” he says. “Loom bands increased the awareness of arts and crafts to consumers and we all benefit as the craze falls away. In fact, Hama sales have grown since the craze.”

Kidicraft’s Roy Greenwood says that toy companies should continue to focus on everyday products and avoid getting caught up in crazes.

He comments: “These crazes do not come along very often and, although they create a surge for retailers, margins might not be so great. Supplying good quality everyday arts and crafts products with good margins for retailers has to be the focus for most.”

Now that the loom bands craze has passed, Character Options says that there is always a potential new craze ready and waiting to take off.

“As the overriding brand for the Cra-Z-Loom, our Shimmer and Sparkle brand is now an established girls’ craft brand that features a wide range of products from knitting, fashion, body art and jewellery,” marketing manager Mark Hunt comments. “Of course, we are always looking for the next craze too and who knows where our new Yummy Nummies will take us.”

Art and craft has often been perceived as a strong girls’ category, but retailers and suppliers believe traditional gender splits are starting to fall away.

Mia Roth, senior brand manager at Vivid, says that Crayola’s Marker Maker and Marker Airbrush have shown that items can developed without gender bias.

She also explains that, in some cases, the right property being applied to a product is often the yardstick by which its gender appeal is determined – a drawing desk that started as Frozen can get a new lease of life as Star Wars.

“Digital platforms such as Minecraft have also shown that young boys possess the desire and ability to express themselves creatively and take real pleasure in building a wide array of end results,” she adds.

Retailer Steve Kerrison, of Kerrison Toys, agrees that boys’ craft products tend to be licence driven, unless they involve bashing a nail into something, and

Minecraft is a great example.

“Boys don’t tend to admit to liking craft. However, put them in a room where no one can see them with some Hama beads and they love it,” he adds.

A big reason for stocking art and craft products is that they cover a huge spectrum of price points. This also allows suppliers to tailor their product assortment to a varied mix of retail channels, depending on their pricing needs.

The key challenge, according to Mia Roth, is to provide a clear pricing architecture in order for the consumer to easily navigate the fixture and make the most educated choice.

Kidicraft’s Roy Greenwood adds that the broad range of price points can also be a challenge as it becomes harder to achieve lower end products with increasing costs.

“Sometimes companies remove content to maintain price points, but to the detriment of the product. I think producing quality products at a reasonable price is more important than chasing down price points with products with poor content,” he says.

Technology is starting to have an impact on the sector, both in terms of product innovation (with products such as Crayola’s Colour Alive which brings children’s colouring creations to life with a smartphone) and also in marketing strategy. Looking back at the loom craze, it’s clear to see that the strong viral element to the campaign really drove brand awareness.

Vivid’s Mia says: “A TV commercial is critical to establish information and excitement for an arts and crafts line but today’s social media is all about expressing your achievements to a wider audience to provide inspiration, making the likes of Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube infinitely more powerful tools for showing how products can lead to the most amazing creations.”

So, with the increasing popularity of social media marketing, are in-store demonstrations becoming redundant?

Kerrison Toys’ Steve firmly believes that in-store demonstrations are vital. He says that, too many times, he has seen a great product at Toy Fair only for the idea to flop because its message has not been transferred to the consumer.

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DKL

However, Steve stresses that in-store demonstrations do not always need to be live and that retailers should think about using videos in store.

“Let the kids see how simple something is to do and they will have a go. Loom bands took off because all the kids where watching YouTube videos and knew what to do,” he explains. “These little LCD picture frames are great, and very often all we need is an SD Card sent out as we all have some of these knocking around somewhere. Send one with every launch and you are half way there.”

David Allen concurs with Steve, adding: “In-store demonstrations are a priority for DKL, we offer every retailer a Hama Make and Take promotion where we provide beads, pegboards and prizes. Sales increase every time an event takes place.”

Character Options’ Mark Hunt says that demonstrations are particularly useful for food-based products as children are keen to see and taste the end result.

“With Yummy Nummies for instance, seeing and tasting mini treats that have been magically made with packets of powder can really drive the concept home,” he explains.

Over the following pages, we present a variety of products from a selection of companies working in the art and craft sector.

Art & Craft

Happy birthday Spirograph

Dan Estrin, director at Goldfish & Bison, talks to Emily Ansell Elfer about Spirograph’s 50th anniversary.

What is it that has made Spirograph so popular across the decades?

I think the general idea of making a very artistic and creative spiral shape from a pen and some plastic tools is a concept that has remained timeless, and always will. It appeals to the creative minds of children of all ages and parents can also join the fun with their kids – this is something that has been happening for 50 years already and will, no doubt, continue for many years to come.

You revived Spirograph in 3D form back in 2013.

What has the response been to this?

The response has been simply phenomenal. We launched the 3D Spirograph with a supporting TV campaign and the numbers have exceeded expectation by some distance. All the reviews, feedback and sales data itself have been positive and it continues to generate the same reaction some two years since it was introduced.

What made you want to re-launch this classic product?

The opportunity was simply too good to turn down.

When we were given the chance to put together a proposal for this licence, it was a no-brainer for us. It’s heritage brand, a well-known licence for consumers and we had the opportunity to implement our modern product ideas for the entire category.

Has Spirograph been refreshed to mark the 50th anniversary?

We are continuously refreshing and revamping the look and feel of the brand and the product range itself, and this will be no different in its 50th anniversary year. We have a selection of new and innovative products that are being launched this

year and a new look and feel to the packaging to support this.

Have you planned any events or promotional activities to celebrate the anniversary?

We have further TV and press advertising planned for later this year, as we have done for the past couple of years. We’re also in the process of finalising a number of other promotional opportunities to support the traditional campaigns and ensure that a big fuss is created around this prestigious landmark, and that the 50th anniversary of Spirograph is celebrated in a way that its place in the toy industry deserves.

Number 1 Bead Brand

facebook.com/DKL.Toys

DKL Marketing Ltd 11 Deer Park Road, Northampton NN3 6QD, UK

twitter.com/DKLtoys

tel 01604 678780 • fax 01604 678787 • email dkl@dkl.co.uk • web www.dkl.co.uk

Toy World 66

Metallic & Fluorescent Poster Paints

Oil Pastels 12 or 25 different colours

AGE

3+

AGE

3+

AGE

3+

AGE

3+

Jumbo Paint Brushes

22 colours of Poster Paint Tubes with two brushes and a palette

Fantasia Art Set

Jumbo Water Colour Palette with 2 brushes

AGE

3+

AGE

3+

AGE

3+

Jumbo Chalks

AGE

3+

Textile Marker Pens

AGE

3+

School Storage Box with 120 Jumbo Coloured Pencils

Air Dry Modelling Clay

AGE

3+

®

Kidicraft Limited Tel : +44 (0)1282 500899 Email : sales@kidicraft.com

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Art & Craft

Character Options 0161 633 9800 | www.character-online.com

This autumn, Character Options will be introducing the Easy Nails Nail Spa. This auto nail painter uses child-friendly polish and will launch with substantial TV advertising.

The new Yummy Nummies brand allows children to create tiny treats such as cookies, gummies and pizza that look and taste like the real thing. There are three collections to choose from, Bakery Treats, Candy Shop and Dinner Delights. Two make-a-meal sets will also join the line-up, offering a burger and fries or spaghetti and meat balls, as well as a drink and serving accessories. Marketing will begin from June with a stand at the Good Food Show and press and digital campaigns.

Top of the Beados Gems range this autumn will be the Easy Colour Gem Studio which creates a decoration that can be transformed into jewelled accessories such as bracelets, rings and necklaces.

Qixels are not beads, but cubes that fuse together with a spray of water. Colourful micro cubes can be laid out and joined together to create a whole host of pixel style designs in various themes.

The Shimmer and Sparkle collection which houses the Cra-Z-Knitz Design Station and Twist ‘n’ Wear Fashion Maker will be extended with a range of “Girls’ manicures are about to take a professional turn with Character new creative kits for 2015. Crystal Craze will allow children to create a host Options’ new Easy Nails Spa. Simply load it up with the colour of choice and of accessories by using rows of crystal stickers to decorate items such as it’s ready to auto paint your nails one by one – all with a great result time and bracelets, hairbands and clutch bags. New for autumn is the Cra-Z-Jewelz time again. TV advertising, girls’ press and at home pamper parties are all part Ultimate Gem Machine which creates gemstone jewellery. The Shimmer of this unique new creative brand.”

Sparkle brand will be supported by multi-platform marketing including TV, Mark Hunt, marketing manager press and its own YouTube channel.

Hero product

John Adams

Cheatwell Games

The new Sands Alive range offers a line of products based around super soft modelling sand. Sands Alive has a soft feel with a light and fluffy texture and doesn’t feel gritty. It doesn’t dry out and is easy to mould into detailed shapes. The range, which includes a Starter Set, a Classic Set, a Super Set and themed sets, rolls out from July and will be TV advertised.

The Blo Pens range now includes Disney Frozen themed sets. The Disney Frozen Starter Set includes three Blo Pens and four reusable character stencils and the Disney Frozen Blo Pens Activity Set includes six reusable stencils and 10 sheets of paper.

The Disney Frozen licence has larger craft offerings coming later in the year – The Snow Globe Maker, Snow Glowbz Light & Sparkle Globe Charms which comes complete with three mini re-usable snow globes and a glowing light and the Snow Globz Light & Sparkle Palace Studio which includes a sparkling snow globe ice palace as well as mini snow globes.

Bangle Blitz facilitates the design and creation of bangles with funky wraps. This set includes wooden bangle sticks, a bangle maker tool, lots of wrap designs and stickers. There are two options available – City Girl and Festival Girl.

The food craft range is also growing with two new introductions – the Mini Make Cupcakes set and the MixUbbles Candy Flavoured Drinks Maker. The Mini Make Cupcakes kit enables children to make their own mini cupcakes by mixing and melting. Drinks are on the menu with the MixUbbles Candy Flavoured Drinks Maker which comes complete with an electronic base unit, mixing beaker, MixUbble character, flavour powders, glasses, tongs and bag clips.

All ranges will be TV advertised and backed up with comprehensive PR and digital campaigns.

Cheatwell’s latest dinosaur products include wooden construction sets, skeleton model making kits and 3D puzzles.

The 3D dinosaur puzzles contain 49 pieces and come complete with a name plaque and prehistoric scene set so that they can be displayed once constructed.

Children interested in fossils can create their own mini dinosaur skeleton with the company’s clip-together wooden construction kits. With each dinosaur constructed from a set of four plywood boards, these puzzle kits make models can go on display once completed.

Standing up to 300mm tall and coming complete with a slot-together toast rack counter display, the skeletons provide the opportunity get creative while learning more about the physical make-up of the Velociraptor, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and T-Rex.

01480 414361 | www.johnadams.co.uk

02392 524 098 | www.cheatwell.com

Hero product “The Sands Alive Castle Set is one of the most extensive kits within our new Sands Alive range.

The new collection draws on traditional sand play patterns, but brings them right up to date with super soft feel sand which is easy to mould and provides amazingly detailed results for children aged 3+ to achieve. The Castle Set comes with everything children need to get modelling, including 900g of sand, moulds, pattern accessories and lots more. The set will launch in July and will be supported by TV advertising and a PR campaign.”

Simon Pilkington, managing director

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Art & Craft

Asobi

Artstraws

01628 200 077 | www.asobi.co.uk Asobi has acquired the award-winning craft range of knitting, sewing and crochet kits from craft design company, Buttonbag.

Each Buttonbag kit contains patterns that have been developed with beginners in mind. The knitting kit includes six large balls of knitting yarn, felt, buttons, scissors, a tape-measure and other accessories.

The Buttonbag sewing kits are designed for little fingers and each one of the four designs – elephant, lion, hippo and stegosaurus – features pre-cut shapes with ready-punched holes and plastic safety needles with extra-large eyes.

The Buttonbag Mini Kits are a new launch this year. Priced as pocketmoney treats, each of the eight different designs comes in a tiny buttonprint suitcase and has everything needed to make a felt friend or a mini cross-stitch picture.

Asobi is also the exclusive UK distributor of the Orb range from the US, including its Frozen mosaic craft and the Seedling range of creative crafts from New Zealand. Best-sellers include the make-your own Superhero cape, designer tutu, Good things for Girls, Good Things for Boys and design-your own Bird House.

01792 796 151 | www.artstraws.com More than 60% of Creation Station’s arts and crafts sales are into pre-school and primary classes, and 10 new lines have recently been launched.

From these new classroom size packs, Artstraws has developed products for its five-sided spinner display stand so that mums can always find what their children are asking for. This includes products such as Dinosaur Sponges for painting, a Messy Play Smock, a brightly coloured Rolling Pin for small hands and sets of Creepy Crawlies and Wild Animal Stencils.

Most of the Creation Station materials packs contain ideas and instruction leaflets, so that parents do not not have to get creative themselves. For retailers that prefer a slat-wall display, Artstraws can provide a balanced range to fit whatever space is available.

DKL

01604 678 780 | www.dkl.co.uk The Hama brand is the number one range of beads in the UK, offering beadcraft sets and accessories in themes and popular licences.

Bestsellers include the Space set which allows children to create a version of the solar system. The designs can be hung from the display ring to make a Space mobile.

This year, Hama offers new pick-up lines. Available in Elephant, Mouse or Seahorse, the boxes contain 400 beads, one pegboard, instructions and ironing paper.

New licensed sets include the Disney Princess Palace Pets, Hello Kitty and Doc McStuffins all in a variety of gift boxes and blister packs.

The Jewellery sets offer a new element to the craft range; choose from Fashion Jewellery, Bracelets, the Hair Clip Holder set, Charms and the new Jewellery Activity Box. The Maxi collection offers larger beads for smaller hands with sets such as Maxi Food and the Large Blister Butterfly.

A bestselling line from the Breyer range is the Chalkboard Horse set which comes with a horse, sponge eraser and four pieces of chalk. New for 2015 is the collection of Horse Crazy Arts and Crafts.

Children can enjoy three different painting sets – the Colourful Breeds Paint Kit, Watercolour Painting Kit, and the Surprise Paint Kit. The Horse Crazy Surprise Paint Kit is available in a CDU of 12.

KSG

01760 721 390 | www.sequinart.com The Sequin Art brand has been a part of the KSG range since the late 1980s. The company acquired the brand from Impex which had established the market for the product in the 1960s.

Over the years, the Sequin Art range has developed into a strong international brand and is exported across the world.

KSG’s new product development offers a continuous and steady flow of new product which is supported by an extensive TV advertising campaign.

Two new licences have been signed and will be available in the Sequin Art range this autumn.

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Art & Craft

Interplay

01628 488 944 | www.interplayuk.com FabLab, Interplay’s new range of creative activity kits, is already proving to be a great success.

Glitter Tattoos, Hairlights and Nail Art launched in January and are delivering strong sales.

New additions to the range launching this summer include Invent-a-Scent Perfume, Bath Bombs, Tie Dye and Style Lab. The range will be supported with a fully integrated marketing campaign including heavyweight TV advertising.

New to the award winning myStyle jewellery craft range this year is a host of kits including Shamballa Rainbow Jewellery, Infinity Bracelets, Surf Style Jewellery and BFF Tag Jewellery that allow girls to personalise their own creations. Another new line is Steampunk Jewellery, a kit for creating vintage style accessories.

Interplay continues to appeal to younger audiences with its Craft Box collection. Fairy Garden is a firm favourite and new kits to the range include a Secret Diary, Fairy Charm Jewellery, Snowflake Jewellery and Paint and Play Dinosaurs.

Hero product “Innovation, quality and creating modern twists on traditional themes are an important part of Interplay’s development philosophy. Invent-a-Scent Perfume, part of our new FabLab range, is a product I am really proud of as it delivers all these values in spades. With this kit, you can discover the art of perfume blending and create unique and gorgeous smelling perfumes to match your personality. It’s educational, creative and great fun.”

Ross Ainsworth, managing director

Parragon International

GP Flair

01225 478 888 | www.parragon.com

020 8643 0320 | www.flairplc.co.uk Inspired by 3D printing technology, the new I-DO-3D is a pen that allows children to draw in 3D. It contains a patented compound in a range of colours and transforms 2D templates into multidimensional images. A UV light sets the ink in seconds.

The 3D Deluxe Activity studio has eight different coloured 3D drawing pens, 3D printing accessories and a spiral bound guide book with templates to make 40 projects. Other sets include the I-DO-3D starter kits with individual themes or single pens in a range of colours.

GP Flair is investing significantly in the launch of I-DO-3D with heavy weight TV advertising, digital campaigns, a key launch event and in-store demonstrations.

New for autumn is Strand Bands. The strands can be peeled apart to change the thickness and accessories can be customised with charms or fringing.

The TV promoted collection will include Bracelet Kits and a Designer Strand Styler for multiple projects, while a selection of multi-coloured band packs are available at pocket money prices.

Plasticine Softeez is softer and more malleable than the original formula but still never dries out. The new collection will launch in July and includes both a Tub of Fun with five colours and cutters, plus themed sets such as the Under the Sea Play Box and Cupcake creations.

Frozen features greatly in the growing Cool Create collection with Fun Tiles, Shaker Maker, Cool Cardz and a Fairy Lights kit.

Following last year’s introduction of a new Kit and Gift division in its UK and US offices, Parragon is launching a range of art and craft kits, toys and gifts.

The kits are complemented by the addition of a book product and are driven by the latest trends.

Out this month, the Minnie Makes Oh Sew Sweet Craft Kit is a 45-piece kit including a step-by-step book with 20 projects such as a Minnie headband, button jewellery and a purse.

Following the success of the Happy Tin in 2014, Parragon is adding nine new titles to the range this year, featuring characters such as Disney’s Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, Disney Frozen’s Olaf, Disney Princess, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, Paw Patrol, Monster High and more. Each keepsake tin includes a storybook, activity book, colouring book, four felt tip pens, a double-sided poster and 50 stickers.

August will see the launch of Smittens and Hat-Tastic, two craft kits to transform old mittens and hats. The 20-piece kits include a how-to book with step-by-step instructions to make 12 projects such as shark mittens, a robot hat, a fairy flower hat and more.

In October, Parragon is launching Craft Factory: Creative Tubes, a collection of craft kits presented in tubes. Each tube contains all the materials to make a soft toy and includes a how-to book with step-by-step instructions and illustrations. Launch titles will include a Kitten, Sock Zebra, Plush Puppy and Cute Owl.

Toy World 72

Asobi Full Page June 2015 ad:Layout 1 29/04/2015 16:02 Page 1

Design Your Own Bird’s House 10DYBDH

Baby’s Hand Print 10BHDPT Design Your Own Superhero Cape 10SPRHO

Create Your Own Designer Tutu 10CYODT

Mini Piggy Feltie Friend Kit Mini565

My Design 3D Dog 73695

Learn How To Cross Stitch BBCROS Sticky Mosaics® I Love Horses OSM69100

www.asobi.co.uk T: 01628 200077 • E: info@asobi.co.uk

asobitoys

@asobi_toys

Art & Craft

Kidicraft

01282 500 899 | www.kidicraft.com

Puzzles and Play 01354 669 733 | www.puzzlesandplay.co.uk

Dimensions Paintworks produces a range of paint by number kits which include easy-to-follow instructions and acrylic paints.

The Plush Heart sew together DIY cuddly toy range is a brand of Russian company, Elf Market. All products are boxed in brightly coloured packaging and feature moderate pricing.

Fantazër is a range of creative sets that offer the chance to make mosaic pictures, sand art, plaster relief and more. The range also has four potters’ wheel sets.

The Josephin brand encourages older children to undertake creative projects with their families. This brand allows consumers to make coloured gel or seashell candles, foil art sets, carpet painting, paper modelling and filigree and beadwork.

The Beadwork Mistress range provides an introduction to beadwork embroidery and allows the creation of a 23 x 25cm picture.

The Easy Art range introduces the older child to traditional artist techniques. It currently consists of eight canvas oil painting sets.

Kidicraft is expanding its product offering within the Mostaix and Primo brands for 2015. The Mostaix Mosaic Art range has already seen the addition of the Orange Ribbon Series and pocket money lines will be arriving in June, including My First Mosaic Art Mini.

This is designed as the entry level of Mostaix and allows smaller children to create unique designs. The new Make My Own Badge collection will also be arriving in June. These badges allow children to make their own personalised luggage and bag tags. Design templates are included for letters, plus a selection of patterns to get them started.

The Primo range of Italian arts and crafts will also see some new lines. This brings the domestic range to over 200 products, with a further 200 plus lines available on four weekly back to back orders from Italy. The Jumbo Paint Brushes have chunky handles, making them easier for younger children to hold. The Primo Oil Pastels are smooth, highly pigmented and available in packs of 12 or 25 different colours.

Metallic Poster Paints in eight colours are being launched in time for Christmas, as are the Poster Paint Tube sets.

Hero product “The Primo Poster Paint Tube set includes 22 vibrant colours in 12ml tubes.

The kit comes with two different sized brushes and the lid doubles as a palette and mixing tray which detaches from the base for easy cleaning. The great thing about Primo kits like this one is that there’s no end to what children can produce with the broad spectrum of colours included; it opens up hours of creativity.”

Kristina Holden, operations director

Paul Lamond Games 020 7254 0100 | www.paul-lamond.com

New additions are joining the Crafty Kids line-up this summer.

New for 2015 is a licensed range of paint by numbers kits featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, Dinosaur Roar and Rainbow Magic. The kits include picture frames, brushes and paints, backgrounds and glitter paints.

Also new to the range is the colour, wash and play again Thomas the Tank themed Activity Tablecloth that will join the Crafty Kids Activity Tablecloth. The double sided tablecloths come with five washable markers and can be put in the washing machine.

The Crafty Kids Make Your Own Puppet kits contain everything required to create a puppet as well as paints, brushes and glue. There are six puppets to choose from including a Ballerina, Princess, Horse, Knight, Dinosaur and a Pirate.

The Brain Noodle range features 18” jumbo, silky fibre noodles that can be bent in any direction. There are six sets to choose from including Bugs, Kittens, Puppies, Finger Puppets, Flowers and Dinosaurs.

Toy World 74

Think it, Make it, Even Bake it.

The champion of all putties Alphabet PieFis only available through Alphabet Pie. Contact us on 0207 566 4056 or email us at: info@alphabetpie.com New themed box sets coming out soon Exlusive Brand New

Plus Glow in the Dark

visit our website www.alphabetpie.com

Art & Craft

Tomy

01271 336 155 | www.tomy.com

Hero product “The Aquadoodle Classic continues to be a firm favourite with parents and toddlers alike. It provides hours of fun as well as encouraging creativity and helping little ones learn numbers and letters. The good thing about this large mat is that there is no mess, plus it folds up and stores easily. It is a great all round toy that ticks so many boxes.�

James Cokell, marketing communications manager

re:creation

0118 973 6222 | www.recreationltd.co.uk The Make-a-Bar Chocolate Factory kits by Magic Choc include everything that children need to design and make their own chocolate bars in minutes.

The launch line-up includes the Make-a-Bar Chocolate Factory Single Bar Pack and a special edition Minions Twin Bar Pack capitalising on the buzz around the Minions movie launch.

As well as new packaging and branding for added stand-out on shelf, the Make-a-Bar Chocolate Factory range will benefit from heavyweight marketing support. A dedicated website at makeabar.co.uk will provide ideas and inspiration, how-to demonstration videos and access to download the Make-a-Bar template maker app which enables children to design and print their own templates.

Extensive social media marketing will drive product awareness throughout the second half. PR activity will focus on gifting opportunities and partnerships with key children and parent titles, while sampling and events will provide consumers with an opportunity to experience the simplicity of the product concept as well as to try the chocolate.

After 10 years in the market, Tomy Aquadoodle continues to be a brand leader. It has a special canvas which allows children to create a picture that fades once dry.

The Aquadoodle pen can be filled with water and then used on the Aquadoodle mat. Educational pictures around the sides help with letter and number learning.

The Colour Doodle Bag is a refresh of the bestselling Aquadoodle Colour Drawing Bag. This new design comes in two colours and can be used on the go.

To complement the range, the Aquadoodle Mini Mats offer entertainment while out and about.

Small and durable, they can be packed into a bag or popped in the car. There are a variety of licensed mats to choose from, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Minnie Mouse Bow-Tique, Peppa Pig and Disney Princess. There is also a range of accessories such as the Aquadoodle Twin Pen Pack.

Spin Master

01628 535 000 | www.spinmastertoys.co.uk Kinetic Sand is a squeezable sand which sticks to itself and not the user. It flows through fingers like a slow-moving liquid, yet leaves them completely dry.

The product never dries, so can be used over and over again, and is wheat, gluten and casein free. The range contains bright neon coloured sands and new gem and metallic tones, alongside natural sand.

The Sandbox Playset comes with a plastic tray, for contained play and storage, and underwater themed moulds for creating sandcastles and accessories. TV advertising is running in the spring and through the rest of 2015.

The threadless Sew Cool Sewing Studio was a hit when launched last year. Now Spin Master is making knitting easy with the Knits Cool Knitting Studio. The Post Knitting system lets children make creations without the use of traditional knitting needles.

Different projects kits are available with different sized knitting posts for use with the studio. A PR and marketing campaign will support Sew and Knits Cool in the second half of the year.

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Art & Craft

Vivid

01702 200 660 | www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk Crayola’s new Creations product, Thread Wrapper, allows children to style and personalise accessories. They can choose from the included threads or colour their own with the rethreading unit. Numerous items, such as headphones, bracelets, pens, necklaces and sunglasses, can be threaded through the machine for a touch of personal style.

The Crayola Paint Maker creates custom paint colours. Children need only follow the mixing guide and add the mess free pigment strips to the base paint, load it into the unit and crank the paint mixer to shake it all up.

The Sketch Wizard projects a ghosted image on paper, making it really easy to draw. Users simply place the object on the shelf and can also draw from pictures, photographs, a tablet or objects across the room.

Hero product “After the stellar sell out success that we had last year with Crayola’s Marker Maker we are anticipating a similar result with our next extension, Paint Maker. The response to this product so far has been overwhelmingly positive with children loving the magic of being able to create their own unique paint colours and mums being very pleased with its mess-free method.”

Mia Roth, senior brand manager

Goldfish & Bison

Wizard

Goldfish & Bison is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Spirograph and is introducing the Spirograph Design Studio, Spirograph Animal Set and Spirograph Complete Starter Set. The Spirograph Design Studio comes with a motorised function that enables children to draw the famous patterns by simply inserting their pens and starting the motion. The set comes with a selection of templates, pens and paper to draw with and the case stores everything.

The Spirograph Animal Set comes with two Lion and Dolphin templates, six Spirograph wheels and three colour pens.

The new Spirograph Complete Starter Set comes with a carry case containing everything children need to get creative on the go. The case opens up to reveal 12 wheels all stored neatly in the lid, three coloured pens and paper.

Wizard, home of all that shrinks, offers a craft activity for girls and boys. Any picture that children trace, draw or colour shrinks seven times smaller and seven times thicker.

Youngsters can make badges, key fobs, fridge magnets, figurines, pencil toppers, jewellery, phone charms, bag tags and lots more. Each set comes complete with lots of Shrinkles and accessories. I Love My Pony and Unicorn Princess are currently very popular.

Shrinkie Dinkies are really tiny, and loads are included.

Shrink Art is for the teenage crafter for jewellery projects, while Shrinkjet is a sheet that allows children to print family photos via an ink jet printer and shrink them in the oven to make personalised charms. Finally, Egg Heads are decorative sleeves that shrink to boiled eggs.

020 8568 6398 | www.goldfishandbison.com

0208 943 0121 | www.wizardtoys.com

Alphabet Pie

0207 566 4056 | www.alphabetpie.com Nutty Putty can become anything the imagination wants it to be, such as a farmyard animal or a pair of glow-in-the-dark earrings, a toothbrush holder or a colourful badge. To make their creation last, all children need to do is pop it in the oven for 10 minutes and transform it into a glossy, rubbery and bouncy keepsake.

Nutty Putty is made of silicone. It is hypoallergenic, waterproof (once baked) and safe.

The range’s Creative Sets come in six or eight colours and include the full kit – shape cutters, tools, a rolling pin, a play mat with instructions and a baking sheet. The eight colour set includes glow-in-the-dark too.

The Cake Deco Set includes a little cake mould which can be decorated, four colours, tools, a play mat with ideas, instructions and a baking sheet.

The Jewellery Accessory Set comes with jewellery accessories for making earrings, bracelets, hair clips and rings.

There are also Zipper packs, which are standalone packs that can be sold individually. The range includes several glow-in-the-dark and transparent colours. Lots more will be launched throughout the year.

Toy World 78

Art & Craft

Bigjigs

Clementoni

Bigjigs’ French Knitting Doll sees a redesign for 2015 and is supplied with four coloured balls of yarn. Once children have mastered the doll, they can extend their skills and learning with the Bigjigs traditional Weaving Loom.

Bigjigs’ Bead Boxes offer creative craft with colourful wooden beads. Available in a butterfly, flower or fairy theme, the Bigjigs Mini Jewellery Kits are half the size for party bags and stocking fillers.

The wooden Junior Arts Easel comes complete with four paint pots, a paper roll, chalks and eraser.

to experiment with the product, create their own designs and then take them home to keep. Selected retailers will receive one kit for 50 children, which will allow them to hold a Creators Keepers Day in store during the school holidays.

Clementoni’s Frozen Ice Cream Crafts makes ice cream making easy and includes a manual and lots of tips.

In addition, the company offers a range of both licensed and unlicensed craft sets. Products include jewellery sets, candle making and musical instruments.

Epoch making toys is working with retailers to arrange Creators Keepers Days in a bid to raise the profile of its arts and crafts brand Aquabeads, as well as to increase footfall in stores. The events will be held in store and children will be given the chance

H. Grossman

Epoch making toys

H. Grossman is re-introducing Skoobies, an awardwinning craft product from 10 years ago. The Skooby strings are knotted together to form bracelets, keyrings, necklaces and more.

Following the success of the Loom Twister and the current popularity of creating and designing jewellery, Skoobies is already seeing new how to websites and blogs springing up, teaching the art to a brand new generation of fashion conscious crafters.

Jumbo Games’ Disney Frozen Puzzle and Colour is a giant 24 piece double-sided floor puzzle. Once children have finished the jigsaw, they can flip it over to reveal a black and white image that can be coloured in. Any colouring in can be easily wiped clean from the puzzle, to reuse again, and all the pieces can be stored in a travel case.

Jumbo Games

Revell

Toy World 80

Revell’s range of art and crafts includes MyArts, pocket money Twisteez hair braids, Animal Key Rings made of modelling clay, a collection of 65 Glitter Tattoos and the jewellery making Bubble Bracelet.

The Sand Picture includes numbered templates and a collecting tray. The Suncatcher lets children create shimmering window stickers with glitter and metallic effects. The Sand Shaker set is coming this autumn.

Trends’ Glitza Glitter Tattoos can be applied to skin or used on different surfaces to decorate nails, individualise clothes, personalise stationery and more.

The tattoos are easy to use and have been fully tested to comply with cosmetics legislation.

Trends’ new Color Me Mine Colour Change Bags come with a colour change pen and colour markers, enabling girls to style their bags with designs in upwards of six different colours.

Trends

U C S TE

RK

A

ND

Y

KID

New from

QUI

It’s fun and easy to turn old hats and mittens into adorable creations with the Smittens and Hat-Tastic craft kits Each Set Contains Over

20

Pieces!

Includes a how-to book with handy tips and step-by-step instructions to make 12 fantastic projects

Available August 2015 Persona lise! | Customi se! | Create!

For more information Contact: Parragon Chartist House, Trim Street Bath, BA1 1HA

Tel: +44 1225 478888 Email: uk_info@parragon.com

Connect with us! @ParragonBooks

Allegedly

After Mattel’s 1st Quarter results were released last month, things escalated rather quickly: no sooner had I switched on my mobile the morning after than I had radio stations calling me, wanting to know if I was available for live interviews to discuss the results, and in particular the performance of Barbie. So it was that I found myself on Radio 5 Live and several local BBC stations, defending Barbie’s honour. To be honest, I didn’t find it that difficult: in this instance, I think the media – which seemed determined to collectively trot out its usual lazy ‘is this the end of Barbie?’ line of thinking – lacked perspective. As I pointed out, Barbie has been an ever-present, successful fixture of the toy trade for 56 years; an evergreen in what is essentially a transient and fickle market. Any brand which has achieved that degree of longevity is going to experience peaks and troughs. While Barbie is admittedly nowhere near her peak at the moment, she still represents a whopping 25% of Mattel’s global turnover, and there are signs that Mattel is moving in the right direction with the brand once again. Ultimately, as I pointed out in my closing soundbite, my daughters – who are now 21 and 18 – both played with Barbie when they were young, and if they have daughters, I’m sure they will too. Hopefully I made my point….

Thankfully no-one asked me to try to put a positive spin on the latest Tesco results. I’d like to think I can find a positive angle in most stories, but I’m not a miracle worker. Let’s just say I think it was a wise move to lump all the bad ‘stuff’ in one set of accounts and get it out of the way in one fell swoop. Line drawn, time for Tesco to move onwards and upwards. Within days, Sainsbury’s announced that 800 department and deputy manager’s jobs are in jeopardy, proving that the grocery sector as a whole is facing some major challenges at the moment. Quite how much of a priority the toy departments of grocery accounts will be while the companies concerned are in the process of overhauling their internal structures remains to be seen.

Whether this will provide an opportunity for toy specialists to capitalise will be interesting to watch….

It appears that The Entertainer will be continuing to expand its portfolio of stores over the coming months.

According to a story in the Torquay Herald Express, the company is negotiating to take over a unit in the Union Square Shopping Centre, formerly occupied by JJB Sports, which has been unoccupied since 2012. The retailer has also tweeted that it is looking for staff for new outlets in both Burnley and Oldham. And so The Entertainer’s seemingly inexorable march continues: as Gary admitted when interviewed for Toy World a couple of months ago: “If we had 200 stores and you asked me if we had reached capacity, I’d still say no.” A sobering thought for those independents who don’t yet have the pleasure of competing directly with an Entertainer store around the corner….

It has been announced that over 3,000 people who were made redundant by Woolworths in 2008 will not receive compensation. Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has been fighting a legal case on behalf of employees who worked in stores with fewer than 20 employees. Despite what Usdaw general secretary John Hannett described as a “morally and logically robust case”, a European Court of Justice ruling appears to have put an end to the matter. You have to have some sympathy with the worker who commented: “It is totally bizarre that just because I worked in a store which employed 19 people, I should be treated differently” ….

In stark contrast, the former Morrisons chief executive has been given a frankly bewildering £3m pay out, and unfathomably could get even another £1.6m over the next two years. This after his five year ‘reign’ saw profits collapse

and the share price plummet. So I’ve decided to tidy my CV up and sent it across to Morrisons: if David Potts doesn’t work out, maybe they’ll give me a go next? I’m not sure I could do any worse. If this is the last Allegedly column you ever read, you’ll know that Morrisons has made me an offer I couldn’t refuse….

In a move that had been widely predicted, it has been announced that that Viacom and Sky Media have agreed to extend their advertising sales partnership in the UK to include Channel 5. Those clients and agencies which already have a strong deal with Sky Media presumably won’t be unhappy, but talking to a few people in the know, it seems likely that the deal will push up prices in the short / medium term, and some flexibility could be lost. Sadly it sounds like some good people are about to lose their jobs too (including former GMTV sales director Simon Poole, who only joined the team in January), but hopefully Channel 5’s loss will be another broadcaster’s gain….

Toy companies are in the process of being summoned to meet with the TRU consultants: some have spoken of a positive meeting, while others have perhaps had more of a bumpy ride. But everyone who has been or is going sensibly seems to have turned up fully prepared and forearmed: like Dragons Den, as long as you know your business and your numbers, I’m sure you’ll be fine….

No mention of whether there was a dress code specified for the TRU meetings, but Argos has apparently written to suppliers to let them know that they’re free to dress down for future meetings. Although before you get too carried away, tracksuits, flip flops and hot pants are banned. I bet some of the more flamboyant members of the trade are gutted about that! It’s all apparently in the name of allowing people to “express themselves and have fun” – I’m sure everyone will be fully embracing that concept….

At the recent Toymaster Show, the Wednesday evening event – dubbed ‘Dyson’s Decades’ - marked Roger Dyson’s tenure superbly, and it was also announced on the evening that Rob and Jan Mann will both be retiring and moving to Cyprus imminently. Unlike them, Roger will still be very much involved with Toymaster, so you can’t really call it a send-off, but whatever it was, it was certainly fitting and Roger gave a wonderful speech, as he always does. One person’s accent did confuse me though: it sounded like he was calling the evening “Dyson’s d*ckheads,” which I did think was a rather unfair way of describing the guests on Roger’s table, all of whom have worked with him during his 49 years in the trade….

And although I sadly missed them, I hear that Toy Division went down a storm on the Tuesday evening at Toymaster, so hopefully they’ll be back at a future toy event. We did, however, manage to get someone to take a snapshot of the band in action, although I’m not sure which one is Bruno?

te r bsi ou e m t w o si e s.c vi ad w tr tra w ts ne ar

kids learn at school and play at home with arts & crafts www.artstraws.com . sales@artstraws.com 01792 796151 . Swansea SA6 8RB

WHERE FUN MEETS CREATIVITY

Magformers is the super powerful magnetic toy which leads children into the world of limitless imagination and creativity

FUN – for kids and ‘grown-up kids’

BUILD – limitless creative constructions

DREAM – go beyond your imagination

LEARNING – key skills through play

CREATIVITY – and brain development

Contact Simon or Chris for further information

Call Simon on 07481 155 075 or email simon.mccrickard@magformers.co.uk Or call Chris on 07585 332 587 and email chris.singleton@magformers.co.uk

Visit us online at

www.magformers.co.uk @Magformers_GB

Magformers UK