Inside Out
By Maria Weiskott and Jason White -- Playthings, 6/1/2004
Slinky …the movie? That's what we hear. Look for it in '05, according to folks at Poof-Slinky. The full-length 3-D animated film is reportedly in production north of the border—at studios in Montreal. Also in the works for '05, a full-length animated film starring Curious George featuring the voice of Will Ferrel. Speaking of curious…how about giving Barbie dolls as part of a severance package? True, according to nationally renowned humor columnist Dave Barry, who cites Tennessee's Mountain Press. The textile company Dan River included Barbies in "going away" packages for severed employees, the newspaper stated, who worked at the now shuttered plant in Sevierville, Tenn. Don't know how well the packages went over, but it didn't seem to help sagging Barbie sales...A more "PC" giveaway is upcoming from RC2's Learning Curve division. Lamaze is prepping for an August sale with supplied promo materials and give-away (retailers need to sign on by June 30th). A second promo, this one for kid classic Thomas the Tank Engine is set for July 18th. The Thomas promotion is regional in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago. Grownup kids get their promos too: Coop Sport and Bacardi teamed up to package 8-inch neoprene disks with Bacardi purchases. Yes, grown-ups like play too. As TRU's Richard Markee noted during TIA's annual meeting, reliable research reports that, "Adults who play appear to live longer than those who don't." RC2's Joyride Studios is about to go on a joyride of its own. With its Halo toy line already enjoying success, the company picked up the license for Halo 2, as well as the license to make classic Battlestar Galactica figures. Pretty soon you'll be able to play with your Starbuck at StarBucks...At play in the game of corporate musical chairs: After a very brief stint at Patch, Playmobil vet Vincent Santore is now director of U.S. sales, specialty division at Spinmaster while former Spinmaster vet Andrew Kamondy has moved to Dynatech Action...Best line we've heard in awhile: "The only place we haven't put a planogram is a truck stop." A true reflection of how diverse toy selling has become.
