Playing To Win

In a year when “big” stories made all the headlines—Toys “R” Us seeking to sell off its namesake stores and the ongoing drama of the International Toy Center’s future being two of the biggest—it’s illustrating to see that elsewhere in the toy industry, retailers, and even some manufacturers, were creating small but notable stories on their own in the never-ending drive to improve their businesses. This year’s entrants in the 36th Annual Playthings Industry Achievement Awards exemplified that, whether it was through an improved Web site, a promotion that helped perk up a specialty store’s traffic, or a clever opportunity for a manufacturer to showcase its toys in a place where children’s entertainment isn’t traditionally front-of-mind.

Kazoo & Company ( www.KazooToys.com)

Denver Diana Nelson, President

An offshoot of specialty toy store Kazoo & Company, recipient of several awards including a 2004 Toy Retailer of the Year nod from the Toy Industry Association, KazooToys.com isn’t so much an innovator in the world of online retailers as it is the kind of solid utility player any coach would love.

Founded in 1999, KazooToys.com continues the 25-year-old brick-and-mortar business’s mission: offering educational, non-violent toys. Helped by a design that’s simple, direct and free from the diverting gimmicks that too often plague Web site design, KazooToys.com offers online shoppers a site that says, “You can trust us; we know what we’re doing,” and according to the site’s customer feedback page, lots of shoppers agree.

Shopper-friendly features include an order tracker and a product search that sorts merchandise by its appeal for each gender and various age ranges, or by brand, and a mailing list that sends special offers by email to those who sign up to receive them. And to complete the online/off-line circle, each page links to a list of Kazoo & Company’s in-store events.

Jackrabbit Toys

Sea Girt, N.J. Tracy Kuchar, Owner

Jackrabbit Toys’ vision was to create a visually dynamic space that would project an upscale image without sacrificing the spirit of a traditional specialty toy retailer. The result is a shopping experience more “purveyor of playthings” than corner toy shop, an appropriate attitude for Jackrabbit’s location, an affluent community on the New Jersey seashore.

The shop’s 3,000 square feet of selling space is notable for its soaring, industrial-style ceiling, a “vibrant yet warm” color palette of deep reds, blues, tangerine and bright white, wood floors and galvanized steel accents.

Jackrabbit’s distinctive look immediately impressed local shoppers, says owner Tracy Kuchar. “Customers ask all the time where Jackrabbit Toys’ other stores are,” she says, adding that one manufacturer’s sales rep recently remarked, “When you walk in the door, you feel like you have arrived somewhere.”

Andrew Wen

Master Replicas

Walnut Creek, Calif.

Master Replicas has carved out a niche in the world of pop culture collectibles by taking the category to extremes of realism and workmanship, especially when it comes to duplicates of sought-after movie props. The company’s success has been built on the work of product gurus like Andrew Wen, Master Replica’s director of product development, Far East. Wen’s claim to fame is what some call Master Replica’s “greatest design achievement,” the Force FX Lightsaber. Wen’s incredibly detailed copies of the iconic weapons of Star Wars’ Jedi warriors not only look like those used by Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Mace Windu, they feel, fire up and sound like them too. Getting to the final product was a complicated process, but when Wen was done the dream “toy” of two generations of Star Wars fans was a reality.

Fisher-Price PlayGate

Fisher-Price

East Aurora, N.Y.

It’s not often in the Playthings Industry Achievement Awards’ history that a manufacturer has won a merchandising award. But this year Fisher-Price took home a trophy thanks to a truly welcome idea: an airport lounge for kids stocked with the toymaker’s preschool playthings.

Besides a stop at Starbucks, could there be a more appreciated amenity at an airport terminal than a place where toddlers and preschool-age children can stay entertained during those seemingly endless waits for boarding to begin, a connecting flight to arrive or the de-icers to work their magic?

The first Fisher-Price PlayGate opened in October 2004 at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, N.Y. Since then, Fisher-Price says literally hundreds of thousands of families have enjoyed the PlayGate’s toys and displays, and nearly 4 million people are estimated to have been exposed to this up-close-and-personal embodiment of the company’s namesake brand.

This “frequent smiles” program for tiny travelers will soon grow with at least three additional PlayGate installations at U.S. airports during 2006, Fisher-Price says.

“18th Kids’ Clothesline Art Show”

Kazoo & Company

Denver Diana Nelson, President

Imagine an in-store event that has parents stopping by a toy store voluntarily. That’s just what happens at Kazoo & Company’s “Kid’s Clothesline Art Show.”

In its 18th year, the event asks area children to bring paintings, charcoal drawings, handmade jewelry, masks, sculpture or wearable art to the store for public display. In a typical year, more than 1,000 pieces of original art are displayed on clotheslines throughout the store and 10 works are chosen to become part of Kazoo & Company’s permanent collection, on display all year.

The event draws “an enormous amount of consumer traffic through the store,” according to Kazoo & Company president Diana Nelson. And considering the event is in April, a notoriously slow month for toy sales, the extra traffic is always a welcome boost to Kazoo & Company’s business.