A Daydream Come True

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? For Gordon Haas, the answer is easy: president of his own toy company. And as Daydream Toy, Hoboken, N.J., gears up for its second Toy Fair—and begins distribution to its first European accounts—Haas is happy to report that his dream job is exactly what he hoped it would be.

Haas first got a taste for the toy business growing up near the Parker Brothers factory in Salem, Mass., especially after a tour where he witnessed Monopoly game pieces being made.

“Right there and then I was like, 'This is cool, I want to do this some day. That was back in second grade!” Haas tells Playthings. “And so I've known early on that I would love making toys. I went to school for engineering, and I applied to all the toy companies that I possibly could … Of course I didn't get into any right out of school with no experience, so I got into the aerospace industry.”

The toy bug stuck with him, though, and Haas continued to work on his ideas. And when his ultimate Big Idea, the original soft Squashblox set, debuted in 2000, it was a hit, garnering industry acclaim and awards, including a nod from Dr. Toy the following year. “That's when I said to myself. 'It's time to quit my aerospace job,'” Hass says. In the years that followed, however, Hass' road to retail success turned rocky.

In July of 2003, Haas was diagnosed with late stage Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma with only 40 percent chance of survival, and immediately began chemotherapy. “At the time I got sick, we just closed [the company] down,” Haas says. “We were talking to some [buyers] and nothing was really a good match. So I put it on the back burner, took it off the market and did nothing with it, and just concentrated 100 percent on getting healthy.”

Fortunately, Haas' treatment was a success. He made a full recovery, though he didn't restart his company right away. He turned to a sales job with specialty toy manufacturer Alex, Northvale, N.J. “I thought maybe I shouldn't jump into the stress of running my own business so quickly after I went through that ordeal,” Haas says. “That was a wonderful experience working with those people at Alex, and they taught me a lot about the industry … but after a while I said, 'I've got to start again out on my own.' The feeling was just that strong.”

After sourcing trips to China and additional industry research, Haas relaunched Squashblox under the Daydream Toy moniker, along with more than 30 additional SKUs that span multiple toy categories. “I came up with the name 'Daydream Toy,' because I really wanted to get the concept across that a lot of this stuff I come up with when I'm daydreaming,” Haas says. “While I'm sitting at my desk and all of a sudden an idea comes to me. And that's the kind of creativity that I hope to instill in the kids who are playing with our products—as well as the parents—and that's where it stems from in me.”

Daydream's first full year at retail in 2007 gave the company a solid foundation for future growth, led by Squashblox's renewed popularity, according to Haas. “It's been selling great into specialty and the reorders have been fantastic too,” he says. The basic set of eight cushions that can be attached and assembled into multiple configurations was the company's best-seller for 2007, followed by the castle and train accessory kits, which dress up the basic set.

An additional product line, the faceless, 26-inch freestanding Beanstalks plush characters, also saw some success last year in museum stores and other high-end gift shops, and made the rounds of consumer press over the holiday season. “I think that's going to translate into this year and it's going to really take off,” Haas says.

Sales were also aided late last year by a uniquely personal, promotional tour: Haas suited up his Honda Accord with giant photos of Squashblox and took to the road, visiting hundreds of specialty stores over 8,000 miles down to Florida, Texas, Chicago and back again. “It really helped quite a bit,” Haas says.

Both the Squashblox and Beanstalks lines—which, Haas says, “out of all our other products set us apart and make us unique”—will grow in 2008 at specialty stores as well as on Amazon.com and Toysrus.com. Squashblox will get updated packaging and new princess and dinosaur themed accessory kits, while Beanstalks will see additional faceless characters, plus child-friendly styles that sport smiling faces.

Additional expansions in 2008 will include the introduction of soft plush characters to add more play value to the Mini Squashblox, the tiny playset version of the bigger line, along with new styles for the company's Play With Your Food game. The goal is to begin distributing at even more specialty toy and gift stores in the new year, Haas says. “I see my line as an innovative, really creative line—and it's just such a great match for the specialty market.”