The notion of good news seems a bit extreme right now. A bit like snow on Mars. Hey, wait, it actually did snow on Mars this week and there really is some good news for the toy industry… relatively speaking.

Gerrick Johnson, a financial analyst specializing in the toy industry for BMO Capital, upgraded Jakk’s Pacific "Outperform" from "Market Perform" and raised the price target to $32 from $28. That’s according to a CNBC article “Ahead of the Bell: Jakks Pacific upgraded.” Johnson sited the dismissal of...Read More

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In writing about the toy industry, the elephant in the room is the current economic climate. It’s pretty scary out there right now.   We are not, however, under any obligation to be scared. 

We have a choice on how we react to this or any problem. We are experiencing one of those moments of creative destruction that periodically pop up in history. Some of the late 19^th and 20^th century institutions that have framed our economic lives are being destroyed while a new framework and i...Read More

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I used to live in St. Louis and was always transfixed by the weather in Kansas City. Why, because whatever weather pattern was hitting them was going to hit us 24 hours later. It would be with a horrible fascination that I would watch the people in Kansas City being buried by avalanches of snow or hit by torrential rain and knowing that I was going to soon be facing the same.

I think that that is what it must be like for Europeans whenever the see a new development in the US. Whether it is “High School Musical” or “Dora the Explorer,” they can figure that those cultural winds are going to be blowing through their countries in a matter of months.

On one hand, this...Read More

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Tip O’Neill, the Democratic House Leader back in the 1980’s, once famously stated that “all politics is local.” After spending time with some European toy companies I can confidently state that, despite the fact that we live in a global economy, all toy business is local as well.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I have just been to Denmark to speak at a conference on the future of the toy industry. Though I was there to impart knowledge, I was interested in what I would learn about them. What do they face or how do they operate that is different from what I am used to.

He...Read More

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As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Copenhagen. I have been invited to Denmark to speak at a conference. The subject I have been asked to talk about is the future of the toy industry. 

The first thing I noticed after arriving is the silence. There is no noise. In New York, buildings are either on their way up or down. There is constant construction. Here in the heart of Copenhagen, all is quiet. All of these beautiful buildings have been here for hundreds of years.  

I have just come from a place, New York, where time moves at bullet speed.  Today is just tomorrow's yesterday.  Here in Co...Read More

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One of the key elements in a successful product launch is photography. The product image that shows up in ads, on the Internet, on sales material, in catalogs and anywhere else an image is required is an essential part of communicating a game or toy. The photo is your only connection with your consumers. It is therefore key that the image be of as high a quality and as powerful as possible. In order to find out more about studios that shoot toy product images, I spoke with Gary Franco of GF Studio Inc. Here is my interview:

Richard:

Gary, tell me about GF Studio?

Gary:

Hi Richard, my c...Read More

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There is an important case coming before the Supreme Court that could have important implications for the toy industry. The case does not directly involve toys. It is results from a woman who used a pharmaceutical product which met Federal labeling standards but not those of her state.  

According to a November 18, 2008 New York Times article entitled, ”Drug Label, Maimed Patient and Crucial Test for Justices,”  she became injured, sued in her state court and won a $6 million judgment. That case was appealed and ha...Read More

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As those who have been reading this column know, I consider toy inventors to be the soul of the industry. Their creativity and passion for the new and better shape every aspect of who we are as an industry.

So, I think it’s pretty cool that they are finally going to be recognized for their contributions. After all we celebrate the toys they make with the National Toy Hall of Fame and we honor the manufacturers who produce them with the TOTY awards. So, why not give an award for the people who thought up those products.

We...Read More

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Why don’t the World Yo-Yo Championships take place during February Toy Fair? That’s what I thought when I read in the New York Times about the 196 competitors who came from 20 countries to see who was the world’s greatest Yo-Yo’er. 

In fact, why don’t all the toy championships take place during Toy Fair? It would be great for them (exposure to the New York Press, synergies with other events, tons of people who would come and watch) and great for Toy Nation. Think of the synergies that would be created and the press toys and play would receive.

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When I was starting out in business, one day I barged into my boss’s office and blurted out: “We have a problem!” His face got red and he blurted back: “What is it?”

I told him and with his face returning to a healthy pink, he responded in a quiet voice:  “That’s not a problem. That’s a concern. 

A problem is when something terrible has happened and we have to act. A concern is when something bad could happen and we need to keep an eye on it."

So, do we in Toy Nation have a problem or a concern? I think a concern.  The sky is not falling.

These ...Read More

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light,, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven,  we were all going the other way.”

Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

The above quote sounds a bit too much like today for my comfort but I thought it was an interesting starting point for a consideration of the Dollar Store industry. ...Read More

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We live in a world of “Wow!” In fact, “Wow!” is so ubiquitous that a recent Google search for the words “Wow factor” came up with 1,940,000 hits. Everything from Sarah Palin to "outstanding customer service" to "great art" seems now to be measured on a “Wow!” scale.  Of those 1,940,000 hits, I bet 99% can be attributed to responses elicited by Steve Jobs and his incredible Apple “Wow!” machine.

The toy industry was one of the first to measure product potential with “Wow!” In many cases, the term was used to describe products that had some sort of technological edg...Read More

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