Out of the Toy Box   

I told my friends at the Strong National Museum of Play about my interest in gender based colors; specifically my surprise that pink has only been a “girl’s color” in recent decades. As a result, Chris Bensch, Vice President of Collections at the Strong, has been keeping his eyes open on the subject and sent me an interesting piece from the online magazine Slate.

Entitled, “Pink is for Battleships, a history of...Read More

Any of us who have entered China to visit a factory know the amusement park quality of the experience. It’s like one of those 360 degree Disney rides where the danger feels real but isn’t…except in this case it is. 

That’s why I was drawn to a book review in The New York Times on Peter Hessler’s new book, “Country Driving, A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory.” Here is how Hessler puts it:

It’s hard to imagine another place where people take such jo...Read More

What is going to happen as consumers in various part of the world use their Internet connections to become savvy about retail prices around the world? Think about it, a consumer in, say Iceland, goes to the store to buy a product, pulls out a cell phone and checks prices, only to find out that the same product they are looking at costs much less in the US or Europe. How are they going to feel about their local retailer? What is that going to do to their consuming patterns? Will the Internet ultimately force a sort of “global pricing?”

That’s what went through my mind as I read an excellent email from a blog reader in, a...Read More

The New York Times Op-Ed page had a mind expanding editorial on why Oscars are gender based. The piece, by Kim Elsesser, a research scholar at the Center for Study of Women at the University of California, Los Angeles, asks the question: “[Why] is it considered acceptable to segregate nominations by sex, offering different Oscars for best actor and best actress?”

To make her point she muses as follows:

Suppose…that the ...Read More

I try to keep an eye on the future of the toy industry and that in many cases means keeping up with maternity and baby marketing. So my eye was attracted to, of all things, an article in The New York Times on Bravado Designs, a company that specializes in bras for breast-feeding mothers. 

The article, “Selling Breast-Feeding Bras And Emotional Support,” reports that Bravado abandoned traditional marketing approaches in favor of the Internet. The article quotes Kathryn From, CEO, as saying   &ldquo...Read More

In my last posting I spoke about the depressed feeling one gets at a trade show on the last day. Aisles seem empty and exhibitors look down. 

How do we fix it so that people stay for the entire show? Here are a few thoughts to get people thinking:

• Don’t just have bands and balloons the first day; have them the last day too. Get people excited about being there and get them to feel like they are missing something if they are not. It’s like a football game when the crowd gets quiet. Either throw a touchdown pass or bring out the cheerleaders.
• Honor industry service providers by making the las

Why is it that the last day of a trade shows is so depressing? Aisles become sparse and exhibitors appear depressed. Many exhibitors look like they are mainly interested in packing up and getting out of town. In fact some even start their tear down before the show closes. No matter how good the first days were, exhibitors become despondent in the end and leave minus some of the excitement felt earlier in the event.

I noticed it happening at the just concluded Toy Fair. A great show but you couldn’t tell it from the last day. 

Who is to blame? All of us; attendees leave town and exhibitors want to. But ...Read More

There are some big changes coming for bricks and mortar retailing. It’s going cellular. 

According to a New York Times article, “Cell phones Let Shoppers Point, Click and Purchase,” you will very soon be able to buy that dress in the window by pointing your cellphone at it and ordering via your key pad. It seems that, should you elect to download the appropriate app, you will be able to do anything from the above purchase to being able to get more detail on a product to acquiring an instant coupon. 

This new technology is real boost for traditional retailers.&...Read More

Reuben Klamer, the prolific toy and game inventor, was in town last week to help Hasbro celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Game of Life. Reuben of course was the originator and an inventor of that game as well as any number of other memorable toys like the Art Linkletter Spin-a-hoop, Fisher-Price 1-2-3 Roller Skates, Dolly Darlings and Moon Rocks.

Having Reuben in town was particularly sweet for me as he has honored me by asking me to edit his forthcoming book. I won’t spoil it for you by revealing any contents but just let me say that Reuben helped invent the post World War II toy industry and many of the toys that boomers and their children have enjoyed ever since...Read More

I have, from time to time, written about 3D printing and its potential impact as a major game changer for the toy industry. Will we some day have children printing out rubber duckies and other toys in their own bedrooms?

Well, since I last wrote, 3D printing has gotten even more interesting.  At least that is what the artist, Jesse A. Greenberg tells us in his blog post "Materialization of the Internet: Or The Desktop Factory.”

Jesse, in some cases, pursue...Read More

I have written previously that I believe you can trace Sear’s decline to its decision in the early 1980’s to take out its toy departments. In doing so, it went from being a family destination to a place visited by blue collar men.

Similarly, I noted that you could see a similar decline in the fortunes of the department store industry. Once a primary destination for Christmas toy shopping, department stores turned their back on families a couple of decades ago and fittingly became a destination for more affluent women.

That was why I cautioned that Wal-Mart’s decision to cut back on toys would have a negative impact on its fortu...Read More

After spending 20 of the last 42 days at toy fairs in Hong Kong, Nuremberg and New York, I am happy to say that the toy industry is back. What started as some positive to optimistic vibes in Nuremberg and Hong Kong morphed into a robust optimism in New York with numerous manufacturers telling me that they were excited by buyer responses to their lines.

The president of one five year old company told me that he was doing an average of 3 presentations to walk-ins every ten minutes. Any number of companies told me that they were actually writing orders (unbelievable!!!!) and many more reported that they had thick decks of business cards on which to follow up.