Strengthening the New York Toy Fair - Out of the Toy Box

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Richard Gottlieb

Strengthening the New York Toy Fair
January 14, 2008

As I spoke with US and non-US exhibitors in Hong Kong, it became clear to me that there is a real chance the New York edition of Toy Fair could decline sharply in importance and attendance.

Here is why: Some larger non-US manufacturers see Dallas as the coming place to be because that is where the large account retailers congregate. Larger US manufacturers see it the same way. Both question the wisdom of paying for the New York show as well.

I think what they are missing is that New York is the only place where the toy industry gets access to the prime time media and as a result our customers: Parents and children. We don't get that in Hong Kong and we don't get that in Dallas.

One of the things that 2007 should have taught us is that a hostile media can cause a great deal of damage with our customers. Why not use that same media to get out a positive message.

I would therefore like to see the TIA make Toy Fair a more attractive event to our industry by using it as a vehicle to connect with children and their parents:. If done correctly, it will drive up attendance and build sales. Here a a few ideas for how this could be done:

Give children and parents a vote in the TOTY Awards (a la the Peoples Choice Awards) and market that through out the year. (It could even lend itself to in store promotions by individual manufacturers to get kids to vote for their products and brands). Voting could be on line, easy and fun to do.
Get one of the networks to televise the awards.
Use celebrity presenters.
Move to a larger venue and let children attend.
Work with Disney or some other media company to do live broadcasts on line from the show.
Consider opening a portion of the show to the public for one or two days. This would allow for a tremendous amount of excitement and media coverage. Big crowds draw big media. Exhibitors could choose whether to opt in or out and how they want to participate.

New York Toy Fair is no longer the only Toy Fair. It can, however, be the marquee event of the year for the industry to connect with the public.

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on January 14, 2008 | Comments (3)

January 17, 2008
In response to: Strengthening the New York Toy Fair
Andy Daniel commented:

I think many of Richard's ideas are good ones. I like the idea of a People's Choice Toy awards. I do favor opening up the show to children (ie. buyer's children and exhibitor's children) so that buyers who can't make it to the show for reasons of child care could attend. As far as a public portion, I don't know if this could be made to work. One issue is that new products are often shown only in prototype form, which an experienced buyer has no problem with but a consumer would see only as a non-usable product. The second is that our booths are usually geared toward dealing with retailers - it would not be a trvial excercise to reconfigure them to deal with thousands of consumers running through.

January 18, 2008
In response to: Strengthening the New York Toy Fair
Lauren Carmier commented:

Good idea, Richard. If you look at some of the biggest shows, Electronics, Cars, Boats,they are all open to the public and because of this generate tremendous media coverage. With this innovation howver, you could get the same media coverage in Dallas.

January 31, 2008
In response to: Strengthening the New York Toy Fair
Bobby commented:

Is there a toy fair in Dallas and if so, where can I get info? Thanks.