Out of the Toy Box

February 15, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

This should be a very interesting four days for Toy Nation. We are going to be getting everyone in one very big room at one time and as a result we should get a feel by the end of the week what kind of a year our citizens think it is going to be. 

I am going to be tracking several things:

Paradigm shifters

Times of turbulence are when breakthrougs occur.  I am going to keep an eye out for products that I think may define how business is going to be done.  I have seen three products in the last six months, one in Dal...Read More

February 12, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Every year at this time I get a keen sense of anticipation knowing that our tribal get together, Toy Fair, is about to commence. In my mind’s eye, I look out into the distance and can almost see them coming, flying their tribal flags: The Toy and Game Inventors, Designers, Packagers, Publicists, Manufacturers, Retailers, Advertisers, Journalists, Agents, Sales Representatives, Consultants and more.

They will gather on the floor of the Jacob Javits Cen...Read More

February 10, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Over the course of my three days here at the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair I had the opportunity to speak with many exhibitors, attendees and members of the press corp. What I came away with was a sense that buyers are ready to buy again, that they want to see some exciting new merchandise and that not enough manufacturers are stepping up to the plate with innovative products.

How did this happen? Well...Read More

February 9, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

I have just spent a whirlwind 3 days here and I have to tell you that the sheer size of this show is a big part of the story. It comes down to this, anyone who cares about toys has to come to the Nuremberg show at least once if not every year. To do so is to fully grasp just how vast, just how exciting and just how rich this industry is in people and products. 

This show is so big that the difference between it and other shows is one of sheer scale. There are over 80,000 attendees from 60 different countries looking at over 1,000,000 different t...Read More

February 5, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

In the last eight months I have managed to attend most of Toy Nation’s major events. There was ToyCon in June, Pre-Toy Fair, Chi-Tag and The Game and Toy Inventor’s Awards banquet in October, Hong Kong in January and now the 60th Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair in Germany followed by New York Toy Fair in February. 

In doing so, I am trying to capture not only what is happening in Toy Nation but what its citizens are thinking and feeling. While in Germany, I plan t...Read More