Show biz: Fall Toy Show

By Cliff Annicelli, Tina Benitez & Karyn M. Peterson -- Playthings, 10/26/2006 7:36:00 AM

NEW YORK—The lights eventually dimmed at the Jacob Javits Center on Monday afternoon, booths were dismantled and toy exhibitors packed up their belongings until next time—Hong Kong, Nuremberg, Toy Fair 2007.

For some, this year’s American International Fall Toy Show was an uncomfortable shift from the showroom event they’ve been used to for years, but for most it was a success and for many, it was even better than it had ever been before.

According to TIA, there were 1,115 attendees at the show, representing 590 retail outlets.

An interesting change
The new show format offered more open space to preview and an opportunity to have just as many, or more, walk-in visits as confirmed buyer appointments than in a traditional showroom, according to some exhibitors who spoke with Playthings. It was something Mark Slusarz, vice president of sales for Rowley, Mass.-based Schylling, said helped his business. “The show is excellent,” he said from the show floor. “We were booked and had about 60 confirmed appointments. Other people also stopped by who didn’t have appointments. Everyone came through, and they weren’t preoccupied. They had time. No one felt rushed.”

He added, “The interest level was high—very, very high—in comparison with the toy building. We effectively doubled our confirmed appointments this year.”

The sentiment was echoed by first-time show exhibitors McWiz Kids. The company, which has just started to launch its preschool-aged games in the U.S. after seven years in the market—first in its native Quebec, then throughout Canada—had the chance to meet with Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble and other interested retailers throughout the four-day show. Bob McDuff, president of McWiz, told Playthings that the company initially started out small and now wants to go big in the American market. "This is the first time we’re in a mass market show.” he said. “So far, so good. Appointments were good. We have Wal-Mart Mexico interested in five of our products, Toys “R” Us is interested in four products.”

The company is launching all 28 of its games in the U.S market throughout the fall and into next year, including Metamorfo, a checker board with plush, magnetic characters and a traveling carry case and its McWiz Junior trivia game, a junior-version based on its first game developed six years ago.

Fellow Quebec toy maker and first-time exhibitor Bojeux—which has Nickelodeon-licensed Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go! and SpongeBob SquarePants puzzles, toys and craft sets, as well as its own preschool play sets, games and plush, modeling dough and the Matchitecture construction kits for 2007, also liked the Javits-only version of the show, according to George Gareau, Bojeux’s president.

Back again?
Not every exhibitor was as happy with their experience. Rich Henry, senior vice president sales for Carlsbad, Calif.-based Pokémon USA, has to decide whether he’ll come back next year or not since the show was "pretty slow."

Pokémon USA is launching a figure trading game, with an initial wave of 42 Pokémon figures, in February. Additional figures will be out in June, then October. Figure sets include one trainer and three Pokémon, sculpted by Japanese manufacturers Kaiyoo. Henry said that he’s in talks to do a launch with one retailer as well as a feature area at Wal-Mart with other Pokémon product from Jakks Pacific. “With everything going on with Pokémon’s 10 year anniversary, it’s nice to get in front of people,” he said. “There’s a whole new generation of kids that have been into Pokémon.”

Malibu, Calif.-based Jakks Pacific recently picked up the Pokémon license and will launch products such as a plug ‘n’ play battle system, handheld games, figures (75 SKUs in the first year alone, with a goal of ultimately offering 500) and plush next spring. Separately, under its Child Guidance brand, Jakks will add additional Teletubbies plush as part of the property’s 10 year anniversary, and Barney feature plush, including a karaoke-style Sing With Me Barney and a version of the Barney television series’ newest character, Riff. Licensed properties highlight many of Jakks’ other offerings for 2007, including Amazing Spider-Man and SpongeBob SquarePants-themed Vmigo virtual pet units, and WWE-licensed wrestling figures in new formats, such as the 2-inch Micro Aggression assortment, a series of non-articulated, statue-style figures called Unmatched Fury, and a line of Classic Superstars figures featuring favorites of days past.

The company’s Play Along division also has several new expansions in its Doodle Bears, Trolls, Cabbage Patch Kids and Care Bears lines.

The Care Bears will get a new look inspired by the computer animated film due out next fall, Oopsy Does it! The property will also celebrate its 25^th anniversary next year with a limited edition white plush bear. An extensive marketing campaign will support the anniversary next fall with in-store events and other promotions.

Other Play Along 2007 highlights include 3-inch Trolls figures with charms, 3-troll figures play sets and the reintroduction of voice-activated Treasure Trolls with belly charms for making a wish; Puppy in my Pocket, small puppy figures with accessories like rings and mini bags (a Newborn Nursery set will launch in fall); and Airbrush, Color By Number and Design & Decorate Doodle Bears, which will join the line in fall. New activity sets, as well as Sparkle and Makeover Fairies, will also be available, as will pirates, wrestlers, sharks and a Doodle Droid targeted to boys. Over in the Cabbage Patch, CP Kids are all grown up and have real underwear now—and no more powdery scent. Although the newborns line will keep the classic baby powder fragrance associated with the brand, the bigger Cabbage kids are getting an entirely new shampoo scent.

Collectible replicas of Cabbage Patch Kids? Care Bears? Well, not quite, but Master Replicas has taken on two other classic characters for the time being: Jim Henson’s most popular muppets, Kermit the Frog (available this fall) and Animal (fall 2007), and have replicated them to their exact, muppet likenesses in limited editions of 2,500 pieces each. David Nicklin, Master Replica’s chief marketing officer, told Playthings that the main focus in 2007 is to bring together Corgi, which recently merged with Master Replicas, and Cards Inc., acquired by Corgi. All three companies are currently developing a "unique" product campaign for late 2007/early 2008 release.

“Master Replicas is known as a property-driven replica business; Corgi is specialty, mid-tier and Cards Inc. is more mass,” said Nicklin. “We want to try to get the product pyramid together…we want to try to become a pop culture business that’s able to operate under different distribution, across brands.”

More movie merch
In 2007, the company will be releasing more limited edition statues based on Pirates of the Caribbean, Marvel Movie Posters in a 2,500-count edition for Spider-Man 3, an original Spider-Man with comic replica, and four new Star Wars light sabers. In other big news for the company, Master Replica has just signed the license to produce replica products for the much-anticipated New Line/Scholastic film The Golden Compass, out in November 2007; products like a true-to-the-story aletheiometer (aka "Golden Compass") will hit retail next fall.

Other noteworthy licensed product lines include Harry Potter merchandise from NECA, the Clark, N.J.-based company that recently became the master toy licensee for the film franchise; A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Game board game and TMNT Card Game from Briarpatch, Millburn, N.J., based on the new computer animated film out in March; and Transformers Motion Sensor keychains, Night Scopes, Listening Devices, Communicators, Washcloths, Slide Puzzles and other items from Basic Fun, Southampton, Pa., set for release around the July 4 film.

The plot is confidential for the May release of Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi, but show attendees could be sure of the huge scope of new product that will be tied to the film. Eric Levin, executive vice president of Techno Source, Needham, Mass., said its Spider-Man 3 interactive toys—like the hand-held Battle Tronics device that straps to the inside of a player’s wrist and mimics Spidey’s web-slinging motions—will be just one of several hot spring releases for the company.

Hitting the big time
Another anticipated big item for Techno Source is a “secret” for now—or at least until February’s Toy Fair, when the company said it will reveal the details of Rubik’s Revolution, a product Levin predicts will be “the single top selling toy,” when it ships next May. [Until then, Levin promises no T.M.X. Elmo-style silhouetted teaser ads!]

“We want people to try it,” Levin said. “Speed Stacks (Jakks Pacific) looks like a bunch of cups, but when it’s set up in store, they do such a great job of presenting it. We want to recapture that feeling. Remember the first time you saw Rubik’s? It’s a classic play pattern enhanced by technology. If we can get product that helps you learn and keeps you intrigued after years, like Pac-Man or checkers, those are ones that endure.”

Levin said the show was a good one for Techno Source that may help it branch out into other mass channels, although he also noted that his company’s foundation has always been the breadth of its distribution, including placement at 20,000 Fred’s and Family Dollar stores. “We had a broad distribution since the beginning,” he said. “Retail has changed. If you have a license, you want the products where the consumers are shopping. Wal-Mart is great, but it’s not great when you cannot live without it.”

Grant Cleveland, founder of DuneCraft, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is also enjoying the opportunities the show at Javits has afforded him. The plant-growing kits and science product company started small but is somewhat ready to go mass-market now—but only to a point, Cleveland noted, with the launch of larger, outdoor planters (in Witch’s Woods and Fairy Triad themes) that can be shipped to homes next year. “We trying to increase our presence in mass, but we’ve turned down Wal-Mart,” Cleveland told Playthings. “Our focus is on second-tier retail. We’ve picked up a strong base and we’re slowly trying to get into mass and have some specialty reps.”

Meanwhile, George Schimpf, vice president of marketing for Briarpatch, was also having a solid experience at Javits, noting that the show was a nice shift from the typically intense showroom environment. “It was a pleasant surprise, nice and comfortable,” he told Playthings. “We lost the use our showroom the other 10 months of the year. It’s [Javits] maybe 30 percent more, and while it is comfortable, it’s not the best value.” Among the company's products on display were a card game and board game based on the hit TV series 24 and a card game based on the upcoming TMNT movie.

Some new opportunities
Kevin McNulty, vice president of sales for Jersey City, N.J.-based Endless Games, added, “I’d like to complain because I lost my showroom, but the show has been good. This is the first time we’ve had a major exhibition [for the October show]. Yes, we lost our home at the toy building, but here we saw all our accounts. There’s also less stress here. Buyers come in more relaxed. In the showroom setup, people were more reticent to walk in, but they’d peek in.” For Endless, the show was great opportunity to catch up with old friends and take it easy while at the same time meeting with lots of buyers ranging from the big boxes (like Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart) to toy specialists (Toys “R” Us) to alternative toy/game channels (like Best Buy, Walgreens and Fortunoff), said Brian Turtle, national sales manager. New games for the company in 2007 are expected to be Slide 5, previously called Cat 5, a quick-moving number strategy card game that ships in late spring, as well as Visionary, a “now you see it, now you don’t” DVD game of observation skills and a DVD edition of the Match Game. The company also expects to produce exclusives for some of its other key retailers in 2007.

Jim Engle, president of Little Kids, Providence, R.I., said the show was both a pleasure and a great opportunity for the company. “We’ve had a lot more retail appointments,” he said, adding, “The best is you get to talk to people.” However, the show’s attempt at cloak-and-dagger secrecy, with curtain-draped booths and walled-off showrooms in a space usually filled with open, colorful booths “is very weird for us,” Engle said, especially since the company started showing some of its own spring 2007 products to buyers as early as this May. “We’ve firmed up with the big guys already,” he said.

All eyes on 2007
Little Kids has lots in store for outdoor toddler and preschool play products in 2007, including the standout cat- and dog-shaped Bubble Blowing Pets (a complete redesign of its Bubble Blowing Beasts concept that’s currently available), a Cowboy Bubble Blaster toy pistol with bubble holster, a Bubble Blowing plane, a Princess Bubble Wand, new colors for some of its classic no-spill bubble buckets and motorized bubble blowers, and a whole new assortment from its Nickelodeon licenses (Dora, Diego, The Backyardigans, SpongeBob, Blue’s Clues) including “squeezie” bubbles in Nick characters, sand molds and water squirters, all ready to ship. The company is also adding to its newly launched line of bug viewing products, including a 3-D “holographic” bug viewer, as well as to its popular Junk Ball line, including new colors of the Junk Ball Bat, the Ghost Runner electronic scoring system that doubles as a home plate, and Strike Zone, which can also be used as a pitcher’s target or a backstop, available as early as March.

Shelcore Toys, Somerset, N.J., is celebrating its 30^th anniversary with a brand new everything in 2007, including its product lines, packaging, planned promotional campaigns and advertising strategies, according to Nancy Raup, vice president of marketing. “We’re a brand new company,” she says, though she noted that Shelcore is still committed to “bringing toys to life with actions, reactions, lights, sound and motion.”

Set to hit stores in early 2007 is the Shake ‘N Bobbles brand of bobble-headed preschool characters and traveling vehicles including the Rockin’ Railroad playset, while smaller vehicle assortments, a Rock & Tumble R/C Truck and a Grip ‘n’ Zip Hazard Highway play set will be available later in the year. The company is also introducing its new Toddler line of play sets and activity toys in early 2007, and for babies, its new Sunny Steps line of developmental, interactive and bath toys will be available. Another new venture for Shelcore in 2007 is the Loonie Goonie Monsters, which will feature interactive toys themed in various colorful, laughing monster characters, set to hit retail in the fall. Significant expansions to Shelcore’s line of Nascar-licensed preschool vehicles and R/C racers, as well as its Sound Beginnings developmental and sound toy line, are also in store for the company next year.

Speaking of cars, Jada Toys has big plans for 2007, including several major promotions in the fast-food industry for its collectible vehicle lines. First and foremost, however, expect to see significant expansions (everything from new model years and new color options in various scale sizes to some collector exclusives) to its popular lines of die-cast and R/C cars, including DubCity, D-Rods, Bigtime Muscle, High Profile, DONK, and Scarface. This spring, the company will also launch its For Sale and Kustom Kings lines as well as its SnapShots dioramas, and will be expanding its new VDubs line.

In the hugely popular world of ChubCity, Jada is releasing the first-ever play set for the line, Firehouse No. 9, what the company calls “a developing element.” Future play sets—which could include an auto shop, burger stand, or record store, as long as they fit into the world that’s already been created online and with the characters and vehicles—are likely to hit retail in fall 2007 or early in 2008. In the short term, Jada will be releasing more assortments of individual characters and vehicles, a change from its previous packaging of both a character and a vehicle together. In addition, new vehicle models and sizes will also be introduced, as well as an expanded line of Chub youth electronics.

The show was business as usual over at Thinkway Toys, New York, according to Rob Embleton, vice president of sales, with marketers fielding appointments from all the company’s major toy buyers (as well as Best Buy) for its mostly tech-friendly products—especially its new licensed Spider-Man 3 offerings—in its expansive showroom-within-an-exhibit-hall walled off in the Javits Center. Thinkway, which holds the interactive portion of the Marvel license, will offer plenty of exciting developments tied to the film next spring, Embleton says, including a revamped version of its Into the Web interactive TV game, two new Interactive Spider-Man and Goblin figures that can sense and talk to each other, several smaller talking figures from the film, and a unique Programmable Spider-Man that works via a wireless infrared controller.

Thinkway is also the master licensee for Scooby–Doo as well as DIC’s Horseland. In 2007, expect to see Scooby toys for preschoolers (figures and play sets) in age-appropriate themes like firefighting, pirates, and construction as well as plush and a new Mystery Machine tied to the new Scooby Do Get a Clue series. Horseland will get collectible horses, larger horse-and-rider sets and an expandable stable play set. Newly updated role-play products with a “refreshed look,” tied to the latest animated Batman incarnation, The Batman TV series, will also hit retail next spring.

Marketers at Los-Angles based Imperial Toys are gearing up for a big push in 2007, having just secured the Nickelodeon license to make rack and peg toys for Dora and Diego as well as characters from The Backyardigans, SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar. Thanks to a project team at the ready in Hong Kong, hundreds of new products went from the drawing board to manufacturing in a record four months, and will be ready to ship later this year or in early spring, according to Tim Thompson and Peter Tiger, Imperial’s vice-president of marketing and company president, respectively. Among its well-designed products at lower price points are Avatar figures, the Dora Light & Sound Pixie, the Diego Rescue Kit and Diego Animal Photo Albums, plus a whole host of fun Spongebob toys that are inspired by—and kept true to—scenes in the series, said Bobby Invanic, vice president, product development. Highlights include a Grow-Your-Own Bikini Bottom expanding sponge-character kit, a rainbow-hair-growing Spongebob kit, punch-balls, and squishy, glitter-filled snow globes that fit over the characters heads.

In addition, Imperial will release a new line of licensed vinyl water play products such as rafts, interactive sprinklers and splash games. A few products, such as the Dora Splashin’ Fun Sprinkler and the Diego Wave Rider Sprinkler, will be shipping late this year; the rest will be available starting early 2007, with expansions already set for 2008.

Also in 2007, expect the relaunch of Imperial’s popular Petite Miss line from the 1970s, now called Runway Pink. Fifty new items will be available in the stylish line of girl’s play cosmetics (including glitter and nail polish), jewelry and accessories (like feather boas and tiaras), which all feature “lots of sparkle and shine,” Ivanic said.

Small guys branching out
Front Porch Classics, Seattle, was thrilled with the show and with its participation in it, according to CEO Helen Rockey. “So far I’ve been very pleased with the quality of the appointments that we’ve had—and the quantity. It’s been steady for us,” she said during the event. And were it not for the Javits Center format of the Fall Toy Show, it’s likely the heirloom-quality game manufacturer would not have come to New York to meet with buyers individually. “We just can’t afford [to set up] a showroom in a hotel,” she says. Overall, it’s been a good show with lots of opportunities for walk-ins as well as meetings with buyers like Barnes & Noble, Borders and Bombay Company.

The company is most excited about Front Porch Kids, a new line of games available next year (packaged in tubes, cloth bags and wooden boxes) that bring the same type of quality styling and game play that the company is known for to children, in even more portable versions than its other adult and family games. “They are very classic looking,” said product director Dan Tibbles of the line, which will feature more than a half dozen meticulously designed games—in fairy and pirate themes as well as a few kid-friendly twists on classic games and at least one hot, beloved licensed property.

Also next year, Front Porch will release a mini version of its Shut the Box game (as part of its desktop line) as well as Sortie, a WWII dog-fighting game featuring 12 metal planes. Additional “discovery versions” for families of its top-selling games, such as WordSpot and Dread Pirate, are also set to be available. Additionally, the company hopes to make a special, interchangeable display stand available to retailers that carry its games for a bit of “retail theater” designed to capture customers’ interest, invite them to touch and feel the game pieces, and allow them to play on site in the store, Rockey said.

Finding niches
MGA Entertainment, Los Angeles, previewed the first fruit of its new relationship with German doll maker Zapf: a large doll called Mommy, Make Me Better that the company developed in just six weeks and that it expects will “fill the void and be the brand of choice” at the $20 to $50 price point, according to Ron Brawer, executive vice president of marketing and sales strategic planning.

The company also unveiled Shrek 3 feature plush, fashion dolls, puzzles and a small action figure assortment, DVD games based on Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and, of course, new Bratz dolls, including Hot Summer Dayz and Fashion Pixiez series, as well as Bratz Kidz with their own horses.

Radica, Dallas, will help people get smarter in 2007 with its Brain Games handheld, designed to improve memory and augmented with a tie-in from memory enhancement guru Gary Small. Separate mass and specialty versions will be offered—a clamshell version for mass and a boxed-with-book version for specialty. For kids, Radica will add a Video Journal to its list of Girl Tech products. The Journal comes with a digital camera and journal-creating software. The company has also created its own proprietary instant messaging system, IM-Me, that’s accessible only by other IM-Me unit owners along with five specially chosen friends. A special pin number is needed to get into the system from outside of the network. For collectors, the company has created Funkeys, a series of 42 Japanese-style vinyl figures that, through a special unit, unlock areas of a Funkeys video game. You’ll never sell all of the games without providing all 42 figures!

Reading yourself to sleep takes on new meaning thanks to Senario, Woodstock, Ill., which is expanding its Storybook Pillow line after positive reaction from the line's first designs. The assortment will include children’s favorites like Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and comic book pillows under license from Marvel. Other highlights of pending products include a Fantastic Four blow-up ride-on that’s actually a plug ‘n’ play video game, and a board game where people search their iPods in order to answer questions.

Seeking specialty
In a show positioned as a “mass market show,” it was of some surprise to find that, in at least one case, there was a company looking specifically to go the other way. Funrise, Woodland Hills, Calif., came to the show and announced it was looking to expand into the specialty toy retail market in 2007.

“It’s historically a market we haven’t gone to, but we need to get into more doors,” Ryan Logan, Funrise’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, told Playthings.

The company’s goal is to entice the estimated 1,500-plus U.S. specialty toy stores with approximately 20 SKUs priced appropriately to compete with mass retailers. The company’s efforts will be led by an assortment of wooden Tonka-branded trucks in three sizes and by a Tonka-branded Sit & Dig ride-on.

"We're looking forward to nurturing these brands in stores where the people are knowledgeable and can give them attention," Logan said.

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