ToyNews Issue 95 July 2009

Issue 95

The toy industry’s highest circulation trade title Exclusive media partner

INSIDE…

LOVING LAS VEGAS All the news from this year’s Licensing International Expo

TWO BECOME ONE Mattel and Toymaster on their symbiotic relationship

MEAN MACHINES Hasbro’s blockbusting range of Transformers movie toys

THE POWER OF LEARNING A look at what’s new in the electronic learning sector

July 2009

Contents REGULARS 4

News

6

Appointments

8

Exclusive NPD analysis

10

TV ad spend data

12

TV ratings

15

Campaign of the month

LICENSING 18

News

21

Licensing International report

FEATURES 22

Mattel talks Toymaster

25

Hasbro Transforms

26

LeapFrog’s new lines

31

Creative Play

39

Electronic Learning

47

Dress Up

Ronnie Dungan Editor Ronnie.Dungan@intentmedia.co.uk

Samantha Loveday Licensing Editor Samantha.loveday@intentmedia.co.uk

Katie Roberts Staff Writer katie.roberts@intentmedia.co.uk

Adrian Miles Advertising Manager Adrian.Miles@intentmedia.co.uk

Dan Bennett Design Dan.Bennett@intentmedia.co.uk

Jon Salisbury Editorial Consultant jon@wotkidzwant.com

Lisa Foster Managing Editor Lisa.Foster@intentmedia.co.uk

Stuart Dinsey Publisher Stuart.Dinsey@intentmedia.co.uk

Editorial: 01992 535646 Advertising: 01992 535647

RETAIL 54

Retail Opinion

56

Counter Insurgent

56

Price Check

57

Retail Charts

58

New Products

59

Hero Product

Intent Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Associations

AUDITED CIRCULATION: Average Net Circulation: 6,011 July 1st 2008 to June 30th 2009. www.toynewsmag.com ■ ToyNews has 100% named circulation and 0% duplication.

COMMENT SOCIAL ENGINEERING

I THINK one of the speakers at the recent BTHA industry day succeeded in blowing everyone away. It wasn’t the former soldier, ironically, although he spoke some sense, even if some of it was a little obvious.

It was a fella named Hugh Garry from the BBC’s interactive production department who wowed the assembled toy industry (and left many thinking they might be in the wrong business) with a demonstration of how children use online connectivity for social networking, online gaming and even to become their own media channels via YouTube, MySpace, etc. It wasn’t even that cutting edge, but it showed just how big a challenge the industry faces when it comes to really connecting with children.

Social networking has turned the heads of so many of the toy market’s female customers.

It’s this social networking that has turned the heads of so many of the toy market’s female customers and it’s going to take something really special to attract them back to us. New thinking, and an abandonment of dyed in the wool marketing and business practices is required.

And then later on, as if to underline the point even further, an award was given out to an industry veteran who shuffled off this mortal coil nearly 40 years ago. The toy industry? Stuck in the past? Never.

Ronnie Dungan ronnie.dungan@intentmedia.co.uk

4

NEWS

GMTV poll shows Woolies winners Argos and indies thriving in a post-Woolies world according to new ToyNews consumer poll on GMTV website

by Ronnie Dungan ARGOS AND the independent sector seem to have benefited the most from Woolies’ demise, according to data from a GMTV/ToyNews poll.

According to the survey on the GMTV site, which receives 1.7m unique visitors a month, 29 per cent of consumers that used to buy toys in Woolworths now buy them in Argos, while 28 per cent purchase from independent stores.

Argos also came top in answer to the question “Where do you buy toys?”, with 28 per cent. Tesco was the next most popular on 19 per cent and online retailer Amazon on 17 per cent.

Only 12 per cent said Toys R Us. On the question of price, 86 per cent did not think toys were too expensive, while 76 per cent would spend over £15 on a birthday gift.

Survey results Where do you buy toys?

If you used to buy toys in Woolies, where do you buy them now?

Argos 28% Tesco 19% Amazon 17% Toys R Us 12% Indies 9% Asda 6% ELC 3% The Entertainer 3% John Lewis 3%

Argos 29% Independent 28% Tesco 17% Toys R Us 12% The Entertainer 3% Asda 3% Online 3% ELC 2%

How much would you spend on a birthday gift?

Do children get enough play value from toys?

£20 or more 40% £15-£20 36% £10-£15 19% £5-£10 5%

Yes 71% No 29%

Are toys too expensive?

No 86% Yes 14%

Pilkington completes Adams MBO MD SIMON Pilkington has acquired John Adams and Toy Brokers in a management buy-out.

Pilkington (pictured) has been supported in the buy-out from Drumond Park by a strong international investor group.

The newly streamlined operation is based at the existing Toy Brokers premises in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, following a period of restructuring which sees marketing, sales, admin and warehousing focused under one roof.

The acquisition of John Adams and Toy Brokers brings together brands which include Tiny Tears, Girls World, Fuzzy Felt, Bema Sports swimming aids, Intex pools and inflatables, the

JULY 2009

Golden Coin Maker, Supergraphics and Hot Wires.

Highlights for 2009 include a high profile relaunch of the Tiny Tears doll range, supported by a heavyweight TV advertising and PR campaign, and the launch of the New Scotland Yard Science brand.

Simon Pilkington, managing director of John Adams and Toy Brokers, said: "I’m delighted to confirm the successful conclusion of the management buyout process. We have a hugely experienced and dedicated management team on board who are passionate about the long term future and success of the new business, and we’re looking forward to strengthening our existing brand portfolio and retailer network in the coming months."

The firm will bring new brands and categories to market, as well as continuing to support its leading licensed categories, including Postman Pat and Bob the Builder.

John Adams: 01235 833066

Toyway slides into trouble TOYWAY HAS slipped into administration and seeking a buyer for the business.

The firm continues to trade, but administrator Elwell Watchorn and Saxton was appointed on Friday after it succumbed to a number of different factors including the current economic climate and pressure from its lenders.

Toyway has been trading since 1981 with a range of pocket money toys, models and construction kits.

Brands include Academy plastic kits, Yat Ming die-cast vehicles, Gunther flying toys and Artesinia wooden boat kits. ●For more details contact John Endersby at Elwell, Watchorn and Saxton on 01733 235253.

NEWS

www.toynewsmag.com

5

Phew! What a scorcher...

Industry optimistic that a continuing heatwave can combat recession and boost crucial outdoor sector

by Katie Roberts THE LONG-OVERDUE warm spell has seen outdoor toy sellers enjoy a “dramatic” upsurge in sales of outdoor toys.

NPD data showed in April that an early, but sunny, Easter had boosted the sports and outdoor sector by one per cent in value year-to-date, and as the good weather continues, suppliers are seeing sales maintain their growth.

As early as April, outdoor products were starting to appear in NPD’s top ten retail charts, with Mookie’s Smart Trike making its second and third entry of the year in the most recent sales figures.

Swingball has also shown double digit growth and Sharon Smith, marketing co-ordinator of Mookie, said the good weather along with good stock levels and quick delivery have led to a strong summer for the company so far.

Andrew Coplestone, Halsall’s marketing director, agreed: “This summer has seen a marked difference in outdoor toy sales. We have had and are beginning to have further better weather than we have seen since May 2007.”

He continued: “When the sun has shone, the uplift in sales has been dramatic. Most importantly we have had the good weather at the weekend.

It really makes all the difference.”

Phil Ratcliffe, sales and marketing director at MV Sports, has also seen an uplift in sales: “The first quarter was tough as many retailers had carry over from last year. However, May has been a fantastic month, possibly spurred on by the good weather.”

Manufacturers don’t see the current economic climate as a hindrance to sales, but predict it will drive sales of cheaper products.

Alex Kovacevic, brand and marketing manager at Hy Pro, explained: “I do not think the recession has really had a heavy impact on our sector, with perhaps more of the focus shifting to the cheaper end of the market. I fully expect the grocers in particular to have a bumper year in this category, especially with less expensive own brand lines.”

Smith added: “The recession and credit crunch has made an impact, even on our ranges, particularly though on the higher priced ticket lines. Despite this, Mookie is having a great year.”

BTHA loses £1m in investment crunch Trade body feels the pinch from stock market meltdown as share portfolio dips

by Ronnie Dungan The BTHA’s latest accounts show the trade body has been hit hard by upheaval on the world’s stock markets, losing more than £1m in 2008.

The previous year showed a surplus of £513,996, which became a deficit of £559,893 this year as the value of stocks plummeted on the international share market.

“The financial year 2008, was very poor for the BTHA,” said chairman, Roger Dyson.

“We made significant losses in our portfolio. The BTHA requires a strong financial base and the stock market is a risk to that strategy.”

Speaking at the trade body’s AGM and Industry Day, Dyson said the

DYSON: “2008 couldn’t have been a more difficult year.”

prospects for next year’s Toy Fair at Olympia were looking very positive.

“Toy Fair 2010 is almost sold out and the forecast for Toy Fair is excellent,” added Dyson.

“2008 couldn’t have been a more difficult year for the toy industry. And the Woolies repercussions have not yet subsided. The changing landscape of the UK market is a challenge and the industry must change and adapt to an ever-changing economic environment.

“Children will always want toys and, providing the industry meets its own exacting criteria, the long term future of the industry is assured.

“2010 is a new start. The administration of Youngsters and Woolies is behind us. Toy Fair is looking positive and we need to grasp the opportunity with both hands.”

Suppliers are hoping that this will help to clear through old stock and leave space for more innovative, fresh products on offer in 2010.

Kovacevik commented: “What the weather might do is make buyers more bullish during their selections now for summer 2010.”

Coplestone agreed: “This is great news for retailers as at last their stocks of seasonal product disappear and they can start to buy fun, innovative, licensed seasonal product with confidence for spring 2010. This isn’t a situation they have been in since 2005.”

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6

APPOINTMENTS

INDUSTRY MOVES A promotion and new faces at TMI, new sales agent for John Crane and a Cosmic relaunch…

FAR LEFT: Simon Cox (right) welcomes Andrew Mallandaine to TMI; MIDDLE: Dave Sayers (right) joins Rup Bagha at Cosmic Fireworks; NEAR LEFT: Natasha Dudnik is now a sales agent for John Crane

TURNER MEDIA Innovations has promoted Andrew Mallandaine to the role of UK sales controller. It has also created three new positions within the department to reflect the team’s recent commercial successes.

Mallandaine takes the lead role in the sales team at TMI, the division of Turner Broadcasting responsible for generating advertising revenue streams across all media platforms for brands including Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Cartoonito and TCM (Turner Classic Movies). He reports directly to Simon Cox, VP of TMI. In addition, two new staff have been hired in the sponsorship and promotions team. Zara Hutt joins as sponsorship and promotions executive and Phil Molloy as associate producer.

Completing the round of new recruits, Rachel Lewis joins as interactive and digital sales manager.

Cox commented: “We’re in a fairly unique position to be expanding our team in a tough market and it’s a testament to the hard graft put in by a stellar team at Turner Media Innovations.

“Already in the first quarter of this year we’ve seen a marked growth in revenue across digital and sponsorship and promotions. Andrew has a proven track record in the sales arena and I am confident that he will help us continue to maintain our robust position.”

Mallandaine added: “I’m delighted to take the helm at a media sales operation which has a reputation for delivering advertising innovation across all platforms. There’s a wealth of talent and experience within Turner Media Innovations and I look forward to co-ordinating the team’s sales efforts in order to provide our clients with the best multi-platform packages available.”

TV-Loonland has appointed Barbora Sopkova as sales manager for TV and home entertainment distribution.

She joins from Classic Media (formerly Entertainment Rights), where she held the position of territory manager for Central and Eastern Europe. Reporting to TV-L’s head of international distribution, Justine Bannister, Sopkova will be

responsible for driving TV and home entertainment sales of Loonland’s extensive portfolio within Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, Benelux, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia (excluding Japan).

Bannister commented: “We are absolutely delighted that Barbora is joining us at TV-Loonland. She has extraordinary talent and proven skills and will be a valuable addition to our sales force. We are confident in her ability to increase revenue considerably for all of our key and catalogue titles across all of these territories.”

Dave Sayers has joined Rup Bagha and his family at the helm of Cosmic Fireworks as the firm launches its new catalogue.

The new-look brochure features all the firm’s brands including Cosmic, Golden Lion and NG, with the design emphasis on clarity of presentation and breadth of product.

John Crane has appointed Natasha Dudnik as a new sales agent. She will take on the London, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex area.

Dudnik, formerly the company’s specialist sales consultant in Harrods, has already been with John Crane for over six years.

She takes over the territory from Jill Robinson, who is relocating to her native Yorkshire.

John Crane commented: “We would all like to wish Natasha well in her new role, I’m sure she will take the reigns from Jill admirably.”

Leapfrog has appointed Threepipe to undertake its UK consumer and trade PR. It will report into the firm’s head of marketing, David Lubliner and will be supporting the company’s launch of its new learning products into the parenting and wider consumer media.

The PR programme will also support Leapfrog’s flagship Tag and Leapster2 products, as well as beginning work on building a Christmas 2009 campaign.

Jim Hawker, co-founder of Threepipe, said: “This is a fantastic time to be working with Leapfrog following on from their successful launches of the Tag and Leapster 2 products last year.”

8

NPD RESEARCH

Retail Sales Trends

Properties

Summer

Top 5 Properties

survival

May 2009 1. BEN 10 2. STAR WARS 3. THOMAS AND FRIENDS 4. IN THE NIGHT GARDEN 5. HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

January to out-perform the market with new ACCORDING TO the British to May. Lego items driving growth, Retail Consortium, UK retail sales The top especially the Star Wars Clone Wars, value on a like for like basis fell 0.8 five properties and the new Power Miners range, per cent from May 2008, when sales within the toy market haven’t which now accounts for six per cent rose strongly due to sunny weather. changed for May 2009, with Ben 10 of the building sets market and is On a total basis sales only rose 0.8 still number one and Star Wars the fifth biggest property in the per cent as the economy continues number two. There have been a category. to have an effect on consumer number of changes lower down in Youth Electronics grew three per confidence. While food sales have the chart with Hannah Montana cent in May 2009 with VTech slowed after a strong Easter boost Kidizoom camera taking the number reaching sixth place, driven by the back in April, non-food sales still release of the first Hannah Montana one spot in the total toy market for remain difficult. film and release The toy market has continued to Building sets continue to out-perform of the series on DVD. Cars has see average prices the market with new Lego items also re-entered rise with the May the top ten 2009 average price driving growth, especially the Star Wars properties list up three per cent Clone Wars, and the new Power Miners driven by some from May 2008 to range, which now accounts for six new items – £6.41. In value especially the sales terms, per cent of the building sets market.

Mini Red Fire supercategory Play-set and performance has Tractor Trippin performing strongly. the month. Also performing well is varied with building sets, youth Heading into the school holidays the Hannah Montana Sing Along electronics, plush and ‘all other and the summer months, it is hoped Microphone and High School toys’ all growing in May (against the market will benefit from the Musical Journal. Plush growth is May 2008). Building sets continue good weather as well as summer coming from the Winnie the Pooh blockbuster films with a number of and Furreal Friends ranges. Peppa related toy ranges.

Pig has also had a boosted performance in May with the new Peppa Pig Beanie toy by Character Options.

Mattel’s Mr. Men range of plush toys has also performed well, driving the Mr. Men property to the eighth fastest growing property from

Sales

Average Price

UK Toy Sales (value, year to date)

May 2008

Source: NPD

JULY 2009

May 2009

3%

May 08: £5.82

May 09: £5.97

Best Property Progression May 2009

HM ARMED FORCES Character’s new range continues to storm up the charts from 271st place to 29...

Best Item Progression June 2009

Wolverine Electronic Battle Claw (Hasbro) Following the launch of X-Men movie, the Wolverine Battle Claw has shot up the charts from 875th place to number 27.

NPD RESEARCH

www.toynewsmag.com

Retail Sales Trends UK MAY 2009 (£ SALES - VALUE) 1

KIDIZOOM CAMERA

2

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE 10CM FIGURES

3

SMART TRIKE PLUS GIRLS

4

BEN 10 ULTIMATE OMNITRIX

5 6 7

CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT

8

BAKUGAN BOOSTER PACK

9 10

UK MAY 2009 (UNIT SALES - VOLUME) VTECH

1

HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

BANDAI

2

CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

MOOKIE TOYS

3

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE 10CM FIGURES

BANDAI

4

BAKUGAN BOOSTER PACK

BAKUGAN STARTER PACK

SPIN MASTER

5

BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM ASSORTMENT

SMART TRIKE PLUS PRIM CLR

MOOKIE TOYS

6

GORMITI FIGURE FOILBAG ASSORTMENT

BANDAI SPIN MASTER BANDAI FLAIR

MATTEL

7

PLAY DOH

SPIN MASTER

8

GOGOS III EXPLORER PACK

HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

9

SPEED RACER DIECAST VEHICLE ASST

BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM ASSORTMENT

BANDAI

10

LITTLEST PETSHOP COLLECTIBLE ASSORTMENT B

UK YEAR TO DATE (£ SALES - VALUE) 1

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE 10CM FIGURES

2

KIDIZOOM CAMERA

3

BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM ASSORTMENT

4

STAR WARS CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURES 3.75"

5 6 7

BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURE

8

BAKUGAN STARTER PACK

9 10

HASBRO ESDEVIUM GAMES MATTEL HASBRO

UK YEAR TO DATE (UNIT SALES - VOLUME) BANDAI

1

HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

VTECH

2

CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

BANDAI

3

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE 10CM FIGURES

BANDAI

HASBRO

4

BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM ASSORTMENT

BANDAI

BEN 10 ULTIMATE OMNITRIX

BANDAI

5

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY FIGURES

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY FIGURES

BANDAI

6

BAKUGAN BOOSTER PACK

BANDAI

7

STAR WARS CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURES 3.75”

SPIN MASTER

8

BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES

CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

9

SPEED RACER DIECAST VEHICLE ASSORTMENT

HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT

MATTEL

10

IN THE NIGHT GARDEN MINI PLUSH ASSORTMENT

BANDAI SPIN MASTER HASBRO BANDAI MATTEL HASBRO

NOTES: All participating NPD retail data suppliers provide weekly data via EPOS systems. NPD figures are not projected to represent non-participating retailers but provide 100 per cent of the sales from participating stores. EPoS sample includes the following retailers: Amazon, Argos, Asda, Boots, ELC, Firebox, Freemans, Grattan, Hamleys, HMV, Halfords Littlewoods, Mailorderexpress, Modelzone, Mothercare, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Shop Direct, Tesco, Toymaster, The Entertainer and WHSmith. The approximate coverage is of 60%

NPD Eurotoys is the Number 1 information provider for Market Research to the Toy Industry in Europe Contact: NPD Eurotoys UK, Rosemount House, Rosemount Avenue West Byfleet, Surrey, KT14 6LB. _ 01 932 355 580

9

10

ADVERTISING TRENDS

MARKETING SPEND ANALYSIS MONTHLY SECTOR SPEND MONTH SUB MARKETS

JUN-08 SPEND* (£)

JUL-08 SPEND* (£)

AUG-08 SPEND* (£)

SEP-08 SPEND* (£)

OCT-08 SPEND* (£)

NOV-08 SPEND* (£)

COMPUTER/ELECTRONIC £5,000,653.00 GAMES

£5,130,918.00

£3,296,292.00

£2,918,446.00

£6,929,557.00

£16,496,388.00

TOYS & GAMES/PRE£2,545,422.00 SCHOOL/LEARNING AIDS

£1,474,787.00

£2,321,496.00

£4,802,763.00

£10,883,892.00

£10,278,195.00

TOTAL (ALL)

£7,546,075.00

£6,605,705.00

£5,617,788.00

£7,721,209.00

£17,813,449.00

£26,774,583.00

76.21%

73.10%

-7.76%

-31.54%

1.50%

13.51%

YEAR ON YEAR DIFF %

MONTHLY ADVERTISING SPEND (12M TO MAY ‘09)

COMPUTER GAMES/ELECTRONIC GAMES TOYS & GAMES/PS TOYS & LEARNING AIDS

SECTOR

SHARE

COMPUTER GAMES / ELECTRONIC GAMES

61%

TOYS & GAMES / PRE-SCHOOL / LEARNING AIDS

39%

TOTAL (ALL)

100%

EA:6H:9 ID B::I :J EA:6H:9 I D D B::I :J

&( iZgg^idg^Zh! & h^beaZ bdYZa/ g &( iZgg^idg^Zh! & h^beaZ bdYZa/ gZVX] ndjg VjY^ZcXZ l^i] e ZVX] ndjg Vj jY^ZcXZ l^i] 8Vgiddc CZildg`Éh Vaa"cZl! hdX^Va cZildg`"iVhi^X lZWh^iZh# 8Vg iddc CZildg`Éh V Vaa"cZl! hdX^Va cZildg`"i " Vhi^X lZWh^iZh# lll#ijgcZgbZY^V^ccdkVi^dch#Xdb$XclZWh^iZ lll #ijgcZgbZY^V^cc cdkVi^dch#Xdb$XclZWh h^iZ Foster’s Home Home for for Imaginary Imaginary Friends Friends and and all all related related characters characters and and elements elements are are trademark trademark of of and and © 2009 2009 Cartoon Cartoon Network.

Network.

Foster’s A Time Time Warner Warner Company.

Company. All All Rights Rights Reserved.

Reserved.

ADVERTISING TRENDS

www.toynewsmag.com

11

Our monthly marketing analysis page looks at TV and press advertising spend. The information from Billetts (formerly Thomson Intermedia) accurately monitors actual discounted spend across the media, as opposed to quoted ratecard figures and offers comparisons with rival sectors as well…

*Discounted DEC-08 SPEND* (£)

JAN-09 SPEND* (£)

FEB-09 SPEND*(£)

MAR-09 SPEND* (£)

APR-09 SPEND* (£)

MAY-09 SPEND* (£)

TOTAL SPEND* (£)

£12,161,854.00

£1,630,930.00

£3,348,588.00

£4,643,842.00

£5,043,033.00

£3,503,935.00

£70,104,436.00

£3,308,914.00

£508,355.00

£1,292,312.00

£1,987,424.00

£2,931,543.00

£1,839,178.00

£44,174,281.00

£15,470,768.00

£2,139,285.00

£4,640,900.00

£6,631,266.00

£7,974,576.00

£5,343,113

£114,278,717.00

10.32%

0.50%

-12.95%

-9.92%

-16.57%

-30.57%

1.40%

TOP 20 ADVERTISERS (JUNE ‘08 TO MAY ‘09) COMPANIES

PERCENTAGE OF ALL SPEND NINTENDO 18.7% MATTEL 9.1% ACTIVISION 6.5% UBI SOFT 5.4% ELECTRONIC ARTS 4.5% HASBRO 3.8% CHARACTER OPTIONS 3.4% THQ 3.1% SONY 3.0% MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS 2.5% SEGA ENTERPRISES 1.8% TOMY 1.6% PLAYSKOOL 1.6% VIVID IMAGINATIONS 1.6% ROCKSTAR GAMES 1.5% BANDAI 1.4% CAPCOM 1.3% FLAIR LEISURE PRODUCTS 1.3% VTECH 1.2% KONAMI 1.1% TOTAL (TOP 20) TOTAL (ALL)

CHANGE (JUN ’08 - MAY ‘09 VS JUN ‘07 - MAY ‘08)

24.1% -27.5% 132.7% 41.5% -25.4% -15.7% -26.8% 49.7% -3.3% 1123.5% -17.4% -36.4% 10.9% (Inc. some ‘07 Bratz spend) -52.6% -15.8% 16.0% 224.8% -5.6% 145.6% -17.9% 74.1% 100%

5.0% 0.3%

Billetts Media Monitoring is the fastest and most sophisticated advertising monitoring service in the UK that provides both spend data and latest creative treatments.

To find out how BMM could benefit your business visit: www.ebiquity.com/uk/bmm or email us at enquiries@billetts.com

12

AIRTIME STATISTICS

The ratings game The top-performing children’s TV shows on terrestrial and multi-channel....

SHOWS ACROSS ALL TIMES MAY 09

SHOWS ACROSS ALL TIMES YTD MAY 09

TIME

TITLE/DESCRIPTION

CHANNEL

OOOs

%

16:27

SHAUN THE SHEEP

CBBC

158

12.1

1

1

2 08:49

BEN 10

GMTV1

148

11.9

10

3 16:35

HORRIBLE HISTORIES

BBC1

143

11.3

4

4 09:10

THE BATMAN

GMTV1

135

11.8

5 17:47

CHUGGINGTON

CBEEBIES

130

6 08:15

SHAGGY & SCOOBY DOO GET A CLUE GMTV1

7 16:35

MI HIGH

8 15:56

UNCLE MAX

BBC1

126

9 16:37

BLUE PETER

BBC1

124.0

10 07:59

BEAT THE BOSS

BBC2

121.0

9.69

1

BBC1

AIRINGS

TIME

TITLE/DESCRIPTION

CHANNEL

OOOs

% AIRINGS

08:34

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

GMTV1

183

17.4

2 09:00

WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?

BBC2

175

12.4

14

3 17:29

GRANDPA IN MY POCKET

CBEEBIES

174

9.4

39

10

4 10:01

BASIL'S SWAP SHOP

CBBC

169

10.8

1

8.2

21

5 08:50

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY

GMTV1

166

13.2

64

130

12.9

10

6 17:46

CHUGGINGTON

CBEEBIES

160

8.6

105

129

10.3

2

7 16:35

THE LEGEND OF DICK AND DOM

BBC1

160

10.2

13

13.4

2

8 08:03

BACK TO THE BARNYARD

GMTV1

157

18.5

20

8.91

8

9 08:19

BEN 10

GMTV1

157

14.7

40

2

10 16:20

SKUNK FU

BBC1

157

10.5

1

COMMERCIAL MULTICHANNEL SHOWS (ALL TIMES) MAY 09 TITLE/DESCRIPTION

16:31

% AIRINGS

GRIZZLY TALES FOR GRUESOME KIDS CITV

102

8

2 16:15

HORRID HENRY

93

3 10:00

SPONGEBOB ATLANTIS SQUAREPANTIS NICKELODEON 92

4 09:25

TMNT FAST FORWAR

CITV

86

5 09:54

POKEMON BATTLE DIMENSION

GMTV2

6 10:31

PIRATES

7 16:30

TOM AND JERRY TALES

8 16:58 9 10:00 10 09:25

TIME

TITLE/DESCRIPTION

CHANNEL

OOOs

%

07:42

DINOSAUR KING

GMTV2

112

9.5

AIRINGS

44

1

8

123

2 15:59

HORRID HENRY

CITV

109

8.9

488

6

1

3 08:09

TOM AND JERRY TALES

GMTV2

103

7.8

45

7

1

4 16:28

HANNAH MONTANA SING-A-LONG

DISNEY CH 102

7.1

5

82

7

1

5 16:31

GRIZZLY TALES FOR GRUESOME KIDS CITV

100

7.8

94

CITV

77

6

11

6 07:42

POKEMON BATTLE DIMENSION

GMTV2

98

9.7

70

GMTV2

74

6

11

7 16:28

FOUR EYES!

CITV

95

7

102

SONNY WITH A CHANCE

DISNEY CH 73

6

26

8 16:58

THE WORST WITCH

CITV

94

5

1

JUNGLE RUN

CITV

67

6

5

9 16:29

MY GOLDFISH IS EVIL

CITV

91

7

71

DINOSAUR KING

GMTV2

67

7

20

10 17:31

WOLVES WITCHES AND GIANTS

CITV

87

4.7

1

SOURCE: INFOSYS/BARB.

JULY 2009

CHANNEL

COMMERCIAL MULTICHANNEL SHOWS (ALL TIMES) YTD MAY 09

OOOs

1

TIME

50

CITV

NOTE: THESE CHARTS ARE BASED ON AVERAGE PERFORMANCE

45

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103x295-GB-ToysNews 1

05.05.09 17:24

CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH

www.toynewsmag.com

15

V.Smile Motion VTech The recently launched V.Smile Motion Active Learning System is VTech’s biggest product launch since V.Smile and is accordingly backed with a major marketing campaign including TV, print, online and PR… V.SMILE MOTION is a motion-activated educational video gaming system designed for three to seven year-olds. The movement detecting wireless controller encourages preschoolers to get up and be active as they learn and have fun.

Eleven software titles will launch in autumn/winter, including Monsters vs Aliens, Up and Disney Fairies, joining the seven titles that are already available.

TV A big TV-advertising campaign ran from MarchApril over the key Easter holiday period to generate awareness. Two adverts targeted housewives with children and children individually on channels including ITV1, Five and multichannel. The campaign achieved 281 HW+Ch TVRs and 348 TVRs. In the second half of the year V.Smile Motion will again be TV promoted with 400 TVRs targeting housewives with children.

Print Full page advertorials ran in top circulating women’s weeklies OK and Hello. An advertorial format was chosen to educate, engage and provide extra messaging for mum, and was also hosted on OK online, with advertising MPU’s and banners on Hello online.

PR A press launch generated coverage including the Daily Telegraph, The Times, BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans show and BBC Online.

Suzanne Shaw became the V.Smile Motion celebrity mum who fully endorsed and supported the active learning system - her four year-old son is a huge fan so Shaw was able to talk from experience on the learning and fun elements.

Suzanne was interviewed by raisingkids.co.uk, babyexpert.com and Love It! magazine.

VTech also worked with raisingkids.co.uk to find out about the play patterns of children today

and the hopes and wishes of parents. Shaw and Anjula Mutanda (a leading psychologist) talked about the survey and V.Smile Motion to BBC and commercial radio stations across the UK – reaching nearly 750,000 listeners on 15 radio stations including Christian O’Connell’s Absolute Breakfast show.

Suzanne Shaw became the V.Smile Motion celebrity mum who fully endorsed and supported the active learning system To reach parents with kids directly, VTech is also working in partnership with Tumble Tots (a physical play programme for children) with activities including a double page competition in Tumble Talk magazine, an email sent out to over 52,000 Tumble Tots members and taking the product itself to regional Gymbob classes across the country. The PR campaign had a total circulation of nearly 30 million and achieved 41 pieces of coverage.

POS Both a free standing unit, featuring four learning games for consumers to play, and shelf display unit, featuring a video demo, will be available to support V.Smile Motion in-store.

Web To further spread the message, VTech worked with GMTV online, which reaches over 6.6 million adults, with a full page advertorial along with advertising directing users to the VTech website www.vtechuk.com, which includes a V.Smile Motion video demo.

JULY 2009

Our New Range for Autumn 2009

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High School Musical 3 : 96 pieces © Disney

Ben 10 : 96 pieces TM & © Cartoon Network. (s 09) Visit CartoonNetworkEurope.com

Spongebob Squarepants : 240 pieces

Hello Kitty : 240 pieces

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News • Media • Opinion

Advanstar’s big show gamble pays off Licensing International’s switch to Las Vegas and the Mandalay Bay is given the thumbs up by the UK trade...

18

LICENSINGNEWS

COMMENT A NEW BEGINNING IF I WORKED for Advanstar, I’d be finding it seriously difficult right now not to shout that most childish of retorts ‘I told you so’ to the licensing trade.

Licensing International – and its move to Las Vegas – was a success. So much so, I think it even took Advanstar a little bit by surprise about how quickly the industry adapted to both the new city and the Mandalay Bay. Every single company and person I’ve asked for their views on the event – both on and off the record – have come back with positives. Even those who didn’t want to like it, had to admit (albeit grudgingly in some cases) that the show was well organised, well attended and much easier to manage from a logistical point of view for exhibitors.

And everything being under one roof was a delight.

Of course, there were things which will need ironing out for 2010. The signing and stand numbering system were confusing. Those companies who had meeting rooms on the upper levels were simply too far away, as was the press office which meant it lacked that buzzy,

Advanstar succeeded in delivering an expo which struck just the right chord in a difficult climate... busy atmosphere which is present at other events like BLE and Toy Fair.

I also hope that those firms which chose to base themselves in THE Hotel will consider taking a presence on the main showfloor next year. Equally, while the Executive Deal Making Suites served a purpose – and were perhaps an easy option for those initially unsure if Vegas would work – it seemed a shame that some of the biggest brands in the industry were effectively hidden away.

Las Vegas is many things. Glitzy? Yes. Trashy?

Absolutely. Seedy? Depends where you went. But it’s also now the home of Licensing International. You may not like the place, but you can’t deny that as a conference destination it’s pretty near perfect.

Advanstar has proved that it works for the licensing industry. It was brave enough to stick to its decision and clever enough to deliver an expo which struck just the right chord in a difficult climate. Trade events have to change with the times and this is exactly what Licensing International has done.

Samantha Loveday Samantha.Loveday@intentmedia.co.uk JULY 2009

Chapman’s Fifi and Roary soar in Q1 Sales targets smashed as character duo continue worldwide growth…

by Samantha Loveday CHAPMAN Entertainment has revealed that it outperformed its sales targets in the first quarter – and is expecting these positive results to continue throughout the year.

The firm’s first property, Fifi and the Flowertots, has shown growth in apparel, music and publishing during Q1. The character also maintains the position of the number one pre-school girls’ licence in the UK (Source: NPD, May (preschool plush, puzzles YTD)).

Meanwhile, in Europe, the character is showing first quarter growth of 45 per cent over all categories, with the rest of the world now accounting for 20 per cent of total sales.

In addition, Roary the Racing Car is showing 15 per cent first quarter growth over licensee forecasts in the UK, with a strong performance in all categories. The brand is now the number two pre-school boys’ property in the UK (Source: NPD, May (preschool plush, puzzles YTD)).

In Europe, Chapman is reporting 56 per

cent growth for Roary, and throughout the world a 36 per cent growth for the quarter. Highlights of this include a 44 per cent uplift for publishing and 21 per cent for apparel.

“We are pleased to report that, despite the difficult retail climate and closure of Woolworths in the UK, Chapman Entertainment has had a profitable post-Christmas period, exceeding forecasts in Q1 this year for Fifi and Roary,” said Andrew Haydon, commercial and finance director at the company.

“We continue to invest heavily in our properties, focusing our attention on solid and deep marketing, retail support and ensuring we are offering the right ranges at the right prices. “We are expecting these positive results to continue throughout 2009.”

Chapman Entertainment: 0870 403 0556

Mega new deal for Hit’s Thomas MEGA BRANDS is to produce a line of construction toys based on Thomas & Friends having struck a new deal with Hit Entertainment.

The range is due to launch worldwide in spring 2010, marking the brand’s 65th anniversary. It will include new construction toy sets based on the characters and destinations from the Island of Sodor world.

“We are thrilled to work with a world class toy partner like Mega Brands to create all-new Thomas & Friends construction sets,” commented Gary Krakower, senior VP, US licensing and live

events at Hit Entertainment. “Across the globe, children will enjoy imagining and building with Mega Bloks and Thomas & Friends, building new destinations and recreating exciting railroad adventures, as children have with Thomas for nearly 65 years.”

Vic Bertrand, chief innovation officer at Mega Brands, added: “Mega Bloks are the world’s number one preschool construction brand and it’s a natural fit to align with the world’s number one preschool brand for boys.”

Hit: 020 7554 2500

LICENSINGNEWS

www.licensing.biz

19

BLE team ramping up for 09 show IN BRIEF All eyes turn to Olympia as Advanstar moves up a gear in planning for Euro event...

TIMMY TIME IS RATINGS SUCCESS ON CBEEBIES

by Samantha Loveday

Aardman Rights’ Timmy Time has been watched by 4.8 million individuals since its debut on Cbeebies in April, according to figures from BARB. The show airs three times a day, Monday to Friday, and has achieved above average share of carers with children 0-3 and 4-6 year-olds in all three time slots.

The strong start in the UK marks the beginning of the international roll out of Timmy Time, with a raft of major broadcast and licensing deals already in place. In terms of the toy sector, Golden Bear is on board for wooden toys in the UK, while Jakks Pacific is master toy partner for the US and Canada. Vivid is the master toy licensee in the UK. In addition, Egmont and Titan are on board in the publishing sector.

Aardman: 0117 984 8900

WITH LICENSING International over for another year, all eyes are now on the Advanstar team in London – with preparations for Brand Licensing Europe significantly stepping up a gear over the past few weeks.

Registration is now open for the event – which is being held on September 30th and October 1st at Olympia’s Grand Hall in London.

There are already around 120 exhibitors on the floor plan, including 20th Century Fox, 4Kids, Aardman, BBC Worldwide, Beanstalk Europe, Cartoon Network, Chapman Entertainment, Chorion, Classic Media, Giochi Preziosi, Hit Entertainment and Warner Bros.

One of the major new features, the Interactive Game Zone, will be aiming to replicate the success of the Interactive Showcase from the Las Vegas expo. Participants in the zone can book a demonstration area for the duration of the show, while also

having access to a main central meeting area.

“In past years, video games publishers have attended as licensees on the hunt for IPs to licence from our film, TV, entertainment and sports exhibitors,” explained event director Jessica Blue. “But, increasingly, publishers and developers are recognising the licensing potential of their own IPs and are becoming licensors in their own right.”

Other new product showcases will include the Toy Store, Licensed

Lifestyle and Salon, the Retail Buyers Centre has been added, while the Screening Suite, Licensing Academy and Advice Centre are all returning.

■ Meanwhile, Advanstar will be launching Brand Licensing Central & Eastern Europe next year in direct response to demand from the licensing industry. The show will take place at the VAM Design Centre in Budapest. Hungary on March 8th and 9th. It will launch as a turnkey event to keep entry costs low for exhibitors. www.brandlicensingeurope.com

Transformers and GI Joe lead the way for Hasbro Company readies for the biggest blockbuster summer in its licensing history...

by Samantha Loveday THE COMBINED licensing programmes supporting the eagerly awaited Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra have surpassed Hasbro’s previous licensing milestones, the firm has revealed.

These include the number of deals signed, variety of products spanning major licensing categories and

worldwide retail distribution.

Indeed, there are over 350 licensees on board for the hotly tipped duo.

“Two back-to-back releases of live action films based on Hasbro’s powerhouse boys action brands has created the perfect global storm from a licensing perspective,” said Bryony Bouyer, senior VP of licensing, the Americas,

at Hasbro. “The combination of these time-tested, proven brands supported by major theatrical premieres presents a rare opportunity for licensees to confidently drive new and innovative products into the worldwide market.”

As well as toys, the Transformers and GI Joe licensing programmes will include apparel, accessories, footwear, video games, electronics, publishing, food, social expression and sporting goods among others.

Hasbro: 020 8569 1234

MATTEL’S BATTLE PLAN The new Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 animated series will be supported by a raft of licensees, Mattel has revealed. As well as a toy line, the series - which is due to begin airing internationally in the autumn - will be backed with a video game by Activision, plus products from Creative Designs International, Freeze, AME, Handcraft, ACI, Del Ray, Random House and Firebrand Media.

Mattel: 01628 500000

MORE SIGN FOR WAYBULOO RDF Kids has added further licensees to the Waybuloo programme. Dan Jam Toys, Blues Clothing, Trademark Collections, Worlds Apart, Golden Bear and Brand International have all signed up.

RDF Kids: 020 7013 4400

RAINBOW STICKS WITH PANINI FOR HUNTIK Rainbow SpA has sealed a multiterritory sticker album deal with Panini for Huntik. The deal covers the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal. Panini already distributes Huntik sticker albums in Italy.

Rainbow SpA: +39(0) 71 7506 7500

Visit www.licensing.biz to register for the Daily News Digest and Newsflash services ALL THE LATEST NEWS & VIEWS DIRECT TO YOUR MOBILE PHONE WHEREVER YOU ARE

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EVENT REVIEW LICENSING INTERNATIONAL

21

Viva Las Vegas After all the talking, Licensing International finally made its debut in Vegas last month. And did it live up to its billing as the city of conventions? And, more importantly, was the industry impressed? Samantha Loveday asked a selection of licensors, agents and licensees for their views. To read more, head to www.licensing.biz…

“Footfall seemed to be as strong as last year, the same UK retailers were all in attendance save one and the general atmosphere was very upbeat. Walk up traffic was especially brisk and the usual percentage as bizarre as ever.

We've already signed up for next year.”

Julian Day, Ludorum “My overall impression is a positive one. Las Vegas is the king of convention centres and it’s a definite improvement on New York. Everyone I spoke to agreed that the change of location had very much revitalised things and I will definitely be returning, and may be taking a stand, next year.”

Mark Hurry, Director of Legal & Commercial Affairs, PPC “A good show, well organised and easy to manage with a few teething problems that should be resolved next time. The positives outweigh a show in NY. We have booked the same sized stand for next time.”

Andrew Carley, Head of Licensing & Merchandising, E1

“The Mandalay Bay location, where most people stayed/ate/drank, meant that the opportunity for random meetings was higher than normal, which encouraged the networking process. I think the show delivered as much as it could in the circumstances.”

David Scott, Managing Director, Rainbow Productions “The show was a real success for Rocket. We found that one of the key benefits of the Mandalay Bay location was the convenience and ease of doing business, as all the on-site facilities were so accessible.

Overall, a very productive show and one that Rocket will definitely attend next year.”

Rob Wijeratna, Joint Managing Director, Rocket Licensing

“All in all I enjoyed the show. I felt people were focused and there to do business.”

Ian Downes, MD, Start Licensing

“We managed to pack in scores of meetings with a high calibre of retailers and licensees, the venue was easy to get to from the hotel and from a personal perspective, it was great for me to spend time with the new team.”

Tom Keefer, SVP Global Licensing, BBC Worldwide

“From a UK stance, attendance was very good and I was particularly pleased to see the great support that UK retailers gave to the show. On the downside, I would say that Vegas is not the cheaper option that we were perhaps led to believe it would be. That said, I will certainly be going back next year.”

Clare Piggott, VP Consumer Products, Nickelodeon UK

“Overall impression - top class event. Roll on June 8th 2010.”

Rob Hughes, Managing Director, Wesco

“We love the venue - Mandalay Bay was perfect and we loved the fact that all was under one roof.”

Morten Geschwendtner, Chairman, Kidz Entertainment “The expo was really busy for the FME team, we had full diaries for the duration of the show although footfall in the hall seemed a little quiet and we did not have as many walk ups as we expected.”

Lucy McCredie, Interim VP Brand Licensing & Retail, FremantleMedia Enterprises “A good trade fair, although I missed the social scene of New York. We were very busy with some great retail meetings.”

Claire Atherton, Mattel “We'll certainly be back and now that everyone’s familiar with the venue and Las Vegas itself, I very much hope there will be more excitement and positivity coming into the show.”

Vickie O'Malley, MD, CPLG

JULY 2009

22

ROUND TABLE TOYMASTER

Major commitment Prior to squeezing themselves into their Viking outfits for the evening’s entertainment, Ronnie Dungan sat down to talk with Mattel’s UK boss David Allmark, sales director Dominic Geddes and Toymaster MD Roger Dyson about the firm’s ongoing commitment to the independent sector and the current state of the market…

SO, WHAT is it that Mattel gets out of the Toymaster show? How important is the independent sector to you?

David Allmark: “At the end of the day, this channel of distribution is extremely important post-Woolies. It doesn’t need us to reiterate that the consumer votes with their feet, so consequently, the channel now has different needs in terms of how they want the proposition to be tailored to them.

“Coming out of last year, we were all having to work in a different environment as to what was available in the way of credit to any retailer.

We all had to have a lot more insight into how the business performs and be confident about the relationship going forward.

“The Toymaster show gives us a fantastic insight into the picture as a whole. By having that relationship and that insight, it allows us to plan with far more confidence.”

Dominic Geddes: “You can plan better with the indies because you can plan for 52 weeks of business.”

And what about Toymaster, Roger?

What sort of position are you in post-Woolies? I hear business is picking for a lot of indies now?”

Roger Dyson: “In the first instance I wasn’t sure about the impact of Woolies’ closure. I’ve always been of the view that the supermarkets were almost working together to take Woolies out of the market. But whether that business would gravitate to us or elsewhere is another question.

“The first thing the indies have over everyone else is location. The vast majority of our members are in a town that had a Woolies and many were right next door to one.”

But how do they make the most of this opportunity which has fallen in their lap?

JULY 2009

Allmark, Dyson and Geddes: Independent souls

RD: “What they have to ensure they do is retain those customers. The message is ‘you’re in the best location’, and secondly you need to look at what Woolies were good at and follow that. We focus on pocket

they’re seeing a lot of products that were not in Woolies and a lot of small to medium-sized suppliers are suddenly confronting consumers with products they’ve not seen before.”

The Toymaster show gives us a fantastic insight into the picture as a whole. By having that relationship and that insight, it allows us to plan with far more confidence.

David Allmark, UK MD, Mattel money toys and are looking more closely at lower-priced toys. We’ll have a more offer-led fourth quarter.

More heavily promoted, which is something we didn’t do so much when Woolworths were around because they were better at it.

“Woolies customers saw Woolies as a destination store so they didn’t come into us in many instances. So

And how has this changing situation affected suppliers?

DA: “The larger manufacturers are still spending advertising money. But there has been some reassessment with regards to how those funds are spent. The first six months has seen an erosion in TVRs. “We’ve spent less than we did last year on TV, but we have discovered

different ways of marketing our brands. The industry has changed and I think that next year we will have a much more robust business because of that.

“Many of us feel very optimistic about the second half of the year and we’ve got evidence with the performance of the indies that there are great opportunities to be had.”

Were you able to anticipate much of what has happened in any way?

DA: “We had a lot of visibility as to what was going on and I’m not saying that we got everything right, but we could foresee a fair amount of disruption. But for us, it would have been nice to do more business in the first half. But we are where we wanted to be.

“The year is panning out in a macro sense pretty much as we felt it would. The winners list is slightly different, but at the end of the day it does lay some good foundations.”

TOYMASTER ROUND TABLE

www.toynewsmag.com

23

This year’s Harrogate show saw retailers in an upbeat, product buying mood...

DG: “We’ve always had a multichannel strategy. We’ve not just suddenly become indie supporters.

We have more field sales staff than any other supplier.”

And where does that leave Mattel in terms of its own projections for the year?

DA: “I would say we’re pretty much in line with our expectations for 2010. For the next year with the product acquisitions we have lined up, we are predicting big growth in the Mattel business. We’re looking very strong as an organisation.

“Core brands are the focus for this year. We’ve had extremely good growth on Fisher Price, Hot Wheels and Barbie.”

Which, ultimately, is good news for all toy retailers, isn’t it?

RD: “When Mattel has a good time of it, we have a good time with Mattel. They are undoubtedly our

number one supplier and our best trading partner.

“The only spanner in the works was not to do with Mattel, it was far more to do with Euler Hermes, whose influence was dramatic. We had a £2.7m credit limit with Mattel

“I think if you spoke to everyone at Toymaster and Mattel, they would agree that the problems are now firmly behind us. We both understood the other party’s point of view when we talked.”

We have had a stuttering start and we’re all learning to live in a very different world. What we have all learned from recent events is credit insurance does not work if you only insure when there’s no risk.

Roger Dyson, MD, Toymaster through Euler and when they pull the rug, it has an effect.

“We have had a stuttering start and we are all learning to live in a very different world. What we have all learned from recent events is that credit insurance does not work if you will only insure when there isn’t any risk.

And how has this show been for Mattel so far?

DG: “We have written more orders here than we did over the last few years of the show.”

RD: “It also needs to be said that as we sit here in May, the market is 14 per cent down and we’re around 20 per cent up.

“Our members, on our advice, started the year very cautiously.

Although Woolies had closed it didn’t mean we were piling in with inventory. We as a group weren’t prepared and re-stocked on January 1st to pick up the Woolies business.”

DA: “Easter happened in a big way. And proved the industry does do well despite economic challenges.”

So, there’s still a lot to play for?

RD: “A lot of it is down to the indies to grasp. The biggest positive going forward is the recession is not going to last forever.

“There’s a lot less retail out there than there was 12 months ago. I used to think the toy business was just the toy business but now we’re in the entertainment busness.

“The competition is fierce but the difference will be the opportunities it presents. This is a product-led business and no-one has the best products all the time.”

JULY 2009

BRAND FOCUS TRANSFORMERS

www.toynewsmag.com

25

Do the robot Hasbro’s programme for its big summer movie licence, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is now underway, as the film hits cinemas across the country.

Ronnie Dungan spoke to the firm’s UK marketing manager for boys, Grant Gie, about its plans for the robot range…

WITH THE experience from the first movie, are expectations higher for this range?

We have learnt a lot from the first movie and tried to drive innovation further with our movie two product.

The last film opened up Transformers to a whole new market, whose first experience with the brand was sitting in an Odeon cinema back in 2007.

Our product development team was tasked with making our toys even more representative of their big screen counter parts.

What’s different about the new product to the first film range?

With Revenge of the Fallen product, we have included Mech Alive in our Deluxe, Voyager and Leader action figures. This means when you move the action figure you’ll see, through cut-outs in chest plates for example, cogs and other elements moving within. All in all we’re very pleased with how this has turned out, it really adds a sense of realism to the figures.

As well as the return of our core action figure lines, we’ve taken a fresh look at role-play and the younger kids sector.

The Bumblebee Voice Mixer helmet features three modes and allows you to speak ‘through’ the radio, like Bumblebee. It also features battle phrases and sound effects.

Bumblebee’s Plasma Cannon roleplay toy fits over the forearm and has two modes. In battle mode it represents Bumblebee’s fist, and by pulling a lever you hear metal sound effects as if two robots are in battle.

It can then be transformed into a plasma cannon, featuring lights and sounds. When you pull the lever, you hear a blast and the cannon lights up and recoils. That’s just a couple of toys. We have an expansive range available from launch with more products coming in autumn/winter.

And what others areas are you moving the product into?

Hasbro will also launch a new vehicle line under the Transformers banner called RPM’s. This stands for Robot Powered Machines – a range of nontransforming vehicles. This product is not branded and is a new direction

We will be working with Paramount to pull together a strong retail opportunity. and an attempt to re-establish ourselves in the vehicle aisle.

The range includes single cars, double packs, track set, R/Cs and a younger range called Battle Chargers.

The trade response has been positive and we’re looking forward to launching these in autumn/winter.

What marketing effort is behind the line and where is it directed?

The theatrical marketing plays a vital part. This began with underground posters and will continue to ramp up through the movie release and beyond. We also have four TV ads running until Christmas, which also kicked off in June, with our core action figure spot. Other featured sectors are younger kids toys, role-play and Devastator, a 120ft Decepticon.

We have huge brand awareness, but what we’re now doing is trying to drive awareness past the key characters and further into the cast.

It’s no longer just about Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron and Starcream. We want kids to know six or seven names, so collector posters and character images featuring character names will be key.

The campaign covers consumer and collector print, online, TV, trade shows, road shows and trade marketing.

A movie franchise normally lends itself to a lot of cross-promotional activity, what’s happening in this area for Transformers?

There is a number of partners Paramount has been working with. Each brings its own marketing efforts to add to the movie and toy push.

General Motors will be launching a new car called the Cruze. They own an official Bumblebee Camero which will go on a UK tour and one reader of The Sun will win a Cruze car.

Burger King will have a national campaign with themed burgers. TMobile is offering a walk-on part in the next movie when you buy any pay-as-you-go phone.

Walkers will offer a money-can’tbuy prize on 40 million packs.

The DVD plans later in the year will be in time for Christmas and allow all partners and licensees to re-ignite the brand.

We’ll be working with Paramount to pull together a strong retail opportunity, so watch this space.

JULY 2009

26

SUPPLIER FOCUS LEAPFROG

Frog’s march ToyNews caught up with LeapFrog marketing director David Lubliner to talk about the firm’s progress with its raft of new lines, including big hopes Tag and Tag Jr… CAN YOU bring us up to date with this year’s big launches? What’s out? What’s coming?

LeapFrog has some major new launches in learning toys and reading.

In the former, My Pal Scout and My Pal Violet offer fun, memorable play experiences for children aged 12 months plus. The toys benefit from an internet connection allowing parents to customise content to make the product personal from the moment the puppy greets the child by name, to the music that lulls the child to sleep.

Scout appears on a range of roleplay technology products including the Text & Learn Phone, variously described as a PDA for children.

Tag Jr is the big launch in reading, bringing the same technology and interactive experience of Tag, but to a younger audience of two to four year-olds. It features a reader shaped for a palm grasp for the younger child. It also connects to the internet where you can personalise the product and unlock activities.

We are also delivering a new lineup of licensed games and books. Star Wars: Clone Wars & Ben 10, Disney Fairies, Up and Wolverine are amongst the launches, meaning we now offer over 40 licensed titles.

How have you rated the performance of your big lines? Has Tag managed to mirror the success of LeapPad? Tag has made a great start. It has been one of NPD’s top ten new properties

JULY 2009

all year and is outperforming the first year LeapPad had. In a market that has moved on considerably since 2000, that represents a successful launch for us.

The firm has won some significant new business, most notably a return to The Entertainer Is anything performing better than you expected?

Not sure if this is totally unexpected, but Leapster2 is performing exceptionally well. NPD reports sales up by 90 per cent in value and the product is now the number one educational gaming hardware for preschoolers. The addition of an online experience has been received extremely well by parents.

Is there additional pressure on the UK and Europe, with LeapFrog being squeezed at retail in the US? The US had a recordbreaking year in educational gaming, and Tag in year one comfortably outsold the final year of LeapPad. The UK market is performing well for us and we have the benefit of leading products in reading and educational gaming. The introduction of connected products gives us a chance to engage with consumers in a way we’ve never been able to and is unique in the industry.

Other key markets in Europe, such as France, are seeing growth with Tag, but are not yet connected like the UK is, so the opportunity for growth over the next few years remains high.

How have marketing budgets held up in the current climate?

Like most companies we are closely tracking sales and marketing investment but not holding back, our impressive investment in new products this year and next will drive us further forward. The connected strategy gives us a powerful marketing tool to drive sales of new products to key retailers.

Is this the time when LeapFrog needs to spend big to reestablish itself with its new lines?

We are spending money wisely this year. We have a great product range and are ensuring this is well presented so consumers can buy into LeapFrog and be confident in the advantage our products deliver.

How have UK retailers reacted to the ranges?

Extremely well. Listings and distribution are up, with increases in the number of Tag books and Leapster games listed as retailers realise the appeal of the choice offered by larger libraries. Research shows platforms need a large library to do well in this tough environment and those with only a small portfolio often don’t do well as consumers don’t have confidence in a narrow range. The company has already won some significant new business, most notably a return to The Entertainer.

How has the pre-school market stood up to recessionary pressures?

The pre-school market is, like most categories within the industry, down year-to-date, but Woolworths’ demise probably hit the category harder than any other. This means there is an opportunity up for grabs among retailers and there is evidence that some retailers are beginning to take this. Manufacturers within the preschool category, LeapFrog included, have seen staple lines drop out of their ranges and new lines that have come in will take a little time to become fully established.

ACTIVITY

PACKS

INSIDE EACH PACK YOU’LL FIND: Top Trumps A mini version of the classic card game

Pairs The game of memory

Take 5 A game of matching and collecting

Observation Quiz Can you find the answers?

Spot the difference Can you see the 5 changes?

INCLUDES BONUS ACTIVITY CARD AND PENCIL

For more information on all the brands available from Winning Moves call 020 7262 9696 or email sales@winningmoves.co.uk

WE WILL BE GIVING AWAY: 1 x CDU Dora the Explorer Activity Pack 1 x CDU Mr Men Activity Pack 1 x CDU Pixar Cars Activity Packs

win

ACTIVITY PACKS You'll find 5 great games and activities in each new Top Trumps Activity Pack! Designed for little ones from 3 to 6 years of age, this ideal travel companion is packed with fun features to help develop memory, observation, reading and counting with all your favourite characters!

Ages 3+

For 2-4 players

IF YOU CAN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU STAND A CHANCE OF WINNING THESE PACKS. Q) Which Top Trumps Activity Pack features Lightning McQueen?

a) Peppa Pig b) Cars c) Dora The Explorer

WE ARE NOW TAKING ORDERS FOR THESE GAMES Answer this question correctly and send your answer, name, company name & address to toynewscompetition@intentmedia.co.uk by July 31st 2009

Draw with w Reveal ater! m ag hidden ical picture s too!

Also available

* Source: NPD Market Data Report (March 09). **2009 total Aquadraw TVR’s.

For further information, please call Sales Deptartment on 020 8722 7300 Tomy UK Ltd., St Nicholas House, St Nicholas Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1EH. In the Night Garden TM & © Ragdoll WW Ltd 2007

www.tomy.co.uk

SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

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31

All in the imagination All the best children’s toys feature a creative element. From basic modelling clays and bricks up to the more sophisticated electronic items, they all carry extra weight with parents, making them an important part of any toy retail range. ToyNews takes a look at some of the latest products designed to stimulate young imaginations…

MEGA BRANDS Mega has new additions to its licensed range, along with some innovative play-sets and new products in its girls and boys MagNext ranges.

The flagship line for Christmas is the 3-in-1 Play n Go Table. The all-in-one set includes 20 blocks, building plates, decorated wall-plates, a car and a figure. Easy to fold features mean it is good for storage and portability.

The Scoop & Dump Truck is a new, sturdy, freewheeling truck providing easy loading and unloading and simple building practice. Tots can role-play with the construction worker figurine, while parents can enjoy the scooping action at tidying up time.

Play n Go Rescue Truck and Play n Go Recycle Truck are easy to use vehicles for teaching tots to press, push and pull, improving hand-eye coordination skills. Each set comes with a figurine to encourage imaginative play.

Dave Martin, Mega Brand’s UK general manager, said: “We are really

HALSALL

01844 350033 pleased with the innovation offered in these new items. These combined with our new In The Night Garden range of pre-school construction sets, plus the anticipation of our recent announcement of the Thomas signing with Hit will ensure that

retailers continue to have an exciting and appealing range of construction product on offer.”

The MagNext range contains new elements with improved storage solutions, after-play experience, and new colours and graphics. New system assortments

01253 775533

HASBRO Modellino is a new modelling compound. Air drying and soft, it is easy to mould and enables children to create models that can then be played with.

The World of Cars Modellino collection provides the modelling compound, car chassis, press, moulds and spatulas to make Cars characters, including Lightning McQueen, Sally, King and Tow Mater, and then drive them around.

Each set comes with paints, stickers and accessories. The range features six products from £2.99 to £19.99, from The Piston Cup Race Track Set to individual Mould & Drive Cars Characters.

strengthen the collectability. This includes System Tricks with a tricks booklet. The System Tube, System Deluxe and System Ultimate assortments all come with an ideas booklet featuring a range of build ideas, while the System Ultimate Vehicle features Jack a MagNext man, and hundreds of build possibilities.

Designed to support the strong sales of MagNext in the girls market is the new MagNext Creations range. Offering new themes, play patterns and appropriate colours and graphics, the range includes the Core, Tube, Deluxe and Ultimate sets, introducing new parts for customised builds with girly build ideas including jewellery box, pictures frames and more.

MagNext’s iPark is a magnetic amusement park and high-tech construction set, boasting improved iCoaster design with new stunts, 20 build options, a new light effect elevator and MP3 compatibility.

The Disney Princess range includes everything necessary to create jewellery, such as moulds and presses to create stones that can be coloured, glittered and pierced. The sets also come with connector devices and threads for twist and fix play. A Photo Gallery Set enables girls to create and decorate photo frames. The range also features six products from £2.99 to £19.99.

Also available is Halsall’s Creative Play range providing paint palettes, glitter glue pens, dough, sponge and finger painting sets, felt creations, sticker collections, art cases, cosmetic face paints and more.

Autumn/winter is crucial for Play-Doh. The partnership with Nickelodeon continues with sponsorship of afternoons on Nick Jr into August, and a TVR campaign for the rest of the year.

Also launching is a range of new products including a new food-themed play-set, a range designed for younger Play-Doh fans. New additions are also made to Play-Doh’s licensed range.

With the new Burger Builder playset, children mould pretend burgers, onions, lettuce, pickles and more, and then use the special ‘twist-a-chip’ tool to crank out pretend potato chips.

The Fun-Doh-Mentals range of animal-themed tool-sets is designed

0208 569 1234 for young users. The four sets include Jungle Squeezers, helping children to squeeze and develop two-handed skills; Tropical Cutters, helping children to cut and strengthen hand muscles; Arctic Stampers, helping to develop pre-writing skills; and Ocean Rollers, teaching hand-eye coordination.

New in Play-Doh’s licensed range is the Star Wars R2-D2 play-set with attachments and tools for making different characters and shapes, which all store away inside R2-D2.

And finally, Play-Doh is launching a range of kids’ Favourite Brands miniplay-sets. The first two are Mr & Mrs Potato Head and Hungry Hippos.

JULY 2009

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SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

TOMY

Tomy is expanding its Aquadraw range with the addition of new licensed properties, including In The Night Garden and Cars.

Aquadraw is a no mess creative drawing toy that uses water in a pen, stamper or roller to draw on the colourful mat provided.

Tomy is supporting the Aquadraw range with a heavyweight national TV campaign delivering over 800 TVRs targeting kids programming on terrestrial and satellite channels and an online campaign targeting parenting sites which will deliver over four million page impressions.

In The Night Garden Aquadraw (£29.99) is a new large mat featuring the characters from the popular Cbeebies series. Kids can draw and make star shapes with the Makka Pakka shaped

GREAT GIZMOS

Great Gizmos’ range of creative play craft and science kits offer fact finding for inquisitive kids.

Power Lights and Power Circuits utilise patented Tech-Card Technology.

Children construct the home accessory kits out of pre-cut pieces of card, folding and attaching them to each other with plastic rivets. Small motors and circuits are then added to create room accessories which teach the principles of simple electrical circuits.

Fairies have always proved a popular theme and new for 2009 are two kits that will bring fairies, craft and home décor together – My Very Own Fairy Memo Board and My Very Own Fairy Mobile.

JULY 2009

0208 722 7300

pen and detachable stamper or drive the Og Pog roller around creating a path to reveal Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy hidden on the mat.

The new Cars AquaDraw (£34.99) features popular Cars characters for inspiration. Kids can have fun drawing with the Cars Aquadraw pen or create road markings with the Aquadraw roller and watch Lightning McQueen race along it.

Award-winning Rainbow Aquadraw (£24.99) continues to be popular for toddlers while the Aquadraw Classic (£19.99) mat has been relaunched and now features hidden pictures, which children can reveal as they draw.

Collection one and two licensed AquaDraw mini mats (£6.99) has also been introduced to encourage repeat purchase.

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The first fantasy-themed kit encourages girls to discover an imaginative world by creating a fairy memo board embellished with ribbon and flowers. It comes with different shaped memo cards to create reminders. Alternatively, the My Very Own Fairy Mobile kit comes with everything needed to create a hanging mobile of petals, butterflies and fairy friends and makes the perfect decoration for the bedroom.

The Mini Magnetic Masterpieces kit contains three 5cm x 7cm canvasses with pre-printed designs that are ready to paint in any combination of colours.

They can stick to a fridge door or other metal surface for display.

CHARACTER OPTIONS Style Six is a new collection that combines creativity with fashion. There are five sets and hero of the range is the Silk Screener, with everything required to silk screen clothing with graphics provided or custom patterns.

Four further sets include other decorative techniques. This includes the Airbrush designer which allows you to spray patterns and design catwalk creations, individualising clothing and accessories. Each kit also has refill packs.

Aqua Sand can be used to make underwater sculptures. No matter how long it’s immersed in water, the sand always comes out dry. There are three

MARBEL Marbel’s new Fish Percussion Sets have been popular, while Ladybird Percussion continues to perform well.

The Plan Toys pre-school collection also contains several musical instruments, ranging from the Solid Drum and Oval Xylophone to the new Melody Xylophone.

Eitech is a range of metal construction kits which start with more basic kits priced at £6-£7 with an age recommendation of six-plus.

0161 633 9800 sets to collect, with a new Rainbow Light Gift set for autumn.

New for autumn, 3Deez Bindeez allow you to create 3D designs. Other additions include the Disney Princess Jewellery Pack, Disney Gift Boxes are available in Disney Princess, Cars and Winnie the Pooh.

Finally, Mixi Chix are fashion dolls that join with a spray of water that can be individually styled. The range also includes refill and starter packs available in three different themes, and a Fashion House that dries the catwalk creations under a fan.

01208 873123 The more intricate designs have older age recommendations according to the skill needed.

Within the range there is a selection of solar power sets with helicopters, planes and windmills, and an R/C cross country jeep.

Each kit comes with its own tool kit and full instructions and all the components are inter-connectable and can be assembled to any size with any of the ranges.

SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

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SPIN MASTER

Among the new Moon Sand themes this autumn is Moon Sand Fairies, where kids can mould fairies with fluttering wings. There’s also Cement City with a truck and brick maker.

Moon Sand will be back on TV from August with a 600+ TVR campaign.

Paperoni allows kids to build 2D and 3D creations without heat, glue or mess by fixing Paperoni to adhesive templates.

Each set contains Paperoni pieces, templates, accessories and tweezers while the Studio set includes a cutting and storing studio with 600+ pieces.

Aimed at girls aged four-plus, Paperoni will be supported by TV and print advertising, PR and in-store programme.

FLAIR Wammy is the new creative brand in the Flair portfolio that allows girls to make whatever they want using vibrant, multicoloured, shaped pieces. Each soft pliable piece can be flexed and connected in many ways to create anything from small models of animals to accessories like bags and hats and even huge, themed scenes.

By joining the pieces together, girls can design their own creations or use the ideas provided with each pack. The 100 or 200-piece Wammy Sets will provide endless creative opportunities while additional 18-piece themed sets are available.

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Bendaroos are flexible building sticks, which offer a combination of moulding and construction. They hold their shape and adhere to all surfaces but lift away without mess. Featuring two pack sizes and six assortments, the Mega pack includes 400 Bendaroos, a cut n join tool and templates. Supported with TV, sampling and PR. Glo Doodle is a drawing toy with a transparent surface utilising light to draw and trace by using the stylus or fingers on the re-useable drawing surface. Artwork is automatically illuminated and images won’t fade before it’s erased. It will be TVadvertised and supported by print PR and advertising.

VTECH Kidizoom Pro offers children aged five and over a Multimedia Digital Camera.

The camera is two mega pixels with 2x zoom and flash with storage for 500 images. Features video, MP3 player and games, with 256 MB of storage.

Kidizoom Pro allows connection to TV or PC. Kidilook enables kids to view pictures on-the-go. Photos can be

01235 555545 transferred from Kidizoom or connected to a PC. It stores up to 100 pictures.

The Media Desktop has 60 activities suitable for ages six and up, covering Key Stage 1 and 2. The Media Desktop can support an external MP3. Parents can see how their child is getting on via Planet VTech, which also allows children to download 15 additional games.

0208 643 0320 Alternatively, Toobie Woobies is the new way for girls to design and make whatever they want from an everyday drinking straw. Using the patented multifunctional Toobie Woobie gadget, girls can shape, bend and cut straws into any shape, link them together, and even put secret messages inside.

The Disney creative play range includes High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Disney Princess. From Fairytale Tiaras for little princesses through to Friendship Bands for fans of HSM and jewels for aspiring Hannah Montana pop princesses, there’s a creative play-set to suit.

Finally, Plasticine goes from strength to strength in 2009 with more new sets to be had. This year Animal Fun and Wacky Wheel Assortments have joined the many play-sets on offer, while licensed creative sets such as My own Morph continue to be best sellers.

RAVENSBURGER Ravensburger’s Mandala-Designer craft range offers a unique activity combined with popular characters, at a variety of price points.

Children can draw around the plastic stencil wheel and rotate it to create intricate and symmetrical designs.

Products include a frame for the stencil, paper, pen and pencils.

Character designs are Disney Princess with Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel, plus Disney Fairies, focusing

01869 363837 on Tinkerbell. Also available is a range of generic designs including classic, zoo, ocean, horses and romantic. The generic designs are available in standard and mini formats.

Mandala-Designer Drawing Machines come packaged in a laptop style portable plastic case and feature an automatically rotating drawing surface, extra stencils, rubber stamps or glitter to help youngsters create mandala designs.

JULY 2009

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SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

DKL

The main concept behind Hama is to stimulate creative play through producing colourful and imaginative designs with the bead system. Creative items are made by placing coloured beads onto pegboards and ironing on a silicone-coated paper to seal the beads once the design is complete.

Designs can be made by using ideas provided in the sets or can be a whole new creation using imagination.

The range offers numerous bead kits from individual bags of beads, pegboards, to small, medium and large gift sets for both boys and girls.

New this year are the Disney Cars gift boxes. With the characters in tow kids can re-create Disney personalities.

Other Disney themed sets are Disney Princesses, Winnie The Pooh

MECCANO

Each set in Meccano’s Build and Play range makes between two and six models from a selection of plastic components including in one set, an infrared control.

Encouraging manual dexterity and problem solving, the Build and Play range features flexible and rigid parts, creating more realistic models with simple construction. Chunky nuts and bolts get children building cartoon-style vehicles and characters by clipping, twisting and screwing the colourful parts together. Once constructed each model is robust, contains movable parts and a set of eyes.

This year has seen the introduction of three new sets to the range. The Build & Play Tractor is easy to build and can also be made into a robot or a buggy. It comes with 63 parts and stickers to change its eyes. The Helicopter includes four different models to build – plane, buggy and car, as well as the ‘copter

JULY 2009

01604 678780

Mickey Mouse and friends and Lady and The Tramp.

Multiple creations can be made with the three different sized beads (mini, midi and maxi) and pegboards. It is accessible to children aged three to ten. Midi Beads (5mm) are the most popular in the range and Mini Beads (2.5mm) are for age ten and over. Maxi beads (10mm) are suitable for age three onwards.

New in 2009 is the Hama Press & Play system, which does not require an iron to make designs permanent.

Beads are placed on the pegboard using a press pen. The pegboards have thicker pegs so beads can remain intact. The range consists of four sets including Pets, Farm Animals, Safari and Ponies.

BRAINSTORM Glow Creations Draw and Glow Projector is a projector with 12 picture caps, each with a drawing to copy.

Users project the drawing, trace and colour, then add glow in the dark highlights. It includes a bonus projector torch to give glow stickers a boost.

Glow Superstars includes 500+ stars and shapes. Glow Solar System lets you

01200 445113 construct a planet mobile and accessorise with stars.

Zipbin opens up into a playmat and zips back into a storage box. Available in three sizes and a variety of themes.

The R/C Rocket comes with launch pad, remote launcher and book of space information. It uses a chemical combination as fuel.

01844 278888

itself – and creates a sturdy toy at the end of the construction. It retails around £16.99 Also new is the Bug Car, which includes a model set of 146 pieces that can be transformed into five different toys – car, robot, helicopter, convertible and skidoo for around £22.99.

Other sets include the Infrared Racing Car, a first for the Build and Play range.

The set contains parts to build three racing cars operated by an infrared controller in the style of a steering wheel, as well as realistic sound effects and music for £34.99.

The six Mini Build sets are an introduction to the range at £7.99 each.

Miniature kits build two models including a helicopter, plane, digger and quad bike.

Other items include Side Car, ATV, Bus, Funky Cars, Fire Truck and Excavator sets, each builds a number of models and retail at £12.99 – £29.99.

ALLIGATOR BOOKS Alligator Books specialises in children’s books and creative play ranges with licensed products making up 60 per cent of its portfolio.

It features evergreen brands like Thomas the Tank Engine, Ben 10, Peppa Pig, Spongebob Squarepants, Hannah Montana, Dora the Explorer, Disney Princesses, Ice Age 3, Marvel Heroes and many more.

The range includes sticker pads, colouring sets, carry packs, velvet

020 8371 6622 colouring sets, sticker cases, poster art sets, secret messages sets, 3D stickers, sticker boxes and magnets.

The expansion of the firm led to its acquisition by International Greetings in April 2006. In 2007, it purchased Pinwheel out of administration and is now reprinting the back catalogue of 400 titles under its Cupcake imprint.

More recently, Alligator has been diversifying its portfolio with licensed products aimed at an adult audience.

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SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

MAPS TOYS

01438 776006

Yummy Dough was launched in Germany just over a year ago and took a 25 per cent share of the modelling clay market in its first year.

As well as an ideas leaflet, measuring device and modelling tool, each kit includes four 113g sachets of dough mix in red, blue, green and yellow. Simply add water and mix for smooth modelling dough that can be baked and eaten.

The edible dough feels just like regular modelling clay and is easily shaped and moulded. With a cookie

BANDAI

mixture taste, Yummy Dough combines children's favourite things to do in a unique way and includes creating, cooking, giving and eating.

Will Sharman, head of sales for the company said: ”We are absolutely delighted at securing Yummy Dough and look forward to replicating the success here that this amazing product has generated in Europe."

Yummy Dough will be available to retailers in the UK and Ireland from late July 2009 exclusively through Maps Toys.

INTERPLAY

01628 488944

This year has seen an extension to the Technokits collection with new Technokits for Girls, which can be used to decorate a bedroom but also have the added bonus of introducing them to light refraction and simple motorised mechanics. There are two to choose from – the Solar Powered Rainbow Maker and the Solar Powered Butterfly Technokit.

01489 790944

Alternatively the new licensed Dangerous Books for Boys Science Discovery Kits have just been named Gift of the Year in the under £10 category and have been widely acclaimed in the press since their introduction at Toy Fair, where they were named one of the best new Hobby Kits at the show by the BTHA. Disguised as traditional boys’ books, the boxes feature a hidden compartment containing a hobby kit.

There are several to collect including an Anti-Gravity Kit, Pocket Science Lab and Make Rocketballs and each kit comes in its own display unit.

UNIVERSITY GAMES 01359 243900

Harumika is the new arts and crafts concept from Bandai, allowing girls to design a bespoke collection to showcase to their friends. The unique and adaptable concept enables budding designers to ditch the scissors, thread and sewing machine, as all they will need is strips of fabric and imagination.

The medium-sized starter set includes two mannequins and a variety of fabrics and accessories. Sticker sheets of buttons, pockets, flowers and ribbons are all included to enable girls to immediately customise and accessorise their designs.

Its reusable design allows you to evolve your design as many times as you like. A unique web interaction also allows you to upload your collection for virtual fashion shows at www.harumika.eu. Prices for starter sets begin at £19.99.

JULY 2009

ASOBI Eco-friendly toy company Asobi has signed Italian manufacturer EcoToys.

EcoToys is the manufacturer of the activity product line, Happy Mais.

Happy Mais is made from Mater-Bi, a natural GM-free corn starch 100 per cent biodegradeable material.

The play pattern is model building, without glue or magnets. Just moisten a piece of Happy Mais and it will stick to another piece. It can also be stuck to paper, glass and wood and can be pulled apart and used again. It can also be cut to form different shapes.

01628 200077 Asobi MD Thierry Bourret comments: “We are particularly pleased that with Happy Mais we are not just introducing a product with outstanding play value, but also one with exceptional green credentials.

Happy Mais not only provides children with hours of creative play but it gives retailers fantastic year round repeat sales potential.”

The range initially consists of ten SKUs, with retail prices starting at £3.50 and half the range retailing under £10.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar celebrates its 40th birthday this year, and University Games joins the celebration by unveiling three brand new activity products under its Colorforms brand.

Invented in 1951, Colorforms are vinyl pieces that stick to different playing surfaces and can be repositioned again and again. The activity sets allow children to create their own scenes and tell their own stories.

With The Very Hungry Caterpillar 3-D Deluxe Play Set, children can watch their stories pop up, and the sturdy box holds everything in place until it’s time to play again.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Fun Pocket contains two travel-friendly play boards and dozens of Colorforms StickOns for kids to play on the go. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Colorfelts Play Board features the same Colorforms play with a soft touch.

Each scene depicts an engaging setting for children’s imaginations to take hold, it comes with its own storage case and assortment of felt play pieces.

SECTOR GUIDE CREATIVE PLAY

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VIVID

01483 449944

New from Vivid for autumn/winter 2009 is the new Fab-tastic Food range.

The Funky Sandwich Maker (£14.99) can make sandwiches from a heart, star or gingerbread shaped template.

Add a filled sandwich, close the lid and roll the handles down and it makes a shaped sandwich.

Also available is Cool Cookie Creations (£16.99) which can shape, decorate and personalise cookies. The templates can be used to help shape cookies into hearts, stars and flowers.

The biscuit can then be placed onto the spinning turntable and decorated with icing, jam, or sprinkles.

Frozen treats can also be created using the new Pop n Freeze (£24.99).

Juice is poured into the three dispensers and into the frozen dot

SAMBRO

maker trays. It also includes two bonus Pop Pens to create more intricate patterns and designs.

The entire range is aimed at ages six-plus. Vivid is supporting the range with over 350 TVRs and an extensive PR campaign throughout the back end of 2009.

The Crayola range also boasts new additions in the creative play sector.

Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song enables toddlers to create music with their scribbles: the faster you scribble, the faster the song. With four beats to choose from and four instrumental sounds to add to the beat, it offers unique creative doodling, which aids creative learning. It retails around £19.99 and will be available from July with TV & PR support from September.

Crayola Creations Design A Bag features a pink bag and purple purse that come complete with poppers, felt flowers and ribbon for girls to get creative with and personalise their bag. Templates are also included in the kit. Design A Bag will retail from around £14.99 and will be available from July with TV advertising and PR support from July.

The Crayola Creations 3 in 1 Sticker Studio is a drawing desk, sticker and badge maker all in one. The drawing desk can be used to create cool designs, turn into stickers using the sticker machine and create fashion badges with the badge maker. The 3 in 1 Sticker Studio retails around £16.99 and will be available from July with TV & PR support.

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CREATIVITY INTERNATIONAL 01384 485 550

Creativity has launched a new range of licensed craft kits including a line of four sets of craft drawers aimed at children aged three and above.

The four different licensed drawers include Art Attack, Mister Maker, Numberjacks and Mr Men. Each contain over 1500 pieces and four projects which relate to the licensed characters. Children can create puppets, bookmarks and many other things using the items contained in each box. They retail at around £14.99.

0161 707 5555

HABA 0161 304 9555

Sambro International has a wide range of licensed products available to complement its existing licensed ranges with price points designed to encourage impulse purchases.

Licences include Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Little Princess, GoGos Crazy Bones, Postman Pat, Transformers 2 and Animated, Mr Potato Head, Polly Pocket, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony and many more.

The collections include Scribble & Sketch kits, which contain an art desk, ten metre activity roll, eight crayons and six big tip markers. Children can also be entertained on the go with a selection of items for travelling – the Art Case to Go, Travel Fun Desk and Lap Desk.

Parents can also encourage children to get creative at home with the Art Carousel, Foil Art, Paint & Play range and a Letter Writing Set are just some of the items across the licensed ranges.

REVELL Revell’s range of model kits, flying machines and slot cars continue to grow in popularity amongst boys big and small.

The Revell Racing Car Set contains two models, as well as all the basic paints, glue and brushes needed to build and paint the Corvette C6-R and Audi R10 TDI. For the less experienced

01442 890 285 modellers, the increased ranges of the Star Wars Easy Kit and Easy Kit Pocket are designed as gifts for beginners.

The Moon Landing models celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing later this year, the range features Apollo Saturn V Rockets, Apollo Astronaut on the Moon and the Apollo ‘Eagle’ Lunar Module.

Tack Zap Games from Haba allow children to create pictures and designs using wooden shapes.

Each set comes with a cork board, wooden hammer and metal tacks and a range of colourful wooden tiles which can be tapped into place to create a picture. On Duty Tack Zap has various face designs, different shapes for bodies and vehicle components; while Springtime Butterflies Tack Zap has character faces and an assortment of shapes for children to create their own butterfly pictures and scenes.

The Tack Zap range also includes Geo Shape Tack Zap with numerous coloured tiles in an assortment of shapes and Figure Tack Zap with an array of people and animal shapes.

Also from Haba is a range of wooden threading beads in shapes to appeal to both boys and girls.

From flowers and starfish to cars and construction figures, tiny fingers will need to be extra dexterous to use the wooden threader to feed the cord through shapes of their choice, creating a string of colourful beads.

JULY 2009

SECTOR GUIDE ELECTRONIC LEARNING

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Brain power The electronic learning sector is dominated by Leapfrog and VTech, but has seen its stock dip somewhat over the last 12 months, as pressure from competing markets takes young learners away from dedicated learning systems to individual titles on games systems and elsewhere. NPD offers some analysis of the sector…

FOR THE 12 months to March 2008, the Electronic Learning market sold over five million units, reaching a value of £74 million. However, this is 19 per cent less than what the market was previously worth with sales to March 2008 accounting for around £91 million (Source: NPD Consumer Panel Service).

The two dominating manufacturers of the category are Vtech and LeapFrog, who between them represent over 78 per cent value share of Electronic Learning. However, despite LeapFrog’s Tag Reading system reaching number five top property in Electronic Learning and Vtech’s Kidicreative expanding into the category through the Kidimusic centre, there has been less major innovation in this area than in previous years.

In addition, the market is being continually challenged by other categories, such as youth electronics and video games, especially with a new generation of video games that incorporate learning as part of the gameplay. In the coming year, innovative new items and properties will have to work hard to gain

attention. However, there are a number of exciting properties released this year, including LeapFrog’s Zippity and Vtech Vsmile Art Studio which may just boost the category once again.

Besides innovation, licences are also very important to the market

The Electronic Learning market sold over five million units for the 12 months to March 2008.

Electronic Learning Manufacturer Value % (12M to May ‘09) 56%

(source: NPD)

60

50

40

30

VTECH

22%

20

10

LEAPFROG

9% MATTEL CORP

0

with 14 per cent of sales through licensed properties. This is well below the average of the total market (31 per cent licensed), leaving plenty of opportunity for licences to grow within Electronic Learning. Indeed some of the top selling new items in the last year have been licensed driven – Wall-E Learning Laptop from Vtech was the 11th best seller in the last 12 months. Some of the best performing licences in the ELA market include Dora the Explorer, Thomas & Friends, Disney Princess, Wall-E and Barbie. A number of new licences have come into the category in the last year including Cars, High School Musical, Peppa Pig and In The Night Garden.

When looking at the current top sellers in the total ELA market, we see that the top ten remains dominated by V-Tech and LeapFrog.

There are some strong growth items in the top ten products including Vtech’s My Laptop and Advance Xtra, as well as LeapFrog’s Leapster, all showing double digit growth.

JULY 2009

40

SECTOR GUIDE ELECTRONIC LEARNING

MATTEL

01628 500000

Delivering innovation for the electronic learning aisle, Fisher-Price is set to launch an actionpacked electronic learning system this autumn. Hot on the heels of the Smart Cycle, the Smart Fit system delivers new ways to experience engaging, active learning in a compelling TV-based plug n play format and will continue to keep kids moving as they learn.

Smart Fit encourages children to stay physically active as they walk, run and jump their way through ten different learning activities and games using an interactive plug n play activity mat. Kids are in control of the onscreen action, and the faster they move, the faster the on-screen characters will move, encouraging learning and physical activity. Smart Fit features activities including letters, numbers, shapes, colours and more.

Fisher-Price Smart Fit will benefit from a major marketing campaign including TV and PR.

LEAPFROG

Leapfrog is expanding the Tag brand by introducing a younger sibling called Tag Junior, suitable for children from two to four years-old. Tag Junior book pal is designed to encourage toddlers to explore books, while introducing skills through book-based activities. The book pal has been designed for smaller hands, using a palm grasp and utilises board books for ease and durability.

Leapfrog is also expanding its range of Tag book titles to 18 licensed movie, TV and classic children’s literature characters. This year’s launches include Ben 10, Star Wars, Disney Fairies, Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo and more.

The online experience is also growing, offering more activities and rewards. The Learning Path tool is also accessible with the Tag Reading System

JULY 2009

01702 200244

and over 80 per cent of connected Tag customers are using it.

LeapFrog’s flagship handheld educational gaming system for four to eight year-olds goes from strength to strength, with an 89 per cent increase in value year-on-year (NPD April YTD).

Additional Leapster2 content can now be unlocked online in the form of certificates and game-based rewards and parents have been accessing the Learning Path to see what their children have been learning as they play.

The Leapster2 software library will grow to 15 titles by the end of the year with forthcoming releases for boys and girls in the shape of Star Wars Jedi Reading, Wolverine, Disney Fairies, Disney/Pixar Up and Disney’s Princess & the Frog. There’s also a range of

accessories available from autumn/winter including storage cases, bags and rechargers.

Scout, the green puppy first brought to life in LeapFrog’s ClickStart My First Computer, continues. The green My Pal Scout and purple My Pal Violet, for children six months and older, are plush puppy friends which, via a USB connection, parents can fully personalise with their child’s name and favourite things.

Parents can also create a customised playlist from an online database of songs and lullabies to download to the plush. These puppy pals can then incorporate the child’s name and favourite things into activities, songs and dialogue. In addition to the five songs that come pre-loaded on the

plush pals, 30 downloadable tunes are available so parents can keep the music fresh. My Pal Scout and Violet introduce learning skills such as first words, daily routines and counting.

LeapFrog’s Text & Learn is a just-forkids learning PDA. Games focusing on early letter sense and basic computer skills are only part of Text & Learn, which allows pre-schoolers to exchange text messages with Scout. Kids can also check Scout’s planner to see what his week will entail and explore in a pretend browser mode. Other learning activities include QWERTY keyboard navigation, shape identification and letter matching.

42

SECTOR GUIDE ELECTRONIC LEARNING

VTECH

VTech has expanded the V.Smile brand with the introduction of V.Smile Motion, an educational games console with wireless motion controller. Targeted at three to seven year-olds, the console teaches spelling, language and maths.

The motion activated gaming system encourages children to get up and active as they interact with TV and film characters including Dora the Explorer, Thomas & Friends and more.

The new Kidizoom Pro builds upon the original Kidizoom features to offer

01235 555545

children aged five and over an ageappropriate multimedia digital camera.

The new camera features a two megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and a built-in flash and stores up to 500 images. It features video taking, MP3 player and five built-in games, with 256 MB of storage plus an SD card slot for memory expansion.

The Kidizoom Pro allows connection to the TV to view photos and play games or can be linked to a PC to edit and view photos. With dual viewfinder

CHARACTER OPTIONS

Kids can act out all their Postman Pat special deliveries with the interactive Postman Pat Special Delivery Service Phone from Character Options.

By pressing the button on the side of the phone, three different scenes can be seen featuring characters from the show and by tilting the phone, the scene will instantly change.

Upon pressing the keypad buttons, character phrases can be heard whilst the number 0 plays the signature Special Delivery Service ring tone.

Building on the heritage and integrity of the licence, Postman Pat's Special Delivery Service continues to teach children the same values and lessons, whilst injecting high energy action.

JULY 2009

and durable design, the new camera has a more grown-up look, with changeable face-plates and an instant mode selector.

Kids can now view pictures on-the-go with Kidilook. Transfer photos from Kidizoom or connect it to a PC via USB to upload pictures using the supplied photo managing software. Kids can also create their own photo story. Motion sensors activate random picture mode and triggers other effects. Stores up to 100 pictures, available in blue and pink.

New to the VTech Electronic Learning Computer category for 2009 is the VTech Media Desktop, which has 60 activities covering English, maths, French, science and social studies. It’s suitable for ages six and over and covers Key Stage 1 with some activities touching on Key Stage 2. Parents can see how their child is progressing, as it’s simple to upload their progress onto a PC. Internet access to Planet VTech (via USB) also allows children to download 15 additional games.

0161 633 9800

44

SECTOR GUIDE ELECTRONIC LEARNING

TOMY

020 8722 7300

The new Discovery Magical Melody Maker (£29.99) from Tomy's Discovery range is an interactive and watch-me electronic musical toy that brings easily identifiable and colourful instruments to life.

There are five different instruments, each with its own leading melody, a violin, piano, drum, trumpet and saxophone. The first instrument placed on the stage determines what melody is played and the others join into it. Take an instrument away again and its sound stops playing. Kids can mix and match instruments to discover the different tunes they play, watch them spin around on the stage and find out what happens to the sound when you remove instruments. When playtime is over, the instruments can be matched with the correct storage pockets on the side of the stage.

The Discovery Magical Melody Maker is the only musical toy of its kind that combines instruments and movement to help children learn about sounds, orchestras and melodies through play. It is supported by a TV-advertising campaign with a total of 270 TVR's leading up to Christmas.

Tomy is also launching a new website to support the Discovery range. The site will communicate the physical, sensory and emotional developmental benefits of the Discovery toys and offer advice for parents on activities they can do with their children to help develop key skills. Go to www.discoverythroughplay.com to see more.

GOLDEN BEAR

Children can get interactive with Peppa and friends on the Step n Learn play-mat.

Combining learning with electronic interaction, children have to answer questions by stepping on the correct images. With four different modes including numbers, find, colours and names, the play-mat also features Peppa’s phrases such as ‘Let’s go Daddy.’

Thomas Step ‘n’ Learn Play-mat is also available with the four different modes.

Children answer questions by stepping on the correct images. Featuring over 55 phrases, each play-mat has a wipe clean PVC surface, and folds away for storage.

The Draw and Drive range continues for 2009, which also includes Talking Thomas and Peppa Pig. Draw and Drive allows a child to draw a line on the mat provided and watch the character follow it with sounds and music.

Each character has its own unique sounds and phrases, press the button on the top to start the characters moving and watch as they follow the line wherever you draw. Talking Thomas Draw and Drive has the added feature of magically stopping and talking to his friends.

JULY 2009

01952 608308

All star software library for 2009

6-9 September 2009 NEC Birmingham UK Volume hall opens one day early www.autumnfair.com

Be part of the season’s largest event for Toys and Games Perfectly timed for festive buying and spring previews, Autumn Fair International 2009 is an essential date in your calendar.

Exhibitors include: Alphabet Jigsaws

Paladone

Aurora World

Paul Lamond Games

Bladez Toyz

Payday Games

Brainstorm Esdevium Games Flashwear

The House of Puzzles The Little Experience The Wagon Company

Frilly Lilly Great Gizmos Keel Toys Kids Cooking Co

Thumbs Up Tiny Tods Tobar

Magical Play Times

Travis Designs

Melissa & Doug

UK Import Corporation

See the full list of exhibitors at autumnfair.com

Priority Code A34

Register today for FREE entry at www.autumnfair.com

SECTOR GUIDE DRESS UP

www.toynewsmag.com

47

All dressed up The influence of ever more sophisticated licensing programmes and improving quality means the dress up market grows ever stronger, while Halloween offers the perfect opportunity for kids and adults alike to indulge in a bit of annual role play. ToyNews takes a look at the latest dress up and Halloween products on the market…

CESAR

01733 397400 New for Christmas 2009, Cesar signed the Bakugan dress up licence.

Initially the dress up range will include an outfit based on the lead character Dan, including a jumpsuit with attached belt, fingerless gloves, card holder and Bakugan spheres pouch. Further costumes will be added for 2010.

The Marvel collection has again been expanded with a collection of Wolverine costumes to support the summer movie. The range includes a printed value costume, which is an ideal all-year-round purchase, a deluxe muscle costume and a one-piece toddler outfit.

Following on from the success of Ben 10 in 2008, a new range of Ben 10: Alien Force costumes will be available this month. There will be a value, complete dress-up costume on offer, plus some new alien characters, a quality costume based on Swampfire and a deluxe 2-in-1 costume which allows its wearer to dress up as Ben and then transform into Jet Ray, another of his alien alter-egos.

Barbie will also be big news in 2009 as she celebrates her 50th birthday. The new entertainment property is based on the Three Musketeers story and Cesar has a princessstyle dress available at a competitive price point.

LazyTown continues to perform strongly; the deluxe Stephanie costume with accessories and Sportacus muscle costume encourage young fans to create their own active role-play adventures.

FIESTA CRAFTS

MARTIN YAFFE – 01706 717800

New for 2009, Martin Yaffe is offering LazyTown Action Play-sets available in Sportacus and Stephanie designs.

Boys will love the Sportacus Action Play-set, which has everything they need to dress up like LazyTown’s resident superhero. The set includes Sportacus’ top, hat with goggles, crystal with motion activated flashing lights, adjustable armbands and stopwatch with whistle and compass.

The Stephanie Action Play-set is perfect for girls who want to dress up like Stephanie. The set includes dress, pink wig, glitter bangles, headband and amplifying microphone.

For aspiring princesses, Martin Yaffe offers the Little Princess Dress Up Set. Complete with adjustable crown, dress, red boot-style shoe covers and is completed with a beanie of Little Princess’ teddy, Gilbert.

Not just for Halloween, this enchantress will cast a magical spell all year round.

The Witch is part of the Tellatale hand puppet range and is designed using soft, bright fabrics.

Tellatale puppets help children develop their creativity, imagination and communication skills as well as

020 8804 0563

providing them with an alternative to on-screen-entertainment.

The Witch is typical of Fiesta Crafts’ Tellatale hand puppet range. There are lots of unique sellable details including her broomstick, a skull necklace, red and white stripy tights and full length stuffed legs and shoes.

JULY 2009

48

SECTOR GUIDE DRESS UP

SMIFFY’S

Smiffy’s saw strong growth in 2008 within its Halloween range, with sales up over 30 per cent compared to 2007. The firm has, therefore, been keen to invest in its new Halloween range for 2009 by introducing a wide array of new costumes, wigs and accessories for adults and children. In turn, forward

CHARACTER OPTIONS

The new HM Armed Forces collection from Character Options features dressup outfits and accessories that will transport kids into the world of search and survival.

There is an authentic uniform available from each of the armed forces The range includes a Fast Jet Pilot’s green flight suit uniform, an Infantryman in desert combat three piece uniform and a Marine with his authentic Green Beret.

JULY 2009

0800 590 599

Halloween orders for 2009 are already four times higher than they were this time last year says the firm.

The company has introduced a new range of kid’s costumes for 2009 including the Zombie Alley collection for children aged aged seven to 12, a gruesome group of costumes ideal for

0161 633 9800

Many accessories are also available in the HM Armed Forces collection, such as the Utility Belt, Compass, Torch, Backpack, Walkie Talkies, Personal Role Radios and more.

Based on real equipment used in the field, the clothing and accessories are as true to life as they can possibly be.

In some cases, tooling has been taken directly from the originals and in all cases, members of the Forces have examined them for authenticity.

Halloween. The Mini Monsters range caters for younger children from one to four years-old and the new range of toddler outfits includes pumpkins, bats and skeletons. The officially licensed Michael Jackson costume range is also popular at Halloween with the Thriller costume fitting in well.

CHRISTYS’

Christys’ revamped Toy Story range features Buzz, Woody and Jessie costumes, all in time for the new DVD film rereleases in 3D. Christys’ has thought of everything, right down to the new space case, which comes bursting with Toy Story role-play items.

Also available is the new reversible Woody to Buzz Lightyear costume for children who can’t decide which of the Toy Story characters they want to be.

With a further

Consumers constantly want something different, making it essential to offer a wide range of choice and price at Halloween. Smiffy’s has spotted that consumers want high quality products as well as choice and therefore has introduced new ranges, which include Tales of Old England and Gothic Manor.

08451 849 844 Tinker Bell DVD release this year, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, and a new collection from Christys’ to complement the film, the fairy’s popularity is set to grow. The firm has created a range of costumes based on Tinker Bell and friends Silvermist, Rosetta, Irridessa and Fawn, all with LED lighting for extra sparkle.

For special occasions, Christys’ has designed two Fairy suitcases which include mix and match outfits, wings, wands and jewellery – everything a girl could need for a day of wishmaking.

Christys’ costume collections can be bought hanging or boxed.

Lazy Town: © 2005 LazyTown Entertainment. All rights reserved.

LazyTown and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of LazyTown Entertainment.

Ben 10: TM & © 2007 Cartoon Network.

© Spin Master Ltd/Sega Toys, BAKUGAN and BATTLE BRAWLERS: All related titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of Spin Master LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Marvel Heroes: MARVEL, Marvel Heroes, Spider-Man™ and Wolverine™: TM & © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com Licensed by Marvel Characters, Inc.

High quality costumes based on the most popular licensed movie and TV characters around!

This is just a small taste of the children’s licenses that we have to offer.

Please call us, or ask your agent for further details!

For more details, contact our Sales Office on

01733 397400

Cesar UK Ltd, 16 Tesla Court, Innovation Way, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, Cambs PE2 6FL Fax: 01733 370241 Email: sales@cesar-uk.com

www.cesar-group.com

50

SECTOR GUIDE DRESS UP

RAINBOW PRODUCTIONS

020 8254 5300 London-based company, Rainbow Productions specialises in the creation of bespoke promotional costume characters, which are used at a range of events throughout the year.

Examples include seasonal events during Halloween, Christmas and Easter - as well as promotional campaigns, in-store activities and trade shows.

Every costume character is tailor-made according to the design brief. Over the past 25 years, Rainbow Productions has created a number of monster and ghoulish characters with a Halloween theme. A recent example is the Yeti (pictured right), which was created on behalf of Walibi Belgium for use at the leisure park’s Halloween Monster Festival.

Additionally, Rainbow Productions represents a number of international television networks and studios in Europe, including Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox and the BBC. Its portfolio contains 90 licensed cartoon characters, exclusively available through Rainbow Productions for meet and greet personal appearances. This portfolio of licensed characters includes Scooby-Doo, Bob the Builder and Noddy.

Guest appearances by Scooby-Doo are even more popular during the Halloween period; he’s already confirmed to attend an event in Worthing on October 31st as well as visiting Flambards Theme Park in Cornwall a couple of days before Halloween.

INTERPLAY Kids can discover science at Halloween and create some slimy treats with the Scary Soap Science kit from Interplay’s Wild Science collection.

What better to scare the neighbours than severed soap fingers, slimy brains

01628 488944

DKL

Suitable from the age of three under supervision, or age five without, Hama kits enable children to express creativity whilst improving their manual dexterity and concentration.

Hama also has some sets especially for Halloween. With Glow in the Dark beads, designs can be brought to life.

The UFO Glowing Mobile kit comes with 1200 glow in the dark beads as well as three shaped pegboards. Scary and spooky designs can be created using the kits and will become even more exciting by night.

JULY 2009

01604 678780

or ghastly soap eyeballs? This easy to do kit includes everything a child will require to explore the science of soap and in turn make horrible and scary soap stuff to scare friends and family with at Halloween.

Spaceships, rockets, planets and aliens are a few of the designs that can be created. The designs can then be attached to each other to make a hanging mobile which can be an accessory in any child’s bedroom. Each individual design can also be stuck on the ceiling.

Another Halloween set is the Night Life gift set. This contains 2000 glow in the dark beads and enables children to create designs, such as butterflies and flowers that will glow in the dark, without being too scary.

SECTOR GUIDE DRESS UP

www.toynewsmag.com

WORLDS APART

Worlds Apart acheived 26 per cent growth in pop-up sales last year and its Thomas Pop n Go product is certain to help the company build on these achievements during 2009.

Thomas Pop n Go encourages children to embrace their imagination and actually become the tank engine.

Ideal for fancy dress parties as well as indoor and outdoor play, children can chug around as the steam train and steer into new adventures with Thomas’ 3D steering wheel, complete with working horn.

SNAZAROO

0800 389 8591

With a fabric-covered frame, Thomas pops out in a few seconds and when play time is over, he folds away simply and flat, making the toy easy to store until next play time. An elasticised top allows the Thomas Pop n Go to fit snugly around the child. Thomas Pop n Go is designed to withstand the wear and tear of boisterous play, giving long lasting play value for children and value for money for the consumer.

Worlds Apart supports its complete pop up range with ongoing PR and marketing activity.

GREAT GIZMOS

Children can create their own Halloween items with the Paint Your Own Mask and Make Your Own Monster Doll kits from Great Gizmos.

With dressing up and creating a Halloween scene high on kids’ agendas, the Paint Your Own Mask kit has a selection of scary faces to create.

There are three blank masks, glitter glue, glow paint and a paint strip included for children to design a

51

01293 543221

Halloween mask that will sparkle by day and glow at night.

Alternatively, create a spooky companion with the Make Your Own Monster Doll kit. All that’s needed to make this monster is to iron the enclosed coloured felt pieces onto the pre-made body in any design, fill it with the stuffing supplied, give it a name and make it official with its own birth certificate.

01643 707659

Having enjoyed strong Halloween sales in 2008, Snazaroo will be offering a new, improved version of the best-selling Special FX Kit. Containing sculpting wax, realistic gel blood, face paints, tools, a stipple sponge and a comprehensive step by step guide, Snazaroo’s Special FX Kit (£9.99), will be launched in summer 2009 and creates great effects for novices and experts alike.

The Special FX Kit complements a range of hanging theme packs designed specially for the Halloween market including Deadly Dracula, Wicked Witch, Fiery Pumpkin and Tiger, and Ghastly Ghost and Skull, retailing at £3.49 each.

Alex Gremin, marketing controller at Snazaroo, is confident that despite the credit crunch, sales will still be buoyant this October. He says: “Last year, in the two months running up to Halloween, sales trebled, and while people are being more careful this year, I don’t think we can underestimate what a major date in the calendar Halloween has become.”

JULY 2009

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Dedicated monthly retail coverage

Retail Only News • Data • Opinion

Hamleys fights back after cuts Recent like-for-like sales up as firm recovers from restructuring

Talking shop Page 54 We asked retailers if they felt they get enough support from suppliers to help move stock through.

Counter Insurgent Page 56 Our mystery retailer adds his two cents to the discussion on pricing and margins.

Charts Page 57

by Ronnie Dungan BOUNCING BACK from recent cuts in its back-office staff, Hamleys has reported like-for-like sales have risen for the eight weeks from the beginning of April 2009.

The Regent Street store was recently forced to shed a third of its back-room staff including head buyer Ian Gibbs.

The results mean the company is trading above its internal targets for both sales and profit.

Full accounts for the period to the end of March 2009 will be filed in the coming weeks, after it filed its accounts for the year ending March 2008.

The full year accounts show an increase in EBITDA of seven per cent versus the previous year-ending March 2007.

Gudjon Reynisson, CEO of Hamleys, commented: “We are pleased with how we have responded to the challenging economic circumstances. In the last year we have protected our cash position through improvements to our stock holding and cost structure.

We are pleased with how we have responded to the challenging economic circumstances - Gudjon Reynisssson

“We have paid our debts on time and in full, retain the full support of our bank and now have a relatively low senior debt to EBITDA ratio, providing a strong platform for the future.

“Our current trading is strong and we remain confident we have put the right things in place to grow the business over the coming years.”

Meanwhile, the store is continuing its international expansion, with a Russian company unveiling plans to open a branch in Moscow this autumn.

The FD LAB Group has signed a franchise agreement to develop the Hamleys chain in Russia according to the president of the company, Alexander Lopatin.

Lopatin said the group plans to open several Hamleys stores in Moscow. The first store will be a 1,750 square-metre shop, opening in September or October on Moscow's central Tverskaya Street, home to Tiffany & Co and Nokia's luxury unit Vertu stores.

The firm has also announced plan for stores in Glasgow and Cardiff.

Hamleys: 0207 479 7317

This month’s retail charts feature Amazon, WH Smith, Mail Order Express and Asda.

New products Page 58 On their way this month are offerings from Berg, Creativity International, Orchard Toys, Hasbro and Ravensburger.

Events Page 74 Last chance to enter the inaugural ToyNews Fives football tournament on July 10th

54

TALKING SHOP

Keep on moving This month, we talked to retailers about shared risk and the support they get from suppliers with slow moving products and whether they get enough backing to help move stock through, enabling them to be confident to take a risk on new concepts…

“RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY”

“I FEEL AWKWARD” WE SELL collectibles, so many of our products don’t move as quickly as in other shops. If lines do move quickly, we often keep them back a few years to up the collectible factor.

If lines aren’t selling and we do contact suppliers, the most usual response is to give us free stock, so we can reduce the price. There has never been an instance where they would take back stock.

I feel awkward contacting suppliers though and we have only ever approached a couple. Instead we try to look for alternatives to sell the product, we may try it on the website, for example.

If a period of time has elapsed, it’s hard to approach companies, as they don’t tell you the options at the

outset if this situations arises. I’d certainly be more likely to order if they said they’d take product back or help if it wasn’t selling, I wouldn’t feel we were taking such a risk.

There has never been an instance where a supplier would take back stock.

Recently we’ve been contacted by companies offering older, reduced stock. I’m happy to consider this, as much of our stock works well in terms of collectibility if it’s older.

Many products sell differently depending on the area or the type of retailer. For example, I have sometimes been into other toyshops, with loads of a particular product on the shelves that we have completely sold out of and can’t get hold of any more. If firms took this back, we could have sold it – better for everyone involved.

I definitely feel if suppliers offered more incentive, or a time frame within which we could return products, I’d be happier to take a risk, but I am uncomfortable if I have to ask for help, especially as an independent talking to larger suppliers. It can feel a bit daunting.

Lucy Pole, Millions of Toys, Swadlincote

“SUPPLIERS ARE USUALLY HAPPY TO HELP” IN THE main, we find that the big players are helpful when we’re trying to push lines through. Others are less helpful, but most are anxious to help independent stores with promotions and are supportive when we are trying to experiment with new ideas in the shop.

Recently, we’re trying to leave the prices the same to avoid turning the business into one big sale and instead, we’re working with new ideas including vouchers and buy one toy, get another free offers.

In the current climate, I think most suppliers have sharpened their pencil and are aware that the consumer is now looking for play value and it’s not just about smart packaging, but what’s inside that

counts, which has always been our motto anyway.

I don’t think there has been a dramatic sales downturn, despite the recession. Consumers are now looking for entertainment at home instead of spending on going out, so it hasn’t hit the toy market too hard.

You need to focus on what the toys do and make the most of them.

It’s no good to stick a toy on a shelf and expect it to sell, you have to be creative – that’s the best way to move through the stock and the suppliers will help you do that.

We recently started to run painting competitions with local primary schools. The response has been so good that we’ve rolled it out to more schools and provided prizes

for the top three in each school.

Activities like this bring attention to certain merchandise and help to increase the footfall through the store and it also helps get kids playing and being creative rather than sitting in front of the TV. Suppliers are usually happy to help with prizes for these initiatives as they see the value in them. We also try to get involved with community events and provide prizes for raffles, competitions and the like and toy companies will help with this too. I think they’re mindful of what we are trying to do and they appreciate it. I think they see it as advertising, so don’t mind helping.

Eric Snook, Snooks Toy Shop, Bath

IT REALLY does vary from company to company – some are really good at helping you out and others see it as your own responsibility as you made the decision to order the stock.

I think it really depends on the relationship you have with the sales reps. If you have a good relationship with them, they will usually try to help you out if they possibly can.

Even if the company policy is not to take stock back, the rep will usually find some way around it and help you out in some way.

They may have another retailer on their books that is selling the product better and may be able to swap product between you to help you out.

I do feel I can ask for help from those that I have a good relationship with. But it is up to you, as well as the reps, to build those relationships, it’s not just their responsibility, it’s ours too. In turn that makes our life easier if a problem does arise.

There are some who I don’t have as strong relationships with for whatever reason, whether that’s because we don’t order much from them, or we aren’t one of their key clients, so we don’t see much of them or have the same level of contact. I wouldn’t feel that I could approach those companies if I was having a problem selling their stock, which just shows that those relationships are really key.

Vicky Brown, Just Williams, Herne Hill, London

TALKING SHOP

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55

“WE WILL ALWAYS ASK FOR HELP” IN GENERAL, we have a good relationship with our suppliers and their reps and agents; we are guided by their suggestions and fully take on board which new lines they feel will be suitable for the shop.

However, saying that, we are a traditional shop and while we carry

stock, but we will always ask for help to clear the space for new ranges if necessary. After all, it’s in their interest as much as ours to make way for new lines. We don’t always get back up, but generally we are able to do a promotion with the aid of some free stock.

We don’t find that we have a great deal of slower moving stock, but we will always ask for help to clear the space for new ranges if necessary. a wide variety of products, we always go by our instincts, experience of the market and knowledge of our customers’ needs.

This means we are happy to try new lines and take risks on them to a certain degree.

In general, we don’t find that we have a great deal of slower moving

With the demise of Woolworths and the current economic climate it is more important that suppliers and independents work together to deliver the consumer the right product at the right price without compromising on margin.

Alison Dries, The Toy Cupboard, Winchester

“IT’S MY RESPONSIBILITY” WE DON’T tend to get much help when lines aren’t selling very well, but I don’t need help from suppliers, it’s not their responsibility, it’s my fault for ordering it and it’s my responsibility to sell it.

To be honest, the main problem for us isn’t selling the toys, it’s getting the stock, as so much of what we order isn’t available immediately. We are the only toy shop in Anglesey and it’s quite a way for the reps to come just for one customer. Some do visit, but not many. It’s also expensive for the companies to send product to us, so if there is a minimum order of £450-500, and some of it’s not in stock, we end up only getting some, or not getting any at all.

When I ring up, they tell me that they can’t send the order because some of the items aren’t available, but that’s not my fault. By the time it comes, sometimes it’s too late and I’ll have had something else ordered by then. Of course, if the stock is seasonal, I need it there and then, not weeks later, otherwise we’ll never be able to sell it.

Sometimes I will take a risk on new items. Some of the firms who don’t send reps up to me will send me samples and information and if I like it, I’ll try it, but only four or five of the companies have sales agents who are regularly in touch with me.

John Hughes, Lookaround Toy Shop, Anglesey

DO YOU HAVE A RETAIL ISSUE WHICH YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON? ANY WORDS OF WISDOM (HOWEVER SHORT) FOR YOUR FELLOW TOY RETAILERS? A PROBLEM THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP WITH PERHAPS? LET US KNOW. Email: ronnie.dungan@intentmedia.co.uk or call us on 01992 535646 and let us hear your thoughts.

RISKY BUSINESS I’D LIKE to talk about shared risk this month. Retail margins are both low and being squeezed and I think this is a very important issue.

When a supplier sells a retailer an item and that item fails to meet sales expectations, the retailer is left with stock glued to the shelf.

More and more we see that some suppliers are not as helpful as they should be in helping retailers sell through this slow moving stock.

There isn’t an infinite amount of shelf space and if it is being taken up by products that are not selling through this reduces the impulse opportunities for other SKU's. Shelf space is a valuable commodity, perhaps the most valuable, so it’s in the interest of retailers and suppliers to clear products fast and keep the shelf space moving.

I’d like to try and encourage suppliers to be faster out of the starting gate to move through product, therefore releasing cash for retailers to reinvest in new products and categories.

Retail margins are slim on many of the new unproven concepts.

Suppliers at the time of sell in have made a full margin on the items supplied, therefore it is only reasonable that manufacturers support sell through.

With this new recognised shared risk, retailers are far more likely to take a punt. So I’d like to try and encourage suppliers to be faster out of the starting gate to move through product, therefore releasing cash to reinvest in new products and categories.

We understand that manufacturers aren’t printing money at the moment (apart, of course, from Hasbro, which makes Monopoly), but we’re all in the same boat, we’re all going to have to be more cautious with new categories from suppliers who persistently fail to step up and step up quickly.

If you look at NPD over the last four months we’ve not managed to claw back in any big way the market share that has been lost from the Woolies closure.

Some sectors of the industry have seen an uplift in business but overall this is marginal. It could be that if Woolworths were still in business, we would be having a very tough time of it. Working more closely in this area of risk is one way we can together expand our market.

Gary Grant, Chairman, Toy Retailers Association

56

RETAIL ONLY

HIGHSTREET COUNTER INSURGENT Dispatches from the retail front line...

THE PAST month has seen a debate about having the opportunity to get margins up.

As this is dodgy ground, I don’t bring it up, but salesmen do when trying to sell high margin, no volume ranges.

Everyone seems to think this involves putting prices up, but aren’t we retailers too late?

Haven’t manufacturers already had to increase prices?

The Pound against both Dollar and Euro made sure of that, and I can’t help but feel that the prices have already risen as far as they can this year.

Ideally, getting better margins by selling a Deluxe Transformer at £12.99 instead of £9.99 would be great. But, too late – it’s a done deal.

Getting an extra 50p on Pokemon cards would be great…too late. Playmobil… too

late. Daft thing is the one company who could have put prices up at the start of the year didn’t and is now increasing prices, in some cases, at alarming levels.

We have undersold for years. When I go to Europe, my kids will no longer walk near me in a toy shop, and what must the locals think of some foreign bloke, muttering to himself in a funny language while shaking his head. I was so amazed by the price of one item I can confirm that “bloody hell” means the same in several tongues.

As long as manufacturers continue to publish retail guide prices, the margin will never increase, even if retail wants it to.

Please don’t give me any bullshit about how the retail price is only a guide and it is illegal for anyone to recommend retail prices. In that case, leave them all blank.

As long as manufacturers continue to publish retail guide prices, the margin will never increase.

The fact remains that some manufacturers have a price in their minds that they can sell it for (some say what they can get away with) and set the trade price accordingly.

The problem is we have sold too cheap for too long. But we can’t just blame ourselves.

Public perception isn’t just the price as against other toys, but also against other consumer goods. I wrote last month about the incredible value of

iPod apps and games, then you have great little toys that are given away free with a £2 kids meal at McDonalds.

These meals include burger, chips, drink and a toy that quite frankly put some of the toys we sell to shame. I have often wondered about marketing people who get so enthusiastic about tying up a brand with McDonalds when their own product is overpriced crap.

So can we get margins up for retailer and suppliers? Well I don’t think we can stand any more price increases this year, but we can start by not having the daft promotions, instead of giving things away we can increase margins by actually selling an item.

At the end of the day, as brave a statement as it is to get prices/margins up, the reality is no one can tell anyone to do so. It is illegal and hasn’t a chance of happening as long as the industry supplies supermarkets and nonspecialist outlets.

However, there are ways to support retailers who support suppliers across ranges – those who back suppliers all year and help get a product off the ground. Any sales director worth his salt or his salary will know how to do it. I believe positive discrimination was the phrase used.

TOY

PRICE CHECK: JULY 2009

STORE

JULY 2009

Fisher-Price Amazing Animals Sing & Go Choo Choo (Mattel)

Police Boat (Playmobil)

Littlest Pet Shop VIP Horse (Hasbro)

Power Rangers Solar Morpher (Bandai)

All Surface Swingball (Mookie)

£46.99

£18.99

£13.89

£11.95

£18.99

£34.99

£24.99

£6.49

£15.00

£24.99

£24.20

£15.00

N/A

£13.67

N/A

£24.20

N/A

N/A

£13.69

£19.49

£32.99

£19.99

£4.99

£13.69

£24.99

RETAIL ONLY

www.toynewsmag.com

57

RETAILCHARTS WHSmith.co.uk

CHART DATE 08/06/09

1

Natural History Museum Jungle Antquarium

2

Mini Dinosaur

3

Scrabble Deluxe

4

Brainy Baby DVDs (nine pack)

5

The Entertainer

CHART DATE 08/06/09

Wow Stuff

1

Ben 10 Alien Force – Kevin Levin’s Action Cruiser

Bandai

Natural History Museum

2

Wolverine Electronic Battle Claw

Hasbro

Mattel

3

Nerf M-Strike Recon CS-6

Hasbro

The Brainy Baby Co

4

Rescue Pals Swim to Me Puppy

Risk: The World Conquest Game

Hasbro

5

Guitar Rockstar

Hasbro

6

Bop It Extreme 2 Black and White

Hasbro

6

Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee

Hasbro

7

Settlers of Catan board game

Esdevium Games

7

Baby Born Walking Horse

8

Brainy Baby DVDs (four pack)

The Brainy Baby Co

8

Rapide Slide Set – Blue

TP Toys

9

Totally England Cricket Set

Mookie

9

Nerf Cosmic Catch

Hasbro

Hasbro

10 6ft Ocean Snapset Pool

10 Bop It Extreme 2

Amazon

CHART DATE 08/06/09

1

Disney Princess Carriage Magical Mirror Laptop

2

Original Rubik’s Cube

3

Super Swingball

4

MGA Entertainment

Zapf Creation

Intex

Mail Order Express

CHART DATE 08/06/09

VTech

1

Power Miners Crystal Sweeper

Lego

Drumond Park

2

Good Neighbours at Bikini Bottom

Lego

Mookie

3

Power Miners Stone Chopper

Lego

Guitar Rockstar

Tomy

4

Power Miners Granite Grinder

Lego

5

Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera (pink)

VTech

5

New Anniversary Cozy Coupe

Little Tikes

6

PicooZ Remote Control Helicopter

Silverlit

6

Elefun

Hasbro

7

Ben 10 Puzzle 100-piece

Pressman Toy

7

Monopoly

Hasbro

8

Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix

Bandai

8

Baby Annabell Double Buggy

9

Bananagram

Bananagrams

9

Castle Tower Raid

Crayola/Vivid

10 Sylvanian Families Caravan

10 Crayola Beginnings 24 Jumbo Crayons

Hamleys

CHART DATE 08/06/09

Asda

Zapf Creation Lego Flair

CHART DATE May 2009

1

Voice Changer

Hamleys

1

Shoot Football

2

Infinite Bubbles

Hamleys

2

Hot Wheels Basic Car

3

UFO Mini Infrared

RDM Creations

3

Bubble Solution

4

Metallic Mail Jazz Kit

Silverfern

4

Basic Bounce Ball

Ja-Ru

5

Sticker Scratcher

Hamleys

5

Turbo Cars

Asda

6

50 Greatest Magic Tricks

First Class

6

Three Ring Inflatable Outdoor Pool

7

AA batteries four-pack

Energizer

7

Hoola Hoop

Ja-Ru

8

Mystery UFO

Wow Stuff

8

Mini Vehicles

Asda

9

Lights Anywhere Junior

First Class

9

Animal Sand Tools

Boley

10 Mini Lying Animals

Asda

10 Drawing Board

Hamleys

John Leisure Mattel Placo Corp

GP

JULY 2009

58

RETAIL ONLY

PRODUCTNEWS

Creativity International ramps up licensed offering CREATIVITY HAS launched a new range of licensed craft kits with four sets of craft drawers aimed at children aged three and above, including Art Attack Craft Drawers; Mister Maker Doodle Drawers; Numberjacks Craft Drawers and Mr Men Craft Drawers.

Each kit contains over 1500 pieces and four projects which relate to the

licensed characters. The kits are educational and will encourage handeye coordination, while stimulating creativity and imagination.

Children can create puppets, bookmarks and many other things using the items contained in each box.

The retailing at around £14.99.

Creativity Intl: 01384 485 550

Berg bounces into summer BERG HAS developed a new range of trampolines, designed to fit in with different garden designs.

Available in Funky Green, Beautiful Black and Sparkling Silver, the Jumping Styles range comes complete with protective surround pads. The striking visual impact of each trampoline is reinforced with a black coated frame that is galvanized on both the inside and outside for extra durability.

Alternatively, the Berg InGround trampoline offers a patented solution to those who want to install a

trampoline as discreetly as possible.

The InGround is Europe’s only trampoline to be constructed especially for bedding in the ground.

With prices starting from £249, each trampoline is built with a sturdy frame, an extra wide protective edge and strong springs. Berg includes a free safety DVD with every trampoline, presenting step-by-step instructions for safe enjoyment.

Berg: 01612 478377

Hasbro hails Helmet Heroes

KIDS CAN pretend they are in hot pursuit of the baddies as a Motorbike Cop, or live life in the fast lane as a speedy Race Car Driver with the new electronic lights and sounds toys from Hasbro.

Each Helmet Heroes set features a helmet and a microphone so kids can hear themselves.

Whether they’re chasing bad guys or zooming around an F1 circuit, each set is complete with over 30 mission phrases and an interactive handheld device.

New Police Cruiser and Motocross sets will launch later in the year, so little law enforcers will be able go on patrol and little bikers can get off-road.

Helmet Heroes are suitable for ages three and over.

Hasbro: 020 8569 1234

Orchard Toys boosts early learners ORCHARD TOYS’ games and puzzles are designed to help children with early learning skills in the Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2.

Lucky Ducky is designed to develop speaking, listening, early maths and colour and pattern matching skills Liz Hughes, Orchard Toys’ educational adviser comments: “As Jim

Rose, ex head of OFSTED, says in his recent report: ‘In the new curriculum children should learn to develop and apply their speaking and listening skills to suit a variety of audiences and for different purposes.’”

Hughes continues: “Orchard Toys, like the Government, recognises the importance of developing children’s

Ravensburger launches four more classics FOLLOWING DEMANDS from customers and consumers, Ravensburger is reintroducing four classic game formats. Snail’s Pace Race, a first game for preschoolers, helps youngsters learn about colours and understand how to take turns.

Enchanted Forest, suitable for ages six and over, is a trip JULY 2009

through a magical fairytale world, where treasures are hidden beneath the 3D fir trees. Players need to remember where the treasures are to win the game.

Labyrinth’s unique mechanism moves to represent the shifting walls of a mystical maze. Players have to find a way through and collect treasures to win.

Scotland Yard is the classic strategy game for ages ten and over where players have to track down Mr X, who is on the run in London. Whether players choose to travel by bus, taxi or underground, they’ll need to be clever to anticipate where he’ll surface next.

Ravensburger: 01869 363800

speaking and listening skills at an early age, which is why we design and produce games such as Lucky Ducky.”

Aimed at the four years-plus agegroup, the card game features a wide range of duck characters including brain surgeons, pirates, aviators and city gents.

Orchard Toys: 01953 859525

HERO PRODUCT

www.toynewsmag.com

59

Halsall Gazillion Bubble Rocket Having taken over the exclusive UK distribution of the Gazillion range of bubble toys, Halsall is putting its weight behind one of its key summer items, the Gazillion Bubble Rocket, which takes bubble play up another notch…

HALSALL IS hoping to boost sales of the Gazillion Bubble Rocket line with a number of multimedia marketing activities as well as a TV advertising campaign.

The range includes a selection of bubbles solution and innovative bubble blowing toys and play-sets. It offers consumers non-toxic, nonstaining solution, and claims to provide tons of bigger, more colourful bubbles that last longer and float higher than any other product currently in the market place.

Although an already well-established name in the UK market, Halsall plans to take the

Gazillion Bubbles brand to new heights with a fully integrated above and below the line marketing plan and TV advertising campaign this summer.

Although already wellestablished in the UK market, Halsall plans to take the Gazillion Bubbles brand to new heights.

TV The massive summer 2009 TV campaign has over 250 TVRs featuring ten and 20-second spots that focus on the hero product – the Gazillion Bubble Rocket.

The advert shows the outdoor play for both boys and girls of the air-powered rocket as it soars into the air leaving a trail of ‘gazillions’ of bubbles behind it. The competitive play aspect of who can stamp the hardest to launch their Gazillion Rocket the highest is also depicted.

Predominantly targeted at a core audience of boys aged four to nine years, the adverts will air across a platform of Nickelodeon channels MARKETING Having effectively re-launched the Gazillion Bubbles brand to the trade earlier this year, Halsall will be supporting the TV campaign with an extensive marketing plan. The campaign will include print advertising, above and below-theline promotional activities, events and consumer PR support.

CONTACT DETAILS: Phone: 01253 775533 Website: www.dhalsall.com

JULY 2009

The place for business

RATES:

1/4 page: Annual charge £1,395 (minimum twelve months booking) Get your company featured: adrian.miles@intentmedia.co.uk T: 01992 535 647

Advertisers ■ Character Costumes & P.O.S. Rainbow Productions

0208 254 5300

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Danbar International Ltd.

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01420 593 593

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01323 647 886

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01727 763 700

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01483 776 006

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01728 745 300

THUMBS UP SUPPLIER/MANUFACTURER

0845 466 8880 Thumbs Up (UK) Ltd is expanding its lines with even more products and continues to develop and distribute the latest cool and innovative toys, gadgets and gifts.

A major new development is that Thumbs Up has become the exclusive UK distributor for a wide range of products from novelty company 50Fifty Concepts.

One of the classic 50Fifty products that Thumbs Up will now be distributing which most people will recognise is the game Butthead. Players wear Velcro caps and try to catch balls on each others’ heads. In addition, 50Fifty’s hugely popular ‘Granny’ novelty range is expanded with the Flying Granny and Granny Football, as well as a whole host of other novelties and quirky gifts that’ll bring a smile to anyone’s

face and ranges from essential items with a twist to the hilariously useless. The addition of the 50Fifty range cements Thumbs Up’s dominant position in the men’s gift and novelty sector.

Thumbs Up also continues to expand its own in-house designed toy lines including additions to its radio controlled offerings. The first of these is the Micro-Bladez3D Adventure, a budget priced twochannel RC helicopter that’s perfect for young learner RC pilots. Thumbs Up also takes to the water with the Aqua-Bladez3d,

Point Zero Games

01625 540 493

Ravensburger

01869 363 800

MAPS TOYS

Revell

01442 250 130

SUPPLIER/MANUFACTURER

SandPlay

0115 937 5147

The Puppet Company

01462 446 040

01483 776006

Thumbs Up

0845 466 8880

Voila (Agenta Marketing)

01536 401 128

WOW Toys

0207 381 2302

■ Toy Suppliers Carta Mundi

01268 511 522

Plastics for Games

01728 745 300

Richard Edward

0208 311 8888

Sambro International

0161 707 5555

Adrian Miles: +44 (0)1992 535 647 adrian.miles@intentmedia.co.uk

Maps Toys has given ToyNews’ Marketplace a further insight into its plans for 2009.

Will Sharman, head of sales, commented: “Build it with Bob the Builder has really started to shine in the licensed art/craft sector and is really giving Bob (who marked his tenth birthday this year) something to celebrate.

“This success has helped us with the launch of Yummy Dough – the Edible play dough.”

Yummy Dough took the German arts and crafts market by storm last year, where it took 25 per cent of the modelling clay market in its first year.

Sharman is confident that even greater things can be achieved in the UK: “We even have a Yummy Dough book coming out in time for Christmas with an introduction

and endorsement from a major celebrity which will drive sales and boost the craze even further.”

Another unusual product from Maps which raised a few eyebrows when unveiled at the Toymaster show was Magic Fish.

Sharman explained further: “Magic Fish takes the concept of Sea Monkeys to the next stage –

a massively powerful RC speedboat that can do 25mph.

Also watch this space for more on the ‘Hellebrities’, a forthcoming new range of characters developed in conjunction with Ideas Man, Shed Simove.

If you’d like to know more about Thumbs Up, there’s plenty of news and information on its website which can be found at www.thumbsupuk.com. For more specific enquires, contact sales@thumbupuk.com or call 0845 466 8880.

instead of hatching and growing brine shrimp, with Magic Fish kits you get all you need to hatch and grow real tropical fish that in the right conditions can live for several years and grow up to one to two inches.”

Toobeez giant construction sets, Squashblox and My Little Sand Box play-sets complete the range for 2009. However, Sharman has much planned for 2010.

“In the pipeline for late 2009 and 2010 are range launches in the wooden toy and science sectors that will continue our theme for sourcing original toys that are always fun, often educational and sometimes a little bit weird,” he said.

For more information: Tel.: 01483 776 006 email: will@mapsww.com

Marketplace

www.toynewsmag.com | Advertising: +44 (0)1992 535 647 ■ Character Costumes & P.O.S.

RAINBOW PRODUCTIONS

ADVERTISING THAT WORKS!

COSTUME CHARACTER SPECIALISTS I Ranging from Angelina Ballerina to Paddington Bear to ScoobyDoo, our portfolio of 90 licensed cartoon characters are exclusively available to book through Rainbow Productions for personal appearances.

I To add an extra dimension to your toy-related campaigns, Rainbow also creates high quality bespoke costumes and puppets.

To advertise here please contact Adrian Miles: +44 (0)1992 535647 adrian.miles@intentmedia.co.uk

■ Point of Purchase Manufacturers

Contact Kelly Morrison T: 020 8254 5300 E: info@rainbowproductions.co.uk www.rainbowproductions.co.uk ■ Safety Testing

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amily f d n a ends r travels i r f h t i Play w e or on you .co.uk e m a g m b at ho www.q ■ Suppliers/Manufacturers

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ADVERTISING THAT WORKS!

To advertise here please contact Adrian Miles: +44 (0)1992 535647 adrian.miles@intentmedia.co.uk

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3FUBJM 8IPMFTBMF 1SJWBUF -BCFM $PMMFDUJCMFT 1SFNJVNT (BNFT $BSET

$BSET GPS (BNFT ´ #PYFE #PBSE (BNFT ´ 1MBZJOH $BSET ´ $PMMFDUBCMF $BSET

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Advertisers Index ■ Character Costumes & P.O.S. Rainbow Productions

0208 254 5300

info@rainbowproductions.co.uk

www.rainbowproductions.co.uk

01827 54551

info@daytonavisual.com

www.daytonavisual.com

SGS

0208 991 3410

gb.cts.sales@sgs.com

www.uk.sgs.com

STR

0118 939 8700

toys@struk.co.uk

www.struk.co.uk

0870 751 9990

sales@bachmann.co.uk

www.bachmann.co.uk

01837 53315

info@brookite.com

www.brookite.com

01279 821333

sales@cambridgebrainbox.co.uk

www.cambridgebrainbox.co.uk

■ Point of Purchase Manufacturers Daytona Visual Marketing

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01707 260 111

sales@danbartoys.com

www.danbartoys.com

Esdevium Games

01420 593 593

sales@esdeviumgames.com

www.esdeviumgames.com

Flying Toys

01702 295110

sales@flyingtoys.com

Fun Collectables

01494 562 727

info@fun-collectables.co.uk

www.fun-collectables.co.uk

Games Workshop

08700 134 411

uktradesales@games-workshop.co.uk

www.games-workshop.com

+44 (0)1767 689 720

enquiries@idealsoftware.net

www.idealsoftware.net

Ideal Software JC Games

01323 647886

Logiblocs

01727 763700

sales@logiblocs.com

www.logiblocs.com

Maps Toys

01483 776 006

info@mapsww.com

www.mapsww.com

Plastics for Games

01728 745300

sales@plasticsforgames.co.uk

www.p4g.co.uk

Point Zero Games

01625 540 493

info@pointzerogames.com

www.@pointzerogames.com

Ravensburger

01869 363800

sales@ravensburger.com

www.ravensburger.com

Revell

01442 250130

ukbranch@revell.de

www.revell.com

0115 937 5147

info@sandcastlemoat.co.uk

www.sandcastlemoat.co.uk

The Puppet Company

01462 446 040

info@thepuppetcompany.com

www.thepuppetcompany.com

Thumbs Up

0845 466 8880

sales@thumbsupuk.com

www.thumbsupuk.com

01536 401128

sales@agentamarketing.com

www.agenta.demon.co.uk/voila.html

0207 471 0980

enquiries@wowtoys.com

www.wowtoys.com

www.cartamundi.com

SandPlay

Voila (Agenta Marketing) WOW Toys

www.qbgame.co.uk

■ Toy Suppliers Carta Mundi

01268 511522

info@cartamundi.co.uk

Plastics for Games

01728 745300

sales@plasticsforgames.co.uk

www.p4g.co.uk

0208 311 8888

enquiries@richard-edward.com

www.richard-edward.com

+44 (0)161 707 5555

sales@sambro.co.uk

www.sambro.co.uk

Richard Edward Sambro International

Marketplace RATES:

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70

TOY TALK

TOY TALK

All the pics from the Toy Trust bike ride, plus Toymaster’s party antics at the Majestic...

WE’RE STILL RUNNING THIS Jumbo MD Gray Richmond is our latest unwilling participant in the Kidizoom makeover chair, having been fitted up by the firm’s Victoria Osborne, who clearly hasn’t taken any notice of the current tough conditions in the employment market. Luckily, for her our sources tell us Gray regularly

likes to dress up as a pirate anyway.

If anyone is feeling brave or is simply beyond caring and fancies having a leaving do, they can still send in pics of their boss or other colleagues to us. Simply follow the beyond-easy instructions below and we will make it happen. You know it makes sense.

and If you fancy seeing yourself, your colleague or better still, your boss here to snaps your send it, at you’re while winning a Kidizoom camera requires. ronnnie.dungan@intentmedia.co.uk and we will give it the makeover it

What a sight this lot must have made coming down the road. This, in case you hadn’t already figured it out, is Disney’s team for the Big Kids Bike Ride, in aid of the Toy Trust. The team completed the route from Shaftesbury via Bath to Stroud and were part of an overall effort that has raised at least £70,000 for the Trust.

JULY 2009

TOY TALK

www.toynewsmag.com

RC2

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ZAPF CREATION

RC2’s Big Kids Bike Ride route certainly re-enacted a Roman epic, as the team of six riders battled through torrential rain and into 52mph headwinds on the way from Stroud to Shaftesbury.

The Zapf Creation’s team completed the section from Ely to Sleaford.

Zapf’s Andrew Laughton shows one way to wear Lycra.

BTHA The BTHA team of Mark Brabazon, Simon Pilling and Matt Jones.

Flair chief Peter Brown wonders whether he might have been given some duff information as to the location of the rave.

FLAIR Sevonoaks to Alton was the route taken by the Flair team lead by the ever-sprightly Peter Brown.

Flair boys near Toy Hill. And, of course, it was all an uphill struggle.

GMTV The boys from GMTV completed the route from Sleaford via Lincoln to Barton upon Humber and Barton upon Humber via York to Harrogate and lived to tell the tale.

JULY 2009

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TOY TALK

“Call that a plastic knife?

THAT’S a plastic knife.”

NAUGHTY NORDICS Toymaster’s traditional evening of themed entertainment saw horns and shields aplenty as the industry donned its best viking garb. And, in keeping with the rowdy Scandinavian’s rough and ready image, there was plenty of booze a-flowing and the occasional boisterous singsong. Even if it was only Dancing Queen by ABBA.

And the award for Campest Viking goes to...

Character’s Jerry Healy gets the horn

Offhisbollix, otherwise known as Ian Edmunds, nears the end of an emotional evening.

A happy Paul Reader. After ransacking a nunnery.

Nothing a viking likes more than a bit of ABBA.

A spate of long-boat thefts had left many revellers stranded. But happy.

JULY 2009

TOY TALK

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MY No.1s

LEGS AND CO. The following evening saw a Moulin Rouge theme adopted.

A potent mix of leggy dancing girls and legless retailers. A good time had by all.

Humaira Kaiser, Marketing Manager, Brand Licensing Europe The pain of rejection weighs heavy on Paul Reader.

Toymaster’s house band the Bogus Bros. get some hands in the air

Toymaster’s Yogi Parmar celebrates his birthday in the best possible way

JULY 2009

Number one album: Depends on my mood but right here right now it’s Lady Gaga’s The Fame.

U2’s Joshua Tree was the first album a boy bought for me, so that’s got a special place on the shelf too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Film: God, that’s hard. Everything from Toy Story to The Godfather, City of God, Scarface, Carlito’s Way and The Untouchables.

----------------------------------------------------------------Book: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

by Marina Lewycka -------------------------------------------------------------------TV programme: Right now - Britain’s Got Talent. As a child – Dastardly and Mutley -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Number one single when you were born: ABBA’s Dancing Queen (figures) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Hero: My number one cartoon hero is Wolverine from the X-Men. My older sisters had all the comic books so I got into it that way. Real life hero is my grandmother - the only woman in the entire college where she studied engineering, so she was pretty amazing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Thing to do at the weekend: Taking a walk along the common, stopping for a coffee, then spending the night chilling on the sofa with a DVD and giant tub of Haagen Dazs -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Gadget: My iPod Nano – couldn’t live without it -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Tipple: Cosmopolitan -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Piece of advice: My mother used to always tell me: “Be nice to people no matter how rude they are, Karma will always get them in the end” ------------------------------

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FEATURE PLANNER

AUGUST 2009 Construction Toys ● Plush ● Green Products No, nothing to do with bulldozers and cement mixers, our construction feature is about the bricks and blocks and assorted innovative materials that make up

this most popular of product sectors, loved by kids and, crucially, parents too. Look out also for our focus on ecologicallydesigned products and plush.

Editorial Deadline: Call for details

’T DONOUT! MISS

Advertising Deadline: July 7th

SEPTEMBER 2009 Games & Puzzles

Pre-Christmas TV Advertised Products

Children’s Bikes

Brand Licensing Show Preview

A sector that has struggled in recent years, but still a hugely important gift and occasion market.

TV support is crucial to a product’s retail support and our focus looks at who’s spending the money and where.

A new feature which looks at the always popular and always innovative children’s bikes and ride-ons market.

In October we head to Olympia again for Europe’s biggest licensing event and your build-up starts with this preview.

Editorial deadline: July 10th

Advertising deadline: August 14th

FORTHCOMING EVENTS TOYNEWS FIVES July 10th Powerleague, Barnet www.topcorner.co.uk/ toynewsfives

SHOWCOMOTION July 1st - 3rd Sheffield Media and Exhibition Centre www.showcomotionconference.com

BRAND LICENSING EUROPE 09 September 30th - October 1st Grand Hall, Olympia, London www.brandlicensingexpo.com

US INTERNATIONAL FALL TOY PREVIEW October 6th - 9th Dallas Market Centre TX www.toy-tia.org

AUTUMN FAIR 09 September 6th - 9th NEC, Birmingham www.autumnfair.com

THE LICENSING AWARDS September 10th Royal Lancaster hotel, London www.thelicensingawards.co.uk

CHINA TOY EXPO October 14th-16th Shanghai new international expo centre www.shanghaitoyexpo.com.cn

HKTDC HONG KONG TOYS AND GAMES FAIR January 4th-7th 2010 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre www.hktoyfair.hktdc.com

Got any events you would like to see added to the calendar? Email ronnie.dungan@intentmedia.co.uk

www.toynewsmag.com Editorial: 01992 535646 Advertising: 01992 535647 Intent Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Associations

JULY 2009

ToyNews is published 12 times a year by Intent Media ~ Saxon House, 6a St. Andrew Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire SG14 1JA Fax: +44 (0)1992 535648 © Intent Media 2009 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owners.

ISSN: 1740-3308

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