Toy World Magazine December 2023 by TOYWORLD MAGAZINE

December 2023 Volume 13 Issue 04

100 R E OV SORIES! CES C A

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The Team...

CONTENTS December 202 Volume 13 Issue 04

John Baulch

Publisher and Managing Editor john@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 408 07932 651 207

38 Company Profile: Libertas

42 Brand Profile: Asmodee

Mark Austin

Sales Director mark@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 405

Contributors The NPD Group | Mark Buschhaus Stephen Barnes | Emilie Flanders

Anita Baulch

Circulation and Financial Director anita@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 406

Rachael Simpson-Jones Editor rachael@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 406

News

Regulars

Features

07 From the Publisher 08 News 16 Industry Moves 20 Marketing World 24 Licensing World

22 30 33 39 82

36 38 42 44 46 50 52 54

Generation Media Circana Talking Shop Fresh Allegedly

Special Feature: Rubies Company Profile: Libertas Brand Profile: Asmodee Company Profile: Curious Universe Special Feature: Precise TV Special Feature: Steve Totzke - Mattel Brand Profile: Deddy Bears Feature: Nuremberg Preview

54 Feature: Nuremberg Preview

52 Brand Profile: DeddyBears

Marianna Casal

Assistant Editor marianna@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 406

Alakat Published by

www.toyworldmag.co.uk

Mark Crowford

Design and Production Manager markc@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 405

@toyworldmag @baulchtweet

toyworldmag

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Toy World Magazine

61 Maxted Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 7DZ

ith bonfire night arguably not quite the major event that it used to be, Halloween now seems to mark the tipping point after which Christmas sales really kick into gear across the toy market. Of course, suppliers would prefer things to ramp up earlier, and I completely understand why – but I suspect most consumers are perfectly happy to wait until November to start thinking about Christmas in earnest.

from the publisher

John Baulch - @Baulchtweet

Perhaps we were spoiled last year, when Gary Grant popped up on just about every TV and radio channel in October to warn consumers that if they didn’t go out and buy their toys immediately, they would miss out due to stock shortages. Realistically, that was never going to be the case this year. So perhaps this year we settled back into the traditional pre-pandemic pattern: get Halloween (and bonfire night) out of the way, then press the button marked ‘Christmas is coming’. Christmas TV ads start to appear, shops roll out their festive displays and start playing all those songs which we have heard a thousand times before, yet still get us in the mood. At this stage, I feel it’s important to focus on what is yet to come, rather than dwelling too much on what did (or more accurately, didn’t) happen in recent weeks. Forget about the October Circana data (for now at least, there will be plenty of time for post-mortems later) – what happens in the next few weeks can make a huge difference to where we end up. Between now and Christmas, a weeks’ sales will often be the equivalent of a normal month’s sales. Admittedly, we have quite a bit of ground to make up, but don’t forget, December wasn’t that great last year. So, we may be in a bit of a ‘tortoise and hare’ scenario here: we went out like a train last year and tailed off the closer we got to the finishing line. This year, we started slowly but the pace is picking up. I have no idea where we will end up, but I still believe there is all to play for in the final stretch. Meanwhile, while we are all fixated on Christmas, it will be 2024 before you know it – and that brings us straight into Toy Fair Season. For 2024, it remains a truncated period, with no North American event to round it off in February. I will also be interested to see how many people head to Hong Kong at the start of January – I will be making the trip for the first time

since 2020, so it will be fascinating to see how much has changed over the past four years. I will be spending time at the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair and over in the Kowloon showrooms and will report back on what I find. Even if there are some changes at both ends of Toy Fair Season, for the majority in the UK toy community, the heart of the Season remains unchanged – London and Nuremberg still occupy their traditional slots in the last two weeks of January. It will be the 70th anniversary of the London Toy Fair in 2024, which is a terrific milestone. I am very much looking forward to that achievement being celebrated across the duration of the event. We’ll also get to find out who has won the Toy of the Year and Retailer of the Year awards, and most importantly, start to see all the great new products that will be hitting shelves as the year unfolds. As ever, next month’s bumper January issue will contain our exhaustive preview of the London Toy Fair, together with – for the first time ever - a standalone supplement previewing the Nuremberg Toy Fair. However, for those retailers who like to start planning their show itineraries nice and early, this month’s issue includes an early sneak peek at some of the exciting new lines which will be unveiled in Nuremberg. This will give those retail buyers heading to Germany the chance to make appointments with those companies that have new launches which catch their eye – turn to page 54 to get a glimpse of what’s new in Nuremberg. As this is our final edition of 2023, I want to thank all of our readers and advertisers for their fantastic support this year. Despite the many challenges and twists and turns along the way, this has been our best-ever year – and that followed our previous best-ever year in 2022. Quite literally, we couldn’t have done it without you, so a huge thank you from all of the Toy World team. Here’s hoping for another good year in 2024: one thing is for sure - the toy market will never be dull and uninteresting. In the meantime, I hope you all have a fantastic last few weeks’ trading, and – when it finally arrives – a wonderful Christmas. The January issue will be landing on desks not long after the New Year dawns, to help you prepare for your trips to London and Nuremberg, and the Toy World team looks forward to seeing you all somewhere along the toy highway in January.

Making lives more playful Contact us today to find out how our exclusively-senior expertise, deep market knowledge and unique FOCUS methodology ensures we deliver playful-yet-transformational results for clients. www.playtimepr.com | 01908 032 700 | tw@playtimepr.com

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News Zuru partners with AB Gee as exclusive UK distributor Zuru UK has announced AB Gee as its exclusive distribution partner for the UK market in 2024. Separate to Zuru’s long-standing direct-FOB business, this collaboration further enhances reach for the company, ensuring even broader availability to UK retailers and customers. Will Collinson, general manager of Zuru UK, commented: “AB Gee’s reputation and the team’s deep-rooted understanding of the UK market make it an ideal partner. While we will continue to maintain a strong direct relationship with our major retailers, this partnership will significantly boost our ability to connect with a broader audience within the UK retail landscape.” Dave Wright, AB Gee’s buyer, shared his enthusiasm, stating: “AB Gee is delighted to join forces with Zuru for the UK. We have observed the company’s substantial growth in recent years and look forward to being part of the next stage of its journey to deliver world-class and innovative products to as many customers as possible”. For the Republic of Ireland, Zuru will retain its distribution partnership with David Lowe. For more information about Zuru and its products, visit www.zuru.com, and for sales enquiries, contact sales@zuru.com. For ABGee sales enquiries, contact sales@abgee.co.uk.

DreamToys reveals top toys for Christmas The Toy Retailers Association has unveiled the DreamToys top 20 toys for Christmas, helping families make informed decisions when buying toys for the festive season. Selected by an independent panel of toy retailers and toy experts, from small independents to large national chains, DreamToys bills itself as the most authoritative prediction of what are expected to be the hottest new toys on the high street this festive season. This year, the panel expanded its selection from 12 to 20 toys to showcase a wider mixture of ranges. The panel of retailers picked these toys based on the value they bring to playtime, the play patterns they inspire, the emerging trends they represent, or as the hero line in a range of toys that offers price points for every budget. All toys were chosen to provide inspiration to gift givers across all ages and budgets. The top 20 list is as follows: (prices quoted as RRPs, market price may vary). Product Name Barbie Pop Reveal Beast Lab Bitzee Interactive Pet Cookeez Makery Oven Playset Fingerlings Monkey Fluffie Stuffiez Large Plush Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle & Grounds Hot Wheels City Ultimate Hauler L.O.L. Surprise! Magic Flyers Little Live Pets My Puppy’s Home Miniverse – Make It Mini Kitchen Mintid Dog-E Paw Patrol Mighty Movie – Skye Deluxe Vehicle Pictionary vs AI Pokémon 151 Elite Trainer Squishmallows 7.5" Star Wars Ahsoka Starship Super Mario Movie 7"Feature Bowser Figure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pizza Fire Van Twister Air

Supplier Mattel Moose Spin Master Moose Character Options MGA Ent Lego Mattel MGA Ent Moose MGA Ent Character Options Spin Master Mattel Asmodee UK Jazwares Lego Jakks Pacific Character Options Hasbro

RRP £26.99 £89.99 £32.99 £39.99 £17.99 £34.99 £149.99 £94.99 £36.99 £64.99 £44.99 £89.99 £49.99 £23.99 £52.99 £8.99 £64.99 £34.99 £39.99 £24.99

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News Zuru opens new flagship LA campus Zuru continues its long-term growth plans with the opening of a new flagship campus in El Segundo, LA. The expansion comes following a year of milestones and successful UK launches including XShot Insanity, Rainbocorns: Mermaidcorn Surprise, Snackles and Mini Brands Series 4, pushing Zuru to the No. 6 position in UK YTD and continuing to grow share. Officially opened by Zuru’s UK-based Global Brand director, Aneisha Vieira, the three new two-storey buildings on the company’s campus house key departments including tech development, product design and a 13,500 Sq. Ft state-of-theart showroom complete with 267 screens. The screens are controlled by a custom-designed app developed exclusively for the showroom, allowing visitors to choose on demand the information they require. Showcasing a mix of classic and current ranges, and newly developed lines, the showroom also boasts an homage to its No.1 collectible miniatures, Mini Brands, with over 2,000 minis individually placed on a dedicated wall. “We’ve recently completed hosting our autumn/winter 2024 previews at the new HQ, with over 250 meetings facilitated by Zuru team members from all over the world”, said Zuru UK & Ireland general manager, Will Collinson. “There’s been such an incredible buzz around previews. LA is rapidly becoming a massively exciting and thriving toy hub, and welcoming our industry and retail partners during such a significant moment for the business has provided an unmissable opportunity for sharing our excitement around the newness and next-level innovation in store for next year.” Over 1,300 attendees from all territories enjoyed the benefits of the new headquarters with many treated to their own custom-made Snackles. An on-site sewing team was on hand to create bespoke versions of the popular plush characters with visitors choosing their favourite licensed snack and Snackle character; combinations which were stitched together and handed to delegates before departing the showroom. This helped set the scene for another record year in 2024 and beyond.

HKTDC celebrates 50th Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair this January Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the 50th edition of Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair will be held from 8th-11th January 2024 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The fairs will return in Exhibition+ hybrid model, complemented by the Click2Match, an online smart business matching platform which will operate from 1st-18th January, providing an extended platform for traders to connect beyond geographical limits. To mark its 50th anniversary, new zones will be debuted at the fair, including a new Collectible Toys zone this year at Kidult World, and to promote Hong Kong’s creative industries and branded toys to the world, Hong Kong Brand Toy Association (HKBTA) will set up a pavilion for the first time. Sustainability takes centre stage as the new Green Toys zone showcases exhibitors with commitment to eco‑friendly innovations. The Smart-Tech Toys and Games zone will showcase a wide array of tech-based toys and games including those operated via mobile apps, or incorporated with the latest VR, AR and MR technologies. Other highlighted product zones include the Brand Name Gallery, which will feature unique and innovative products by internationally renowned brands, including Eastcolight, Hape, Welly, Classic World, Rastar, Masterkkidz, Aurora and more. Readers can register for a free ticket at https://bit.ly/47lsX00

Pre-registration now open for the Australian Toy, Hobby and Licensing Fair The largest and most significant event in the Australian Toy, Hobby, Nursery and Licensing industry, known as the Australian Toy Hobby and Licensing Fair, is scheduled to take place from Sunday February 11th to Wednesday February 14th, 2024. This event is proudly organised by the Australian Toy Association (ATA), the industry's representative body, and serves as a valuable platform for industry representatives from both Australia and around the world to exhibit and discover new products for the upcoming buying season. Over the course of the four days, attendees can expect to discover exciting new products not only from Australian brands but also from sources worldwide, all conveniently located under one roof in Melbourne. The 2023 edition of the fair was a resounding success, with approximately 4,000 retailers in attendance. Feedback from the show included comments such as: "The event was incredible; we wish we had stayed longer”; "Thank you for orchestrating such a professionally run and enjoyable event”; and "I thoroughly enjoyed the show and eagerly await my next visit to Australia." The fair's operating hours will be 9am to 5pm on the first day, extending to 6pm on the Monday and Tuesday before concluding at 1pm on the final day, February 14th. The fair occupies an impressive 13,500 square metres of space at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and has been a cornerstone of the industry for over five decades. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the fair transitioned to a digital format. 2023 marked its return to a face-to-face format. The vibrant atmosphere, a result of opportunity on offer for industry professionals to come together and physically interact with products, underscored the event's irreplaceable value. Attendees traveling from overseas or other states can secure accommodation through the organiser’s partners at Ozaccom. More details can be found at www.austoy.com.au/toy-fair/ accomodation. In addition to an array of top-quality products, the fair will once again feature the ATA Learning Hub and its informative sessions. In 2023, this included presentations by industry luminaries such as The Retailer Doctor, Circana and Mumpower. The industry party night will also return, taking place on Sunday evening. This is an opportunity to gather and celebrate the licences, products and individuals that set the industry standard. Those considering attending in 2024 should be sure to save the date now: further information will be forthcoming. To avoid missing out on the Australian toy industry event of the year, click on the QR code or visit the website (www.austoy.com.au/toy-fair/attendees) to pre-register for a ticket.

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WELCOME TO OUR PLAYGROUND!

LONDON TOY FAIR 2024 VISIT SAMBRO AT

STAND B80 BOOK AN APPOINTMENT RICHARD.DINHAM@SAMBRO.COM

NEW BIGGER STAND

NEW LICENSE COMING SOON!

©2023 &TM Spin Master Ltd. All rights reserved. ©2023 Paramount Pictures. ©2024 Mattel. ©MARVEL. BARBIE™ & Monster High™ and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by, and used under license from, Mattel ©2023 Mattel. ©2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.

News Xplore Distribution welcomes Comansi and EXG Pro brands Formed this year, Xplore already has a broad selection of brands in its portfolio, with the capacity to provide international manufacturers with full sales and distribution support in all channels within the UK retail market. Firstly, the company has added Comansi to its portfolio, a leading brand in the manufacture of licensed and collectible figurines. Founded in 1962 in Barcelona, Comansi has seen significant growth over the past few years with sales of figurines in Europe topping one million pieces last year. Comansi has an extensive range of figurine collections including Peppa Pig, Naruto, Sonic, My Little Pony and Hello Kitty, to name a few. The company also works with education licences like The Colour Monster, a Top 10 best-selling book specifically created to help children navigate their emotions. The second announcement was EXG Pro, which bills itself as the ultimate destination for passionate pop culture fans. The company's purpose-driven, 'FUNctional first' collectible sub-brands are carefully curated to showcase tech while celebrating fandom, catering to the gaming, toy and mobile markets. The team specialises in crafting innovative consumer products that seamlessly blend authentic licensed items with practicality, with a particular focus on Kidult fan communities. With over 100 licence agreements with the global leaders in gaming and entertainment in place, there are currently over 150 products in nine product ranges in the EXG Pro portfolio. Cable Guys, Ikons and Powerstands make up a range of award winning, highly detailed figures made to hold gaming controllers, SmartPhones, other small devices and more. At 8”/21cm in height and built for stability, Cable Guys offer a collectible assortment of favourite characters that have many uses. The EXG Pro portfolio includes licences from industry giants such as Netflix, Disney, Marvel, Warner Bros, Lucas, Sega, Sony and Microsoft, with Paramount and Epic Games licences on the way to further strengthen the range. Next year will see over 150 new products brought to market. To talk to the team, book an appointment to see the full range first-hand, or to visit the Xplore Distribution showroom, contact Pritesh Dave at pritesh@xploredistribution.com.

Tomy UK announces acquisition of Drumond Park portfolio Tomy UK, Co., a subsidiary of Tomy Company, has confirmed it has completed the acquisition of the UK games portfolio of Drumond Park, a privately held developer of market leading board games for adults and children. The acquisition by Tomy brings the perennial best-sellers Articulate! and The Logo Board Game, plus a variety of additional Drumond developed games into the Tomy portfolio. “We have a clear long-term growth strategy, and games are an important category for us,” said Mary Wood, Tomy’s managing director – UK and Germany. “Articulate! and The Logo Board Game are the number one and two best-selling adult board games in the UK market. This acquisition will now ensure their long-term home in our growing portfolio of top selling games.” The acquisition solidifies Tomy’s position as a top five manufacturer in the UK board games market and positions the business for future growth in the category. “We will continue to invest in these best-selling game brands, as we do all of the games products in our portfolio, and seek to accelerate their growth,” added Mary.

PMI appoints Click Distribution as distributor for Stumble Guys In what has been dubbed a partnership that just “Clicks”, PMI Kid’s World (Stumble Guys Master Toy Partner) has teamed up with Click Distribution UK as its exclusive toy distribution partner to bring the Stumble Guys Master Toy line to the UK and Ireland. PMI Kids’ World has recently partnered with the team behind the mega-popular Stumble Guys game to transform fan-favourite characters (“Stumblers”) into a colourful and creative toy line. Stumble Guys, from interactive entertainment company and game developer, Scopely, has quickly reached virality, with tens of millions of players every week around the world. The brand also has over 45b engagements across channels like TikTok, YouTube and Discord. “Scopely has created an addictive world with Stumble Guys that we can’t wait to immerse fans into more,” said Omer Dekel, COO of PMI Kids’ World. “Partnering with Click Distribution, who are leaders in working with retailers in the gaming and toyetic space and always ahead of the trends, will allow us to tap into the masses and specialty retailers.” Luke Hillier, CEO of Click Distribution, added: “We are absolutely thrilled and very grateful to be working with Omer and the team at PMI on this incredible brand. We have been tracking Stumble Guys for some time, and the figures really do speak for themselves: it’s the second most downloaded game of 2022, the ninth most downloaded APP and, most recently, one of the top five biggest YouTube videos of the week. Stumble Guys complements our already strong portfolio of gaming properties, and we cannot wait to bring this fantastic IP to market, very soon.” The Click sales team can be contacted on 0330 123 2559 or click@ clickdistributionuk.com.

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News Norton PR to become part of new agency group After over thirty years of delivering some the most successful and iconic communications campaigns in the toy industry, from the famous Blue Peter ‘Make a Thunderbirds Tracy Island’ through to the launch of Lego Minifigures and working across brands from Barbie to Bratz to Batman, Norton PR is set to become part of a new multi-disciplined communications agency group headed up by successful entrepreneur, Stephen Fourie. With a background in operations, marketing and strategic planning, Stephen’s goal is to build a marketing group with ‘best of the best’ components that deliver world class results across the children’s, youth and family markets. Stephen commented: “We wanted best in class and the reputation and skills of Norton PR fit perfectly with our overall strategy. With major investment in systems and people we aim to provide clients with an even better experience in communicating to children and families. Norton PR will sit alongside both our design studio and digital agency enabling us to deliver a full 360° service in-house from PR to design to digital media planning and buying.” Tony Norton said: “We have been fortunate enough to work alongside some of the world’s most iconic and powerful brands and we wanted that formula to continue to deliver excellent results for our current clients and future clients. We have a team that is second to none which will continue the high standards we have set over the years.” Michèle Norton added: “Our aim has always been to do the best work we possibly could for our clients. It’s been a lot of fun along the way, and we’ve been lucky enough build life-long friendships within the toy industry. However, it is now time for us to look to the future of the business and we are confident that the new group, in Stephen’s hands, will ensure the Norton PR reputation will continue to go from strength to strength over the next thirty years.”

Sambro celebrates 25 years with latest results Sambro has reported strong growth in its latest published accounts for the financial year ending 31st December 2022. The business, which proudly celebrated 25 years in May 2022, has gone from strength to strength in terms of products, brands and financial performance recording an increase of over 20% in group sales from 2021 (£61.4m, an increase of 20.4% on 2021 £51.0m) and increase in group EBITDA £4.2m, an increase of 500% on 2021 £0.7m). Paul Blackaby, Sambro CEO, said: “2021 saw significant growth for us as a business and we set ourselves ambitious targets for 2022, which thanks to our commitment to investing in our people, product and partnerships, we’ve been able to hit and more.” Gross margins increased from 20% in 2021 to 24.7% in 2022, driven by significant internal efficiency improvements and continued development of its global supply chain. Net cash generated by the group from operating activities was £4.3m, significantly higher than the previous year when cash consumed was at £2.9m. The company says the growth can be attributed to strong partnerships with cross categories and contracts with long standing partners which include Disney, Hasbro, Mattel and Paramount, including range extensions and new product development. Multiple new contracts with new licensors include Acamar Films (Bing) and further partnerships soon to be announced. Looking ahead, Sambro is confident it will continue its growth trajectory thanks to a strong future order book, and aims to double the size of the business over the next three years. To support these targets, Sambro will work in depth across licensed partners and their brand portfolios, as well as identify partnerships with new licensors which have a point of difference in the market space. Sambro is also committed to continued investment across its own IP, including the expansion and development of the Love & Hugs portfolio and further innovations across other ranges including Puzzle Palz and Bops N Tops. A people first approach to business has seen the company grow its team from 96 to 110 over the last 12 months, including ten international roles to support overseas growth.

Obituary: Richard Gottlieb Toy World is very sad to announce that Richard Gottlieb has passed away. Richard has been a renowned commentator on the US and global toy market for many years, and as a long-term contributor to Toy World, he regularly shared his unique perspective on the latest developments from the industry with our readers. He was the founder and CEO of Global Toy Experts, a consultancy to US and international toy companies. Also the publisher of Global Toy News, a web-based magazine founded in 2009 that covers toy industry news and provides resources to the toy industry, Richard regularly co-hosted The Playground Podcast and published The Toy Intelligencer report. Publisher John Baulch commented: “As someone I counted as a good friend over many years, I loved Richard’s sense of humour and his quirky way of looking at things through a completely different lens to the rest of us. He was always fantastic company and, in recent years, the ‘four amigos’ podcasts with Richard, Christopher Byrne, James Zahn and myself were a joy to record. He bore his recent health issues with incredible fortitude and courage – he actually looked at peace with his condition when I saw him in New York only a few weeks ago. The fact that he was able to carry on doing what he loved almost to the end will have made him extremely happy.” Richard was diagnosed with ALS – Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease – just under a year ago. This is the same disease that scientist Stephen Hawking contracted, although in Richard’s case it was his throat and tongue which were predominantly affected. This had a profound impact on Richard’s speech, especially in recent months, which must have been incredibly frustrating for someone so eloquent and brimming with ideas. However, not one to be easily deterred, Richard posted an update just ahead of this year’s New York Toy Fair: “I now communicate in writing or with a text-to-speech app. How amazing that science and technology allow this to happen. So, I will do a lot of smiling and walking around but only a little talking.” A very sad loss to the toy community and our deepest condolences to his wife Wendy and the family, and to all who knew and worked with Richard over the years.

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News Spin Master’s Unicorn Academy arrives on Netflix The Unicorn Academy series is adapted from The New York Times bestselling books originated and published by Nosy Crow, written by Julie Sykes. The new, fantasyadventure children’s franchise is now available to watch, with a 72-minute movie premiere event and eight 22-minute episodes premiering globally on Netflix in 30 languages. Spin Master Entertainment’s latest streaming offering ventures into the fantasy-adventure world of unicorns at Unicorn Academy - the boarding school of every kid’s dreams. Located on Unicorn Island, audiences will follow Sophia Mendoza and the rest of her class as they bond with a unicorn to unlock their magical powers; only then can they learn to become revered protectors of the island and its magic, all whilst balancing classwork and navigating new friendships. Jennifer Dodge, president of Entertainment at Spin Master said: “The world of Unicorn Academy is officially unlocked and ready to welcome audiences in to meet the students as they discover their destinies as Unicorn Riders and explore the unbreakable bonds with their unicorns.” “Kids are going to fall in love with the magical series, which is just the tip of the iceberg. We are building out a complete franchise ecosystem, that will dive deeper into the world of unicorns through ancillary content, toy play and consumer products for fans.” The show also features an epic soundtrack including songs Follow Your Heart and Lights Out, which are available to download now.

Has Toy World found its oldest reader?

Pat Avenue locks in Slida distribution deal Slida 3D puzzles introduce a new play pattern to puzzlers and is the first of its kind, appealing to both children and adults. To be able to solve the award-winning puzzle, the player will need to rely not only on their observational skills but also problem-solving skills to interlock the correct pieces together. For affordable, on-the-go puzzling, Slida is available as a Sphere, Egg and Cylinder. For a next-level challenge, there’s Snap ‘n’ Wrap, an additional sequential puzzle which snaps around the classic sphere. What make this so unique is that puzzlers can select a level of difficulty by choosing to add the world globe transfers to the coloured pieces. Also in the range, Puzzle in a Puzzle adds an extra challenging dimension by being surrounded by another puzzle, and The Interlock Game will be a welcomed addition to any games night. Guy Rooney, managing director, said: “We’re so excited to be distributing Slida. It’s a three-dimensional tactile toy and puzzle that people can get their hands on to keep them occupied for hours and challenge their friends. I actually challenged our previous MD, Terry Crew, to complete Slida faster than I could. I’m pleased to say I finished it first, and the quest to beat my best time is still ongoing.” Silda is great for fidgeters and puzzlers alike, with five different variants of the puzzle and a game to keep the playability fresh and add the potential for collectability, as well as filling a gap in the market at a great price point. Stock of the Sphere will be available from spring 2024, with all other lines to launch in autumn 2024. Having won a Gold Medal from the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, the next stop for Slida is London Toy Fair on the Pat Avenue stand, E66, where visitors can challenge the Slida team. For more details, email enquiries@patavenue.co.uk or call 01604 678780.

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The Toy World team was recently delighted to hear from a very special reader: 104-year-old Elsie Drake, from London. After her great-grandson, Nicholas, told Elsie about Toy World, she wrote in to tell us about her beloved late husband, Sidney, who used to craft his own unique toys and hand them out every Maundy Thursday for the local children to play with. “Sidney’s favourite toy was called McThompson, who was a very jaunty fellow and loved by all,” Elsie explained. “His second favourite was a naughty squirrel called Flilton Fluffs. McThompson and Flilton Fluffs became best friends and went on many adventures together, including escaping from a cave, being late for an important train, turning up at the wrong wedding and staying in hotel that ended up flooding. They even went on a rocket launch. As for how they met, well: McThompson was very upset one day because his shoes were missing, and he made such a fuss that they were ultimately returned by a naughty squirrel – and that squirrel was Flilton Fluffs.” Elsie was kind enough to include a small photograph of McThompson and Flilton Fluffs, which sadly we were unable to print in a resolution that would do them justice. Instead, we’ve taken the liberty of recreating their designs so that Elsie can share Sidney’s creations with all the readers of Toy World. It just goes to show – you are never too old to still enjoy toys.

Industry Moves Marvin’s Magic appoints first global head of demonstration As Marvin’s Magic approaches its 36th anniversary, the company has appointed Sacha Johnstone to the newly created role of global head of demonstration. Sacha first began working with Marvin’s Magic as a teenager, completing a two-week work experience placement in Hamleys, Regent Street. He then continued working with the company as a demonstrator throughout the rest of his time in school and university, and upon graduating took on the role of demonstration manager in 2015. Since leaving the company in 2018, Sacha has continued to work closely with CEO Tom Hudson on the company’s global expansion. He formally takes on his new position this week. Tom remarked: “I’m very excited that Sacha is going to be joining us as our global head of demonstration. This is a new and much needed role within our business. As Marvin’s Magic continues to grow online and through mass retail, Sacha will be spearheading the expansion of our world-famous demonstration programme into additional tourist hotspots, whilst bringing exciting new demo lines to our existing flagship locations.” Sacha added: “I’m thrilled to be taking on this new role and growing this vital area of the business. It’s so great to be back working with the wonderful team here in our head office, as well as our ever-growing team of remarkably talented demonstrators who are showcasing our products in some of the most prestigious retail locations around the globe, 365 days a year.”

Vivid Goliath bolsters Marketing team Alesha Khan has been appointed as brand manager for the group to support a turbo charged portfolio of new developments on track to launch in autumn/winter 2024. “We’re delighted to announce that Alesha has joined the Toy Marketing team,” said Marketing controller Chloe Burrowes. “Alesha recently joined us from Panasonic, where she has worked across its electronic brands portfolio. She is well equipped to help us advance our marketing plans to support numerous exciting category launches which are currently being revealed to retailers during our autumn/winter previews.” Vivid Goliath continues to drive global innovation in the Toy and Games space with more than 50 new products in development for launch in 2024. To see the company’s full range, visit www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk. The sales team can be contacted on 01483 449 944.

PMI Kids’ World welcomes Mark Kingston in advisory role PMI Kids’ World, a company which is already brimming with collectibles from some of the hottest brands, has announced the appointment of Mark Kingston as the new lead of Licensing and Business Development, in an advisory role. An accomplished industry leader with over 24 years of experience in consumer goods, Mark’s role will be invaluable to PMI’s growing catalogue of in-demand licences. His track record of driving growth and innovation in the licensed consumer products industry comes at a pivotal time for PMI, which just this year added Pudgy Penguins, Piñata Smashlings and Stumble Guys to its roster of coveted licences. This has already resulted in explosive growth for the company while building momentum heading into 2024. As PMI enters the pre-school space for the first time, set to unveil a toy line based on the educational series Creature Cases next year, Mark’s extensive experience with the pre-school demographic will provide confident direction towards success. “PMI Kids’ World has an impressive streak of staying ahead of the curve when it comes to finding the next hot brands,” commented Mark. “I’m excited to share my knowledge and experience with the team to help take its incredible portfolio of licences to the next level.” Mark’s expertise stems from his impressive resume of work for prominent companies, including BBC Worldwide, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon, Viacom and Paramount, as well as being the co-founder & CEO of IP management, licensing and consultancy company, Libertas Brands. “Mark’s exceptional track record of driving growth through strategic partnerships will be an asset in shaping and expanding PMI’s reach in the market,” said Omer Dekel, COO of PMI Kids’ World. “We look forward to having his wisdom help us reach our long-term goals.”

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Bureau Veritas welcomes Nik Hallam as business development manager

Wilton Bradley celebrates promotions as expansion continues

Toy industry stalwart Nik Hallam joins Bureau Veritas to help launch its new UK Technical Competence Centre, in the role of business development manager. Following more than 20 years as a salesman in the world of toys and kids’ products, working with the likes of Bebe Confort, Bright Power and Youngsters World, Nik took a short break from the industry before he was ultimately lured back. He’s spent the last nine years in the compliance and safety side of the industry, where he’s become known for his knowledge and expertise. “Toy safety has never been stricter than it is today, with the changing regulatory environment, more substances being banned, and more and more brands and retailers wanting to show they are sustainable,” Nik explains. “So, I am excited to be joining Bureau Veritas as business development manager at this special time: to lend my support and expertise to the launch of the new Bureau Veritas UK Technical Competence Centre.” The new centre is based in Warrington, Cheshire, and houses Bureau Veritas’ technical experts from across multiple industries. The Toy team offers full support, from the initial stages of the product development process through to final production, helping retailers and manufacturers to make and market compliant, quality and sustainable toys. In addition, the Bureau Veritas global network of more than 1,600 offices and laboratories offers clients support near to their centres of production, as well as in local hubs and competence centres. Nik adds: “I couldn’t be happier to be joining a company with the 195 years of heritage that Bureau Veritas has. I am also pleased to announce BV’s return to London Toy Fair in 2024. Come and meet some of the technical team that will be supporting me on stand B20.” To find out more about the centre and how it can support your needs, Nik can be contacted on nik.hallam@bureauveritas.com or 07816 162897.

Wilton Bradley has proudly announced the promotions of Pete Minch and Mike Gascoigne to senior National Account managers. Having joined the business in 2020 and 2014 respectively, and with extensive backgrounds in strategic account management, (not to mention some notable Fantasy Football skills) Pete and Mike will continue to bring a wealth of expertise to the forefront, reinforcing Wilton Bradley’s commitment to innovation and market leadership. Both will play an important part in driving the continued growth of the business, in-line with the company’s strong ambitions over the next couple of years. A spokesperson commented: “With a wealth of experience, Pete and Mike have a proven track record of cultivating successful partnerships and driving revenue growth. Their industry acumen aligns seamlessly with Wilton Bradley’s vision for continued expansion and excellence in the consumer leisure goods sector.” They added: “The team would like to offer sincere congratulations to Pete and Mike as they embark on their new roles, steering Wilton Bradley towards new heights in the dynamic landscape of consumer leisure goods.”

Toymaster strengthens organisation Toymaster has announced the appointment of Darren Robinson to the position of head of Finance. Darren, who is a qualified accountant, has 30 years of experience heading up finance functions in a variety of different industries and will bring that valuable knowledge to the group, which says his onboarding will help with Toymaster’s succession planning. Darren commented: “I would like to thank Toymaster for giving me this opportunity to join the team, and I look forward to meeting our members and suppliers in the coming months.” Darren can be contacted on 01604 674 477 or darren.robinson@toymaster.co.uk. Chris Blatcher, meanwhile, has been asked by the Toymaster board to continue in his role as chairman of the Board of Directors for the foreseeable future. Chris was appointed to this role in 2020. Yogi Parmar, Toymaster’s managing director, says Chris has been “instrumental in driving Toymaster forward by providing strategic advice and guidance to help both members and the team in Northampton”. Chris added: “I felt very privileged when I was invited by the board to continue serving as the chairman of Toymaster. It has been an honour to work so closely with Yogi, the other directors, and the entire team. Over the past three years, we have implemented numerous significant changes, and the team at Northampton has enthusiastically seized the opportunity to make Toymaster even better than it already was.” Finally, Stephen Hartfield of Kids Stuff has been appointed head of Toymaster’s Member Committee. The role of the Member Committee is to shape and drive the group’s marketing efforts and to promote the group in a way that moves it forward. Stephen will help to co-ordinate the members within the committee as part of this remit. Stephen commented: “I am proud to be asked to be head of the Toymaster Member Committee, and I look forward to working closely with the team in Northampton and the other members of the committee to drive the group forward.”

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Marketing World A night of Traitors at London Dungeons The launch event for The Traitors Board Game from Vivid Goliath was held at London Dungeons where Toy World joined celebrities, influencers and the all-important Series 1 show contestants to enjoy an interactive Traitors experience. The perfect location for The Traitors themed event, guests had the chance to play the new game amongst fellow Faithfuls and were taken on a tour of the Dungeons where they discovered who were Traitors. A star-studded guest list was hosted including Tasha Ghouri, Andrew Le-Page, Michelle Heaton, Toby Anstis, Mark Ferris and Jack and Missy Keating. “We’re delighted with the success of The Traitors Official Board Game launch,” commented Chloe Burrowes, Marketing controller at Vivid Goliath. “The location helped create atmosphere and interactivity to allow guests to thoroughly enjoy immersing themselves in The Traitors experience and play the board game against other guests – and it did get quite competitive at times.” Rubies provided the official cloaks to get guests into character and a spooky display of Halloween themed sweets was supplied by Swizzels which were given out in goody bags. Chloe added: “The launch event is just the start of activity that will be taking place in the run up to the festive period, with sponsored social media campaigns including footage from the event going live to help drive sales in what will hopefully be a busy quarter for us.” Vivid Goliath has partnered with All3Media International and Identity Games to distribute the official The Traitors Board Game to the UK and Eire. The game was released in September and has already been selling well.

Ellen White partners with VTech Baby In partnership with ex-England Lioness and new mum Ellen White, VTech has launched its latest campaign, which shows that goals are often re-prioritised during parenthood. A survey of UK parents of children aged four months to four years, commissioned by VTech Baby, reveals the milestone mindset both before and after having a child. Alongside other insights, a huge 86% of those surveyed said that their idea of milestones changed once they had a baby. When asked how, answers included: “My personal goals became less important”, “I was more relaxed, realistic and made them more achievable”, “I measure success differently now”, and “My priorities changed, so my milestones reflected that.” This is a sentiment that ex-England Lioness – and now new mum – Ellen White can relate to. She commented: “As a professional footballer, I have always had a mindset-orientated focus which has driven me to achieve things, sometimes against the odds. But there is no doubt that having a baby, whose needs I want to put before my own, not only changes that focus but has given me an incredible sense of perspective and has brought huge joy. It is so wonderful to see Maeve as she grows and develops – such a delight to watch as she achieves, not just the big milestones such as sleeping through the night and sitting up, but also the small moments of magic, like a little smile.” 88% of respondents also said they purchased toys to encourage and develop their little ones along the way, and of those, 86% said those toys worked in supporting their little ones to achieve a next step. Rebecca Lazarus, UK Marketing manager for VTech Baby, commented: “Whilst it is wonderful to see that 87% of those surveyed said it was reassuring to buy toys from well-established, trusted brands who research and develop their products specifically for milestones, we totally recognise that it’s not all about the big achievements. Very often it is the complete opposite, with such joy often being found in the little daily moments.”

Casdon launches new consumer website The website will allow consumers to order a range of best-selling role-play toys directly from the brand, as well as access free play ideas, blog posts and helpful advice. With over 77 years of innovation under its belt, and on a continuous mission to give children (and adults) the tools to learn through play, Casdon has invested in a Play Ideas section where parents can download creative and educational play packs to print and use at home or on-the-go. Simone Inskip, Marketing manager at Casdon, said: “We’re really proud of the new site and can’t wait to welcome visitors to our new ‘digital playground’. This is an exciting next step in our journey to ensure we continue to inspire the next generation to learn and develop through play. Whether for gift inspiration or simply looking for some free fun within the Play Ideas area, we’ve worked hard to ensure there is something for everyone on the new site. As with all projects of this scale, a lot of work and dedication has gone into launching www.casdon.com and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped support us along the way.”

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Opinion

An unprecedented pace of change As the Digital marketplace continues to accelerate, with no signs of slowing down, Generation Media’s Emilie Flanders looks at key trends that marketers should be aware of.

022 was the first year that the scales tipped in favour of Digital investment when it comes to Toys and Games UK ad spend. Fast forward to 2023, and the industry has fully embraced a digital-first approach, with an estimated twothirds of all ad spend allocated to digital platforms. So what have been some of the key trends, and what impact could they have as we look to 2024?

AI takes centre stage: AI has formed the basis of Digital evolution in 2023 across all platforms. This has led to providers increasing their dependency on AI driven processes, such as Meta introducing updates to Meta Advantage which enable advertisers to more effectively A/B test through the use of different copies and placements via audience learning tools. However, AI’s biggest impact in 2024 is likely to be the enhancement of image generation in the creation of advertising copy. Google has already introduced cutting-edge models into its workflow in 2023 which not only enhance results, but critically speed up asset management processes. We can expect these to be refined in 2024 and become more widespread and commercially affordable for advertisers to adopt. As AI continues to advance, it will significantly impact the digital and creative sphere, revolutionizing how brands convey their messaging on various platforms. Let’s not forget that this is merely evolution, not revolution. After all, we’ve been using machine learning and AI modelling to inform planning and optimisation processes at Generation Media for the past few years via our Optimus AI suite of tools and will be looking to enhance these further in 2024 through the introduction of creative services.

YouTube Shorts overtakes TikTok: Google has recently initiated ads across YouTube Shorts in its beta phase, marking a significant milestone since the feature's launch in 2020. It’s clear that YouTube is heavily promoting Shorts, with a series of recent announcements and features that include a $100m investment in original creator content. These moves underscore Google's heightened emphasis on bringing short-form content to the platform to retain and grow its younger audience from TikTok, offering a glimpse into the company's future direction. Notably, 50% of the kids who tune into YouTube also use YouTube Shorts, and we expect these numbers to continue growing in 2024. Toy brands that experiment with Shorts therefore have the opportunity to leverage the momentum of this growth in viewership and YouTube’s own investments. Creative best practices on Shorts are similar to

TikTok and Reels, which will present a lower barrier to entry for brands already delivering strong results from short-form video on these platforms. Whilst this is still in Beta and not yet widely available, 2024 will see widespread use of Shorts advertising.

Rise of social commerce: Social commerce, primarily led by TikTok, continued to grow this year. Renowned for its entertaining short-form content, TikTok has seamlessly integrated shopping features, transforming into a ‘shoppertainment’ hub. Aiming to achieve $20b in gross merchandise value by the year's end, TikTok's global impact is poised to quadruple from last year, as reported by Bloomberg. TikTok data shows that 34% of parents want to see authentic, real-life opinions on the platform. Livestreams have become particularly popular as they offer parents a direct line to merchants and influencers, facilitating real-time conversations around the products they purchase for their children. The platforms native checkout functionality is also proving to be a gamechanger, promising favourable return on ad spend. The e-commerce trend extends beyond just TikTok. Retail media will be a $140b global industry in 2024, with Amazon accounting for $53b of this, establishing itself at the top of the food chain. Social commerce, and Amazon’s DSP, means that retail media is becoming increasingly full funnel, showing the important of managing efforts at all stages of the funnel, compared to treating each in isolation.

Emilie Flanders Senior Digital manager organic way. Mattel, for example, partnered with Roblox on the Barbie Dreamhouse Tycoon experience, where players could create their very own Dreamhouse. Sponsored live events have also become an avenue for brands to bring traffic to their online worlds. Collaborating with creators to host live events within these digital realms not only provides brands with exposure but also offers young players a unique opportunity to interact with their favourite creators. For kids, these streams are akin to playing with a celebrity, creating memorable experiences that form positive brand associations.

Data transformation creating parental targeting challenges: Faced with mounting privacy concerns, the death of third-party cookies has long been on the cards, with Google aiming to end third party cookies in 2024.

Amazon will continue to embed itself at all stages of the consumer journey, having announced partnerships with Pinterest and, most significantly, Meta. Enabling users to link their Facebook and Instagram accounts to Amazon will create a full funnel loop for advertisers to tap into, generating more advanced data and metrics. And with Elon Musk’s background at PayPal, surely there are some announcements on the horizon with regard to transforming X into something more akin to the Chinese based WeChat and it’s multi use capabilities.

Adding to this complexity, reaching parents with targeted data has encountered new challenges this year as social media platforms continue to remove interest-based targeting due to privacy concerns. Meta, specifically, faces imminent threats of a personalized advertising ban across the EU. This impending shift means advertisers may lose the ability to target based on interests and keywords, left with only basic profile targeting and diminished ASC (receiving solely platform signals). This means that niche, targeted audiences will be more difficult to reach.

A positive shift in kids’ advertising experiences:

For UK brands, staying prepared is crucial, given the potential extent of these changes to our digital landscape. Pivots towards engaging and innovative content are paramount, in the absence of detailed datadriven targeting options.

In March, Roblox announced it would hide advertisements from users aged 13 and under. Far from signalling a setback, this move has proven beneficial both ethically and strategically, fostering an ‘audience first’ environment where the most innovative creatives and user-first experiences thrive. Brands have adapted by creating immersive worlds that allow children to explore products in a fun and

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We look forward to embracing what 2024 has to offer as the evolution of Digital media extends far beyond the points raised above.

Licensing World Curious Universe launches CoComelon arts & crafts range The brand-new pre-school range of official CoComelon arts & crafts products from Curious Universe is guaranteed to appeal to fans of the hit animated series. CoComelon captures the hearts of children and adults alike with fun, dynamic content that generates billions of views on YouTube. With a strong, instantly recognisable presence and high engagement across multiple platforms, CoComelon has become a household name in the world of early childhood education and entertainment. Launching from Q4 2023, this new range from Curious Universe is designed to engage and develop young minds with immersive, fun and tactile activity formats. Perfect for encouraging creative play and honing fine motor skills, early learners can print, stamp and decorate to help Old MacDonald care for his animals, plant crops and so much more with CoComelon Finger Print Art. Budding artists can also try their hand at Magic Painting, bringing popular nursery rhymes to life with just one swish of the special water pen. Packed with fun, educational puzzles with lots of replay value, the CoComelon Wipe Clean Activity Book and pen introduces first words, colours and numbers, and helps little ones to develop their pen control at home and on the go. Meanwhile, with the CoComelon Colour-changing Bath Book, kids can dip the squashy pages in the water as they splash in the tub and watch the colours emerge, just like magic. Similarly designed to encourage interactive play, little ones can look in the mirror as they sing and play along to If You’re Happy and You Know It with the CoComelon Baby Mirror Board Book, bursting with all the best-loved CoComelon characters alongside the popular nursery rhyme. “We are incredibly excited about our partnership with CoComelon,” said Curious Universe’s CEO John Styring. “This collaboration allows us to combine our expertise in creating educational and entertaining products with CoComelon’s beloved characters and content. Together, we aim to bring even more joy and educational value to children and families around the world.”

Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie drives demand for toys and brand experiences The action-packed second movie from the franchise, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, was released on 13th October in the UK, opening at No. 2 in the box office charts and grossing $4.2m at 618 locations. This success has also been seen worldwide, with box office takings in all countries totalling $127m after just three weeks in cinemas. Spin Master is ensuring that the growing movie buzz is brought to life in stores with a Paw Patrol themed pop-up in Harrods, London. The pop-up opened in line with the movie’s launch date and will remain in place for six weeks, offering a colourful shopping experience for young fans. Spin Master’s Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie toy range has been in high demand since before the new movie arrived in cinemas earlier this month. In the lead up to the movie release date, Circana monthly data for September 2023 showed Paw Patrol maintained the No. 1 pre-school property position, up +3% on the same period last year. Similarly, the new Mighty Movie Themed Vehicles were the No. 3 item in the ITPS category, illustrating the growing desire for Mighty Movie themed toys even ahead of the film’s release. Becca Hanlon, senior brand manager at Spin Master Toys, said: “It has been fantastic to see the fans’ excitement in the lead up to the release of the second film, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, and we’re thrilled that our toys are helping to bring the action of the big screen into homes up and down the country. The Paw Patrol pups believe that there is no pup too small, so we hope that our toys bring that sense of adventure to little ones and encourage them to be their own hero.”

Funko unveils Five Nights at Freddy’s product range Fans of the beloved Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise have been enjoying the highly anticipated film adaptation which has been spooking audiences in UK cinemas since October 25th. In tandem with this milestone event and strong opening for the film, Funko unveiled an extensive range of products promising spine-tingling thrills and animatronic horrors. Fans can now immerse themselves in a world of Five Nights at Freddy’s with a captivating collection of products from Funko across multiple categories. The range includes: an Advent Calendarwith 24 unique Funko Pocket Pops!; Funko Pop! festive Holiday Season characters; Bitty Pop miniaturised figures; an exclusive Nightmare Freddy Pop! & Tee set; Snaps! Glamrock Freddy with six pieces that snap into place; Plush and Five Nights at Freddy’s Survive ‘Til 6am Security Breach Edition. For more information on the Five Nights at Freddy’s collectibles by Funko or to stay up to date with the latest news and releases, visit funkoeurope.com.

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Licensing World Heathside adds Stumble Guys to portfolio Revealing the news, Heathside Trading‘s Max Nelson commented: ”Yet another super-hot licence has been added to the impressive stable of products we have coming up in 2024. Stumble Guys has amazing awareness and stats, over 250m downloads and a huge global fanbase of players.” The Diramix product will be released in waves, under the Khadou brand. Max told Toy World: “We will have at least three waves of product with multipack executions, and it’s our intention to have product on shelf in January 2024.” Stumble Guys is a party battle royale game known for its fast-paced, frenetic and highly social gameplay. A competitive experience that is inclusive to everyone from beginners to experts, allowing players with high mastery to perform unbelievable feats, the game delivers marketleading technical capabilities. It has built a massive following, staking its claim as one of the top 10 most downloaded apps in the world in 2022, and is enjoyed by tens of millions of players every week. The brand has generated over 45b engagements across channels like TikTok, YouTube and Discord, with original content, fan art and much more. The range is expected to be highly sought after. To find out more and speak to the team regarding initial allocations, Heathside can be contacted on 01282 775778 or sales@ heathside.biz

Moonbug and Spin Master partner on licensing, content and media Moonbug, a subsidiary of Candle Media, and Spin Master will be joining forces to create exceptional kids’ content, products and experiences while making them accessible to audiences around the world. The agreement leverages the powerful capabilities of both companies and will maximise audience growth across a mix of product and content, encompassing licensing, content production and targeted media placement for some of Moonbug and Spin Master’s most iconic brands. This strategic alliance will focus on elevating the intellectual property (IP) of both companies, with Spin Master lending its global expertise in pre-school product development and distribution as the global master toy licensee for two of Moonbug’s IPs, Blippi and Little Angel. Blippi inspires curiosity in pre-schoolers around the world by creating content and experiences that are relatable, accessible and make learning fun, whilst Little Angel captivates families with its humour, upbeat songs and familiar nursery rhymes. Spin Master toys and games for these popular pre-school properties are expected to hit shelves in 2025. The alliance will also leverage Moonbug’s capabilities in media and content production for key Spin Master properties. Spin Master will tap into Moonbug’s expertise in driving successful channel growth by securing paid media on Moonbug’s and selected channels across YouTube and CTV for select brands. Additionally, Moonbug will create YouTube short-form, animated content for key Spin Master Entertainment properties. Content from the partnership is expected to launch throughout 2024 and publish weekly to YouTube, including Spin Master Entertainment’s newest pre-school series, Vida the Vet.

Revell unveils new James Bond model kits Offering something for every James Bond fan to appreciate, the new assortment of James Bond model kits from Revell includes a range of glue kits for fans to assemble. There’s the 1:72 scale Eurocopter Tiger helicopter from GoldenEye, the 1:24 scale BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough, the 1:24 scale Citroen 2CV from For Your Eyes Only, the 1:25 scale Ford Mustang Mach 1 from Diamonds Are Forever and the 1:144 scale Moonraker Space Shuttle from Moonraker, which can be finished as any one of the six shuttles featured in the movie. All gift sets include Contacta Professional glue, a paintbrush and selected Aqua Color water-based acrylic paints. James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 in 1:24 scale is offered in its original Goldfinger configuration. The kit includes all the iconic James Bond DB5 features; turning number plates, tyre shredders, bullet-proof shield, forward firing machine guns, rear mounted oil sprayers and front/rear extending bumper rams. In the car’s interior, there’s an in-car telephone, navigation display, armrest defensive box and the gear lever contains the ejector-seat button. Whilst the seat won’t actually fire, the roof panel above can be removed, which also affords better views of the interior features. The DB5 kit is from Revell’s easy-click range, so parts are pre-coloured and no glue is required. The user has a choice of internal/external markings as self-adhesive stickers or waterslide decals, as preferred. The gift set includes a paintbrush and selected Aqua Color water-based acrylic paints for those who want to add colour or detail. All Revell James Bond gift sets also include a reproduction boxart poster. The collection is available now, and Carrera Revell UK can be contacted on 01296 660 291 or office.uk@carrera-revell.com.

Toy World 26

VISIT US Hall 5 – D67

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Insight

To monitor what’s happening in the ever-changing toy market, Circana collects point-of-sale information from all major toy retailers. This information, combined with our analysts’ industry perspectives, delivers a comprehensive view of what’s selling and where. We also field over 12m consumer surveys annually to help industry leaders understand why consumers shop where they shop and why they buy what they buy. For more information visit www.circana.com.

Twas the weeks before Christmas… Rory looks at whether the sluggish start to the festive season should be a cause for alarm or whether we should be hopeful that consumers are looking to spend late and give the market a bumper December.

s we approach the most important trading weeks of the year, the UK toy market is -5% in value according to YTD October 2023 data. However, it is -10% for the first five weeks of the peak season. Obviously, we don’t want the trend to be negative at the most important time of the year. There are a number of factors to consider when looking at the current trends, with the cost of living continuing to impact toy trends, although the story can often be quite different when you delve below the surface.

However, there is still growth within these categories; Barbie continues to perform well following the movie release in July, while Paw Patrol is at No.1 in Infant/ Toddler & Pre-school Toys after the movie hit screens at the start of October. The volume decline has been heavily impacted by the fact the World Cup was in winter in 2022, so sticker sales were extremely strong at this time last year. The World Soccer property is down -22% in value but -56% in volume versus the five weeks of 2022, and that is having an impact on overall trends.

For the first five weeks of peak season, although the value trend is -10% it is also worth noting that the volume trend is -17%. This equates to nearly 4m less toys bought over these five weeks, and it’s nearly 8m less if we compare to the same period in 2020. (This was when we returned to lockdown in November though; there was a lot of early Christmas shopping with so much uncertainty around Covid restrictions in December). There are a couple of supercategories in growth, namely Plush and Youth Electronics, but all others are in decline. Two supercategories are impacting this decline the most: Infant/Toddler & Pre-school Toys, and Dolls - these two supercategories make up over 40% of the overall decline.

Thankfully, there are some bright spots, including the Plush category, which continues to perform well: it has grown +7% in value and +6% in volume compared to this period last year. Squishmallows remains the key growth property with an increase of +33% adding over £1m versus last year. This growth is largely from the key Jazwares lines, but a larger share of overall value is coming from licensed items, with licences making up around 20% of overall value in the start of peak season. In addition to the core Plush range, Monopoly Squishmallows in Games, Squishmallows stickers from Panini and Squishmallows Puzzles from Ravensburger are all selling well. Another area of growth is Youth Electronics, which is

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Property Progression: The Magic Mixies property from Moose Toys has seen a jump of 28 places in the top property rankings for October 2023 versus September 2023. This rise has been driven by a large increase in value of the Magic Mixies Magic Genie Lamp 8" Asst, which had a value of £434k in October 2023 compared to £21k in September. It would also appear that this item has been heavily promoted, as the average price in October is £29.87 compared to just over £51 in the prior month. There are strong sales for other items in the collection too, with the Magic Mixies Potions Kit, launched in September this year, being the second top performing Magic Mixies item in October.

Property

Sep 23 Rank #

Oct 23 Rank #

Magic Mixies

Fastest Growing Licences Even though the UK toy market in 2023 is in decline by -5%, the licensed portion continues to perform well. It currently accounts for 32% of overall sales, compared to 30% at the same stage last year. Star Wars is the pest performing licence in the market as well as being the largest in value size. Star Wars value is around 80% in Building Sets in 2023, but some of the strongest growth is coming from other subclasses with Action Role Play and Traditional Plush being the two top performers. Disney All Other is the second top performing licence with several items helping growth here. The top items span a number of subclasses and manufacturers with the most successful item being the Disney Up House from The Lego Group, followed by 5 Surprise Mini Brands Disney Store Edition Mystery Pack from Zuru and the Squishmallows Disney Plush 8" Asst from Jazwares. The Disney Lorcana Booster Pack from Ravensburger also features in the list of top items, adding Strategic Trading Cards as a subclass for the overall licence. Gabby’s Dollhouse is the No.3 licence for added value and has been one of the top growth licences, particularly over the last couple of months, with items regularly featuring in the top sellers. Pre-school Figures & Playsets is the largest subclass for this licence, making up nearly two thirds of value in 2023, with Building Sets, Large Dolls and Traditional Plush being the other major subclasses. The Gabby's Dollhouse Purrfect Playset from Spin Master is the No.1 item for the property, with around £1.5m in value so far in 2023.

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Talking Shop

Santa’s on his way! As indies ready themselves for the final push before the big day, several took time out from the busy shop floor to chat to Marianna Casal about how sales have been going this festive season.

Teresa Carter - Chocoloons, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

ast May, we moved to a bigger store, and since the move we’ve been trying to diversify. Previously, with smaller premises, we focused on smaller, cheaper toys but now people come here for bigger toys too. However, we still see great sales from lines such as Panini football cards and Match Attack from Topps, as well as Pokémon cards. Summer has historically been our busiest season as we’re a seaside town, but we’ve tried to bring in new stock this year to make Christmas busy too. We have brought in more big box items like dolls prams, which we hope will sell well in the run up to Christmas. Our Christmas Club began around mid-August to help our customers budget for those larger purchases. Most of the children that visit the store are attracted to smaller items that look fun to play with. The big shift in buying that we’ve seen is that parents are looking more towards lower price points – not the pick-up lines as such, but items at £20-£40 rather than high value items of £100 or so. If they do spend on higher priced items, they’re looking for ones which have genuine play value and won’t stay in the cupboard for most of the year. The Christmas Club has seen people buy dolls, prams, balance bikes, electric scooters from MV Sports, L.O.L. Surprise!, Barbie, Bruder trucks, Furby and Tonies. We ordered the Squishmallows Christmas assortment this year, which we were confident would sell well; we have stocked Squishmallows since before the brand became a top licence, and it’s been exciting to see how it has developed. This year, we’ve worked hard on offering toys which are a bit different. As an indie store, we look for lines that customers can’t find everywhere else, and we’ve tried to be diverse and cater for different ages and preferences, so customers have choice. We offer a huge range of wooden toys which is our biggest section, including a wide selection from Melissa & Doug. This is a trusted brand where parents welcome an educational factor along with the play factor, and they can be confident the product will last for years. We’re delighted to be seeing growth thanks to our

move and the changes we’ve made within the store; it’s nice to see our efforts to expand and diversify our product mix pay off. It’s no mean feat to run a successful independent toyshop - and we also run a sweetshop at the same time. Our hard work means we are on track to end the year 15% up on last year, which we are delighted with. Over summer, there was a bit of a drop in sales; it was tough for parents, having to keep the kids amused as well as feed them, with the cost of everything. We’re glad sales went up again once the kids went back to school. We have also been putting a lot of effort into our social media. I’m trying to post as much as I can and we’re adding more and more products to our online website, which is a work in progress. We are looking forward to attending London Toy Fair

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next year. It’s really important to us to be able to see the product live rather than just through a computer screen. We will be looking for products to refresh our range. We’re also planning to develop sections that we feel we currently underserve; for example, we cater more for older children than for infants at the moment. We have Halilit in our sights in order to put more focus on babies. We’re also keen to talk to Learning Resources and are hoping to source more items for older girls such as Top Model from Depesche, and we’ll check out more stationery, secret diaries, keyrings and the like. Since the 24th November up until the 19th of this month, we will have a pop-up stall at the Enchanted Winter Garden event here in Northern Ireland. We want to wish everybody a happy trading season and a very happy Christmas.

Talking Shop Wayne Kincaid - Plaza Toymaster, Llantwit Major, Wales

laza Toymaster is a family-owned independent toy store offering a wide variety of toys including arts & crafts, pre-school, dress-up, action figures, modelling, gifts and pocket-money. We opened in 1981 in

Llantwit Major on the Bristol Channel coast, which is one of the four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan. We are a relatively small town which, fortunately for us, means that we have quite a loyal following and the community knows of us.

Sales have been on par with last year so far and Pokémon, Squishmallows and Hot Wheels have been our best-sellers this year – no surprises there. The hype over Squishmallows has calmed down a bit, although sales remain very strong, and this year saw a real resurgence for Hot Wheels, which I found interesting – it’s one of those brands which keeps coming back. We run a Christmas Club to help shoppers with their spending and we already had people setting up their payments from September, as soon as the kids went back to school after the summer holidays. The Christmas Club has been popular this year, and we like that because it encourages customer loyalty. Being located in a small town means people are aware of the scheme. The gifts customers have been choosing this year have once again included bigger items such as the more expensive, technical Lego sets and larger Pokémon plush. In preparation for Christmas, we have brought in larger licensed play sets such as Paw Patrol, Thomas & Friends and Hot Wheels. We don’t stock these much during the rest of the year as demand just isn’t there, but they are popular as presents. 2023 has seen a comeback for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the new TMNT movie in the summer has been the best movie for us this year in terms of driving licensed toy sales. These weren’t only for kids either, there was also an interest from adults, especially with the action figures which they perhaps had versions of when they were younger. I’m quietly optimistic about Christmas sales. Despite all the doom and gloom in the media, sales have held up remarkably well.

Justine Elliott - Thorntons Toymaster, Chippenham

quishmallows, Pokémon, Funko Pop and Tonies have been our best-sellers throughout recent months, and for the back end of the year, we’ve brought in all the new collections of these brands to keep the momentum going. Ty plush is another best-seller that we have replenished extensively in preparation for Christmas. Customers began their Christmas shopping in October - we knew because they were asking for gift receipts - and things like Playmobil, big Lego sets and Paw Patrol play sets were being bought to put away. This year, it seems that Christmas purchasing patterns are similar to last year’s; as we move into December, in the last weeks and days before Christmas, we tend to see more pocket-money items and stocking fillers being bought. Having said that, we have noticed a shift in when Christmas shopping begins – it was earlier this year. Now, when we compare Christmas figures year on year, we will have to use the figures from the final two months of this year, rather than just December. In the run up to Christmas, we have been giving out freebies to children if they are polite. We have treated them to the wonderful colouring books from Toymaster which have games and quizzes inside and we have also given away some teddy bears which puts smiles on kids’ faces. We have already begun looking at orders for Q1 to restock on our standard everyday toys, once Christmas present buying is out of the way. We’ll restock line such as vehicle sets that sell well all year round. We will be attending London Toy Fair in January and will visit other trade shows too in order to plan for the rest of 2024.

It was sad to lose Wilko this year; that was a retailer which brought a lot of people into town who would pass by our store and maybe pop in. I hope that it won’t

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reduce footfall too much now that it’s gone. However, people still need to do their Christmas shopping, and I am still optimistic about a good Christmas.

indie viewpoint Jonny Rogers - David Rogers Toymaster – Bambridge, Portadown and Kilkeel, Northern Ireland

avid Rogers Toymaster has 40 years of experience serving thousands of customers each year. We run three retail stores, located to the south of Northern Ireland, where we start the Christmas season early. From September, we were already making Christmas sales - our Christmas Club facility helps with this as it encourages customers to get organised early, which suits us. We don’t think the types of gifts parents buy has changed greatly from last year. We expect to sell a similar mix of products, even the expensive ones, but the main difference is that customers will perhaps only buy one big item rather than two or three. Farming toys are very popular here all year round. Our best-sellers at the moment are Bitzee from Spin Master, Cookeez Makery Oven playset from Moose Toys and Tonies. We have had great success with battery operated ride ons this season, especially Wilton Bradley’s Xootz Bumper Cars, which have sold really well, and Heelies, which have also been in demand. Christmas always happens and most parents will cut back on other things to ensure they give their children nice presents. I do think we might struggle to sell all of the new ‘top toys for Christmas’ as the big retailers have been selling so many of them at cost price or below. This year is the most brutal I have ever seen in my 26 years in the trade; all profits are being sucked out by a few big chains. So, as well as the high-profile lines, we’ll focus on the lines we can make margin on. We always bring in new stock for Christmas – innovation is what the toy trade thrives on. If it was the big thing last year, it won’t be the big thing this year. My staff say I’m addicted to buying new toys and should get some professional help, but it’s not a bad fault to have in my line of work. We do a live show with a local blogger where we spend an hour showing and talking about all our latest and favourite toys. This is great fun, and the customers seem to love it; it’s been a very successful way of reaching more people. We have also run several evening shopping events, opening up our Bambridge and Portadown stores until 9pm on Fridays to allow for Christmas Club and late-night shopping, and these have gone down well. At Christmas, attractive window displays are vital to get shoppers in a festive mood and draw customers into our stores. We always use the Toymaster window as it is easy and gives an instant Christmas feel. This Christmas, we are also featuring a giant ride on lorry and trailer which has captivated customers. If it’s good enough for Coca Cola, it’s good enough for Rogers Toymaster.

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes Toy Barnhaus

Pigs in Blankets on Trampolines, anyone?

e’re writing this with 45 sleeps until Christmas. Where has the year gone? From sweltering heat to torrential rain, we have certainly had it all this year. With the most important weeks of the year left, we are hoping that all our planning will come to fruition.

Trade in October started off slowly and picked up with a strong half term when sales were boosted by the poor weather. We also ran several events in our stores to help drive footfall. In early November, it was obvious that customers were really looking round, making very considered purchases and watching what they spent. Our average transaction value has reduced, and people are paying particular attention to price points. We’re expecting this to be the case throughout the Black Friday promotional period, which some retailers started at the beginning of November. Our Black Friday event now runs for about 10 days, and we have also added more items to our sale so that customers can see they are getting value. When the DreamToys list came out, there was a lot of good publicity around it, which we were pleased to see. However, we have not really been asked much for many of the toys on the list, particularly the higher priced lines, and so far this year, no one single line is standing out as the ‘must-have hot toy’. People are asking for Bitzee from Spin Master though, and the Barbie brand is still massive, not just the dolls but other licensed products too. Pokémon continues to be in high demand, and we know the Disney Lorcana Chapter 2 will sell well when it releases. Games are starting to move now, with a couple of new ones really taking off, such as Winning Moves’ Squishmallows Monopoly and PlayMonster’s Pigs on Trampolines. For the final few weeks, one of our key focus areas is Pocket Money. This is a massive category for stocking fillers and is an area that that larger retailers tend to avoid due to the number of SKUs and size of the lines. Every year, without fail, our best-selling line is the Whoopee Cushion! However, anything that is squishy or squeezy is always popular. We have a Stretchy Grinch this year, which has already proved to be a massive seller. We stock a lot of retro pocket money toys; items such as magic springs, spud guns, jingle sticks and recorders are all among our bestsellers. The whole category is an excellent margin driver, and with the cost pressures on consumers this year, we expect it to be more important than ever. There’s no rest for the wicked, as the period between Christmas and New Year is also very important. Although it is not as busy as pre-Christmas, it’s like having five Saturdays in a row, as everyone comes in to spend Christmas money and vouchers. We will also have a January sale and add in some lines that we are overstocked on to help clear them. Looking forward to 2024, we are expecting January to be a steady month, as usual, with kids still spending their Christmas money. New introductions will give sales a boost; we’re looking forward to the January Lego launches which always drive a good amount of footfall into stores. May we wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and we hope Santa brings good sales to the toy industry!

Rubies Brand Profile Company Profile Moose

Rubies all dressed up and somewhere to go Dress-up specialist Rubies continues to go from strength to strength, having signed a raft of new licensing agreements this year, released numerous costumes and accessories based on the world’s biggest properties, and appointed Tim Mulhall, formerly of Hornby, as its new chief executive officer. Toy World caught up with Fran Hales, head of Portfolio, to find out more about how the company is changing the way it’s perceived by both consumers and the trade and why he believes the dress-up and roleplay category is the gift that keeps on giving. First of all, how has 2023 been for Rubies: what were the standout highlights of the year, and is it looking like Q4 will be a strong one? There are a fair few highlights to shout about and celebrate, including, most recently, being presented with no less than three Dad’s Choice Awards. Since we kicked off 2023 with a trio of very successful showcases at Toy Fair, Nuremberg and Spring Fair, it’s been non-stop for everyone at Rubies. We have established and developed

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our 365-degree plan to provide dress-up and play value all year round, not just in key sales seasons. The strategy will see us provide retail solutions across Europe via a selection of licensed and non-licensed products for our consumers. We’ve also celebrated landmark years with partners such as Disney and Warner Brothers, as we keep moving forward with new development in our current collection and the growth of our licensing portfolio, with the introduction of Hasbro and the World of David Walliams.

Going into Q4, we continue to invest in our dropship infrastructure and ability to deliver quality products across Europe. We anticipate a strong Carnival season and are providing gift ideas for the whole family with our range of toyetic accessories. We had a very productive Halloween, the main event of every calendar year, bringing the hottest properties to our customers in the form of Wednesday, M3gan and Monster High. The period has certainly set us in good stead for the rest of the quarter and we can’t wait to see what Christmas and New Year bring as consumers look to celebrate, coming back to Rubies time and time again for quality, innovative products.

We’ve seen the licensed toys and merchandise category enjoy strong sales this year. For a company like Rubies, which has one of the strongest licensed portfolios in the industry, this must have been something of a boon. Do you expect licensing to remain strong into 2024? It’s exciting to see how far the licensing industry has come in recent years. Healthy competition and changing consumer demands have driven a need for innovation in the form of new and original product. We continuously adapt and pivot the product offerings we can provide. It’s why we’re keen to remind customers of our more toyetic ranges such as our accessories based on Marvel, Star Wars, DC and The Wizarding World. We might be known for our costumes, but what we can offer retailers with our accessory range is yet another good reason to be working with Rubies. Having collaborated with retailers at fan-based events, we know there is demand for this type of product in both the kid and kidult retail space. We encourage customers to get in contact and find out what we can offer for next Halloween and Christmas in particular.

So, moving forwards, are you keen to highlight some of your other offerings that differ from core dress-up? Rubies has evolved its offering from traditional dress-up in standard hanging bags to so much more, from new packaging solutions for costumes including role-play boxes ideal for in-store display or gifting, to dress up trunks and reduced plastics with cardboard hanging products. Rubies can provide the perfect gifts for fans of pop culture at any age: there really is something for everyone in our portfolio. We’ve focused on developing a key line of toy accessories that offer play value 365 days a year. From Marvel’s Thor’s Hammer and a life-size 24” Captain America shield to Barbie accessory sets, Rubies’ gift range is a top solution for retailers looking to bolster their toy offering.

Not only does Rubies have an enviable relationship with global suppliers, ensuring a strong and steady flow of stock and high availability of products, it also provides dropship capabilities, removing the risk of inventory stacking up, whilst also facilitating delivery across Europe through our multiple state-of-the-art fulfilment centres. Alongside this, Rubies is planning even more exciting new retail partnerships for the year ahead. With new and innovative POS solutions crafted to take retailers’ in-store offering to new heights, including FSDUs, CDUs and new packaging solutions, the design refresh is optimised to enhance the consumer shopping experience.

Why do you think dress-up and role-play remains an evergreen role play pattern?

The message we really want to get across is that a costume offers so much more than just the opportunity to dress up and is therefore an ideal gift. More often than not we buy costumes for ourselves, but by giving a costume to someone else as a gift, you not only provide joy but also encourage creativity which kids carry with them from childhood into adulthood. We associate dress-up and role-play with fun. It’s as simple as that: whether you’re a kid, a student or an adult, we can all get enjoyment from dressing up or seeing others get into costume. It’s why our overriding messaging for the past year has been about getting ‘All Dressed Up’. There is always an occasion to do so, not just at Halloween or Book Day.

How will your new 2024 product ranges enhance this play pattern even further?

From accessory add-ons suitable for every budget to entire dress-up box bundles, the Rubies team has been hard at work studying in-depth trend reports, testing products and working with licensors to ensure the new 2024 ranges are just what consumers want and need. All are designed with the end goal of delivering purchasing appeal to shoppers.

What will you be showcasing at Spielwarenmesse in January – and what makes the Rubies stand unmissable?

Rubies will once again be in both Halls 12 and 9. This year we are introducing a very exciting addition to Hall 12…

When people think of dress-up they often think of Halloween and Book Day, but what other periods see Rubies’ products really shine through? Rubies’ line-up of imaginative, modern and fresh toys, dress-up costumes and accessories is designed for 365 days a year of play, for kids of every age. Dress up can offer so much in terms of play; when a kid gets into costume they can enjoy true escapism, unlocking an immersive world of opportunities as their favourite character. A costume is often worn all day, which provides play value like no other product. Although Halloween and Book Day are two of the top dress-up occasions of the year (which we love), costumes unlock far more possibilities for little ones when used all year round and are rich in play value. Our dress-up options are designed to enhance playtime and therefore make for a perfect Christmas gift-giving experience for families nationwide.

How is Rubies planning on supporting its retail partners in the year ahead? And what makes Rubies a good supplier to work with?

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but you’ll have to book an appointment with your local Rubies representative to find out more. I can tell you that we will be showing product from the 365 range alongside exclusive theatrical release products and our brand-new licences, including Hasbro. On top of its new licences, Rubies is also delighted to showcase its range of new products for 2024, all of which are ideal for festive gifting. New Barbie accessory sets and jelly shoes, as well as exciting dress-up options including a Cowgirl costume for adults and kids, will be available to view and order on the stand.

Is there anything else you think our readers ought to know about Rubies’ strategy, aspirations or product developments for 2024?

The combination of superior licensed product, new POS developments, dropship capabilities, modern packaging refreshes and continuous product innovation makes Rubies’ 2024 product array and retail support like nothing our customers have seen before. Not only are we expanding on our licensed portfolio with the likes of Hasbro, Young Jedi Adventures and Deadpool, but we’re also looking to collaborate with our retail partners to support marketing initiatives and experiential events. The wide portfolio of product from Rubies, spanning everything from classic dress-up to fun and innovative toyetic accessories, makes our ranges the perfect solution for dress-up or gifting, any day of the year.

Company Profile

A little bit naughty… or so ugly they’re cute

rdinarily, it would be a little disconcerting to interview someone in front of a host of unexpected guests, all grinning up at you, unblinking and immobile – but less so when those guests are Fugglers, which Mark has revealed to us, one by one, with pride. As plush ranges go, Fuggler is far from traditional. Each character sports a mouthful of unnervingly human teeth, bared in a permanently frozen smile/grimace, eyes that swing wildly between suspiciously squinted and wide open, and fur in a dazzling array of textures and colours. And of course, each has a ‘BUTT-on’ hole, exactly, er, where you’d expect it to be. The BUTT-on hole feature links to the rarity of each Fuggler and is kept secret thanks to the recycled and recyclable cardboard box, until the Fuggler fan gets home and opens it. There are currently 24 types of core Fuggler characters – such as Oogah Boogah, Screech, Munch Munch and Count Underoo McGoo - and within each of those, there can be up to 10 different variations as part of different themes. Once the 10th variation is released, the core character is retired. Fresh new character types will launch in 2024, and moving forward, the aim is for four different themed series to drop every year. For example, the Budgie Fuggler range comprises Fugglers wearing (you guessed it) very tight-fitting undergarments, and the Fart Face Fugglers range features motion activated fart sounds. “Fuggler humour is supposed to be a little bit naughty and mischievous, but it very much toes the family-friendly

In September, it was announced that licensing stalwart Mark Kingston had joined the newly formed Libertas Brands as CEO. The agency, co-founded by Stuart Grant, owns the exclusive rights to the Fuggler brand, and Mark’s sights are now firmly set on growing and expanding the Fuggler IP across a raft of new categories. Toy World publisher John Baulch and editor Rachael Simpson-Jones sat down with Mark and Stuart at BLE 2023 to find out more about the Fuggler brand and Libertas Brands’ longterm franchise & licensing plans for it. line too,” explains Mark. (It needs to: Fuggler is officially sub-licensed globally to Addo Play, which is owned by The Entertainer Group.) “The key will always be to have a minimum of four series a year, on top of which we will layer carefully selected licensing collaborations that align with the fan demographic and their interests. Take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fugglers that launched in July this year. That collab saw four core characters disguise themselves as TMNT characters and fans absolutely loved it. Off the back of this success, we’ve got six more collaborations currently tied in for 2024/early 2025 across various major entertainment IPs.” Till now, Fuggler has been purely a physical toy range, but Libertas Brands is going to change all that, turning it into a powerhouse property by leveraging its decidedly different qualities and loyal fanbase. Kicking things off will be original shortform content: it’s quicker to produce, spotlights the Fuggler demographic and lends itself well to platforms where fans are already engaged with the franchise, including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. (Fans of Fuggler have been creating their own content for social media too, with the #Fuggler on TikTok now receiving over 46m views: in just the last few weeks, both Paddy McGuiness and Leigh Francis have posted about Fugglers to their millions of fans on their Instagram pages.) After that, expect to see deals announced in Hardlines, Softlines, Gaming and more, all based on the Fuggler world and its lovably weird and quirky inhabitants. “We’ve seen trends like this come and go, so we’re being

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very careful with our timings and selective on categories to ensure Fuggler collaborations land at key times,” explains Mark. “We see potential within the fashion space, in particular: it’s core to the brand and lends itself naturally to the target demographic. Stationery and Homewares too, before we expand out into FMCG, Health & Beauty and beyond. Due to its Kidult appeal, our approach to publishing will be predominantly through Fuggler comics and graphic novels.” Indeed, Fuggler lies firmly within the kidult and collector segments, with grown up fans taking to social media to share videos of them unboxing their latest character and hopefully, exposing its rare BUTT-on hole. Kidults are also fuelling a healthy secondary sale market, with some of the rarer characters going on eBay for hundreds of pounds – a first-gen Oogah Boogah reportedly ended up selling for £800 recently on eBay. And regardless of their BUTT-on hole or the texture and colour of their fur, almost every Fuggler is a little bit unique. Tie dye, stripey or ombre fur might mean a different colour across the eyes, and that, though unintentional, is driving rarity and collectability in a big way. “Once our fans get the bug – or should that be the Fugg – they can’t help but want to get them all,” says Stuart. “It’s interesting to see the Marmite effect Fugglers inspire in people. They’re kind of cute, kind of scary, people sometimes don’t know exactly what to make of them. But those that love them really, really love them, in all their funny, ugly, toothy glory. We’re excited to bring that love to life through new partnerships as we head into 2024.”

fresh FRESH THIS MONTH:

Each month Fresh sets out to find the latest products that will have toy retailers reaching for the phone. Here are new releases from: Eolo, Mattel & Panini.

Cutie Pops

Eolo Toys www.eolo.com sales@eolohk.com Eolo Toys has unveiled what the company is billing as the latest sensation in the world of collectibles and keychain toys.

The plush and soft toys market is on the rise, fuelled by kids’ growing interest in personalised design and backpack customisation, and the range has been designed in response to these trends. Furthermore, the experience is elevated with a “phygital” presence. The Cutie Land App, with more than 250,000 players and more than 10m games played, offers an interactive playground that seamlessly blends real-world fun and digital world videogames. This innovative approach offers an immersive and enjoyable experience for children. At the heart of Cutie Pops lies a revolutionary concept: interlocking guinea pig plushies that children can pop together to create unique Cutie Chains. This imaginative play aspect encourages kids to express themselves and customise their accessories, fostering self-expression and creativity. In response to the ever-growing trend of surprise unboxing, the Cutie Pops character reveal starts with the purchase. The collection features 24 unique characters, with styles ranging from basic designs to gradient patterns, magical themes and special prints, offering countless options to create endless Cutie Chains in combination with accessories.

Mariah Carey Holiday Celebration Doll Mattel • 01628 500 000 www.mattel.com

This year, a special Barbie x Mariah Carey Holiday Celebration Doll has been released, as Mattel celebrates the chart-topping singer, songwriter and actress by creating a Barbie doll in her likeness. Mariah is known for her festive hits including the holiday classic and her most successful song to-date, All I Want for Christmas is You. The Mariah Carey Barbie captures the incredible vocalist’s signature flair and dazzling style in a glamourous festive look. The doll rings in the holiday season in a glittery red gown with a ruched overlay and a dramatic hem slit, accompanied by gorgeous curls, sparkly silvery accessories and matching red heels. The Mariah Carey Barbie Doll joins a host of other purchase options for fans of all ages of the enduring brand. Kids can host the ultimate pool party with the Barbie Dreamhouse, which has the tallest slide in the Barbie Dreamhouse series to date and a three-story spiral design, while Barbie Pop Reveal dolls offer an unboxing experience filled with eight sensory surprises. Collector Barbie & Ken dolls are presented in roller-skating outfits straight from the movie, in the likeness of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and the Barbie Dream Boat incudes over 20 pieces and six different play areas including a pool and slide.

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Premier League 2024 official sticker collection Panini • 01604 877 888 www.paninigroup.com

Panini’s Premier League Sticker Collection is back for 2024, bigger and better than ever. All 20 teams are featured in full, from squad shots and shirts to Next Gen stars and Elite picks. The sticker album is packed full of facts, stats and info graphics for collectors and fans alike, making it a real collector’s item. With a total of 636 stickers to collect including shinies, plus parallel stickers too, collectors can get stuck into the Premier League season with this unrivalled, premium quality album. A full 360-degree marketing campaign will support the launch, with Panini ambassador Declan Rice at the forefront. The hugely popular GOAT of Swaps will also return, highlighting the excitement of making those all-important swaps. With a digital first approach to best reach its core target audience, as well as a targeted PR and influencer campaigns, the collection is expected to be a bigger success than ever. Fans can kick-start their collection with a starter pack, which includes a sticker album plus five sticker packets.

YuGiOhCardEU www.yugioh-card.com/eu

*Date subject to change

Brand Profile

Asmodee

Asmodee shares details of new Star Wars: Unlimited TCG

Asmodee subsidiary Fantasy Flight Games, in partnership with Lucasfilm, has announced the upcoming release of Star Wars: Unlimited, an all-new trading card game, and held a launch event for retailers and media last month. Marianna Casal reports.

he Star Wars: Unlimited game features iconic heroes, villains, ships and settings from all facets of the legendary Star Wars franchise, including movies, TV series, comics, video games and everything in between. The game will launch globally in 2024 and Asmodee hosted its first retailer day in Birmingham to launch the TCG, in addition to sharing its long-term plans and commitments with retail partners and selected media outlets. Toy World went along to find out more. Before having the chance to play the game for themselves, attendees were given a presentation on the background of the game and where the creators hope it will ultimately lead to. We learned that Davide Bonati, global VP, Hobby, Sales & Strategy, who joined Asmodee three years ago after eight years at Wizards of the Coast, was presented with the draft game by the Fantasy Flight team soon after joining. Davide told the audience: “I thought it was an amazing game and incredibly fun to play. I got together with Jim Cartwright, VP of Product Strategy, to talk about how we were going to transfer the passion and energy we had for the game to the market.” Most importantly for Davide and the team, one of the pillars of Star Wars: Unlimited is “hobby first”. This means that 90% of all stock will be sold through the specialist toy & hobby retail channel. The team has also come up with an Organised Play programme to support stores; organised play has been designed alongside the game from the beginning and will be ready from day one. From weekly store-level community experiences to worldwide largescale events, there will be something for gamers of all levels to enjoy.

Davide commented: “We believe that a long-term, successful TCG needs a strong community to support it, and we believe that local toy & hobby stores are the best place to build that community. We want to support specialist retailers because they are our heartland.” The creators are so confident about the new game, that they have put together the largest dedicated staff of any game in its studio history to support it. Having played it myself, I can certainly say from my own experience that Star Wars: Unlimited is a fast-paced, dynamic game that is both easy to learn yet strategically deep. The robust development of the game has been underway for the past three years, and fans can look forward to a regular release schedule of three sets per year. Asmodee has already put together a five-year road map that builds out additional product types and target audience considerations. Roger Martin, hobby and independent channel director at Asmodee UK, told Toy World: “The Asmodee team collectively has hundreds of years of experience in trading card games. The trading card game market is growing, and we wanted to do this right. We don’t just want a game that is out today and gone tomorrow, we are aiming for longevity. Star Wars: Unlimited demands to have investment for its evergreen future and we’re putting a lot into this, because we have such a belief in the product itself. It’s not just about selling a product - it’s about creating a community behind the product.” Jim Cartwright added: “Ensuring this game was accessible to all players was key for us, so whether you are a casual player, competitor or collector, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Straightforward mechanics are the

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driving force behind the design; it’s clean and concise with no gimmicks – a card game in its purest form.” Star Wars fans and collectors alike will be able to experience the Star Wars galaxy in a whole new way, with never-before-seen, refreshing new art. Dedicated TCG fans and collectors can also look forward to seeking out alternate cards with special treatments and visual designs. Brian Schomburg, visual creative director for Fantasy Flight Games, said: “Having the opportunity to commission new art for every card in this game ensures there will be an exciting and cohesive style throughout. We really thought about what the cards would look like on the table next to one another. We’re proud to be creating something so unique, with the legendary characters and settings that Lucasfilm has brought to life in the Star Wars franchise.” Chris Gerber, Fantasy Flight Games head of studio, added: “Star Wars: Unlimited is the culmination of FFG’s rich history, mixed with the celebrated Star Wars brand. As a studio, we are putting unprecedented resources across every department into this game. We could not be more excited to get this out into the world for everyone to experience. We can’t wait to show you more.” To support retailers, there will be launch day kit bundles, and Asmodee will work with retailers to suggest the right kit for their stores. In collaboration with Gamegenic, there will also be deck pods, card sleeves, premium tokens and prime game mats of different sizes on offer. A sneak peek of the game can be viewed on the Fantasy Flight Games YouTube channel and readers can keep an eye on Fantasy Flight Games’ social media channels for more information.

Company Profile

Curiously

creative T

oy World arrived at the Curious Universe head office in Bath on 31st October feeling a little underdressed. With an appointment to meet and interview John Styring, we were surprised to be greeted by Beetlejuice, resplendent in black and white stripes from head to toe and a silky black tie. His white and black face paint was very impressive, which he admitted was applied by one of his talented staff. John clearly isn’t a man to do anything by halves. Curious Universe emerged after his previous company, Igloo Books, was sold in 2014. Initially choosing to continue to utilise his expertise in the book market, John was very quickly approached by Hinkler, based in Australia, about joining forces on a wider offering. Within six months, they sealed the deal and Curious Universe was born. Now, with a wide offering of toys, craft, books and stationery, between 60-70% of products are designed and created in the UK and the rest in Australia. John says: “It’s worked out well with both teams

Curious Universe

As Curious Universe prepares to expand on its new toy brands Crystalverse and Cutesville, Toy World’s Marianna Casal sat down with CEO John Styring and Head of Business Development David Martin to hear more about their vision for these products, as well as the company’s phenomenal growth in just five years.

complementing each other. The Australian team is amazing at the adult products while our strength lies in the kids side of the business. Since forming, we’ve grown at a very rapid rate, which I’m very proud of. We now have just short of 100 staff in the UK across sales, design, editorial, manufacturing and operation and logistics. When we come up with a list of products, within 12-18 months they are ready to be dropped into the market.” Curious Universe has four divisions within the business which John refers to as ‘worlds’: Explore, for books; Play, for toys; Create, for arts & crafts and Imagine, for stationery. Although there is of course some overlap between worlds, arts & crafts is the sector which dominates - about 50% of its products fall into this category. The company is now putting more investment into its toys offering, which John predicts to be the fastest growing area of the business over the next few years. To date, Curious Universe has released about 620 new products each year across its different worlds and currently has

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about 2,000 products in its portfolio. As part of this new focus on toys, John brought in some extra manpower with vast experience in the toy sector: David Martin as head of Business Development, Mark Murray as head of Mass Market, and Mark Burge as group sales d irector who has been on board since the company’s inception. All three will be representing Curious Universe at the London Toy Fair and David and Mark Murray will be at Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg. David joined Curious Universe in May this year, having dedicated his time to independent consulting projects during the Covid pandemic. After spending 18 years at Crayola as part of the senior management team, David continued his career as GM at InspirationWorks (KD Group) and more recently, has held senior commercial positions at Funrise and extended his marketing experience as part of children’s market research companies. David is enthusiastic about his new role: “I am delighted

to have joined Curious Universe as part of a fast-growing and dynamic team, which is expanding both here in the UK and internationally. I’m now six months in, and in my entire toy career, I’ve never experienced a local business as dedicated and fast paced as this. Toy domination is our newest plan – and as we speak, the Crystalverse ad is almost at one million hits on YouTube Kids and TikTok in only two and a half weeks, and our UK lead national multiple toy retail partner has just informed us that Crystalverse was the most searched product line on their website last week. Please come and see us at Olympia and Nuremberg and let us show you the Curious Universe story.” There is currently a heavy focus at Curious Universe on two of the company’s own brands: Crystalverse and Cutesville, both toy lines which overlap into arts & crafts. Crystalverse is a collection of unicorns which users can bejewel however they like and Cutesville, which is yet to launch, is a collection of cute characters and play settings such as a bus, disco or ice cream parlour, which are colourless so kids can colour-in and design them as they wish, then wash them off if they want to start again. Cutesville promotes a message of community, friendship and togetherness. The Classic sets come with featured Buddy characters, each with their own Bestie little friend, who can join together by holding hands. The Crystalverse range has introduced three characters - Kiki, Starlana and Apollo - and more will be

launched in 2024 including a sporty unicorn. The design team aims to create characters that anyone can relate to. “We endeavour to have a narrative and storyline to bring products and characters to life,” John explains. “Our long-term plan is the expand outside of the UK and continue to expand both Crystalverse and Cutesville.” He adds: “As a small, new business in this space, we have taken on board a lot of learnings. In January, we only committed to showing at Olympia a few weeks before the event. Crystalverse was not quite ready, and our stand was tucked into the corner, so we learned some lessons. But we continued to improve and develop, and I believe we’ve now come up with a some really stonking products.” Curious Universe has already secured distribution at several top retailers. Crystalverse is currently offered at a range of price points, from £7 to £25, but the range will be expanding to £50 and £100 varieties as well as sub£10 blind bags. The company aims to do the same with Cutesville too. John explained: “We’re used to selling products which max out at £20 and the sweet spot is about £7-£10 with high volumes. Crystalverse and Cutesville have a lot of play value to them and the more we expand on the collections, the more kids can build their worlds. People are looking for increased value for money in their purchases now, and we aim to provide that.” A Crystalverse gaming app will be launching to help bring the characters to life in the modern digital world. John says that he would love for this to also be done with Cutesville once the brand has established itself. Recently, Curious Universe has also been exploring its licensing potential. The company has already secured some of the hottest licences with Squishmallows, Paw Patrol, My Little Pony, Magic Mixies and CoComelon. These partnerships have proved a great success story for the company, with 60 products already created this year, mostly within the arts & crafts space, and some of which were launched in Australia. Getting a hold of these licences immediately attracted more high-profile retailers for the company which John says has been very exciting. Curious Universe is still on the lookout for licences which work well with its offering. Curious Universe has also secured the rights to distribute products from US-based stationery brand, Yoobi, in the UK and Europe. These colourful, fashionable and themed stationery products of all sorts have worked well in toy stores looking to expand their offering to

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older children – and for every item sold, Yoobi donates school supplies to a child in need in the US. Curious Universe is in the process of reaching out to charities and organisations to find out where children are most in need on this side of the pond to launch the same initiative. John hopes to give away 1m units in the first year after launch. “Yoobi offers high-quality, innovative and fun products,” says John. “They are also great value – at the same price you would find own-brand products. Four major retailers are already interested, and we plan to launch for back-to-school next year. The ‘One for You, One for Me’ slogan is what attracted us to this brand. It’s a way of empowering young people in their learning who don’t have sufficient resources. When we saw the videos of children and teachers receiving these donations in the USA, we saw the difference it can make – they were so excited. A lot of the time, teachers are going into their own pockets to get school supplies for children.” Having only become truly established in 2018, Curious Universe is proud to have come a long way and has high hopes for the coming years. “We’re seeing fast growth in every respect,” remarks John. “We started in a two-bed flat and now we have four offices filling three floors. The area is also very representative of what we stand for. Bath is a very creative area, and we have a number of staff coming in from Bristol, another creative area. This creativity runs through a lot of our products.” As were shown around the offices by David, the energy and creativity throughout the building was infectious. On the top floor were meeting rooms and toy displays separated into each ‘world’. Each office on the subsequent floors was bright and spacious, with the toys and colourful pictures on the walls echoing the upbeat spirit of fun and creativity that Curious Universe embodies. And almost everyone was entering into the spirit of Halloween with a variety of impressive costumes. The team is looking forward to a period of strong growth and is excited about what’s to come in 2024. As Beetlejuice would say, for Curious Universe, “It’s showtime!” Readers are invited to see the Curious Universe story for themselves at Olympia (stand D34) and Nuremberg (Hall 12 stand B-04-4).

Special Feature

Precise TV

In-app gaming advertising can kick-start 2024 sales

Precise TV has launched a new solution that promises to reduce media wastage when advertising inside gaming apps. Chairman and co-founder, Christian Dankl, tells us more.

ith global toy and games sales expected to hit $126b by the end of 2023, and an estimated $129b by the end of 2024, it is vital that brands within this vertical have a robust digital advertising strategy in place to ensure they are earning their piece of the pie. To be successful in the toy business, companies must have an advertising strategy that allows them to reach as many people in their primary target audience as possible, while at the same time remaining tight enough that budget is not wasted reaching people who are not relevant (known as media wastage). Our recent proprietary research shows that YouTube is the number one platform with kids, with 86% of 6-9 year olds and 88% of 10-12 year olds saying it's where they most recently and frequently watched content. As we look into the older demographic, almost 8 in 10 teens say YouTube is their favourite place to watch content - a stat uncovered by our first ever Gen Z report launched earlier in the year. Hot on YouTube’s heels is Gaming. Gaming reaches 50%

of kids and is the third most popular way of consuming content after YouTube and video on demand (VOD). Furthermore, according to Venatus, 80% of parents say their child (aged 5-11) interacts with a tablet - therefore having access to gaming apps - and 50% of kids can identify more than four gaming platforms. Gaming is big business, and this opens up a new advertising opportunity for brands. After eight very successful years of reducing media wastage by up to 60% for our clients on YouTube, Precise TV is proud to launch a brand-new media wastage reduction solution for in-app gaming advertising. How are we able to do this? Our platform leverages a proprietary global set of kids and family panel data, combined with contextual targeting, that is used to connect brands with highly engaged kids and relevant audiences. In this case it would be targeting a certain age demographic, maybe a certain gender or people who have expressed an interest in similar games in the past. Through our access to a network of custom mini-games and in-app video, we can reach up to 400 million kids,

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teens and families and run COPPA compliant ads across a portfolio of kids safe publishers. Precise TV’s contextual targeting method ensures we run ads across top gaming apps - meaning ads reach the most appropriate audience. This results in media wastage reduction whilst delivering strong CTR, average branded play time, engagement and, ultimately, product sales. Tests for the world’s largest toy brands have found our new solution can reduce media wastage by up to 70% compared to market averages, resulting in a 54% lift in CTR and 76% lift in playtime. Precise TV can help create custom-mini games to drive that initial awareness with a brand’s audience, within the gaming world, authentically engaging them while they're in the right mindset. If you would like to discuss how your brand can add inapp gaming advertising to their digital marketing plan and boost sales for 2024, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a quick and easy demo. Visit the website at www.precise.tv or get in touch at info@precise.tv.

All of these companies will not be sending out Christmas cards this year. Instead, they have generously supported the Toy Trust by donating their Christmas Card budget to the industry’s charity. In 2024 The Toy Trust will again be inviting the industry to get involved with a number of exciting new events as well as the annual fundraising activities. Details and dates will be publicised in the New Year and updated on the Toy Trust website

www.toytrust.co.uk

The business magazine with a passion for toy

Special Feature

Steve Totzke

Mattel

confident of a strong Q4 as power brands come to the fore Publisher John Baulch spoke to Steve Totzke, president and chief commercial officer at Mattel, about the company’s hopes for Q4 and beyond. whether it is finally beginning to ease. Steve is confident that the situation is improving: “I think it has largely worked itself out. Not just in the US, most retailers across the globe have acceptable levels of stock. There are still some pockets out there, but largely it’s in good shape. I do believe that retailers are well prepared for the holiday season. For Mattel, I like the level of support we have in place from our retail partners – our shelf space, our promotional support, both in-store and online are looking good.

nyone associated with the toy and licensing business will know just what a stellar year Mattel is enjoying. Riding the crest of the wave after this summer’s Barbie Movie was both critically acclaimed and hugely popular with cinema-going audiences across the world, the company is looking forward to continued success as we enter the crucial fourth quarter. Steve Totzke is a toy industry stalwart who has spent the past two decades at Mattel. As someone who has seen the highs and lows, both for Mattel and the toy market as a whole, he is perfectly placed to reflect on the company’s incredible year. “I am a toy person through and through and I firmly believe in the strength of this industry," Steve told me. "I honestly believe it’s going to be a good holiday season. All of the research we are seeing suggests that families intend to buy the same or more than they did last year.” I was curious to know whether the stock situation which impacted the US and global toy market in the first half of the year was still hampering toy sales, or

“When I look at this industry over time, it is a growth industry,” Steve added. “It has been growing consistently around the world for so many years. I think retailers are betting on strong brands that consumers know, trust and count on. For Mattel, that’s when we really shine. Our key drivers always come out in Q4, so we have strong innovative toys and great foundational power brands – that’s been a winning formula for us for years.” Power brands don’t come much bigger than Barbie, which has enjoyed a truly phenomenal year, as Steve explained: “The last few years have been amazing for Barbie. That team has really leaned into diversity, inclusion and purpose. The Barbie movie has just reinforced that sentiment. “The marketing behind the Barbie movie was incredible – in terms of how to market a movie and a brand, this will be studied for years to come. Even before the movie had launched, it was clear that it was going to be a cultural phenomenon. Then the movie came out and it really delivered. I give our CEO and chairman Ynon Kreiz, a lot of credit – from the beginning he was really focused on securing the best talent available. When you look at the cast and directors, there were Oscar winners from top to bottom. When this level of talent is onboard, you have to trust them with your brand." Even better for Mattel, the success of the movie has

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translated into sales of its own toy range and the ranges offered by its licensing partners: “All of the toys that were featured in the movie have been selling out as soon as they hit shelves, which has been hugely rewarding, so I am sure you are going to see that continue through the holiday season," explained Steve. "The movie-related dolls, the Barbie Dreamhouse, the camper, the boat – these were all featured in the movie and are going to have a nice uplift. But of course, we have a lot of other success stories in this category. The Monster High relaunch has been phenomenal. Disney Princess has enjoyed a great first year back at Mattel, leading into Disney Frozen’s 10th anniversary next year. The Little Mermaid live action movie was wildly successful from a toy perspective. The latest Trolls movie is about to come out, while Polly Pocket has had an incredible year. So, it truly has been the year of the doll, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with how all of those brands have been executed.” The success of 2023 puts Mattel in a strong position for next year, leading into Barbie’s 65th anniversary, which Steve is looking forward to: “One thing we have proven over the year, we know how to celebrate an anniversary with Barbie. Barbie has so much excitement leading into next year, everyone is talking Barbie and what we can do next year, so that is very exciting.” We also spoke about Mattel’s strength with its adult fanbase: “The adult collector and the kidult craze that has really been driving parts of the toy industry will continue. Mattel was an early adopter – if you think back to what we have been doing with Barbie collector for a long time, we were really ahead of the curve. We have this built in fanbase that the movie has really amplified. Beyond that, Hot Wheels is the biggest collector brand in the world. It is well over $1b brand now, we estimate around 25% of that volume comes from collectors. Masters of the Universe also has a passionate collector base – as much as half the volume on Masters is adult collectors. This adult collector segment is really important for Mattel – we nurture it and welcome it. It’s great for the industry as a whole.”

IN CINEMAS 20TH DECEMBER LICENSING AVAILABLE FROM WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY GLOBAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS. PLEASE CONTACT: SAMMY.DOVE@WBD.COM Toy World 51

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM and all related characters and elements © & ™ DC and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WB SHIELD: © & ™ WBEI. (s23)

Brand Profile

Deddy Bears

Deddy Bears on the fright track Deddy Bears reached 300,000 sales within its first four months and has its second release coming in Q1. Toy World spoke with Gavin Lawler at Innov8 Creative Academy to hear about the formation of this “disruptive” brand.

nnov8 Creative Academy, based in Dublin, was formed in 2018 by Gavin and his wife Aoife. They both had experience in the toy industry, Aoife having previously been a creative director, and were brimming with inspiration. Gavin says: “We were bursting with ideas for new intellectual properties, so we set up the company with a purpose and mission to disrupt the toy trade. We truly believe in our ability to innovate – hence the name. We already had a global network that we had set up over the past seven or eight years, so our plan was to create a product pipeline and start trading in multiple countries.” During the Covid lockdowns and all that followed, Gavin and Aoife made a strategic decision to “hibernate” and build IP ready to release once the market had stabilised. The idea of Deddy Bears was born during the

pandemic, but it wasn’t launched until February this year at the Spring Fair. Deddy Bears are zombie-like plush which come with autopsy reports describing each character. They are supplied in a coffin, a ‘deddy bag’ or a blind bag for smaller versions. In the first four months since launch, 300,000 units were sold, and now Innov8 Creative Academy ships to 12 countries. The bears are currently listed by retailers such as Hot Topic, Showcase, Walmart, Giant Tiger, Books-amillion, Tesco, and about 2,000 independent stores. PMS International distributes Deddy Bears in the UK, where the brand had a national rollout with HMV stores. It can also be found in Forbidden Planet, Big W in Australia, and Spencers in the US. Gavin recently signed a deal with Smyths Toy Superstores for the whole of Europe, and Deddy Bears is now available in around 15,000 retail stores globally. “It’s been one of those situations which we call ‘lightning in a jar’,” comments Gavin. “Innov8 Creative Academy owns 100 IPs. Some of them are great and some of them are okay, but every now and again you just get that one - and Deady Bears was that one. It's a phenomenal brand; it's highly impulsive, has multiple price points, excellent quality and attractive packaging.” Gavin adds: “It also taps into a trending category; a large part of the brand’s success has been driven by TikTok and Instagram, where it has had millions of views. This whole creepy cute kind of world is where it sits, and we were able to come up with a product which favours that algorithm. I guess it's the world that we live in right now – we saw how Wednesday was the first ever Netflix series to get to a billion views, it's insane.” Deddy Bears appeals to a broad spectrum of consumers, right through from child to collector, giving it mass appeal. Following the first wave’s extraordinary success, series 2 will be launched at Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg. The company has also taken steps to license the brand, recently signing a global agreement with Surge Licensing. Other deals have been signed with Just Toy International

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and Remarkable Brands for licensing in North America. “We’re incredibly excited,” Gavin says. “It's been a whirlwind. The brand has instant appeal. Usually, you have to wait until a brand settles, after about a year or two in the marketplace, and then start to think about licensing, but we're only four months in. The sales are that strong.” As the company continues to build on the brand, a Roblox game is in the works and will be receiving beta testing early next year. The ultimate aim for Gavin is to have an animated series created either in long or short form, for which conversations have already begun. He remarks: “We’re just incredibly humbled to be accepted by the toy world and more importantly, toy consumers, and extremely proud of what we've created.” Gavin describes the category of Deddy Bears as “creepy cute”. “We don't call ourselves horror,” he explains. “We're not Chucky and we don't want to be scary.” The backstory is one of acceptance; about a 14-year-old girl who has trouble at home and finds a Deddy Bear which has been rejected from a factory. The moral of the brand is that everybody has a place. Despite a little controversy, the incredible response that Deddy Bears has received has confirmed to Gavin that there is nothing too disturbing about the bears. Indeed, he is comfortable with his nine-year-old enjoying them. “As a parent, I believe you have to morally tick boxes as an inventor, and we stuck to our morals with Deddy Bears.” Gavin adds, “We’re unique because we’re not quite horror and we’re not quite plush – we’re somewhere in the middle and I genuinely believe that we operate in that lane very well.” Deddy Bears has formed a series of partnerships with talented experts to help with its three-year roadmap towards its ambitious sales forecasts. The brand now works with Flavio Fernandes, who previously worked at Hasbro, as an agent in Latin America; License 2 Play is the brand’s partner in the US; Blake Turvey from 360 Sales Solutions is taking care of Canada and Jasnor is a partner in Australia. Gavin concludes: “The outlook over the next three years is extremely positive, in large part thanks to these incredibly strong partnerships and distribution.”

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NEW:

Tuesday – Saturday 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2024

Feature

Nuremberg Toy Fair

Dashing through the show Spielwarenmesse returns from 30th January to 3rd February 2024, once again attracting the biggest and best toy and game manufacturers, distributors and retailers to NürnbergMesse GmbH for five packed days of networking, entertainment, product inspiration, trade deals and much, much more. Toy World speaks to Christian Ulrich, spokesperson for organiser Spielwarenmesse eG, about what makes the event an unmissable show, what’s new for the upcoming iteration, and how its organisers are ensuring it continues to offer what the toy trade wants.

pielwarenmesse 2024 marks the second iteration of the hugely popular European show since lockdown and the 73rd since the show began. The 2023 event, which Christian says was a ‘better show than expected’, has already been surpassed by the plans for 2024’s event. When we spoke to Christian in early November, exhibitor numbers were higher – including almost 400 new exhibitors - more floorspace had been dedicated to the event, and there’s still time for companies to sign up for their own exhibition space. Visitor numbers, too, will likely surpass previous totals, as Christian explains. “In 2023 there were still some strong travel restrictions in place, which particularly impacted our Asian attendees,” he says. “Either they couldn’t secure visas, or they were still nervous about travelling following the pandemic. We expect to welcome many more Chinese and Japanese visitors at the upcoming Spielwarenmesse, which is of course great for the show.” While all exhibitors and attendees alike can expect the usual blend of first-class networking events, a vast range of toys and games, and superb evening entertainment, there are also some changes this year worth noting. One

of these is the new Tuesday-Saturday schedule (replacing Wednesday-Sunday), which Christian says reflects attendee feedback that the extra weekday would be better for both travel and footfall. Traditionally, Sundays were the day when retailers could shut up shop and head to exhibitions for the day, but times have changed, and the day started to become weaker in terms of footfall than both the organiser and exhibitors would have liked. Christian also notes that many international guests choose to fly back to their home countries on a Friday afternoon, making an extra weekday at the start of the show far preferable than running it over both days of the weekend. “This has been very positively received,” says Christian, when asked what the feedback to the move has been like. “We’re now wondering why we didn’t do it sooner! But as they say, better late than never.” Christian says that for the readers of Toy World, this year’s special trend-led area, based on the overriding theme of ‘Life’s a Playground’, will be unmissable. In Hall 3A, the world of kidults – which Christian believes will be a key element of the toy industry moving forward - will be brought vividly to life through relevant product examples from its four core categories: Collectibles, Premium Collectibles, Creative Fantasy and Tabletop Games. “During the pandemic, many older children and adults discovered (or rediscovered) the joys of play, particularly puzzles and board games,” Christian says. “But also, when you look at the world around us today, with wars and

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numerous other crises, toys and games give kidults a kind of escapism and a positive outlet for their expressionism. Often we see that those outlets are social too: games bring people together round a table so we can spend time with friends and family. More and more adults are playing with toys, and they’re also becoming more confident in showing that they collect some quirky things – a bit like me with my Batmobile model.” Visitors to the special area will get plenty of inspiration from a huge range of products that align with the four Life’s a Playground categories. Experts will be on hand to shine a light on new perspectives and ideas that could help retailers who already offer kidult products, or those looking to get into the space, maximise on their selections. Six of the presentations taking place in the Toy Business Forum tackle the kidult theme; in the keynote speech on Wednesday, Toan Nguyen, founder of Jung von Matt Nerd in Hamburg, will speak about the kidults demographic and offer an introduction to pop culture for a new generation. On Friday, Axel Dammler, MD of iconkids & youth in Munich, highlights the target group in the German toy market and Christian Braun, from Superior (USA), deals with collecting. Outside of the show, those staying in Nuremberg are also strongly encouraged to pay a visit to Ultra Comix on Vordere Sterngasse 2, which offers over 1,000 sq. metres of comic-books, games, fantasy- and science fictionliterature, and kidult toys. Christian says: “It’s more than a store, it’s four floors of best-practice retail inspiration on

Feature

Nuremberg Toy Fair

catering to this growing market.” This year’s LicenseLounge, meanwhile, which returns for 2024 having made its debut earlier this year, will reflect the current strength of the licensed toy market and provide a networking area for the global licensing community. Christian says the talks scheduled to take place will offer something for everyone. Even newcomers to the world of licensing can gain an understanding of the sector and learn about the properties to watch out for in 2024. Spielwarenmesse eG’s BrandMate collaboration and networking event for companies involved in licensing has allowed the fair organiser to select expert speakers for the LicenseLounge talks and spotlight emerging trends. Talks take place live during Spielwarenmesse from Wednesday to Friday between 10-11.30am in the Toy Business Forum (Hall 3A). In terms of what else is on, Press Day takes place Tuesday 30th January, once again giving exhibitors an opportunity to present their latest toys and games to media representatives from TV, magazines, news stations and more. Visitors to next year’s show will doubtless be pleased to hear that the ToyAwards will be presented during Spielwarenmesse 2024, not before, in Hall 3A on 31st January. Having previously taken place before the show opened its doors, this change to the scheduling means far more people can now participate more fully in the event. ToyNight has also moved, now taking place on the evening of the opening day of the show, and RedNight returns for 2024 on 1st February, having successfully debuted in February of this year. According to Christian, RedNight – a networking party at which exhibitors present their latest business ideas and creative product innovations to the

specialist trade - was an idea borne from the exhibitors themselves, who were keen to participate in a coordinated event within the halls, at their own stands and surrounded by their own products. The format means visitors can stroll around at their own pace in a relaxed atmosphere, and network with industry peers over food and drink. The following day, 2nd February, visitors can blow the cobwebs away at the International Game Inventors Convention from 9am-6pm, which brings games inventors together with developers from both national and international publishing houses. Afterwards, they can take part in the GamingHour once the show is over for the day (though to be pedantic, it’s actually four hours, from 6-10pm). Hall 7A welcomes the highlights gallery, and – for the first time ever – over the counter sales will be allowed on the Saturday for those interested in the Model Construction and Model Railways category, which again will enjoy a public open day. The raft of changes outlined above – the change to the weekday vs. weekend schedule, the creation of RedNight, moving the ToyAwards so they take place during the show – demonstrate the ways in which Spielwarenmesse eG is listening to the needs of its visitors and exhibitors and actually acting upon that feedback. “It’s crucial that we listen to the industry and make changes where we can,” Christian says. “We’ve also made changes internally, reducing the hierarchy at Spielwarenmesse eG and giving more responsibility to the members of our team. We now have team leaders that manage networks of people who directly liaise with those who attend our events, and their opinions and desires for

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future shows come back for us to take on board.” Clearly, there’s a huge amount to look forward to and a lot of planning to be done if you want to make the most of your time at Spielwarenmesse 2024. Visitors can access a suite of information services, including the official Spielwarenmesse Digital website and complementary app, podcast and TV content. With show season fast bearing down upon us, it’s essential to plan ahead. As for Christian, he’s already looking forward to yet another superb show. He tells us that being able to enjoy face-to-face meetings is still a novelty for some following a period in which everything was done virtually, and that there’s a level of inspiration on offer at Spielwarenmesse that you can’t get elsewhere (plus the opportunity to meet so many people from so many different countries around the world). He also feels Spielwarenmesse 2024 will offer people a positive outlook and tangible solutions for what is currently a challenging marketplace, no matter where you are in the world. “When you look at what is going on in the toy industry, at least over the next 12 months, you can see that you simply have to be at Spielwarenmesse,” Christian adds. “The show holds a mirror up to the international toy business: you don’t just have suppliers and retailers; you’ve got experts from across the globe that have gathered especially to share their knowledge and help your business. I would highly recommend visitors leave at least a few hours free to explore the show and really take in everything it has to offer, from the parties and talks to the trend areas and halls in which you might find something new and exciting. We look forward to seeing you there.”

See us at Nuremberg Spielwarenmesse in Hall 6, Stand C-39 An ever growing range of family games

The latest innovation in football

TWO new characters!

g new Excitin cts to produ ealed be rev

Coco Caterpillar & Lucie Ladybird

Bing's sort & stack train & Peek-a-boo Bing

Contact Claire Vernon to make an appointment: c.vernon@goldenbeartoys.co.uk

Company Profile

Skillmatics

growing up

and having fun Toy World caught up with David Kelly, VP Sales & Marketing at Skillmatics, to hear about how the company has achieved its continued growth and what it is has to offer retailers and consumers.

avid has been involved in learning through play for the past eight years, having worked with Depesche UK and Magformers before joining Skillmatics in August. He tells Toy World: “Through my career, I have been seeing firsthand the importance of learning through play; with Skillmatics, it's almost like subliminal learning. First and foremost, we love to see kids laughing and having fun using the products. When this happens, we know that they are absorbing skills and aspects of learning much more effectively than sitting in a one-to-one environment and being told things that they expected to learn. Skillmatics is about growing up and having fun, but if you can achieve that while also providing key elements of learning that kids will pick up intuitively and easily, without them really knowing they are learning, that has to be a win win.”

Founded in 2016, Skillmatics has continued to see growth, which is something David has found encouraging; even through challenging times, beginning with Covid and followed by the cost of living crisis, the company has been enjoying success. The team ensures its offering remains relevant to current circumstances, and right now, recognising that families are “feeling the pinch”, the majority of Skillmatics products being launched in the UK are at a sub-£15 RRP. The company continuously analyses data and looks at what extra content can be brought to products while keeping them at this key price point. David says: “Now, more than ever, parents want their money to stretch as far as it can, in terms of what they invest in for their kids.” The company has met this demand by creating a range of good-value, quality educational products which can be used time and again. “I think parents are also willing to pay a bit extra,” David adds, “as long as they know they're getting really good value. And I think consumers are starting to see through certain large online platforms, with an influx of cheap products copying more expensive lines from leading brands. Consumers were duped a little bit by that at first, thinking they were getting the same products much, much cheaper, but then the products didn’t last. Now, we're seeing a transition, with shoppers returning to established brands, or really strong emerging brands, and they're being a lot more selective, looking closely at things like sustainability, quality, play value and content.” The standout seller at Skillmatics is Guess In 10, a family game which David describes as simple but very effective. A card game where players have 10 questions to try to guess a character or animal, with different buzz words, clue cards and strategies, about three million units have been sold over the last two years. There are different variations such as Animals or Dinosaurs, and more recently a licensed Marvel version has seen “phenomenal” sales. Building on this success, Skillmatics is soon to launch a Harry Potter version that it is expecting to be in high demand, and recently secured a licence for Disney. Foil Fun has boosted Skillmatics’ presence in the Arts & Crafts sector. This new product has already been shortlisted for best Creative Toy in the TOTY awards. A mess-free kit with 100 stickers to arrange on a picture canvas, it is also the No. 3 Arts & Crafts toy on Amazon. Other best-sellers include the Search and Find activity floor mat and the Seek and Splash underwater game. With success to date in family and children’s games,

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Skillmatics’ will be now expanding into adult games, under the Gouda Games brand. “We want to be more cutting edge and provide a bigger reach for retailers,” explains David. “We see adult games as a growing sector.” When Skillmatics first launched, sales were driven primarily through Amazon. Once the brand found its feet and started to reach customers on a global scale, the company decided to take its success into an offline offering. To ensure products look good on shelf, all Skillmatics products are supplied with Parksons Packaging, from one of India’s leading packaging solutions providers, which also works with the likes of Spin Master, McDonald’s and Hasbro. All products are manufactured in India, with excellent product quality, enabling the company to launch products at a much faster rate than traditional incumbents, which David says is a huge advantage. He tells us: “Using these factories means that we can create really sustainable evergreen products using less than 10% plastics. The majority of the products are recyclable as well.” Asked why retailers should consider working with Skillmatics, David concludes: “We're producing really cost-effective products with great content and made to an incredibly high standard, offering retailers a really good margin and offering consumers a really low suggested selling price.” To find out more, David can be reached on 07764 369 245 or david.kelly@skillmaticsworld.com.

Nuremberg Toy Fair

Guidecraft

Hall 4, Stand D50-C51 07725 833 273 | www.guidecraft.com Creator of natural, educational children’s toys for over 50 years, Guidecraft enriches children’s lives through creative experiences that encourage imagination and discovery in the classroom and beyond. As part of the 2024 product launch, Guidecraft has added a range of colourful toys to its collection which provide children with opportunities to learn basic STEM principles, experiment with light and shadow and explore using their senses. In particular, the various coloured shapes and pieces in the Light and Colour sets give children a safe way to explore, build and create during loose parts play. Smooth, transparent discs, cylinders, geometric shapes and people are made from durable acrylic and are sized just right for little hands. Children combine these with a light source like an LED Light Table or direct sunlight to create visually interesting setups and explore light and shadow relationships and principles like contrast, colour and transparency. The Light and Colour Geo Set comes with 12 pieces, the Light and Colour Disc Set has 24 pieces, and both the Light and Colour People Set and the Light and Colour Cylinder Set come with eight pieces. Sets are intended for children 18 months and up and offer a mix of pieces in red, yellow, green and blue. Also new for 2024 will be additions to Guidecraft’s Discovery line. In 2023, Guidecraft launched a number of arched Discovery Stackers sets made from extremely resilient, translucent plastic. Based on their success, Discovery Squares, Discovery Circles and Discovery Triangles sets will be released next year. An upgrade from the classic nesting toy, the rainbow-colored pieces in these sets can be used indoors or outdoors to enhance building activities, block play and sensory play with artificial or natural light sources. Each set, designed for ages two and up, will include six pieces.

Character Options Hall 5, Stand B-54

0161 633 9800 | sales@charactergroup.plc.uk Heroes of Goo Jit Zu is a cornerstone property for Character Options, enjoying excellent sales and continued investment into marketing and development. Following the success of the Deep Goo Sea series, which saw King Hydra named one of London Toy Fair’s Top Toys, there’s more to come from this popular theme as the squishy, stretchy heroes are submerged in the depths of the Cursed Goo Sea. Kids can dunk the Goo Jit Zu figures’ heads into cold water to reveal the curse, as half their head changes colour. Thrash and Blazagon will be joined by new creatures including Ultra Race Rockjaw, who has two types of hidden goo. There’s also a Versus pack which sees the exclusive Pantaro take on Squidor in the ultimate battle of the Cursed Goo Sea. ChillFactor has enjoyed an impressive 50% growth year-on-year. With Character’s continued investment into the property, the success of the range will continue in 2024. This brand is available now in over 20 countries and is a top-10 product value line, in the UK, across all lines. At its heart is the ChillFactor Slushy Maker, which creates delicious slushies in seconds with its rapid freeze technology. To ensure the brand maintains its grip on the market, the extensive marketing campaign for ChillFactor will continue in 2024, with new licensed developments also in the works. The all-new Flying Heroes collection launched in autumn/winter and global sales have got off to a flying start. This brand invites kids to select their favourite licensed flying hero, pull the rip cord handle and make the winged figure fly. From the 2023 line-up, Sonic has proved a real smash hit. In response to this success, Character is introducing an electronic Hover and Spin Sonic, alongside a new SpiderMan character. Character Options’ 2024 portfolio will be supported with substantial PR and marketing campaigns.

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Nuremberg Toy Fair

Magicbox

Hall 10, Stand D-31 01293 222 500 | www.magicboxint.com | sales@magicbox-toys.co.uk 2023 has been a solid year for SuperThings and Magicbox has even bigger plans for the brand in 2024. The new Evolution theme launches in mid-January, taking the range to a whole new dimension. Kids will be able to collect 90 new SuperThings including glow-in-the-dark characters and the ultra-rare SuperThing Galacticool: a bright comet star that will grant the wish of whoever catches him. New Wild Vehicles play sets will also land for Q1. Eagle Jet has a villain-capturing beak, firing mechanism and wings that move, whilst Scorpio Truck has hero-capturing rotating claws and a stinger that fires. KookyLoos, a range of dolls with three unique faces, has an exciting new look for 2024. The dolls will now come in individual window boxes that show off the characters and let people try out the fun of flipping each doll’s face. Spring’s Pet Party Series will be available in this new packaging, with eight characters to discover that come complete with their own signature glittery hairstyles and fashion outfits. Kids can switch the dolls’ expressions with a swipe of the finger. The dolls in this series also come with their own BFF pets to match their personality. These will be visible in the pack alongside the doll. Something new is also coming to the T-Racers portfolio. The all-new Mix ‘N Race Series will introduce a unique system that retains T-Racers’ status as the only collectible vehicles with a Mix ‘N Race function and will introduce sleek new car designs with an even cooler feel. Kids simply interchange the pieces to customise their own racing cars. The new series launches with 36 new car designs and will be available as single and triple car blister packs. As with all new launches, Magicbox’s commitment to strong delivery means all three brands will benefit from high-impact marketing throughout the spring.

Rubies

Hall 9, Stand D04 and Hall 12.2, Stand P24

uk.rubiesmasquerade.com customerservices@rubiesuk.com Rubies will be exhibiting its fresh new look and approach to dress-up for 2024 in Nuremberg. The Rubies team welcomes customers to its stand to find out more on its focus of encouraging play value all year round through 365 role-play product, upcoming retail solutions, new product lines and more. Rubies will showcase its brand-new licences, including David Walliams, Young Jedi Adventures and Hasbro ranges, all new for 2024. On top of new licences, Rubies will showcase its 365 and seasonal range product for 2024. The team will have previews of exclusive product for upcoming theatrical releases including Captain America, Deadpool and Wolverine. For retail partners, from national chains down to independent shops, Rubies will be presenting new and innovative POS solutions. For the first time, visitors will be able to preview the plans and designs to take in-store offerings to new heights. From FSDUs to new packaging, the design refresh is planned to enhance retailers’ product offerings and elevate consumers’ shopping experiences. Rubies will be offering marketing partner packages in 2024 to support consumer campaigns for all occasions. From affiliate collaborations to social media enquiries, visitors to the Rubies’ stand can explore how the company can draw its large fanbase to retailers’ sales avenues. For more information, contact customerservices@rubiesuk.com for the UK or info@rubiesmasquerade.com for Germany and Northern Europe.

Hy-Pro

Hall 7, Stand C-29 01582 670 100 | www.zincsports.com Hy-Pro is an official licensee of some of the world’s biggest football clubs, such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as UEFA. The company offers a wide range of products including footballs, water bottles, table footballs, side bags and boot bags. Visitors to Spielwarenmesse will be able to experience one of Hy-Pro’s most exciting brand launches to date, which combines the thrill of Formula-E with the innovative world of e-scooters. Zinc has partnered and worked closely with the Formula-E team here in the UK to create an exclusive licensed product range which showcases the brand’s 15 years of product development experience and insight combined with the advancements of the all-electric racing championship. The slick new product range, available now, mirrors the Formula E ethos and brings the acceleration and exhilaration of electric cars to e-scooters with this aspirational and recognisable brand. At the core of the kids’ range is the Zinc Flyte line-up. Ideal for young children learning to ride, these sturdy scooters are a perfect and safe introduction to scooting for children just starting out on wheels. Parents are reassured by the model’s adjustable height options and easy-to-use rear footbrake, while the scooters come in a range of fun, vibrant colours. Hy-Pro predicts that consumer appetite for its fun and colourful Flyte range will continue to soar next year.

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One For Fun Hall 4, Stand F-95

0141 613 2525 | www.oneforfun.com | sales@oneforfun.com There’s plenty to look forward to in 2024 from One for Fun. The Tobar brand will continue to expand the ever-popular Scrunchems squishy range with new themes spanning everything stretchy, squishy, spikey, shiny and sparkly. There will be even more emphasis on sensory lines too, such as the new, exclusively designed Fortune Telling Squish Ball and calming Liquid Timers desk toys. More exotic animals join the Animigos World of Nature family. Consumer awards keep on coming for this plush range, with the realistic appeal and attractive price points of the line combining to create a winner with consumers of all ages. Each plush in the Animigos range includes an information booklet packed with facts on each animal. HGL is also adding to its pocket money line up with plenty of new squishy, squeezy and stretchy impulse buys. Micro Fidgetz has been a massive success this year, garnering several awards. Spielwarenmesse 2024 will welcome a fun combination sensory Squish Set, combining all HGL’s top sensory toys in one box. New for next year is a range of strange and wonderful squishy axolotl products. New lower pricing is available across best-selling lines within the Ozbozz scooter and pogo stick range, all of which are backed by top consumer awards to aid sell through. New distribution partner Dino Collecto is coming on board with a fresh range of plush dino themed playthings. These cute collectibles with added play value are expected to create a stir during the forthcoming show season. BB Junior benefits from new additions while Dream Beams introduces more collectible characters to the comforting glow-in-the-dark plush range. Visitors to the show can also view the Max Verstappen range from Maisto: Max keeps on winning, and One for Fun – the UK’s exclusive distributor - keeps on adding to its range of replica F1 cars. Maisto and Bburago will both enjoy a full stand at Nuremberg, at which visitors can see the entire UK range.

Brainstorm

Hall 12, Stand A-04, B-03 01200 445 113 | www.brainstormltd.co.uk Visitors to the Brainstorm stand can get their first look at new Brainstorm Toys lines including the Erupting Volcano Lab, which helps children learn about the science of volcanos. By combining two safe chemicals with water, children can create realistic red lava that will ooze down their volcano. A secret code is included that lets children can find out more explosive facts about the natural phenomenon. The kit includes the chemicals required to carry out the experiment, a volcano base, safety goggles, measuring cup, spoon and syringe, and is suitable for ages eight and up. The new Sketch & Glow range comes in two initial themes: Fairytale and Space. Young artists simply insert one of nine themed tracing cards into a handy lanyard and use the coloured pens provided. A multi-coloured light effect will bring the designs to life and the lanyard makes it easy to create art on-the-go. Kids simply use a cloth to wipe the pad clean before starting again. The Outdoor Adventure Metal Detector joins the Outdoor Adventure range. An ideal detector for budding detectorists aged six and up, this lightweight, handheld detector features light and sound alerts and is 795mm long. The all-new Pocket Torch measures 11.6cm long and has a white LED light that can be used in the dark or for night-time reading. It also comes with a useful key chain accessory that can be used to attach it to belts and bags, making it great for school trips and outdoor adventures too. The Original Glowstars Company continues to expand its range with the Glow Stars 24-piece CDU, which is perfect for gift purchasers. Each pack includes eight high-quality plastic glowin-the-dark stars consumers can use to create a magical night sky on their walls and ceilings. They can also be used to accessorise schoolbooks, bags and furniture.

Wow! Stuff Hall 4A, Stand B-26

01902 390 428 | www.wowstuff.com Visitors to the Wow! Stuff stand at Spielwarenmesse will be able to discover a hot new sensory collectible for spring: Squash Pops. This delightfully creative collectible line is packed full of surprises and launches in the first quarter, with Marvel, Sonic and Wizarding World brands to discover. Each Squash Pop ball can be popped open to reveal a squishy, squashy putty, a character stamp, fun stickers and a secret bonus item. With four to collect from each world, kids will love hunting for new characters and discovering the special putty feature unique to each Squash Pop character: will it be Hermione and her glow-in-the-dark putty, or could it be Iron Man with his heat-activated colour changing putty? This new take on the established ‘collecta-balls’ trend is available in 24-pack dispensing CDUs. Nano Pods will continue to shake up the collectibles aisle with its all-new Wednesday range. Joining the line-up of iconic licensed characters in connectable collectible form, Wednesday is the smash-hit Netflix property kids simply can’t get enough of. There will be 12 characters to collect including everyone’s favourites The Thing, Morticia and Wednesday Addams herself. Next year’s biggest blockbuster release is to get the Real FX treatment. Just like the multi award-winning Real FX characters that came before, this exciting new release will look real, feel real and sound real. Retailers who have already been wowed in LA and New York sneak peeks will get to see the finished item on Wow! Stuff’s Nuremberg stand. According to Wow! Stuff, whose current Real FX lines are best-sellers at Walmart and other retailers, this line is set to become the company’s biggest hit yet. For more information, contact charlotte.smith@wowstuff.com (UK and EMEA) or sunny.walia@wowstuff.com (USA).

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Chengzhen International Hall 7A, Stand B-42

+ 852 2312 0610 | www.msztoys.com sales09@caipotoys.com Hong Kong based die-cast toy company, Chengzhen will be showcasing new models and new series in Spielwarenmesse, under its own brand MSZ (Metal Speed Zone). The 1:32 scale with realistic light and sound is the company’s best-selling series. When kids open the car doors or pull the back the car, the headlight and tail light will turn on, together with engine or horn sounds, enhancing play value. Chengzhen has more than 100 models, including new models such as the Maserati MC20, BMW 3.0 CSL and more, which will be on display. The 1:43 scale (approximately 4.5 inches) is another best-seller for the company. These models have opening doors and a pull-back function and are attractive to retailers due to their competitive pricing, which also makes them ideal entry level toys for consumers. With over 80 models available, ranging from dream cars like Lamborghini Aventador SVJ to iconic British SUVs like Land Rover Defender, children have a full selection to choose from and collect. This company launched the 1:64 series this year and feedback is already encouraging. Despite the presence of similar items in the market, MSZ models are officially licensed and have a unique feature of working wheel suspension, which is not available in competitors’ products. Chengzhen currently offers about 30 models in this line and plans to expand it further next year. In addition, the company has been developing a new series of Formula 1 cars in 1:24 scale which are expected to be a highlight in Nuremberg. The first team to be launched will be McLaren Racing, expected to be available around Q1 2024. These models will be highly detailed and authentic replicas of real racing cars. Other racing teams are also in the pipeline for future releases. For more information, contact Sam Chung at sales09@caipotoys.com

Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. Hall 10.1, Stand D-14

01753 271 737 | www.yugioh-card.com/uk In January 2024, Maze of Millennia is ready to ring in the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game’s 25th anniversary year, with a trip down memory lane. The new Yu-GiOh! TCG set is full of cards that trace their roots to the beloved animated series; what’s more, these monsters could only be found in the anime until now. Maze of Millennia is full of cards that are finally making the jump from the screen to card cases. That includes cards spanning many of the different Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series that have graced TVs and had fans on the edge of their seats for the last few decades. From Pegasus’ Eye of Illusion to the unseen evil of Clorless, Chaos King of Dark World, Duelists can enjoy dozens of new cards which first appeared in or were inspired by the many worlds of Yu-Gi-Oh! There’s something for everyone in Maze of Millennia, no matter which decade they grew up in. For those looking to put their Decks to the test, Maze of Millennia also promises some of today’s must-have tournament-level cards. With last year’s thrilling return of the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’s competitive scene going from strength to strength, Maze of Millennia is expected to prove popular even with those Dueling at the top level. The complete Maze of Millennia set contains 85 cards: 11 Ultra Rare cards, 16 Super Rare cards and 57 Rare cards – and one Quarter-Century Secret Rare card to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the card game. 16 cards will also be available as Collector’s Rares. Maze of Millennia is scheduled to release on 18th January 2024 and there are plenty more surprises to look forward to. Attendees at Spielwarenmesse can check out Maze of Millennia alongside many other Yu-Gi-Oh! products including the 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection.

Simba Smoby

Hall 6, Stands C-03 & C-09 01620 674 778 | www.simba-dickie-group.de/en | sales@simbasmoby.com Simba introduces new collectible offering, Bloxies. Billed as the ultimate impulse purchase, these colourful cube-shaped toys have two-in-one functionality and wide-reaching marketing support. Series One lets kids discover 27 characters, including exclusive and rare styles to enhance collectability. Each Bloxie has its own movements: kids can push the top to see moving arms and eyes, a wagging tail, an opening mouth and more. These unique movements further drive repeat purchase, as kids race to discover them all. Bloxies can be stacked on top of each other and nce stacked, pressing the top makes the Bloxies perform their different movements in sync. Smoby will also have plenty to offer this spring. Families can look forward to new launches, including the Smoby Activity Wall. This set up is perfect for smaller outdoor spaces, with lots to keep children entertained: there are games to enjoy, such as noughts and crosses and a throwing activity, while the modular system allows parents to create a different circuit every day using the gutter, reservoir, rocker and paddle wheel pieces. Children will enjoy rolling balls down the wall and watching water flow through the circuit. Another addition to Simba’s outdoor portfolio is KraXXL. This customisable climbing system offers children aged three- to seven-years-old endless play possibilities at price points not usually seen in the climbing frames market. There are three sets to pick from - The Tower, The Frame and The Giant - each allowing families to create a unique sturdy design quickly and easily, thanks to its two-click system clips. The plastic frame is blow moulded for strength and stability. Each set comes with instructions showing different ways of figuring and re-configuring the climbing system, offering a variety of experiences for children. Straight from the MonsterVerse, the Godzilla Vs Kong Walking RC from Jada is a figure that really walks, and its tail and eyes light up before an atomic breath attack. Other features include tail-whip action, roaring and stomping sounds.

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Mattel

Hall 12.2, Stand P-15 01628 500 000 | www.mattel.com Since 1959, Barbie – the world’s No. 1 fashion doll - has inspired girls to be anything. In 2024, the brand will roll out a full year of 60th anniversary activities to celebrate the icon. Fans should look out for even more purposeful campaigns and product, new category launches, and more fun with fashion. It’s Barbie’s Birthday and everyone is invited. Hot Wheels die cast cars are the No. 1 selling toy in the world and the brand continues to ignite the Challenger Spirit in kids and adults alike. Its Challenge Accepted brand campaign, plus new category launches including Skate, will continue to drive engagement with fans of all ages. After its anniversary year, Matchbox continues to add newness with product introductions. Fisher-Price continues to build on its Smilestones brand campaign, helping parents celebrate the little victories and the fact that development happens naturally when fun leads the way. Supported with new product introductions to suit each Smilestone, the new category launches will also bolster the success of this leading infant and pre-school brand. Thomas & Friends’ brand campaign, Laying Tracks to Success, continues for 2024, driving the purposeful message exploring the benefits of train play on children’s development. Innovative new toy launches will introduce added excitement, helping kids create their own adventures with Thomas & Friends. The wider Mattel dolls portfolio continues to see success, with Polly Pocket celebrating her 35th anniversary with new themed compacts. Monster High continues to expand with new dolls and unboxing fun, while the successful launch of the Mattel Disney Princess range continues with new Frozen dolls and the introduction of the Wish range, based upon the movie which recently arrived in cinemas. WWE grows with new packaging and increased articulation of the basic figures, plus new launches from Jurassic World, Minecraft and Mattel Plush. Fisher-Price Imaginext welcomes launches spanning Batman to Jurassic World, while Mega introduces new products with Pokémon and Mattel Games adds to its classics with Uno Show ‘Em No Mercy and Pictionary vs AI.

Wilton Bradley Hall 7, Stand B11-C12

www.wiltonbradley.com laetitia.westerman@wiltonbradley.com With over 25 years of expertise, Wilton Bradley specialises in the design, development, distribution and marketing of quality consumer products in the toy, sports and outdoor leisure markets. With a portfolio of over 4,000 products, the company also designs, develops and manufactures OEM products for an array of other brand owners. Nuremberg Toy Fair will see Wilton Bradley unveil new developments under several of its key brands for autumn/winter 2024, carefully developed under its core values of fun, innovation and quality. Xootz, its leading wheeled toy brand, already delivers a full range of superb specifications and features for all ages, as well as offering competitive pricing and being recognised with a host of awards. The Xootz Bumper Car ride-on has claimed the top spot as the No. 1 item in the Battery-Operated Ride-Ons category in the UK (August YTD value sales), whilst the Viper Pedal Go Kart secured the No. 1 position in this category throughout 2022 and from January to August 2023 (Source Circana UK Retail Tracker). With proven success in Go Karts and Electric Ride-ons, the new Cyclone Drifter will be showcased at Nuremberg with a 36V battery and speeds of up to 16km/h. Playhouse, an indoor and outdoor creative play brand, offers a beautifully crafted range of wooden mud kitchens and indoor role-play lines, and now also hosts Waterwall – a superb STEM item with limitless combinations that teach kids about gravity, angles and waterflow. Waterwall encourages problem-solving skills and for autumn/winter 2024, introduces the Play Tray and Pop Up Playtown, bringing even more creativity, messy play and role-play magic to the range. Power Play continues to deliver competitive fun with a range of table games across different sizes. With the new additions of a 3ft table across Air Hockey, Pool and Table Football, the whole family can join the league. With other brands such as MiMic, Sew Amazing, Little Roots and Grasshopper Garden Games amongst many more, Wilton Bradley covers a wide array of product categories and draws on trends in technology whilst also encouraging traditional play patterns. The range has something for everyone; from social media streamers to thrill seekers and craft addicts.

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Sambro

Hall 12, Stand G17 (31) 20 363 2090 | www.sambro.co.uk | sales@sambro.com Sambro International will be returning to Nuremberg Toy Fair for 2024 to showcase its extensive range of licensed and own-brand toys, with new ranges and licences to be unveiled. The award-winning innovator, which holds strong partnerships with key global licensors including Disney, Marvel, Hasbro and Paramount, will also share news and updates on some of its most recent licensed contracts including Universal, Acamar Films and Toikido. New for 2024, Sambro will launch a range of products from popular children’s TV show and franchise, Bing, as part of its three-year contract with Acamar Films. The range being rolled-out across UK and EU retailers include toys that encourage self- expression and exploration as well as sensory, creative and imaginative play. Messy play sand sets, My First art sets, along with make, mould and paint figures, will form part of the arts & crafts range whilst outdoor play items include waterfall sets, bubbles and inflatables. Sambro further strengthens its licensed offering with a range of collectible toys, featuring Gabby’s Dollhouse, Trolls and Minions in partnership with Universal. Further newness comes in the form of the extensive range of arts & crafts, stationery, bags, and novelty toys, themed around Toikido’s Smashlings, which will be widely available across EMEA territories. 2024 will be a year of anniversaries and celebrations for some of the world’s biggest brands including Barbie which turns 65 this year, SpongeBob with a 25th anniversary, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers which both celebrate a 40th anniversary milestone and Peppa Pig with her big 20th celebration bash. Hero products from these anniversary ranges include all new Peppa Pig arts & crafts ranges and celebration glitter plush, SpongeBob Puzzle Palz, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles novelty Ooze playset and novelty lines, plus Transformers plush and Puzzle Palz. Toys inspired by the latest pamper and make-up TikTok trends will be big for 2024 and Sambro will be working closely with Mattel as it expands its already successful range of Monster High arts & craft and creative play ranges – including a new Monster High Secret Journal, packed full of spooky surprises. Following on from a successful year of sales across plush in which Sambro has gained traction in the special feature plush category, Sambro will also unveil its own range of plush products, which will feature collectible, fruit-scented soft toys, nostalgic rag dolls and adorable sleepy pets, which will launch at retail in autumn/winter 2024.

Diramix

Hall 5, Stand D-67 sales@diramix.com Founded in 2013, Diramix focuses on collectible products for Italian newsstands. Over the past 10 years, the company has acquired a leading position in the newsstand market, producing highly successful toy ranges for Italian children such as The Epic Animals, Squishy La Pasta Magica, Dragon Ball Lamincard and, among others, Bing and Me Contro Te sticker albums. In the last four years, Diramix has also expanded globally thanks to MonsterFlex, a line of stretchable characters now distributed in over 35 countries worldwide. The MonsterFlex brand was created with the intention of bringing children's favourite monsters into every home, with a unique and eye-catching design at affordable prices. The character design takes place in-house, with the help of highly experienced illustrators and 3D designers. In addition to the focus on design, the tactile and playing needs of kids were taken into account when developing MonsterFlex. The aim was to present characters that appeal to children's imaginations, and to combine this element with manual play demands. MonsterFlex characters are both stretchable and malleable to stimulate imagination and role-play, encouraging kids to create stories and battles while playing alone or with others. This successful approach has seen MonsterFlex reach its sixth series, to which the Dino, Aqua and Combat spin-offs, as well as the Mini and Maxi versions, were added. More recently, MonsterFlex has been joined by renowned evergreen properties such as DC Superheroes and Dragon Ball Super. The Dragon Ball Super MonsterFlex range was created under the supervision of Toei Animation and Shueishua to bring the highest level of detail to fans of the series. The range includes Goku and Vegeta as well as other iconic characters such as Future Trunks, Piccolo, Jiren and Golden Frieza. Dragon Ball continues to garner acclaim from generation to generation, making it a property of choice for Diramix. 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball and the year will be packed with celebrations. This year saw the addition of Stumble Guys to Diramix’s portfolio. Alongside card and sticker collections for the Italian market, 3D mini figures (three different series of 26 models) and MonsterFlex stretchable characters were produced for global debut in all markets. Stumble Guys is a successful multiplayer video game created in 2020 and available on several platforms. The variety of characters and settings make Stumble Guys an adrenaline-pumping and immersive game, offering multiple possibilities for product development.

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Commotion

Hall 12, Stand A-04-6 01732 225821 | www.commotion.co.uk info@commotion.co.uk Commotion will return to the 2024 Nuremberg Toy Fair to showcase highlights from its innovative range of educational toys, and to unveil 30 new lines to kickstart the coming year. Commotion’s complete catalogue boasts an eclectic mix of toys designed to engage children of all ages and abilities. From sensory toys for babies, to tactile activities for toddlers and open-ended play sets for older children, the company offers products that not only entertain but also educate. Its product development team diligently designs or sources every toy, ensuring that it meets the highest standards of quality, safety and educational value. This means that when a reseller chooses to stock Commotion's products, they are guaranteed offerings that are both marketable and meaningful. Commotion's partnership with resellers goes beyond supply. The company believes in nurturing relationships, offering a suite of support services to help its partners thrive. Commotion’s dedicated and experienced Account Management team provides market insights to inform product selection, promotional materials to boost sales and training sessions to ensure that resellers can articulate the unique selling points of each product. This holistic approach has earned the company the loyalty of countless resellers who view Commotion not just as a supplier, but as a strategic partner. The pride of Commotion’s range is its own TickiT brand, designed and developed in-house in close consultation with specialist advisors across the education spectrum. The objective of every single product is to inspire children’s natural curiosity, broaden their knowledge and aid development as they learn through play. Among the stars of the 2024 show will be highly anticipated new additions to TickiT’s existing ranges, extending play value and allowing greater selection flexibility. Joining the hugely popular Discovery range, the new Wooden Town, Jurassic, Space and Castle Discovery Dividers are designed to be used inside the Sensory Mood Discovery Table or on the floor to create small world play scenes and encourage an understanding of the different landscapes of our past and future. The chunky wooden picture block sets (Sea Life, Amphibian, Minibeast and Wild Animal) are crafted with real photographic images, full of colourful detail and created to inspire conversations about animals, their habitats and the environment. There will be Translucent Colour Bugs, Shells, Jewels and Fish counters – vibrant, detailed, excellent quality and a fun addition to maths activities, imaginative play scenes and light panel play. A Woodland Trail Treehouse, Wooden Dinosaur Blocks, Wooden Lacing Shapes and more are also in the pipeline for the Discovery range and can be viewed at Commotion’s stand.

Connetix

Hall 4, Stand F-54 www.connetixtiles.com | wholesale@connetixtiles.com Connetix is an Australian, family-owned business creating award-winning, STEAM accredited magnetic tiles designed to spark creativity and imagination. This year, Connetix is excited to return to both Toy Fair London and Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg for the second year running. Founded in 2019 by a masters qualified early childhood educator and an entrepreneur with a background in engineering, Connetix is proud to bring to market unique, high-quality magnetic tiles where play and learning connect. Made from non-toxic, ABS plastic, free from BPA, lead and phthalates, Connetix is internationally safety rated and manufactured with ultrasonic welding and rivets to make magnetic tile play safer for little hands. The unique bevel design provides added durability and clearer refractions. The Connetix stand will be full of vibrant colours, hands-on interactions and even some Aussie icons. Visitors can dive into an immersive sensory experience as the team exhibits its innovative designs, including a chance to see the newest releases in person, and experience first-hand the magic of open-ended toys and how Connetix supports children to learn through play. The company’s Play Experts will be available to share insight into the rich learning and development opportunities Connetix play promotes. From the beginning, there has always been an aim to be a high-quality, respected brand that works in partnership with both consumers and retailers. This involves providing highquality toys that the whole family can enjoy, delivering incredible customer service and cultivating valuable partnerships with retailers. Surpassing expectations in these areas has seen Connetix amass a loyal customer and retailer base, along with a significant organic following on social media. Connetix innovative ideas and product range has garnered global recognition, seeing the brand receive both nominations and coveted awards in the toy industry. As well as sparking creativity and imagination, the products provide opportunity for children to discover STEAM learning principles in an interactive way. The brand creates and offers free resources, blogs by educational experts and video tutorials through its website, Pinterest and YouTube channels. The uniquely bevelled magnetic tiles will be on display in three colour ranges – vibrant rainbow, earthy pastel and the clear range.

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Skillmatics Hall 10.1, Stand F-21

01244 940 200 / 07764 369 245 www.skillmaticsworld.com david.kelly@skillmaticsworld.com Following a successful Spielwarenmesse 2023, Skillmatics is excited to bring its new range of award-winning products to the visitors of the 2024 event. This year, the company has expanded into multiple categories such as Arts & Crafts, Pool Toys and Pretend Play, and one of its new launches, Foil Fun, was chosen as a Toy of The Year awards finalist and featured on Good Morning America. Skillmatics’ Foil fun is a magical sticker art activity set comprising 10 themed canvases, each of which comes complete with over 100 foil stickers and sheets. Available in best-selling evergreen themes including space, animals, unicorns and princesses, Foil Fun is already ranked No. 3 in the Toys & Games category on Amazon. Games to look out for include Who Knows You Best, a hilarious family bonding game; Seek and Splash, an action-packed underwater diving game; and Piece and Play, a giant all-inone floor puzzle and game. The company’s flagship product, Guess in 10, is an award-winning trivia game available in best-selling versions such as Animals, Marvel and Countries. There is now a Harry Potter version too. With 3m units sold worldwide and over 60,000 positive reviews, Guess in 10 is the perfect go-to game for all family game nights. Skillmatics expects very big things from Guess in 10 Harry Potter in the months ahead. While Skillmatics continues to grow its product range across all learning and play categories, the company is also introducing its very own range of adult and teen games. The Gouda Games line-up will sit under parent company Grasper Global and will target a completely different audience. Designed by Skillmatics’ global team of gaming experts, Gouda Games sets out to redefine entertainment with innovative, fun games developed especially for teens and young adults. The three Gouda Games being presented at the show are Uncoated, Big Bad Bowl and Baffling Bowl, all of which offer great opportunities for face-to-face interaction and ice breaking.

HTI Toys

Hall 12.2, Stand P.09 01253 778 888 | www.htigroup.co.uk HTI Toys will be returning to Nuremberg to present its extensive product lines. The Teamsterz brand has again shown incredible growth since the last show – the huge investment in developing new toys for the vehicle brand and the introduction of new innovative lines means Teamsterz will form over 50% of the stand. Showcasing for the first time at Nuremberg will be the new Beast Machine hero line: the Pirate Ship. Setting sail for 2024, this product is jam packed with features. Like other areas of Teamsterz, the pre-school ranges have also seen continuous expansion, with 2024 seeing the addition of a new pre-school category: Chunky Trucks, the perfect play mate for every car enthusiast 18 months and above, featuring cute, chunky plastic rescue team designs. The ever-growing Teamsterz Colour Change sub-category launches a new playset, Brain Wash, which includes a Colour Change Beast Machines car. Users fill the translucent, squishy brain with water and load the Colour Change car to the back of the skull, release the water by squeezing the brain and pull down the lever to watch the eyes spin and the Colour Change car fly. Colour Change cars are temperature activated. The Evo team continues to raise the (handle) bar with innovative and inspiring additions to the 2024 line-up, offering all round scooter solutions for all its partners and various distribution channels. Evo is expanding the range this season with targeted areas of innovation; this year sees the injection of new trend-driven Dinosaur themed battery-operated vehicles. As Peppa Pig’s established role-play partner, HTI Toys’ popular collection has continuously expanded. With a focus on value positioned products that are packed with features, a notable addition to the line-up for 2024 is Peppas Keyboard. Kids create music by pressing on the colourful keys and switching between different modes to hear realistic piano sounds and recognisable character phrases from the show. HTI and Bluey’s recent role-play alliance has been a huge success, with new lines being added every season. A hero line of this range is available for 2024: Bluey’s Camera. Kids can take the perfect selfie with the lens mirror, using the clicker spinner to create a colourful world when looking through the viewfinder. The soft, easy grip handles make it perfect for small hands. HTI Toys is a proud partner of the nursery brand, Chicco, creating a range of replica toys under the Baby Chic brand to encourage nurturing role-play. New for 2024 is the Chicco Ulala Playtime Pushchair, with features such as a detachable table with bead maze, a removable cup holder and an adjustable hood. Epic Fun is a rapidly expanding brand for HTI Toys; the range of traditional family games with a modern twist remains extensive, with exciting additions of licensed character games. In the last 12 months, HTI has seen the launch of the new Stretcherz range, filled with different stretchy beasts and monsters to collect and stretch.

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berg NuremFair Toy Stand Hall 12 4-6 A- 0

Home of educational play

Designed to be engaging and open-ended, tickit® toys support the curiosity approach, encourage inquiry-based play and allow little ones to develop their learning potential. Our innovative range offers fun, high quality, educational toys for all ages and abilities. Owned & distributed by Commotion Ltd. For information about becoming a tickit® reseller visit:

www.commotion.co.uk

Nuremberg Toy Fair

EWA Eco-Wood-Art Hall 10.1, Stand B-10

www.ewaecowoodart.com | sales@eco-wood-art.com EWA Eco-Wood-Art specialises in producing high-quality wooden 3D mechanical puzzles, wooden jigsaw puzzles and wooden interior maps. The company will be exhibiting at the Spielwarenmesse toy fair and will showcase EWA’s latest product samples, packaging and catalogues. The company’s in-house team of skilled engineers is committed to creating unique and challenging puzzles that are not only fun to assemble but also aesthetically pleasing. EWA Eco-Wood-Art has been operating for over seven years, during which time is has produced more than 150 unique models. The company’s popular products have been shipped to more than 40 countries around the world, and EWA continues to expand its reach and impact globally. It is dedicated to providing its customers with high-quality, sustainably-made puzzles that challenge and inspire creativity. EWA takes pride in its attention to detail, using up-to-date technology to craft intricate designs that are sure to impress. Recent launches include the mechanical wooden truck, Road King, and a complementary wooden Tilt Semitrailer for the Road King. The Road King kit includes 478 precision-cut wooden pieces that fit together seamlessly to create a beautiful and functional wooden truck. Once assembled, builders simply wind up the gears and watch as the truck moves forward. Not just an impressive decoration for any home or office, the Road King is also an engaging and fun construction project and the perfect model for fans of vehicles and trucking. The Tilt Semitrailer kit adds an extra element of fun and functionality. With 286 parts, this wooden trailer can be attached to the truck and tilted to transport cargo. EWA’s Grain Harvesting Combine puzzle, meanwhile, is the epitome of wooden 3D puzzles, being made from high-quality wood that ensures durability and longevity. With 864 pieces in total, this expert level build provides a challenging yet enjoyable experience, and its four speed settings set it even further apart from the competition. The combine is a great gift for anyone who loves puzzles and farming or simply appreciates the beauty of machinery. It is also an excellent addition to any home, adding a touch of rustic charm to any room and blending seamlessly with any decor. The Grain Harvesting Combine GH800 wooden jigsaw puzzle is not only a stunning work of art but also comes beautifully packaged in a stylish black box. The sleek and sophisticated packaging makes it an ideal gift for any occasion, from birthdays to Christmas or even as a housewarming present.

Golden Bear Toys Hall 6, Stand C-39

01952 608 308 | www.goldenbeartoys.com customerservices@goldenbeartoys.co.uk Golden Bear has been delighting children and families for over four decades with its wide range of innovative and awardwinning products, and will be unveiling a host of new launches at Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Golden Bear’s evergreen sports brand, Smart Ball, continues be a top performer, with 600,000 products sold across the range since launch in the UK alone. Golden Bear has continued to drive the successful Smart Ball brand with the launch of Soccer Bot following significant investment into consumer research and data-driven insights which identified a key gap in the market for indoor active play. Soccer Bot is the ultimate indoor football trainer, using smart sensor technology to keep track of the football and try and tackle it from the player. Since launching in 2023, Soccer Bot has surpassed expectations and doubled its sales projections. As a result, the Smart Ball range has grown 60% YoY and is now a staple in the company’s portfolio. Golden Bear plans to further expand its product offering for this range. Since arriving in toy stores in summer 2022, Golden Bear’s animatronic plush range, Curlimals, has gone from strength to strength, superseding sales forecasts within the first 12 months of launch by 100%. This pioneering plush brand continues to grow, with Golden Bear showcasing autumn/winter 2024 launch, Mommy & Mimi, at Nuremberg. With this adorable hedgehog family, kids can watch Mommy uncurl to reveal a surprise baby hedgehog nestled on her tummy. Responding to touch, with over 100 sounds and reactions, the pair can interact with children and with one another. Stroking Mommy’s head, rocking them gently or placing Mimi on Mommy’s tummy causes them to interact with loving words, songs and kissing noises. An exciting new feature for Curlimals, Mommy’s cheeks light up and Mimi’s tummy glows when they’re both content and happy. Golden Bear continues to expand its presence in the games arena with a mix of family, party and tabletop games. The company will unveil a variety of new additions throughout 2024 including Wheel You Dare, The Psychopath Test, What’s Your Favourite Toe, Fart Yoga and Glow Games. These games offer a variety of entertainment for the whole family with quizzes, challenges, skill-based games, interactive games, and those providing pure hysteria. All games will be supported by PR and benefit from tailored marketing plans. Central to its ongoing business growth, Golden Bear continues its long-term licensing partnerships with Acamar. Exciting expansion for Bing is on the horizon, as Golden Bear prepares to launch the brand in France and Greece in 2024. Contact Claire Vernon to make an appointment at Spielwarenmesse: c.vernon@goldenbeartoys.co.uk

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Invite children to explore light and shadow relationships and principles like contrast, color, and transparency with Guidecraft’s new Light and Color sets. In addition, extensions of the Discovery line feature an upgrade from classic nesting shapes, now available in eco-conscious Poly+ or translucent, colorful plastic to enhance building and sensory play indoors and outdoors.

Nuremberg 2024 Hall 4 Stand D50-C51 300618 Discovery Circles - Primary 300657 Light and Color Geo - 12 pc. Set

300658 Light and Color Disc 24 pc. Set

www.guidecraft.com

300621 Discovery Triangles - Natural 300657 Light and Color Geo - 12 pc. Set

Sales Rep: Lorna Smith (EMEA) Email: lsmith@guidecraft.com

Phone: +44 (0) 7725833273 Skype: lorna.smith966

Nuremberg Toy Fair

Hasbro

Hall 4A, Stand C-30, D-31 0208 569 1234 | www.hasbro.co.uk In 2024, Hasbro will continue to innovate and expand the ways it brings its brands to life. Through an impressive array of toys, games and product innovations, Hasbro will be showcasing key product launches and new innovations across brands including Nerf, Transformers, Monopoly, Hasbro Gaming, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Peppa Pig, Play-Doh, My Little Pony and more. Visitors to the stand will be invited to view the company’s latest line-up, with entertainment inspired products, games with cross generational appeal, kidult items and hands-on play experiences. The brand-new Monopoly Knockout game is a family party game of sliding tokens and cash-grabbing fun. Players play in rounds, taking turns sliding their tokens down the three-feet long gameboard and trying to land them on properties. Players can either collect cash or be forced to pay up based on where their token ends up. This party game is great for family gatherings and game nights. Following the return of the iconic Furby in 2023, Hasbro will be showcasing the brand-new Furby Furblets at the show. Available in six different varieties, Furby Furblets are mini Furby electronic toys that sing and harmonise together, and even pair with Big Furby for a special interaction. With over 45 fun tunes, sounds and Furbish phrases to discover, kids can clip Furblets to a backpack or other travel bag with the keychain clip anywhere they go.

The Lego Group Hall 12.2, Stand P-01

01753 495 000 | www.lego.com The Lego Group recently announced its first ever build experience based upon the Dune universe, from Legendary Entertainment and based on Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's masterpiece. The Lego Icons Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter brings one of the most iconic aircraft from the Spice-filled sci-fi epic to life in Lego brick form. As part of the new 1,369-piece build, fans of Dune will be able to recreate the dynamic dragonfly-inspired design of an Ornithopter like never before, with functional blades on the aircraft that can flap and retract with a 180-degree rotation. Measuring 9” (23 cm) high, 22” (57 cm) long and 31” (79 cm) wide, the Ornithopter features foldable landing gear. The set also comes with eight all-new Lego Minifigures of key characters from Dune including Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck, Chani, Leto Atreides, Liet Kynes, Duncan Idaho, and Baron Harkonnen in his long robe. The Lego Icons Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter creates an amazing toy or display piece for fans of Frank Herbert’s original Dune novels or Denis Villeneuve’s recent hit film franchise. Dune: Part Two is set to arrive in cinemas from March 15th 2024. Part of the Lego Sets for Adults range, the Lego Icons Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter goes on sale from the 1st February 2024. The Lego Icons Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter is the latest is in a long line of impressive new licensed builds from The Lego Group and joins the biggest set within the Lego Marvel collection to date – the iconic Lego Marvel Avengers Tower set. The new set is based on the iconic Avengers Tower from the Marvel movie franchise. Formerly Stark Towers, home of Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Pepper Potts (Rescue), the Manhattan high-rise tower became the home of the Avengers – earth’s mightiest heroes – following the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D, and served as the team’s main headquarters, as well as the research and development hub, until the Ultron Offensive saw the team move to a refurbished former Stark warehouse upstate. The tower saw plenty of action during its use by the Avengers, being badly damaged during the Battle of New York in the first official Avengers movie, The Avengers (2012). This 5,201-piece set stands as the tallest Lego brick-built skyscraper ever made. It also includes 31 Lego figures, the most ever included in one Lego set, including all the iconic characters from Infinity Saga, as well as a Leviathan, the Quinjet and two Chitauri flyers, plus an exclusive Lego minifigure of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. The Tower build also includes authentic action on every floor and, standing more than 35.5″ (90 cm) tall, the model is filled to the roof with memorable scenes and an all-star cast of characters.

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Zapf Creation and MGA Entertainment Hall 12.2, Stand P-08

0845 0533 333 | www.mgae.com Zapf Creation and MGA Entertainment are delighted to be returning to the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Exhibiting new product launches from much-loved toy brands, attendees will get an exclusive look at what’s new for Baby Annabell, Baby born, L.O.L Surprise!, Rainbow High, Little Tikes, Miniverse and brand-new brand, Fluffie Stuffiez. Leading the market in nurturing play for over 90 years, Zapf Creation is home to some of the UK’s best-loved dolls that support social, emotional and physical development, with a focus on nurturing and imaginative play. Both Baby Annabell and Baby born will be showcasing the full 2024 line-up at Nuremberg, accompanied by fun demonstrations of its new items. Zapf Creation is also proud to continue to fulfil its plastic free packaging pledge of producing new items in showbox open packaging. Since changing its packaging to plastic free, there has been a great response from retailers and customers alike, who have praised the move to paper packaging alternatives. 2023 has been a strong year for Baby born, following a positive launch in spring 2023 into the growing plush category with the new Baby born Bear. Zapf Creation will continue to extend this range in 2024, resulting in even more playtime possibilities. As the collectible doll space also continues to grow, Zapf Creation successfully launched its Baby born Minis in 2023 – with commitment to further growth through an expansion of the range in 2024 with a new series of characters and playsets, including the introduction of exciting new horse-themed playsets. With extensions to the range, children can expand their existing collections even further. The brand has also successfully brought the world of Baby born to life in its brand-new animated series. Viewers can watch 18 entertaining five-minute episodes, all featuring heartfelt, educational and funny storylines, set to a backdrop of original songs. The series, hosted on YouTube, features all key lines including the Baby born Bear, Baby born Magic Dolls – Emma and Eva - and Baby born Sisters and Brother. Moving into 2024, the brand is set to introduce Baby born City, which includes the Baby born City Snackshop and Baby born City E Scooter. In addition, Baby born Magic Dolls will see an extension to the range with new playsets, including the Lunch Time Table and Fruit Blender. Zapf Creation will also be developing its range for one-year olds, including adorable dolls with super soft fabrics, life-like baby sounds and functions specific for this age group. Maintaining its leading brand position as the number one nurturing doll brand, Baby Annabell has continued to create lasting childhood memories and special moments for youngsters across the world. Following the expansion of lines and new products year on year, Baby Annabell continues to be a firm household favourite for families. MGA Entertainment is set to attend Nuremberg with an abundance of new and exciting launches and product development across its brand portfolio. MGA Entertainment will be showcasing its innovation, creativity and new ways to play across its pillar brands such as L.O.L. Surprise!, Little Tikes and Rainbow High. The brand will also be widening its collections with patent-pending MGA’s Miniverse and its biggest innovation in plush with Fluffie Stuffiez.

Marvin’s Magic Hall 12.0, Stand C-02

marvinsmagic.com | www. magic@marvinsmagic.co.uk Having appointed a new CEO, Tom Hudson, this summer, London based company Marvin’s Magic is gearing up for the next generation of growth. In 2024 Marvin’s Magic will add to its Magic Collections by launching Instant Magic – a trademarked new range; and Instant Tricks, designed for Instant Impact that will allow youngsters to learn magic “In an Instant” – perfect for the Instagram and TikTok generation. This range will launch with an exciting marketing strategy that will see the brand partner with social media stars from around the world. The company is also adding to its Magical Arts & Crafts ranges with the new 3D Pop-Up Posters – a creative item to be uniquely decorated and coloured in and then constructed to make knock-out 3D images. Where the company is most excited, however, is in the investment it’s making in its Wicked Pranks & Jokes range. These collections are designed to be spooky, scary, outrageous and hilarious. Classic pranks that families know and love will combine with brand new innovations. The range will have a complete facelift and give retailers the opportunity to capitalise on this underrepresented category. Pocket money pranks will be promoted in display units for easy merchandise and pickups, and the larger collections of jaw dropping pranks will form a key part of the brand’s famous Retail-Theatre ranges, promoted by expert demonstrations in some of the world’s most famous toy stores. Expanding its European offering, Marvin’s Magic has translated its top ten items into German, French, Italian and Spanish, and looks forward to meeting distributors in Nuremberg. The easy to follow video instructions via the Marvin’s Magic app is a great addition for non-English speakers, showcasing top-tech-wizardry, augmented reality and cutting-edge Smart Magic for Smart Devices. Marvin Berglas, who is also the newly elected president of the Magic Circle, will be at Spielwarenmesse to inspire visitors’ imaginations.

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Price-cutting has been a hot topic in recent weeks, with a variety of retailers adopting a fairly aggressive stance on pricing – and this was a long way before Black Friday. But even allowing for the traditional ‘cut and thrust’ of discounting, Sainsburys’ stood out with this year’s half-price sale deals, which saw hot lines reduced not once, but in some cases three or four times over the course of a week. Big brand names, exclusives, product from movies that haven’t even hit cinemas yet…nothing was off limits. First there was a sale, then a clearance, then a price drop on the clearance. The upshot was that some very high-profile items that started around £70RRP finished up on sale at £20 – a long way below the cost price, whichever way you look at it. Other retailers were less than impressed, and I doubt suppliers were exactly thrilled. Gone are the days when certain UK retailers would phone up suppliers to give them the hairdryer treatment (basically, an almighty rollicking, complete with ‘choice’ language) when something like this happened, but I bet there were a few uncomfortable calls the following week. Of course, there is nothing anyone can do to stop things like this from happening, especially with a time-limited promotion for which stock has been specifically purchased – but I suspect I know one retailer which won’t be in the running for Toy Retailer of the Year this time round… Time to cancel the Dave Middleton Funbus and tear up the contract for Toy World airlines; the North American Toy Fair won’t be moving to New Orleans in 2025 after all. Just like Toy World airlines, it was never going to fly. To be fair, the cancellation of the proposed move was widely expected after the initial reaction to the news, but just perhaps not that rapidly. To say the toy community wasn’t convinced would be an understatement – although credit to the Toy Association for not prevaricating and moving swiftly to respond to public opinion. The New Orleans announcement had actually succeeded in doing what no other option had done to that point – it unified the entire US and international toy communities. Unfortunately, it unified them in opposition to the move, rather than in support of it. So, we are essentially back to square one, with a plan for the North American Toy Fair to move back to its original home in New York during (or close to) its original February timeslot. But are there still some final twists to come? While that is the stated intention, we were told previously that this wasn’t an option – indeed, I gather that the slot which was vacated by Toy Fair was immediately snapped up by another exhibition organiser. Some interesting negotiations presumably lie ahead – could it come down to who is prepared to pay the most? We await further news on the 2025 date, hoping that it will be far enough away from the Nuremberg Toy Fair to avoid any undue inconvenience…

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In its email confirming the New Orleans cancellation, the Toy Association also said that it would be “actively exploring ways to support its members in LA”, starting next August / September. It will be fascinating to see how that support manifests itself; the LA trip has never been officially organized by anyone. In fact, the LA community almost prides itself on the fact that it is self-sufficient, and the gathering is in effect organized ‘by the toy community, for the toy community…’ As the big retail guns start blazing with festive TV ads and promotions, don’t forget the impact that the indies can have on spreading the word about new launches on social media. Golden Bear’s Barry Hughes sent me a recent TikTok post from Fagan Toys in Ireland, which showed their staff playing Smart Ball Soccer Bot on the shop floor. Within a matter of days, the post had already accrued a whopping 3.2m views, which just goes to show what can be achieved by any retailer these days, regardless of their size and marketing budget. Sure, we all love the high profile, high budget Christmas ads, but there is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat… The annual DreamToys media event remains vitally important – in many respects, it fires the starting pistol on the race to the finishing line. Some have wondered whether the event should take place earlier, but in a year like this – when sales across September and October have been on the soft side – it seems perfectly timed, allowing the toy community to get the message out when it can have maximum impact on consumer behaviour. There will always be minor gripes about DreamToys (which toys make the list, the focus on the larger toy companies, the venue etc), but in the end, only two things really matter: does the event drive media coverage and is there a spike in toy sales as a result? This year’s coverage was certainly decent: over 250 print and online articles, including most of the key nationals, plus almost 100 radio mentions. TV coverage is a bit thinner on the ground than it used to be, but times have changed. Crucially, when you compare coverage levels to media interest in the individual retailer’s top toy lists which have been announced over the past couple of months, Dream Toys wins hands down – it delivers consumer eyeballs in a way that the individual lists don’t. Sure, there may have been a couple of key omissions from the list, but when you have to whittle hundreds of fantastic toys down to a final list of 20, there will always be some great lines which miss the cut by a whisker. However, while toy companies love to make the DreamToys list (and others are understandably disappointed when they don’t), the most important message is about getting consumers off the couch and into stores to buy toys – not just those on the list, but every other toy on shelf. If Dream Toys is a success, everyone wins.

Toy World Magazine December 2023

Articles inside

Allegedly

Company Profile - Skillmatics

Feature - Nuremberg Toy Fair

Brand Profile - Teddy Bears

Special Feature - Steve Totzke

Special Feature - Precise TV

Fresh

Company Profile - Curious Universe

Brand Profile - Asmodee

Company Profile - Libertas

Company Profile - Rubies

Talking Shop

Circana - Insight

Opinion - Generation Media

Industry Moves

From the Publisher