From the publisher

As we enter the second half of the year, things are undoubtedly hotting up – both literally and metaphorically speaking. It certainly took its time, but thankfully summer has finally arrived here in the UK. The major retailer whose outdoor buyer was allegedly asking toy suppliers for markdown money in May is hopefully shifting stock like hot cakes now that a prolonged spell of decent weather has finally arrived.

Summer also traditionally heralds the release of major blockbuster movies, and this year’s crop of cinematic hopefuls sees ‘toyetic’ movies strongly represented – forget ‘hot girl summer’, this year is very much ‘hot toy movie summer’. We recently shared the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer online, which I was really excited by: I am seriously looking forward to seeing the film in its entirety, and the animated series which follows next year is also shaping up to be impressive. The same goes for the Barbie movie, which looks like it is going to be an absolute blast. I caught up with Mattel’s Sanjay Luthra recently to hear all about the retail activations planned to coincide with the movie launch this month – and they truly sound epic. You can read more about the activity in our exclusive article on page 12.

With the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts movie getting off to a strong start at the box office, the next few months’ trading are set to be boosted by these heavily toyinfluenced movies. Retailers always talk about the need for a good craze to help drive footfall and excitement, and that will never go away; but in the (current) absence of an obvious new playground craze, these franchise movies will hopefully help to fill that gap.

Summer is also the time when a host of hot new autumn winter ranges start to be unveiled, and there are plenty of other brands that are making major contributions to toy retail sales: Pokémon and Squishmallows continue to thrive, while MGA’s Miniverse has got off to a strong start and here at Toy World, we are all big fans of Hasbro’s Twister Air, which launches next month. Also in the Tech Toys category, Spin Master’s Bitzee, Character Options’ Mintid Dog-E and Bandai’s Tamagotchi Uno have all been hotly tipped for success in the coming months – check out our feature on the Tech Toys category for all the latest on these and other new launches that will shortly be hitting shelves (see page 42).

And, of course, you can never omit Lego when talking about ranges that are driving toy sales. You can read all about Lego’s latest releases as part of our in-depth look at the Construction Toys category, which starts on page 80. Our other category features this month cover the Dress Up & Role Play and Stationery sectors, which both offer valuable incremental sales to toy retailers. Parents will soon be thinking about Back to School purchases: why should pure stationery retailers be the only beneficiaries? Ditto Costume retailers as Halloween approaches – toy retailers carrying a strong offering in this area can unquestionably capitalise all-year-round, but one-off events such as World Book Day and Halloween offer perfectly targeted opportunities to boost sales.

I am writing this month’s column having just returned from navigating the (fiercely air-conditioned) aisles of Mandalay Bay in downtown Las Vegas, where Licensing Expo has been taking place. Following on from Toy Fair Season, the April INDX and Toymaster May Shows plus Distoy, Licensing Expo proved to be yet another successful trade show, which reinforces the notion that trade events are getting back to their pre-pandemic ‘buzzy’ best. There is no doubt that things happen when you congregate en masse and meet face-to-face that would simply never materialise if we were all still constrained to meeting in the digital arena. Meetings are more productive, both sides are more engaged and there is always the possibility of random introductions that are unlikely to ever be pre-planned but can turn out to be very rewarding.

Someone made a very good point to me in Vegas: when you return after a week of 40+ organized meetings and numerous spontaneous conversations in the aisles, hotels, bars and airport lounges, you won’t necessarily remember every minute detail. But you will remember what you felt and what excited you – an emotional reaction that stays with you. You leave a trade show with a strong sense of which brands, properties and partners you want to work closer with – and hopefully a good connection that can be built on.

These invaluable one-to-one meetings over the first half of the year have set us up nicely for the back end – now we all need to keep our fingers crossed that consumer confidence starts to improve as we head towards the festive period. For now, enjoy the July issue - there is plenty of sizzling content to get your teeth into, so pull up a deckchair, crack open a beer or a bottle of rose and dive in. Here comes the summer!