Special Feature - Nuremberg Review

Embracing the Spirit of Play

Between 30th January - 3rd February, the global toy industry once again gathered at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre for Spielwarenmesse, the leading European trade fair for toys, games and kids’ products. Toy World reflects on this year’s show.

Following hot on the heels of London Toy Fair, Spielwarenmesse trade fair fully embraced the Spirit of Play across five (unusually mild) days. According to the fair’s organisers, Spielwarenmesse eG, the trade event welcomed 2,354 exhibitors from 68 countries, a notable 10% increase on the 2023 iteration, including foreign delegations from the UK, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the USA and South America.

The official visitor number this year is 57,000 from 125 countries, a drop of 1,000 versus the Spielwarenmesse 2023. However, many attendees across the show told Toy World’s John Baulch, Mark Austin and Rachael SimpsonJones that this year’s show felt a little quieter, particularly on the Tuesday. There are a couple of logical reasons why this could have been the case. Firstly, this year is the first that the show has run from Tuesday-Saturday rather than Wednesday-Sunday: perhaps visitors are simply used to the Wednesday being their first day? Secondly, and perhaps more likely, word had spread prior to the fair’s opening that the GDL rail drivers' union had announced a six-day strike, which unfortunately was due to coincide with the day before the show opened, when many overseas travellers would have been planning to arrive. Though ultimately called off, it’s more than likely some visitors hastily rearranged their travel plans in order to miss any disruption.

It's all a little subjective, of course. How busy you consider the show to be depends on your location within your hall, who you are and what you’re showcasing. Mattel’s Sanjay Luthra, for example, told Toy World he was oblivious to any concerns about footfall, so heaving was the company’s stand in Hall 12.2, while MGA Entertainment’s restaurant was practically standing room only, as people grabbed a quick bite either before or after their tour. Steve Cox, meanwhile, UK senior sales manager at Connetix, says that while it certainly wasn’t his first rodeo, it was definitely his busiest.

Christian Ulrich, spokesperson of the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG, noted in a post-show release that China, one of the most important consumer markets, was able to re-establish its very high pre-pandemic levels – something he had said he hoped would come to pass during interviews with Toy World in late 2023. Christian also reports that central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Ukraine have acquired a ‘dynamism that compensates to some extent for Russia’s absence’. The USA, meanwhile, which was already showing strong potential last year, is now among the top 10 countries for visitor delegations. Across all five days of the fair, Spielwarenmesse eG says small and mid-sized retailers were as heavily represented as the leading retail groups, which included the likes of Auchan, Amazon, Costco, Müller, Target, Smyths Toys and Walmart.

Spielwarenmesse 2024 placed a strong emphasis on the burgeoning Kidult market with its special area, Life’s a Playground – Toys for Kidsters, Kidults & Co. This was a strong focus for Mattel, which prominently displayed its Mattel Creations ranges at the entrance of its stand and invited visitors to a special event at which the company shared insights into the benefits of play for older kids. It’ll come as no surprise that Licensed Toys were also high on the agenda, with the Spielwarenmesse LicenseLounge bringing together a large range of licensees, as well as licensors including Paramount, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros., for a raft of talks on the opportunities presented by the sector and the properties to watch out for in 2024.

Elsewhere, some companies used the event as a platform from which to make major announcements. Tuesday 24th saw Omer Dekel quite literally take the helm at P.M.I. Kids’ World from his father, Boaz, who founded and has led the company with distinction for 30 years. Following a drinks reception and the recitation of Boaz’s ‘Ode to PMI’, Omer, previously chief operating officer, was handed a wooden ship’s wheel as well as the position of chief executive officer.

Rainbow SPA and Giochi Preziosi, meanwhile, held an invite-only screening event to showcase Gormiti: A New Era. NDAs were signed (and phones stapled into bags) so we can’t reveal much, but it’s clear the team at Giochi Preziosi, which also invited its four new Scions onto the stage to reveal the new Gormiti: A New Era action figure range, have incredibly high-hopes for the reboot, which combines live-action with CGI and a writer/director combo whose major works many will recognise.

The atmosphere of optimism and excitement for the year ahead that many will have felt at London Toy Fair carried through to Spielwarenmesse. Companies and attendees that weren’t in London for whatever reason were keen to hear first hand how exhibitors and buyers were feeling, and the answer was optimistic, keen to crack on with the year ahead, and conscious of the challenges facing the industry but not deterred by them. Spielwarenmesse is a very different beast in terms of the trade show experience – footwear choices are a hot topic everywhere you go at a fair that immense – but by and large, the vibe from the industry didn’t differ. Many came away from Toy Fair feeling like they hadn’t yet seen ‘that’ toy, so we picked up on a strong desire among visitors to find it in Germany. Whether they did or didn’t is again, highly subjective – but if it helps, Team Toy World does feel it found it. (You’ll be unsurprised to hear NDAs ‘force’ us to remain silent, but we can promise some ‘magic’ ahead.)

In a poll conducted near the close of the event, 84% of exhibitors (versus 83% in 2023) said they plan to participate in Spielwarenmesse again, either as an exhibitor or visitor, with the next edition of the fair taking place between Tuesday 28th January and Saturday 1st February 2025. Bear in mind that next year, British Airways won’t be running its Nuremberg-Heathrow route, so plan your travel in plenty of time. However, for those of us who spent nearly as long waiting to disembark and be reunited with their luggage as they did actually in the air, perhaps that’s no bad thing… though we did of course spare a thought for those who arrived at Frankfurt airport to discover all flights were grounded due to – yes, you guessed it – more strike action. Perhaps we should all take a leaf out of Playtime PR’s Lesley Singleton’s book, who returned via train and seemingly had a most pleasant journey – unlike Wow! Stuff’s Richard North, who charted his 30-hour odyssey on LinkedIn, much to the amusement/sympathy of his followers.

All in all, it was another great trip and always fascinating to compare and contrast Spielwarenmesse with London Toy Fair. Our thanks go to Spielwarenmesse eG for its hospitality and to Stuart Whitehill for his work in yet again organising the British Pavilion, which provided an endless supply of tea/coffee/biscuits/Mr Kipling cakes/ pink fizz throughout the show. Till next year!