Toyworld apr 2015

April 2015 volume 4 issue 7

April 2015 volume 4 issue 7

The business magazine with a passion for toys

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The Team...

CONTENTS April 2015 volume 4 issue 7

John Baulch

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

Emily Ansell Elfer

26 Company Profile: H. Grossman

28 Face to Face: Gary Grant

Deputy Editor emily@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 407

Daniel Rich

Editorial Assistant daniel@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 406

News

Opinion

Features

07 From the Publisher

31 Talking Shop

26 Company Profile: H. Grossman

08 News

36 Touching Base

28 Face to Face: Gary Grant

16 Industry Moves

60 NPD Column

34 Games and Puzzles

18 Marketing World

62 Viewpoint

61 Company Profile: Flair

21 Licensing World

106 Allegedly

66 Pre-school Toys 90 Boys’ Action Figures 95 Pocket Money Toys

Mark Austin

Advertisement Manager mark@toyworldmag.co.uk 01442 502 405

Contributors David Ripley | Jim Hawker | Lutz Muller | Dan Salem | Mark Buschhaus | Stephen Barnes | The NPD Group

Graeme Thomas

Production Manager graeme@toyworldmag.co.uk 07792 889 919

66 Pre-school Toys

34 Games and Puzzles

Anita Baulch

Circulation Manager anita@toyworldmag.co.uk 01923 711 439

toyworld The business magazine with a passion for toys

Alakat Published by

Symbio Place, Whiteleaf Road Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP3 9PH

www.toyworldmag.co.uk @toyworldmag @baulchtweet

toyworldmag

Toy World Magazine

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T from the publisher

John Baulch - @Baulchtweet

he BTHA has now officially confirmed the dates for Toy Fair 2016. As had been widely predicted, the dates have been moved to avoid a clash with the Nuremberg Toy Fair. You can read the full unexpurgated story on the first page of our news section this month. For those who would like a brief précis, the Fair will now take place from Sunday 24th – Tuesday 26th January. This means that the Fair will close the day before Nuremberg opens, which certainly mitigates inconvenience for visitors who plan to attend both events.

Other changes to next year’s Toy Fair format include an extension of opening hours for the first two days, which will now see the show start at 8.30 and end at 6.30. The final day will see the show close at 4.00, which I’m sure will be a popular move all round and I suspect might well become a long-term initiative.

Press day will move to the Monday (i.e. the second day of the show rather than the opening day), which makes complete sense. There is no news yet on the Toy of the Year awards: I understand that the subject is still under discussion as we go to press. The later opening times on Sunday and Monday will present a minor logistical challenge to the awards event, but whether this leads to significant changes to the venue, format or timings remains to be seen.

Full credit is due to the BTHA for the way they have reacted to this turn of events. It can’t be easy to have a long-term plan thrown into chaos by the unforeseen decision of a third party, especially one which wasn’t communicated until the last minute. I know how hard the whole team has been working behind the scenes to come to an arrangement that will help all parties to maximise on their Toy Fair season experience.

The move to Sunday opening will almost certainly be the aspect of the decision which grabs the headlines and leads to debate on a number of levels, so let’s address some of the points that may arise.

Moving the show forward by a whole week was never an option, due to Olympia being fully booked (which has been the case ever since Earls Court closed down last year). On the positive side, agents have claimed for many years that more of their independent customers would attend the show if it opened on a Sunday. We shall see next year whether this proves to be the case or whether this was just wishful thinking on their part. There was one particular multiple toy retailer which everyone was a little worried about, but I was able to allay any concerns when I revealed exclusively in my Friday Blog that Gary Grant has taken the unprecedented decision to temporarily shelve his long-term commitment to not work on a Sunday, in order to support the Toy Fair in its hour of need (you can read the full interview on page 28 by the way – it’s fascinating, even though I do say so myself).

Which leaves the major retail buyers: for many years there has been a perception that major buyers don’t work at weekends. Of course, there may be nothing in this whatsoever, but it is a strand of thought that I have heard repeated so often that it is clearly believed by many suppliers. It is also a complex situation: some buyers may indeed prefer not to work, while some may be acting under instruction from their management. There are potential contractual implications, not to mention additional expenditure such as overtime payment or time in lieu. However, the theory may only apply to a percentage of buyers, perhaps even just a handful: there has been little opportunity to test this assertion for some while.

Ultimately, I just hope that common sense prevails.

In theory, the change of dates is a one-off measure, designed to help both buyers and exhibitors to get the most out of the Fair. During my aforementioned interview with Gary Grant, he told me that three days at Toy Fair isn’t enough for him, a sentiment I understand and share (even though I know we’re in a minority, and that’s a discussion for another day).

Cutting back by a day wasn’t an option for him, and I share the belief that it would have an adverse impact on my business if I tried to cram everything into two days, or missed people out altogether. Am I being naïve to suggest the same would be true for many major buyers? I hope that any potential obstacles towards working on a Sunday – be they religious, contractual or personal - will be put to one side temporarily, and that the whole UK toy community rallies round and shows its support in what one hopes prove to be exceptional circumstances.

Nobody is pretending that there won’t be challenges, particularly for exhibitors. Visitors will be able to leave the show on Tuesday afternoon and fly straight to Nuremberg that evening or the following morning; exhibitors needing to ship samples out to the show will need to allow sufficient time. Some will have access to – or order – a fresh set of samples, but for some that won’t physically be possible, while others may baulk at the cost (one toy company estimated a bill of around £30,000 to make a duplicate set of samples). Then there is the small matter of the actual exhibition stand: using the same structure, or even the graphics, will no longer be an option. The BTHA is certainly aware of these logistical challenges, and is working closely with exhibitors to find workable solutions. I understand that arrangements will be in place which will allow companies to remove samples securely, while discounts have been offered to all exhibitors for next year to help with additional expenditure such as an extra set of samples.

I’m sure there will be other hurdles to overcome along the way. However, like the vast majority, we remain firmly committed to the Toy Fair, and if we have to put up with a few minor inconveniences for one year, we’ll keep it in perspective and get on with it.

Onwards and upwards!

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The toy trade’s no.1 resource for news and analysis

2016 Toy Fair dates are confirmed The Toy Fair dates for 2016 are confirmed as Sunday 24th January to Tuesday 26th January 2016.

The BTHA and Olympia have been working hard to find a resolution to the clash of dates since finding out about Nuremberg not moving to its normal week at the beginning of February. The BTHA wishes to alleviate issues for visitors and exhibitors.

Extra opening hours are planned on the first two days with opening from 8.30am – 6.30pm on Sunday and Monday and opening from 8.30 – 4pm on Tuesday. Build times have been arranged to allow contractors the same number of hours as previous years.

Costs reflect the changes To acknowledge that there may be extra cost and inconvenience for some exhibitors Toy Fair will offer a number of discounts; • Rates will be frozen at 2015 prices • 5% special discount to all exhibitors • 3% early booking rebate for all exhibitors who have paid deposits by 21st April 2015 • 4% early settlement rebate for all those paying their final invoice by 30th October 2015 This equates to a 12% rebate, and with the price freeze is equal to a 14-16% lower rate in 2016. In addition exhibitors that have received a discount for participating on the balcony level will continue to receive a discount on their space, which will be 6% for 2016.

Beyond 2016 The BTHA understands from the Nuremberg Fair organisers that from 2017 onwards, Spielwarenmesse will be back in its traditional slot in early February.

Nuremberg organisers have indicated that this one-year clash is an accident caused partly by the early Carnival time in Germany.

The 2017 dates for London Toy Fair are planned to be Tuesday 24th January to Thursday 26th January 2017 a, while the 2017 Nuremberg dates are planned for 1st-6th February. Based on information from Nuremberg there should not be a clash beyond 2017 (although these dates are not yet confirmed). the BTHA’s director of public affairs and communications commented: “The BTHA operates as an Association in the UK and on behalf of members on many issues across Europe. The money generated by Toy Fair is reinvested in this work in the interests of the BTHA membership and the wider industry.

Obviously we would not want any future clash as no-one would want to see that overall industry work threatened. The BTHA values creating a busy, vibrant and

Market & Distribute Quality Brands

professional show for the whole of the UK toy industry.

Majen Immink, head of Toy Fair operations and sales said; “Toy Fair is always run with exhibitors and visitors in mind, providing a platform for sales and networking at a reasonable cost to Toy Fair stakeholders, from across the industry. We all want to work towards a terrific event in 2016 and beyond”.

Applications forms have been sent out to all those who have expressed an interest in exhibiting at Toy Fair 2016. If you have not received a form and wish to exhibit, please contact Chris@btha.co.uk or call 020 7701 7127.

Applications made by the 10th April with deposits received by 21st April will receive a 3% early booking discount.

Toy Fair Dates and Hours 2016 BUILD

OPEN

BREAK

21 : 11am- midnight

24 : 8.30-6.30pm

26th: 4.30-10pm

22nd: Midnight- 11pm

25th: 8.30-6.30pm

27th: 8-6pm

23 : 7am- 11pm

26 : 8.30-4pm

28th: 8-6pm

TOTAL HOURS: 49

TOTAL HOURS: 27.5

TOTAL HOURS: 25.5

(2015 total): 46

(2015 total): 27

(2015 total): 23.5

st

rd

th

th

Planned show dates for 2017 and beyond 2016

2017

2018

2019

London Toy Fair

Tues 23 - Tues 22ndSun 24thTues 24 – Thurs 24th Jan Tues 26th Jan Thurs 26 Jan 25th Jan

Nuremberg Toy Fair

27th Jan-01 Feb

01-06 Feb

31st Jan05 Feb

Spring Fair

07 – 11 Feb

05-09 Feb

04-08 Feb

th

rd

30th Jan- 04 Feb

facebook.com/DKL.Toys

tel. 01604 678780 • email. dkl@dkl.co.uk • web. www.dkl.co.uk

twitter.com/DKLtoys

DKL Marketing Ltd 11 Deer Park Road, Northampton NN3 6QD, UK

Toy World 08

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Lego boosts sales by 15% in 2014

The Lego Group has revealed its 2014 results with sales growth of 15% year on year.

Revenue growth, excluding foreign exchange impacts, was 15% year on year on a local currency basis and revenue increased by 13% in DKK. Lego’s operating profit for 2014 also increased to 16%. The firm cites the growth in revenue to the success of Lego City, Lego Creator and The Lego Movie lines.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, president and CEO of the Lego Group, said: “Our ability to innovate and reinvent the Lego play experience every year is vital for our success. We are dedicated to create new products that are fun and appealing to children all over the world. Through our products we provide children with a tool to express their imagination.

At the same time we continuously want to deliver play experiences that are safe and of the highest quality, and we have impeccable safety and quality standards. 2014 was our fifth consecutive year without a product recall which remains our ambition level for 2015. Looking at the products we have developed for 2015 I feel confident that we will bring joy to even more children in the coming year.”

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Scalextric helps Sky Sports create ultimate track

To help launch its coverage of the impending Formula One season, Sky Sports invited motor racing presenter Martin Brundle to design his ultimate fantasy grand prix track, incorporating features from every circuit in the 2015 F1 calendar. The final design was then brought to life by Scalextric, resulting in the biggest layout the company has ever designed at 9m x 9m, featuring over 40 turns chicanes, straights and sections recognisable to F1 fans around the world.

The massive track was unveiled live on a series of Sky Sports news bulletins yesterday, and a group of national media representatives were not only invited to see the final result, but also given the opportunity to race on the track itself against members of the Sky Sports team of presenters, including Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Martin Brundle himself.

Hornby’s Jim Procter-Blain told Toy World: “When we were told about this opportunity, we were absolutely delighted to get involved. The real challenge was the time-frame we were given to complete the build: a mere two weeks.

Thankfully our design team came up trumps and when you see the final result, it was well worth the effort.”

Home Retail announces drop in year-end like-for-like sales

Home Retail delivered a weaker-thanexpected finish to the year at both its Argos and Homebase chains.

Despite this result it reported controls and improvements to its margin had helped the bottom line and expects pretax profit for the year to be at the top end of market forecasts of £120 million to £132 million. Analysts on average expected £123 million, according to Reuters data.

The company said like-for-like sales at its bigger Argos chain fell 5% in the eight weeks to end-February, falling far short of forecasts of a 0.2% fall, reflecting poor demand for consumer electronic products.

Entertainer named in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for

The Entertainer was ranked at number 82 in the first year the group have taken part, competing against more than 1,050 other businesses and organisations.

This is the 15th annual ranking of Britain’s workforces. The methods of data-gathering and analysis employed in the search to find the country’s Best Companies to Work For mean that the lists are acknowledged as the most extensive research into employee engagement carried out in this country.

Over 85% of The Entertainer’s staff agree that the group is run on strong values and 92% that charitable activities are actively encouraged.

The Entertainer promotes internally where possible with over 90 staff having worked at the company for a decade or more. Operating in a fast moving entrepreneurial environment with a strong focus on personal and career development, 76% of staff think that working at The Entertainer is good for their personal growth.

Gary Grant said: “To be included in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies list and being recognised and appreciated by our employees is both an encouragement and an honour that we won’t take for granted.”

Toy World 10

NEW TV campaign

a passion for games !

Sept-Oct-Nov 20

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GHOST HUNT EVOLUTION

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Turn off the lights and get ready for the newest Ghost Hunt sensation! Help Billy Bones to blast all the ghosts and bats appearing everywhere.

The highest score wins!

TV campva20ig15n Sept-Oct-No

NEW

ALIEN MISSION Get ready for your battle with the aliens and be the fastest!

Put on your goggles, activate your gun and sneak around the house.

Aliens will appear in your goggles. Now it’s up to you to disable the aliens with your infrared gun.

Who will achieve the best score and save the world?

TV campaign Sept-Oct-Nov 20

SPITTIN’ CAMEL

NEW

NAME THAT...!

Person, place, thing…

The quick thinking name game.

Be first to name the most words that fit the category.

15

Imagine you are lost in the desert and suddenly a camel appears with lots of fresh drinks on his back.

The camel will challenge you to win a bottle but beware, if you can’t beat the camel he might spit on you.

ELECTRONIC NAME THAT Be the first to hit the button and name the word that fits the category.

The illuminated ring shows which player pressed the button first.

TV campva20ig15n Sept-Oct-No

CREEPY HAND The ghoulish Creepy Hand will point at you for a challenge… truth or dare!

TV campva20ig15n Sept-Oct-No

TV campva20ig15n

COBRATTACK

Sept-Oct-No

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Can you beat the Cobra? Can you grasp the secret diamond before the Cobra sees you?

How quick are you?

SPIDER-MAN

www.megableu.com

Spider-Man is chasing the creepy Rhino villain.

Become a superhero and join his battle!

For more information, please contact:

Goldfish & Bison 20 Market Place, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 8EQ Tel: +44 (0) 20 8568 6398 - Fax: +44 (0) 20 8758 0345 info@goldfishandbison.com

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Rainbow Toy Awards open for entry

Distoy 2015 set to be “largest yet”

Toytopia 2015 – Toy brands jump on board

This year’s Distoy event will once again occupy its traditional time slot the week before the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, 2nd-5th June. Organiser David Potter told me: “ I feel I can say that we’ve really arrived as a show. Everyone wants to be there. We’re now an established fixture on the toy calendar.”

The 2015 event is set to be the largest one yet, with more exhibitors than ever before. The St James Court hotel remains the core venue with around 95 showrooms, while additional showrooms can also be found at the nearby St Ermins Hotel. David commented: “We’ve managed to negotiate with the hotels to acquire a few extra rooms this year. We’re on the verge of selling out, but there may be scope to add in an extra company or two if they’re quick.”

In addition to the many toy companies which have been involved with Distoy since the start, there are always new companies which join the event every year: this year even sees the first- ever Venezuelan exhibitor, Kreisel Toys.

I asked David why Distoy has become such a popular event: “It’s an unorthodox show, but it delivers. Word of mouth has spread through the global toy distributor community that Distoy works. I believe that the exclusivity and the privacy offered by the hotel format help to make it sought after. There is nothing else like it in the global toy market at that time of the year. The hotel location also gives it a social atmosphere that works for both visitors and exhibitors.”

Based on advance hotel bookings, David is expecting more visitors than ever to attend this year’s show, which is for distributors only, and run on an appointment basis. Global toy distributors who wish to attend can get further details from www.distoy.com or by emailing david.potter@distoy.com

The Rainbow Toy Awards for Excellence 2015 are now open for entry. Any new product launches or relaunches for 2015 are eligible to be entered.

The award winners and highly commended are featured in the live online ceremony as well as various consumer publications, parental websites and blogs, just in time for Christmas buying.

Using accredited toy testers, the awards are chosen by the children themselves.

Peter Dawson, awards managing director, said: “We enjoy seeing which toys children really love and the fact both new companies and large established toy industry names all compete on an equal footing.

The awards have grown year on year, and part of the success is keeping to our core values, ensuring that winning an award is a real accolade for each company.”

Toytopia, the immersive toy and brand consumer experience championing play, will be opening its doors in October Half Term 2015.

The organisers of Toytopia have unveiled a list of companies which will be supporting the inaugural event, which include DC Thomson & The Beano, Extreme Fliers & Battle of the Drones, The Good Toy Guide/Fundamentally Children, Toy Testers TV, Vtech, Balloon Besties, Epoch with Sylvanian Families, Kids at Play & Falk Tractors, Aardman Animation workshop in connection with Kids at Play, Esdevium Games, Brazilian Soccer School, Soccer Tots, Award Publications, LLumio, Le Toy Van, Star Cuts Outs, K’nex, Traditional Garden Games, Coiled Spring, Smart Toys & Games, Gipsy Toys, Mookie and Playmobil.

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• •

Tel: +44 (0)161 868 7600 Email: toys@eurofins.co.uk

John Baulch spoke to Distoy organiser David Potter ahead of this year’s show for toy distributors from across the globe.

The Irish Fairy Door Company hires Playtime PR

The Irish Fairy Door Company has hired toys and games PR agency, Playtime PR, to spearhead a campaign to launch and support the range in 2015.

Working closely with the UK distributor Ackerman International, the team at Playtime PR will handle all aspects of the brand’s launch and ongoing PR needs this year.

Lesley Singleton, Playtime PR, said: “We’re over the moon to be working with such a creative company. The team and I worked hard on devising a campaign which would reflect the true magic of the brand, whilst also addressing the complex need to tell the story beyond the physical product. It’s exciting to be working with such a passionate team in Ireland and also with Ackerman International who clearly share in that enthusiasm.”

Niamh Sherwin Barry, director, The Irish Fairy Door Company, added: “We are incredibly passionate about our business. We have been very successful to date in Ireland with bringing our products and concept to life. Of course the UK is our next stop and finding the right PR partner was extremely important to us. Lesley and her team blew us away with their genuine understanding of what and who we are, so there was an instant connection.”

www.product-testing.eurofins.com

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Wise Owl Toys reaches finals of The Best Small Shops Competition

The independent toy shop in Worcester was the only toy shop in the top 20 shortlist and was invited to the Houses of Parliament.

Wise Owl Toys was among a group of shops that were in with a chance of being crowned Best Small Shop in the UK. The competition judging took place throughout February and was based on the shop’s entrepreneurial activities, work within the community and innovation in the business.

Mark and Heather Stewart, who own Wise Owl Toys, said: “We were thrilled to have been shortlisted and feel that it was quite an achievement to get that far. We think that the judges liked the fact that we help children with their handwriting in our shop and have a specific area for left-handed people. Whilst we didn’t win the top award, it was inspirational to hear about other small shopkeepers who have really made a difference in their communities.”

The Best Small Shops Competition is sponsored by PayPoint and Tictail and administered by the Independent Retailers Confederation.

Artstraws spinner display stand proves popular The Artstraws Creation Station 5-sided spinner display stand is popular with independents wanting a share of the children’s art & craft market. Supplied free of charge and with a footprint of just 1square metre, it displays almost £1,000 worth of product, featuring individual items ranging from £1 to £6.

Artstraws is a major suppliers of arts & crafts materials to schools, which helps the company to ensure the stand features the latest products which children are using in school. Artstraws will be unveiling a number of new lines at AIS’s Independent Toy & Gift Show in April, and the company will also be offering attractive show deals across the range.

Artstraws’ also provides a wide selection of products for those independents which supply local pre-schools and clubs with classroom size packs of art and craft materials, which can be seen on its website, www.artstraws.com.

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Nutty Putty available following Spring Fair launch

Nutty Putty is a non-drying, non-flaking, non-messy, easily moldable putty. It’s available in over 20 different colours including various glow in the dark.

Furthermore, there’s the option of baking creations in a conventional oven for 10 minutes where it transforms into a permanent smooth, shiny, rubbery creation hence ‘think it, make it and even bake it’.

Nutty Putty launched at Spring Fair where it received a positive response. The current range consists of a six colour set, eight colour set, a cake deco set and an accessory set. In addition to this Nutty Putty can also be purchased as single zipper packs (see pocket money feature). The range is expected to grow over the next twelve months with additional six themed sets designed to capture the imagination of every child.

Nutty Putty has been created with educational benefits at the forefront of its design and has been recognized by teachers and educational psychologists for its added benefits.

Smyths to open new Watford store Thirty new jobs will be created when Smyths Toys Superstores opens its new store at Waterfields Retail Park, Watford, in May. Smyths will take over the former Borders unit, which has been vacant for six years, with a trading area of approximately 15,000 square feet.

Rob Guckian, spokesman, Smyths Toys Superstores, said: “We are delighted to announce the opening of a new store in Watford.”

Smyths Toys Superstores currently trades from almost 80 stores throughout the UK and Ireland and expects to open up to 10 new stores in the next 12 months.

Tactic Games appoints Fizz Communications and OSS.

Following a successful trial in 2014, the UK division of Tactic Games has appointed PR specialist Fizz Communications for 2015. The company has also appointed Out Sourced Sales Solutions to represent Tactic in the independent sector.

With a significant increase in licensed ranges this year, the Fizz Communications PR plan will include its complete retail range of licensed games.

Movie and TV tie-ins feature strongly in this year’s calendar. A new range of SpongeBob SquarePants games will hit the shelves to tie in with the movie release and new series.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys games will continue to be promoted and other key licensed game launches include Ty Beanie Boos, Minions, Thunderbirds 50th Anniversary Classic and Skylanders.

Jeremy Pateman, country manager, Tactic Games, commented: “Tactic Games UK is delighted to be working with Fizz subsequent to a successful trial during 2014.

Fizz Communications has played an integral role in establishing brand awareness in the UK and will provide continued support to the continued momentum and rapid growth of the Tactic UK operation.

“We are also pleased to be working with OSS, our independent customers will now receive a regular sales call on a six week cycle. OSS have national sales coverage in place which will enable Tactic to provide a better service develop the independent sector.”

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industry moves having previously worked at RC2 (now Tomy). Nikki Toole joined the company in 2014 as a member of the sales team and has been promoted to sales executive. In her new role, she will be focusing on building the brand and business within the independent toy and cycle trade.

Stephen J. Pasierb will join the U.S. Toy Industry Association at the end of April as president and CEO. He will be responsible for leading the growth, development and oversight of the association and will succeed Carter Keithley who retires at the end of April. Stephen J. Pasierb previously served as president and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.

Amscan International has welcomed a new member to its licensing team.

Liz Brown takes the newly created role of licensing associate EMEA and brings a wealth of commercial and retail marketing knowledge and experience across multiple sectors.

The role will provide licensing support across EMEA working closely with director of licensing EMEA Sandra Vanstan.

Centum Books has announced the appointment of Richard Radford as group sales director. He will be tasked with driving new licensing and brand opportunities across the business and introducing the company’s portfolio of creative content to prospective clients.

Ali Anstee

Nikki Toole

Kiddimoto has recruited two new employees to join its growing team.

Ali Anstee has taken the position of marketing manager and will implement a fully comprehensive marketing plan for 2015. She has a wealth of experience in the toy arena,

Rob Hughes to leave Zeon Rob Hughes, head of Character Licensing, left Zeon on 31st March after a planned departure.

Rob Hughes had been with the company for five years following Zeon’s acquisition of his company Wesco in 2010. He managed the integration seamlessly and was an important and valuable member of the Zeon team.

After 28 years in the industry he decided to retire. Esther Jolley, general manager, will now head Character Licensing.

Rob said: “The licensing business has given me a very good living and I leave behind many good friends both at Zeon and in the wider industry.

I would like to thank the board of Zeon for handling the purchase of my former business with integrity and professionalism. The company is in good shape and my licensing role will be handled impeccably by general manager Esther Jolley.”

Simon Gilham, managing director, Zeon, added: “It has been a pleasure to work with Rob. Zeon has benefited from his wealth of expertise and his contribution to our efforts has been outstanding. We wish him all the best.”

marketing director. He will oversee all e-commerce activity for the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands. Chief people officer of World Duty Free Group, Sarah Purkis, has joined as group HR director and will lead the company’s global training and development programme. Richard Smothers, who was with Tesco for 14 years, has been appointed as chief financial officer. Karl Doyle, former group merchandising director, has been appointed group buying and merchandising director.

Kitty Brown Agencies has been appointed as the new agent for Kidicraft covering the London and South East area. Ben and Nadine Hanrahan, the husband and wife team that make up Kitty Brown, have many years’ experience in the toy and stationery industries.

Mothercare has restructured its executive team, promoting UK commercial director Matt Stringer to chief operating officer and hiring Gary Kibble. Gary Kibble is the former director of business transformation at Shop Direct and has joined as group brand and

Wow Toys has announced four new additions to its sales team, boasting a wealth of industry experience and knowledge between them.

Christopher Watts has joined as UK sales manager and is responsible

Toy World 16

for principle major accounts. Sally Irwin, Tomas Hudson and Deborah Stanley have joined as regional sales managers.

re:creation has bolstered its sales team with the appointments of Martin Pike, Chris Bullock and David Glicksman.

Chris Bullock will cover Scotland, the Midlands and the North of England, David Glicksman will represent East Anglia and the South Eastern region and finally Martin Pike will cover the South West, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

te r bsi ou e m t w o si e s.c vi ad w tr tra w ts ne ar

kids come here for their arts & crafts from Lollipop Sticks

to Pom Poms

to Wiggle Eyes

www.artstraws.com . sales@artstraws.com 01792 796151 . Swansea SA6 8RB

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Hatch of the day Bandai has recently launched the Hatch ‘N Heroes pocket-money collection of articulated figures that turn from egg to hero in a few simple steps. The range of Disney favourites includes the brand new Big Hero 6 White Baymax and Armour Baymax, classic Toy Story characters Woody and Buzz, Nemo and Dory from Finding Nemo and Frozen’s ever-popular Olaf. There is more to come this autumn, when the collection will expand to include Disney Pixar Cars and further characters from Toy Story, as well as a range of classic dinosaurs.

From Easter, Bandai will be supporting the launch with a comprehensive marketing campaign to drive awareness and excitement around these pocket-money collectibles, positioning the toys as the perfect (and healthy) alternative to a chocolate Easter egg. From April, a four-week online campaign partnering with SuperAwesome will bring the brand to life in the digital world. The campaign will allow boys and girls to interact with the brand via a fun-filled microsite, which will feature a viral egg-hunt competition, as well as detailing information about the product range and characters. In addition, pre-roll video and banners will feature across key sites, driving traffic to the microsite for maximum engagement.

A consumer press campaign in April will offer further support to the launch, with advertorial placements in key kid’s titles, as well as features and competitions across boys’ and girls’ magazines. Easter-themed press packs containing samples of the toys have also been sent out to engage key press and bloggers to maximise coverage.

Tess Parsons, Product Manager Bandai UK, comments: “We are very excited about the launch of Hatch ‘n Heroes, and this multi-platform campaign will build brand awareness, as well as bring these quirky products to life. With such recognisable Disney characters, the range has generated great interest across the trade and we have high expectations for its success”.

Lego Duplo launches world’s tiniest film festival The Tiny Film Festival, in collaboration with Disney UK and Ireland, invites parents to see their children’s imaginations brought to life

by Disney animators.

The campaign launched on Thursday 12th March and is designed to celebrate the imaginative stories of children under the age of five.

Each week, for five weeks, Lego Duplo will select one child’s story to be stop motion animated by Disney using Lego Duplo bricks. Parents can submit their tiny director’s stories via a dedicated microsite (www.lego.com/tinyfilm) which features a cinema player.

Winners will be announced via the Lego Duplo Facebook page with each winning film having its own custom movie poster in the style of a blockbuster. The films will last around 15 seconds with a graphic intro and outro sequence. They will be available to view on the microsite, Lego Duplo Facebook page and through the Lego YouTube channel, as well as being distributed via paid for media and Disney Junior sponsorship idents.

Lego Duplo’s brand manager, Genelle Holton, said: ‘We are delighted to be celebrating the imagination of toddlers throughout the UK, by putting them in the director’s chair and enabling them to create their own mini blockbuster.

The campaign will enable us to demonstrate to parents that Lego Duplo is a fantastic role play product, which encourages storytelling.”

Life-size Breyer horse installed at Harrods A life-sized foal is now a permanent fixture in Harrods in celebration of Breyer’s 65th anniversary. The exclusive model can be seen in the store’s toy department, where the Breyer range is stocked.

David Allan, sales and marketing director, DKL, said: “I am so excited that the Breyer life-sized foal is now a feature in the Harrods Toy Department. It firmly establishes Harrods as a leading Breyer model horse stockist.”

K’nex inspires children at the Big Bang Fair K’nex visited the Big Bang Fair to offer interactive construction play experiences to children throughout the show in conjunction with The Bloodhound Project.

Alongside preparation for an upcoming world land speed record attempt, the Bloodhound team inspired future generations to take up STEM careers, using K’nex to give school children their first introduction to engineering concepts.

Young visitors to the Big Bang Fair at Birmingham NEC were challenged to build their own race cars using K’nex and then displayed them on a giant screen. Winners were picked each day to take home prizes including K’nex 35 Model Tubs and K’nex Four Wheel Drive Trucks. Winning designs will be showcased on the K’nex UK website and regional press outreach will announce winners to their local press.

Toy World 18

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Amscan to launch Paw Patrol party range

The collection will contain a choice of over 30 items including tableware, decorations, party accessories and favours as well as latex and foil balloons.

The designs show the six puppies and their tech-savvy pal Ryder, incorporating the colours blue, red, green and yellow for unisex appeal. There will also be a Paw Patrol AirWalker balloon available this summer.

Amscan International’s director of licensing, EMEA, Sandra Vanstan, commented: “There is already a huge buzz surrounding this new property which was evident at recent Toy Fairs. Not only has Paw Patrol won an award with new toy merchandise created by Spin Master, but we have received customer demand from retailers who are keen to stock Paw Patrol party products and balloons as soon as possible. It’s very exciting and we can’t wait to launch the range across the whole of EMEA.” The new range can be pre-ordered now and is due to be available for delivery in Q2 2015.

ITV releases Thunderbirds Are Go images

ITV has released an exclusive look at classic characters from the new Thunderbirds Are Go series. The pictures feature engineer Brains, Lady Penelope and her trusty bodyguard and driver Parker in front of the pink car FAB1.

Lady Penelope is voiced

by Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike and David Graham reprises his original role as Parker.

Kayvan Novak voices Brains.

ITV has also revealed that Sylvia Anderson, who voiced Lady Penelope in the original 1960s series, will voice a new character in an episode due to air later this year. Written by comedian David Baddiel, the episode titled Designated Driver sees Sylvia voice the character of Lady Penelope’s Great Aunt Sylvia. The new series is set to debut this spring on ITV and CITV.

Mister Maker commissioned for seventh series Zodiak Kids has announced that CBeebies’ Mister Maker has been commissioned for a seventh series.

Mister Maker’s Arty Party will begin shooting on location in Kent this summer ready for transmission from early 2016.

Sold in over 200 territories worldwide and with over 25 licensees the Mister Maker brand continues to be successful. The first Mister Maker magazine hit stands last summer, and is the biggest pre-school launch of the last 18 months. The first issue hit stands with 80,000 copies and made a strong start in a competitive preschool newstrade market to become Immediate Media’s number one preschool launch of 2014.

Mister Maker has a roster of licensees including Leapfrog, RMS, Green Board Games, Click Distribution, and Giromax’s Clay Buddies.

Thomas and Friends movie includes an all-star cast

New friends will be introduced in Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure, voiced by stars Eddie Redmayne, John Hurt and Jamie Campbell Bower.

Hit Entertainment has announced that the film, which marks the 70th anniversary of Thomas and Friends, is set for release on DVD this autumn. It takes Thomas to a new part of Sodor and on a quest that introduces a host of new characters. New engine Ryan will be voiced by Eddie Redmayne, John Hurt will assume the part of Sailor John and Jamie Campbell Bower will voice sail boat Skiff.

Eddie Redmayne commented: “I grew up loving to watch Thomas and his pals getting caught up in unexpected and mischievous adventures. I jumped at the opportunity to get involved and what fun it was. I have never voiced an animated character before and I had a complete blast.”

Licensing World 21

licensingworld DKL unveils full Scentco stationery range Following the initial sales of Scentco products in January and February, DKL has announced that the full range of scented stationery is now in stock. A new Disney Frozen range of the scented stationery will also be available in May. Highlights include a five-pack of coloured Smencils, an Elsa notepad and Frozen FSDU. Scentco is an eco-friendly range of scented stationery and is the latest addition to the DKL portfolio. Products are available in an assortment of recognisable scents and there are themes such as spring, sports and Valentine’s Day. Farel Williams, marketing and social media assistant, said: “The whole DKL team has been working extremely hard on the launch of Scentco and we are all so thrilled to see that retailers are just as excited as we are about the fun stationery range. It has been a fantastic couple of months with Scentco and the rest of the year is set to be even better with the arrival of Frozen lines.”

DKL launched the Smencils range at Toy Fair where the new packaging and scent assortments were positively received. The company will exhibit the range at the London Stationery Show from 28th-29th April.

Flair named Disney’s best UK infant and preschool licensee

GP Flair was announced as Best Infant and Pre-school licensee at Disney’s annual licence awards night. The accolade came in recognition of a successful year for its Doc McStuffins collection and adds to a great start to the year for Flair and its relationship with Disney, having also been a best preschool toy nominee in the recent Toy Industry Awards.

Nic Aldridge, marketing director, GP Flair, commented: “Doc McStuffins is a stand out brand within the Flair portfolio that goes from strength to strength. 2013 was a great launch year, which was improved upon with 24% growth last year. On top of this the new lines for 2015 will open up many new opportunities for the brand with the recent launch of the Specialist doctor theme and the coming release of a whole new segment – Doc McStuffins Pet Vet. This is a wonderful brand to work with and we are delighted that Disney has acknowledged the effort that we put into making it a success.

“With these awards and the reactions we received at Toy Fair, it has been a tremendous start for the year that is also indicative of what’s ahead for Flair in the Pre-school sector. We have a number of new brands launching; all of which have exciting launch plans behind them.”

Disney announces Frozen 2

The company revealed plans during the Walt Disney’s annual shareholders meeting on Thursday 12th March from San Francisco.

The first film’s directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck are developing the project with producer Peter Del Vecho for Walt Disney Animation Studios, which took home the Oscar for animated feature for the film. A release date and production details are yet to be announced.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, made the announcement with Disney chief Bob Iger, and Josh Gad, who voices the character of Olaf in Frozen.

The announcement is not only good news for Disney, toy company investors bid up shares of Mattel and Hasbro on expectations that the two would benefit from sales of new Frozen related merchandises. Mattel shares were up 5.7% at $26.01 while Hasbro erased earlier losses to trade 1.4% higher at $61.62 on the day of the news.

Sales of Frozen dolls have helped offset the weak demand for Barbie dolls at Mattel in recent quarters. However, the licence to make Frozen and other Disney princess dolls will go to Hasbro beginning in 2016.

Pip Ahoy! draws in the crowds at Pontins

Pip has enjoyed a successful half term break at Pontins with thousands of children taking part in character costume meet-and-greet sessions.

The appearances were a star attraction for parents and children with one centre reporting 800 people alone coming to see Pip. The nationwide Pip Ahoy!

Character visits have been a good draw for fans since they started last year and will continue throughout 2015. Their success emulates the continued growth of the brand.

Gayle Tarrant, Lisle International, UK licensing agent for Pip Ahoy! commented: “We are delighted with the progress for Pip Ahoy! The steady development of ways for children to enjoy the characters and adventures from Salty Cove is all part of the strategy in building Pip Ahoy! into an evergreen brand that parents trust and children love for years to come. This year there are important milestones to celebrate such as the launch of the master toy range, whilst brand activities such as the costume visits and our successful educational programme will continue.”

Licensing World 22

Lighting up little learners with their favourite CBeebies brands.

For Licencing enquiries contact: Clare Piggott clare.piggott@bbc.com +44 (0) 20 7612 3051

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18/02/2015 10:25

Face-to-Face

70 years of success As the company celebrates its 70th anniversary, managing editor John Baulch visits Glasgow to find out what has enabled H Grossman Ltd to outlast its competitors

Martin Grossman and his wife Elinor

H

Grossman Ltd was originally founded in 1945 by Martin’s parents, Harry and Ray. Harry had originally been a hairdresser in the east end of London, where he and his brother provided tonsorial services to a clientele which Martin describes matter-of-factly as “east end gangsters”. During the war, he became a fireman operating fire boats on the River thames.

After the war he moved to Glasgow, where he had met his future wife on a previous trip to visit his mother, who was, in Martin’s words “having a rest from her job as an air raid warden”. When the war finished, the couple decided to set up a wholesale sundries business. I asked Martin why they chose toys and his initial answer was surprising: “I don’t bloody know,” he admits candidly. On reflection, he feels the fact his mother had previously worked for a business which sold toiletries and sundries gave her experience in the wholesale field, which lead to the decision that was to change hers and her family’s life.

The company, which initially specialised in

pocket money toys and small items such as buckets and spades, was based on the first floor of a warehouse rented from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Success lead to the company taking over the second and third floor as well, although the fact there was no lift meant that big wooden crates had to be carried up three flights of stairs by hand.

As the company continued to expand, it outgrew these premises, necessitating further moves to St Andrews’ Square, Paisley and, finally, Rutherglen, where the company is based today.

Martin joined the company in 1972, at the tender age of 15 (child labour laws were clearly far more lax than they are today). Initially he accompanied his mother and their driver (Ray didn’t drive) on sales calls, which included a variety of outlets including farms, caravan sites and coastal shops. Grossman’s main trade, like most other traditional wholesale businesses, came from newsagents and other small retailers which sold toys: Martin remembers that it used to take his father one and a half days to take all the orders from a single street in Glasgow - Duke Street.

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Shortly after Martin joined the family business, it started to import its own lines from the Far East to supplement the core wholesale ranges it distributed. Initially the focus was on a range of in-line boots, which was quickly augmented by a succession of craze items, for which H Grossman quickly became renowned: over the decades Grossman has been credited with initiating or driving numerous hugely successful crazes, including the Yo Ball, the Folding Scooter, the BMX Scooter, Alien Eggs (of which Martin says he has sold over 20 million pieces), Scoobies and, most recently, Loom Bands. “Last summer was just phenomenal,” recalls Martin, “we sold over two million cases and nine million packs of bands in less than six months.”

Licensing is another area which has become integral to Grossman’s continuing success.

Martin comments: “We had an amazing run with properties such as Action Man, Barney and Hello Kitty. Ben 10 really put us on the map, it really boosted our business with the major accounts.

And this year, our Minions range will outsell all those put together – it’s one of the most incredible licences I’ve ever been involved with.”

Martin and his wife Elinor took over the running of the business in 1985 when Martin’s father passed away. The trade has changed dramatically in the past thirty years: according to Martin, when he took over the running of the company there were around 30 wholesalers north of the border. By 2010, H. Grossman was the only toy wholesaler left in Scotland. Clearly the arrival of the supermarkets, department stores and online retailers hit the wholesaler’s traditional clientele hard, yet H Grossman has not just survived, but flourished. I asked Martin why he thought he had outlived so many of his competitors: “I think it comes down to the passion of wanting to be in the toy trade. Thankfully I have a good eye for product: I was taught well by my parents. They taught me a lot of other things as well: they taught me ethics, they taught me to be natural in my sales techniques. They taught me not to make a line out of nothing: if you give your customers a line that doesn’t sell, you have no credibility – and credibility is very important in the toy trade. And, of course, it’s partly down to luck – you have to have a bit of luck along the way.”

During our conversation, Martin and I reminisced about the many names who have disappeared from the trade over the past thirty years: Lone Star, Cowan de Groot, Cecil Coleman, Replitoy, Red Box, Berwick Toys, Springwell, Ingham Day and many more. Along with HTi – which Martin comments “is one of the few other companies which supplied the wholesale trade to have survived and prospered from that period” – Grossman has outlasted them all: “Some people thought we wouldn’t last, “observes Martin, “ but we have, and I’m proud of that.”

In fairness, luck has played little part in that.

Martin admits he hasn’t been on holiday for more than a week for the past twenty years. He remains thoroughly hands-on, involved in all the key decisions: “You have to, “he says simply, “If not, you don’t succeed.” He has also built a stable, loyal team around him: the company has just under 50 staff in the UK, many of which Martin observes “have been here a very long time.” One of those people is Caroline Brotherton, who celebrates 19 years with the company this September. Caroline observes: “Fundamentally, the culture of the business hasn’t changed at all. People who visit us often say, “Whatever you’ve got, you should bottle it.” I see what they mean.” Martin expands on this point: “I always say that the company has its own magic – it works by itself. It’s still a family business: that’s how it started, and it hasn’t outgrown that. It’s never been a policy of the family to take money out of the business: we keep the money in the company as an investment. That keeps the company strong, which is important for long-term stability.”

Martin is one of the more candid interviewees I’ve encountered, not shy to offer an honest opinion, and unafraid to tiptoe into controversial waters on occasion. I asked Martin if he had ever considered moving from Scotland: “If the SNP had got in, we would have moved to England. We had already started to make arrangements just in case. It was just too unsettling, we couldn’t have run a business with all the uncertainty over the currency, the VAT arrangements – even the fact our customers would have needed a passport to come up to see us. “I also enquired as to what he saw as the biggest challenges facing the toy trade, and he replied: “Too many people are importing product from the Far East without the proper test certificates. It happened with loom bands: people were bringing them in without testing them.

Unfortunately Trading Standards aren’t strong enough to battle it.”

I asked Martin what the future holds for H Grossman: “We want to expand our international business. The Hong Kong business could potentially be trebled in the next three years, we’re going to focus on that. For the UK, our exclusive distribution arrangements and our own product range will help us to continue growing.”

Anyone who has seen Martin at full flow at one of the award ceremonies over the years will know

he is larger-than-life, charismatic and honest (sometimes disarmingly so). People who know him well will also know he is modest and selfdeprecating, especially when you consider what the company has achieved: by anyone’s standards, 70 years in the toy trade is no mean feat. In many respects, H Grossman follows the model of a toy company which was prevalent when I first came into the trade in the early 1980’s: familyowned and run, forged in the image of the person at the top. In a market which is increasingly dominated by corporate, global giants, I think it is heartening that there is still room for a privatelyowned, privatelyfunded, specialist toy company to prosper.

Martin is passionate, knowledgeable, has years of hands-on experience and makes decisions with a healthy sprinkling of ‘gut-feel’: virtues the toy market was built on. Long may the company thrive.

Martin’s parents, Harry and Ray Grossman

Toy World 27

Face-to-Face

100 not out

Managing editor John Baulch spoke to Gary Grant ahead of the opening of The Entertainer’s 100th store. that number one is the best. It reminds me of my school report: could do better. Now we know some broad parameters of how the staff perceive the business and the management, we’re going to analyse the results so we can make improvements in the areas where we haven’t scored as well as we would have liked.

JB: What sort of areas will you be focusing on?

GG: I think communication is the biggest thing. If you were to analyse the Top 100 companies, there were only ten with more than 1,000 employees and we have 1200. There were a similar number of companies which operate from more than ten locations. The more locations you have, the harder it is to communicate from top to bottom and ensure everybody feels included.

JB: The Entertainer recently featured in The Sunday Times’ 100 best companies to work for. Why did you decide to enter these awards?

GG: We generally don’t pay to enter awards. The Sunday Times award is a paid-for submission, but it carries some weight from a recruitment perspective.

I’m trying to recruit top talent at senior manager and director level, because I need people who have managed much bigger businesses than my own so I can get from where I am to where I want to go. I’m on a learning curve: I’ve got some common sense but common sense isn’t necessarily enough to enable you to double the size of the business. So we need to have as many tools in our armoury to persuade people to leave a plc and join a private family company to help us make a difference.

JB: You must have been delighted to be placed 82nd in your first year?

GG: I was told it would take three years of constant improvement to get into the Top 100, so to make it in the first year is a surprise, and quite an honour. So yes, I’m delighted with 82, but we have to remember

JB: You’ve just opened your 100th store, when did you reach the point where you thought that might be achievable?

GG: I don’t know really (long pause). I remember standing in our original shop in Amersham. One of our suppliers – Freddy Franks of Fairie Glen – lived locally and popped in frequently. One day he told me that I was just like Gerry Taylor of Taylor and Mckenna. I was 24 at the time, and Gerry Taylor was hugely successful and had built a great independent toy retail business and I thought “I wonder what he sees in me to compare me to Gerry?” We went from one shop to two, from two to three….then to 98 last year. We’re about to enter our 35th year in business, and a number of major things have come together: the Sunday Times award, opening our 100th store… which wasn’t manipulated in any way, but our first store was in Bucks and our 100th store is in Aylesbury, the county town of Bucks. So life isn’t quite as random as it might seem. 100 shops – not bad for a lad with one ‘o’ level, whose main assets are probably enthusiasm and energy. To have ended up with a

Toy World 28

family business, working every day with two of my four children is a privilege and a joy. So no, 35 years on, I don’t think I ever dreamed I could achieve this.

JB: How much further can you go?

GG: There comes a point when all the energy in the world drains away. You still have passion and enthusiasm, but the energy isn’t there. I used to work 20 hours a day, then it was 18, then 16…now I probably struggle to work 12 hours. So to be able to partly pass the baton on to the boys is good. They’ve got completely different but complementary skill sets: I thought I was a good buyer until I saw Stuart buy, and I thought I was good with numbers until I worked with Duncan. The ambition is being driven by them now. I thought this was mine and Cath’s business, but sometimes I wonder whose it actually is now: everybody’s got a view!

JB: Are you running out of viable sites for new outlets?

GG: Not at all. Some retail chains say you can cover the country with 90 stores: if you’re River Island, Next or John Lewis that might be the case. If you can’t buy a particular brand you like from another store, you’ll travel to wherever the outlet is within reason. With toys, most of the products we sell can be bought in many other locations, and because most of the toys we sell are low value items – our average sale is £13 – there is no justification for long journeys. There is less customer loyalty than there used to be, so we have to work out what sets us apart and differentiate ourselves to keep customers coming back. The reason I say we’re nowhere near saturation is that a lot of product is leaking off into retailers which aren’t in the toy trade. If we had 200 stores and you asked if we had reached capacity, I’d still say no.

JB: Don’t a lot of the towns in which you’re not currently trading already have a toy shop?

GG: No, definitely not. Six years ago, over 800 branches of Woolworths closed. Even including The Entertainer, I doubt if 100 toy stores have back-filled that number, so there are still 700 less opportunities to buy toys than there were then. Yes, the market has changed: you have the internet, which is a much bigger player than it was. But the internet is not a replacement for a hands-on experience for a child.

We want to create the experience of toy retailing which those of us who are older had when we were children: when our parents took us into a toy shop and it was an Aladdin’s Cave, and we were allowed to run around and get excited. The internet can’t deliver that experience for a child, we can. That’s why people come back.

JB: What are the biggest challenges you face when assessing potential locations for new outlets?

GG: The biggest challenge is that we are ploughing an expensive furrow. We are competing for units against product categories such as clothing and shoes that can afford to pay higher rents, because they make better margins. Our cube is huge so we need larger shops to accommodate our range, and the spend value is relatively low in comparison with other retailers. So when people say The Entertainer is demanding when it comes to margin, nobody could disagree with that – certainly not me. But we’re not demanding because we want to be rich: we’re demanding because we’re creating a brand which can put people’s toys in front of the public in the very best locations we can find.

The challenge for expansion is, can we find viable sites that will work for the toy business model? There are some towns where I know we could take a lot of money, but not enough to justify the rent and other costs: some towns are just locked out. On the plus side, since the crash in 2008, High Street rents have softened, along with demand. A lot of landlords understand the importance of having a good mix of tenants, including a toy shop. But if it’s all about the headline rent, there won’t be an Entertainer.

JB: Are you trading with all the suppliers you’d like to be?

GG: Yes (laughs heartily). Look, we’re toy trade people: we want to trade with all the toy companies. They’ve all got outstanding products, but you can’t get a quart into a pint pot. For every supplier that brings out a great new range, one has to go. Also I’ve got to be fair to all suppliers: if we say our “margin needs to be x”, everyone has to contribute: it can’t be that someone is on ‘x + 1’ and someone else is on ‘x -1’ because

we like them. Many companies have supported me personally and have supported The Entertainer, we want to give them payback on their investment. It isn’t a case of me just trying to get as much money as I can out of a supplier because I want it, I want to be able to deliver value for that supplier. Partnerships are often talked about, but sometimes it’s just a word. I hope we deliver real partnerships. Yes, I do shout. I’ve simmered down a bit as I’ve got older.

I’m passionate about making this business work. If I can’t get the right deal for me, it won’t be right for the customer either. Every year I ask “can it get any more competitive?” And every year it does. Years ago, I used to whinge like mad when the Argos and Index catalogues arrived: you know what, those were the easy days compared to now!

JB: Who do you perceive as your biggest competitor?

GG: In the marketplace we’re in, our major competitor is Argos. The other space is out of town, where Smyths is doing a fantastic job, they’ve come into a crowded market and made their presence known.

JB: What about online?

GG: That certainly brings its own challenges!

It’s important to be there in terms of generating customer loyalty, but it’s expensive. Click and Collect isn’t making as much money as people think, the cost is huge. But we’re all following each other like sheep off a cliff – you can’t not do it. It’s the same with Black Friday: the genie is out of the bottle now, the customer is going to expect it, and more fool you if you go against them. The customer has all the choice in the world now, and you either go with them or they’ll go somewhere else. Black Friday will be more manic this year. It was a call to action, it filled up the

Toy World 29

High Street. Our shops all had their best days ever, and that was the case online too. There was a real buzz, and it was all generated free of charge by the media hype – the cheapest advertising ever!

JB: Looking ahead to Toy Fair next year, as it will start on a Sunday, will you be there?

GG: We will all be there: myself, Stuart and Scott.

I’m not a legalistic Christian: it’s important to have a day off, but we’ll have another day off instead. I’m delighted that the BTHA has found a solution: we will be attending the London Toy Fair on all three days.

We need to work together in the UK toy industry: when the wheel comes off, we need each other. In the end, we’re all part of the global toy trade. For me, the biggest disappointment is that the organisers of the Nuremberg Toy Fair had the arrogance not to at least consult with the BTHA prior to making the change – it’s outrageous. I’m surprised that some of the bigger manufacturers haven’t spoken to the Nuremberg organisers about what has happened.

We try to use our time at each show to our best advantage. The exhibitions are only so long, so we have to decide which stands we’re going to visit at each event. So we say “these are our Hong Kong appointments, these are our London ones and these are our Nuremberg ones.” We couldn’t do everything we wanted in just three days at Olympia, so we need to attend as many shows as possible. But if we were forced to cut one show out, it would be Nuremberg.

The people we see in Nuremberg would come to us because they want the order. In the end I’m glad that a solution has been found, but it was disappointing that the BTHA was ever put in that position. The UK is an important part of the global toy community, and it’s not right that they were treated this way.”

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talking shop Alternative Easter Toy World’s Daniel Rich speaks to independent retailers about the hot topics of the month. This month, retailers talk in-store demos, alternatives to Easter eggs and stiff competition from online and major High Street retailers.

Helen Gourley Owner, Toy Hub, Dunblane Business is generally looking up and is really good at the moment. It’s mainly down to our hard work as we went to Toy Fair and are in tune with what’s going on. Social media plays a part in our success and we use an email newsletter to communicate with our customers. We have a loyalty card scheme in place and when people sign up it expands our database.

It’s a point based system which is determined by how much customers spend – this encourages them to spend more money.

Toy Fair was very busy, in fact it was so busy that we felt we missed a lot. I liked the card game In a Bind, it’s very good and is designed for older children although a version will soon be released for younger children.

At New York Toy Fair we had more freedom to explore and see things that we wouldn’t in London because we didn’t have any appointments and had more time to spare. There’s also more space for exhibitors there, for instance, Esdevium Games’ designers could showcase more products which is usually tricky for them because they have a vast range. We even met the designers and had a chat and also met the owner of Melissa and Doug. It’s good to speak to those running the organisation because you get a different point of view from others in the industry.

We were also asked for advice about how to display Ty Frizzys. We recommend not displaying them all together as they are bright and colourful and can easily get lost, it’s better to display them spaced out and next to something different so they stand out.

This Easter we’re planning an Easter Bunny game in the shop window where customers will need to count the number of cuddly bunnies and fill in an entry form. This allows us to obtain details for our database. We’re running a competition for our customers further afield, this way we reach more people and they still feel like they’re part of the Toy Hub community even if they’ve moved away. Easter also coincides with

the fifth anniversary of our store and Andy Murray getting married here in his home town so we’ll see what we can do for that – we’re already having an Easter egg hunt in the town.

As far as Easter stock is concerned we’re stocking Easter Bunnies, soft cuddly toys from Depesche but we also like to think outside of the box. The Grossman Alien Eggs are popular as are the Star Wars Surprise Eggs, which are themed

Connectable & Collectable

making toys Limited For more information call:

0843 557 4062

4 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FY

or email:

sales@epochmakingtoys.com

Toy World 31

eggs and come with a cookie and sticker – these offer an alternative from the more traditional Easter gifts. Moving away from the traditional Easter chocolate we stock fancy dress, Easter Bunny ears, Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs, games, arts and crafts, stamper sets and jigsaws.

We’ve recently begun to stock Orchard Toys again, we stopped last year because Sainbury’s were stocking the same and undercutting us and

we couldn’t compete but they eventually stopped – it’s very important to stay in tune with our competitors.

In terms of sales Lego Ninjago has been phenomenal. We’ve already placed three large orders this year and it has been flying off the shelves. Lego Speed Champions is also selling really well, we’ve had to reorder that too. I also recommend in-store demonstrations to boost

Bhav Patel Director, Toy Galaxy, Wembley

week’s old news so it’s important to know what’s up and coming. I personally tend to check online to see what people are raving about but what is popular say over the Atlantic doesn’t always transpire to sales in the UK, so it’s more important to listen to your customers locally to see what is being asked for. A close eye on upcoming movies, planned TV programmes and marketing initiatives by suppliers plays a large factor in looking ahead.

The biggest impact I foresee is meeting the customers’ demands for wanting goods straight away. With online stores offering 24 hour delivery windows, the job on the High Street has become that much more difficult in getting customers through the door and a product available at their convenience.

The New York Toy Fair is an extremely useful experience in gaining a vision on what key brands and suppliers are doing. It is not a show that is as ground-breaking as people expect and the reason for this is because over the years, the US and UK market have become as close as they have ever been. A licence based on a big movie that is worth stocking is quite likely now to have a worldwide release date on merchandise. Where the show was useful was to see where existing brands were heading, what was planned for them and then more importantly to see what new smaller trends were being released which in turn may have a fall on effect in the UK. With Easter we do not have a large range of

We stock a large range of toys starting from nursery products all the way to hobby products for adults. In general trade is good. There are always instances of trends and crazes that seem to add a welcomed peak to sales but in general I think factors recently have been in favour of retail businesses which in turn have allowed a slow but steady growth over the past year.

Online and offline, we use several methods of communication to connect with our customers.

Online tends to be the social channels such as Facebook and Twitter which open up a two way communication channel unlike no other. This is vitally important today due to the consumer’s need for instant information and answers. We also use more traditional methods of communication – such as direct mail and local media adverts to ensure our customers are always aware of what’s going on in-store but also as a gentle reminder of our presence on the High Street.

The most exciting aspect of working in the toy industry for me is the new and upcoming licences, be this with movies or television programmes, each brings with it new and exciting ranges.

It’s not always about what’s new though, retro toys seem to always be in demand, I guess it’s a type of nostalgia that consumers relate to which makes the presence of local toy shops even more relevant.

The thing that has surprised me most recently is the fact the toy industry is overrun with competition from other retail sectors when a new and popular trend enters the market. Unlike many industries, when a craze enters, it is no longer just exclusive to toy shops, unlikely retailers seem to want a piece of the pie too. This was more recently the case when just down the road from one of our stores I noticed a hairdressing salon selling loom bands and also a clothing shop selling Disney Frozen toys.

Keeping on top of trends is very challenging in this industry. What is popular today can be next

For more information call:

making toys Limited.

sales, we’ve been demonstrating Timeline Cards – it takes five minutes to demonstrate and cards can be mixed and matched from different sets.

The objective of the game is to put events in order of when they happened and get rid of your cards so we suggest allocating younger players with less cards to create a handicap during our demonstrations.

specific seasonal merchandise, but where we do see an opportunity is for the sub £15 price point where customers look for an alternative to a chocolate Easter egg. Playmobil’s toy filled eggs have done particularly well in recent years as have plush toys related to bunnies.

The most traditional Easter based item that has consistently sold throughout the years has been the plush Easter bunnies. The appeal this has to customers is that it is the closest direct related toy to Easter other than a chocolate egg and as they come in many different price points, it works perfectly as a sole gift or a supplement to existing gifts.

This Easter we will be having some good seasonal promotions which will be offering excellent lines and discounted prices. These include big brands such as Lego and Playmobil.

Along with this, there will be a lot of in-store activity that will get local children involved and in the Easter mood. This includes an Easter egg hunt which will be offering great prizes and giveaways for winners and also those just taking part.

0843 557 4062 or email: sales@epochmakingtoys.com

4 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FY

Toy World 32

indie viewpoint Sam Broad Co-owner and buyer, Lighthouse Toys, Histon, Cambridge We will be 11 years old in May 2015. We are a family business owned by my husband and myself with my parents also as directors. We started out when we realised Cambridge had no toy shops and there were some amazing toys available that we as parents couldn’t find locally. I am the main toy buyer and choose toys that have an educational value. By this I don’t mean toys that are obviously to do with reading and maths.

For example, children can develop vital visual skills that are needed for reading by playing certain games and puzzles. However, many of these games don’t involve letters and words. We enjoy advising parents how to help their children have fun and learn. We love sourcing toys and then playing with them to discover how a child will learn while playing.

Customers comment on how excited we are when we are unpacking a delivery.

Business is hard work with increasing competition from the internet, both big companies dominating the market and some suppliers selling direct to the customer. It is frustrating when we spend a long time advising customers, getting out demos etc. and then the customer buys from the internet. Some customers tell us that is what they are doing. We are often cheaper than shops in Cambridge but some customers assume that a village shop is more expensive.

We are on the High Street of a busy village (in some areas of the country it would be called a market town). Customers come from both the village and also from about a 20 mile radius. We get to know regular customers and value their friendship. We have watched children grow up, which is a privilege. We enjoy activity days – last year the highlights were our 10th birthday and a charity shopping day. We are planning some special days for 2015. We use Facebook and are developing a new website.

I read the toy magazines and listen to our customers to stay on top of trends. However we don’t always follow the trends as customers want products they can’t find in large supermarkets and chain toy shops.

We strongly believe that customers need to see and handle toys and that this experience can’t be offered by the internet shops. We have play tables for younger children and game demos for older children and adults (our favourites are Katamino and Rush Hour). The shop is arranged in categories such as science, games and puzzles, wooden toys and role play. We change displays frequently and the windows every week or two.

Customers really like our pricing system, anything with a yellow price sticker costs £2 or less. An orange price sticker means it costs £2.01 to £5. A white sticker means it costs over £5. This helps children develop an understanding of the value of money. Also parents/grandparents can set expectations of the type of toy the child can buy before they come to the shop. For example children will happily look for a ‘yellow or orange toy’ rather than expect any toy they like the look of.

We will bring in some Easter books that portray the original meaning of Easter plus some pocket money impulse buy toys with a spring theme. Customers generally want an alternative to an Easter egg so we concentrate on ordering new toys/ranges that are good quality. Recently one customer bought three dresses and a wooden jigsaw as her Easter gifts. Before Easter we had the Cambridge Science Festival (run by Cambridge University) and we supported it with a large range of quality science products.

If you would like to get involved with next month’s Talking Shop, please get in touch with Daniel: 01442 502 407, daniel@toyworldmag.co.uk

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes Toy Barnhaus

Easter treats

A

s we write this, the first quarter of the year has gone, and we are already counting down the sleeps until Christmas. Trade has continued to be good, with the beginning of March driven by book week. This seems to get bigger each year, and always arrives very late. It gives a nice lift to sales for the end of February/early March, which is generally a slower time. With the anniversary of the loom craze soon to be upon us, hopefully the key sellers at the moment will help to offset the mega craze from last year.

One of the top sellers at the moment is Shopkins, which has to be the star in pocket money collectibles at the moment. The second series has sold significantly better than the first and we were pleased with the first series too. It is probably the best girls’ focussed collectible in a few years. On the boys’ side, there is a bit of a gap at the moment, although there are a few coming out to try and fill it. We liked the Mini Ugglies from Character at Toy Fair. As we know with boys, they always like things around farting and anything gross, and Ugglies certainly fit the bill. There is also Mutant Mania from Flair, which is trying a similar route, and it will be interesting to see which comes out on top.

After a few years in the doldrums, the boys’ action figure category has seen a resurgence in the last few months. Ever since the Turtles film was launched last autumn, we have seen strong growth. This year so far, Big Hero 6 has been a big surprise, and is still selling well two months after the film’s launch. We thought the Avengers range of figures from Hasbro was very strong at Toy Fair, and the early signs are that this will be very strong this year, with kids being familiar with all the super heroes this time. Another great seller continues to be Minecraft, with new figures adding more collectability to the range. We have certainly noticed that with the lack of any major/new consoles over the last few months, maybe the toy market is benefitting.

Pre-school is a massive category for us, and is another area that is doing well at the moment. The standout is undoubtedly Paw Patrol, which is still going strong. We look forward to new assortments bringing different characters into the mix later this year. Having hit 70 years old, Thomas is showing no signs of slowing down. It is a great range for independents, with the new engines always proving very collectible. To add to that, we have the new Thomas mini engines about to be launched. We think these are fantastic value, and there are clearly lots of engines they can add to the range in the future. Another one to watch is products from Flair from the new Home film. With little publicity, the early sales have been promising, and with the release of the film for Easter, the sales should get even better.

With Easter about to hit us, the Toy Barnhaus satellite is showing ok weather, but not the temperatures we had last year. We have certainly noticed over the last few years that kids seem to be getting less chocolate, and that hopefully they are getting more toys instead. The Easter bunny set from Lego and the gift eggs from Playmobil are certainly healthier replacements for chocolate.

Something a bit different, but we are sponsoring the Piazza Italia supercar weekend in Horsham over the Easter weekend, which is a great event if you like your cars. And with the recent launch of Lego Speed Champions, we have the perfect product to sell.

Toy World 33

Feature

Games and Puzzles

Top of its game A successful 2014 has left companies working in the games and puzzles sector feeling upbeat about the year ahead. Emily Ansell Elfer reports.

S

tatistics show that the traditional board games and puzzles market is going from strength to strength, with products offering families a welcome break from their computer screens.

NPD reports that annual sales of games and puzzles were up by 10% in 2014. Data also reveals that products in this category have real longevity – a whopping eight games from the 2013 top 10 sellers list made it into 2014’s list too. Only Monopoly Empire and Hungry Hippos dropped out of the list, but weren’t far away – sitting at number 11 and number 14 respectively. Simon Swipe was the only new game to enter the top 10 in 2014.

Retailers are seeing games and puzzles fly off the shelves, especially over the Christmas period.

Stephen Barnes, of Toy Barnhaus, told Toy World: “We have definitely seen steady growth in the category over the last few years. In my eyes, there has been a trend for parents to buy games and puzzles as something to get their kids away from sitting in front of a TV or computer screen.

“Obviously the market is weighted heavily to Christmas, with over 70% of our sales during the final quarter. However, for the rest of the year, a core range of kids and adults games and puzzles is still a key part of our range in stores.”

Stephen predicts that a mixture of both evergreen lines and new launches will perform well over 2015 and says he saw some great products from John Adams at Toy Fair.

John Adams’ marketing manager Lynette Norris commented: “We had a really successful 2014 across our whole range of games. Our kids’ action games continued to do fantastically well, with both Gooey Louie and Doggie Doo finishing in the top 10 of all games. We’re building on this success with two new action games this year – The Greedy Sheep and Elly Fountain. 2015 also seems set to be the year of all things retro, so we’re confident that our heritage brands Rummikub and Triominos will prove to be popular.”

Ben Hogg, marketing manager at Esdevium, says more people are “gaming generally” and this has had a positive effect on board games, while the internet is also a useful sales tool.

He added: “Crowdfunding has helped remove some of the market’s barriers to entry whilst online reviews allow people to research the best game for them prior to purchasing. Consumers have never had as much choice or information as they do now and they are making better decisions because of it.”

Ben expects to see licensed games performing well in 2015 and is particularly excited about Esdevium’s Star Wars, Frozen, Disney, Thunderbirds and Marvel games.

Richard Wells, sales director at Paul Lamond Games, agrees that the games and puzzles category is performing well, but says it’s difficult to accurately work

out the actual size of the market.

He commented: “It is fair to say this sector of the toy market performs consistently year on year. It may not reach the peaks that other areas of the toy sector experience but we certainly don’t go through the troughs either.”

For Richard, licensed games are the ones to watch in 2015. He says that bestselling family lines tend to be a mixture of strong licensed products such as QI and classic lines such as Subbuteo and Perudo.

He added: “We tend to find popular licensed family games are usually TV driven such as our Mrs Brown’s Boys and Gogglebox board games whereas children’s licensed games tend to have a great predominance towards book licenses such as our Where’s Wally, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid and Room on a Broom games.”

The company is offering a selection of football products for 2015 and its new licensed 3D Puzzle Balls featuring Premier League teams are proving popular, as well as its 3D Football Stadium puzzles.

Last year was Vivid’s debut as a major player in the games arena following the acquisition of Drumond Park, the company behind Articulate! and Logo. The brand came in at second place in Total Games and number one in Adult Games for 2014. Drumond Park was also number three in Pre-school/Children’s and Family Games.

“When the agreement for Vivid and Drumond Park was signed back in June last year, it symbolised the coming together of two strong entities both of whom could add value to each other and benefit each other.

For Vivid, it was the opportunity to get into a new sector

Toy World 34

of the market which complimented and strengthened our existing portfolio. For Drumond Park, it allowed Claire McCool and Sandy Duncan to continue what they love to do – create and develop great games and TV commercials, without having to be as involved in the day to day operational details as they had previously,” said Vivid’s marketing director Mary Wood.

“Drumond Park is known for great games for children, families and adults and it’s no mean feat to be strong across all three of those sectors. Retailers also know that the brand is here for the long term which gives reassurance when tough selection decisions have to be made.”

Vivid is re-launching Shh..Don’t Wake Dad and Rattle Me Bones for autumn/winter. Frozen and Star Wars are joining Drumond Park as Spot the Difference games and Og on the Bog is expected to go down well after it received a Best New Game award at Toy Fair.

The company also has plans for its adult games and is launching Logo Lite after the success of Logo.

Mary added: “In 2014, we saw sales of Articulate! increasing year on year so we are aiming to grow that further in 2015 but as in all adult games it is always a nail biting end to the year given sales are very much focused in December. Logo was the top performing adult game and Articulate was number two so on the back of those results, we are planning TV, promotional and PR activity in 2015 that will ensure we maintain those top positions.”

Over the following pages, we present a selection of the latest products from companies working in the games and puzzles sector.

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Playing the game In this month’s edition of Touching Base we speak to companies working in the games and puzzles sector about how the category is evolving and the impact of technology.

Bananagrams Rena Nathanson

It is difficult to pigeonhole where ideas are coming from in the games and puzzles market. We get submissions from all corners of the professional world, including bankers, bloggers, painters and scientists. Innovation can come from anywhere – even a child, which is often the best.

For newcomers, the challenge is often navigating the manufacturing and importing side of the process. Getting the pricing right can be quite testing as well. For established publishers, holding pricing is tricky as there are ongoing increases coming from the Far East where, for better or worse, most things are manufactured.

Creative promotions are key to making an impact outside the peak selling period. BOGO (Buy One, Get One for less) and GWP (Gift with Purchase) promotions can be successful ways to get a lift on sales. But the recession hit the games and puzzles sector hard, so anything that offers a value for money experience for the consumer is good.

E-commerce has totally changed the face of retail when it comes to sales. Now with so many e-retailers out there and talk of drone delivery services, I feel technology certainly has and will continue to have a huge impact on the sector. It saddens me that so many bricks and mortar stores have been forced out of business. I am hopeful that there will soon be a backlash reaction from consumers who will demand a personal, in store experience bringing back the need for more shops.

In terms of gaming itself, again technology has a strong influence with the younger generation basically speaking an entirely new language which is digital. (BTW – it’s all Greek to me!) As phones and tablets get cheaper, design and innovation is growing in its creativity.

Jumbo Games

IMC

I believe the powerful influence of licences really shape the puzzle market.

As portfolios continue to grow, so too does the range of products available. Whilst this isn’t necessarily an innovation it is a key factor that can’t be ignored.

I think the biggest challenge facing the category at this point in time is the range of tech products versus the more traditional type of puzzle and game.

As tech continues to grow, change and develop, so too do the products available.

That said after years of growth in tech toys, we believe the market will realign itself to the traditions of gaming with a spike expected in the sale of puzzles and games this year. This is because there is a growing demand from consumers to return to traditional game-playing with friends and family rather than independently with a gadget.

Retailers can maximise on games and puzzles outside the peak Christmas selling time, by offering a range of products they can appeal to consumers all year round.

For example, foam floor puzzles, which can be used both indoors and outdoors prove very popular and are great for the summer months when families spend an increased amount of time outdoors. Bath puzzles are also a great product that can be enjoyed at any point throughout the year. They provide a lot of fun during bath time and are available in some great licences meaning they appeal to all children.

I believe innovation in the games category will come from new interactive and technology driven concepts. This year IMC will be launching Chrono Bomb into the UK Market, an interactive game which challenges players to weave their way through a string course to defuse a pretend bomb.

The concept is so exciting and innovative it really stands out from the competition.

I think the sales pattern really depends on the type of game. Yes family games tend to be backend but as the games category diversifies, the introduction of non-traditional concepts (like Chrono Bomb) will help boost early sales. We are predicting Chrono Bomb as a top seller in AW15, IMC will be launching a comprehensive TV and marketing campaign early on in the season to create awareness and generate those early sales.

As smart phone and tablet usage increases within children, I think we can expect to see a raise in games with app related features. IMC is already paving the way with this movement, a special Chrono Bomb app featuring two bonus augmented reality games will be able to download once Chrono Bomb is launched in the UK market.

Terry Crew

Gray Richmond

Toy World 36

FRIGHTFULLY FUN

FAMILY GAMES!

FIGHT ARENA Fling your zombie discs into the arena in a battle of the undead and try to knock other players’ discs out!

This action-packed game will keep the family enthralled for hours!

ARE YOU READY THE

LABYRINTH Let your zombies loose in the graveyard labyrinth and search for brains! Watch out for Dr. Bizarre - he wants to steal your brains for his sinister experiments. The game board is different every time!

KIMBLE Get ready for a freakishly fun game of luck and strategy!

Pop the built-in die and move your pawns around the game board before the others. Danger lurks on the way so beware!

Tactic Games OY T/A Tactic Games UK | Phone: 01483 332070 / 332071 | info@tacticgames.co.uk | www.youtube.com/TacticBoardGames

Winning Moves

Tactic Games Jeremy Pateman

Suzie Howes

I think the innovation we are seeing in the category is all being driven by the entertainment industry. There are lots of products that will support the major film releases this year like Minions and Marvel Avengers and fortunately our Top Trumps will successfully support them all.

Ironically I think the film industry is also the biggest challenge to the category. Star Wars is set to dominate the shelves and this puts a massive amount of pressure on categories such as games and puzzles. The major focus will always go to the larger categories such as Toy and Apparel.

Obviously the run up to Christmas will always be a major focus for games and puzzles, but Winning Moves has worked very hard with the retailers to create a full year plan for sales. Through a mixture of quality products, strong licensing, key timing and strategic promotions we have successfully grown our business through 12 months instead of relying on the last three or four months of the year.

I am big fan of technology, but I truly hope that classic family board games, card games and puzzles will in essence remain free of technology. I enjoy nothing more than playing a game like Monopoly with the family or beating my children in a game of Top Trumps – cruel I know, but a valuable life lesson.

The key aim for Tactic is to achieve higher percentage growth than the market in general so we aspire to a 15% growth year on year for several years to come. The challenge is creating a global game brand which requires inspired product development, management and a competitive edge to enable us to deliver games that retail has confidence in.

We are fortunate as we have a diverse range. Whilst quarter four is the imperative in terms of multiple listings and volume, we offer retailers a schedule of licensed games which coincide with cinema film releases throughout the year Examples are SpongeBob Squarepants Sponge out of Water and Minions.

Thunderbirds 50th Anniversary games from July this year will offer retailers the opportunity to tap into an existing fan base of many thousands of people.

Retailers can capitalise on these events and licensed games which drive volume in the category all year round.

Retailers can also generate sales with all year round educational games such as Flags of the World, Drgaonia and Busytown. Many retailers have recognised that games are not just a back end of the year opportunity.

Undoubtedly, there is only so much dispensable cash available and the consumer has more choice than ever before. However, Tactic has not experienced a decline in board gaming and continues to grow as a company. This is most probably due to diversity. We take to market fun action games, outdoor games, learning games as well as the all-important more traditional board games.

That not to say that it’s easy. Every day presents new challenges and the category remains a highly competitive arena with many very good players.

Goldfish & Bison Lee-Anne Neale

There is huge innovation in the games market introducing features that simulate virtual reality with 3D glasses and augmented games. For example, we are introducing a new Alien Mission game by Megableu. Featuring 3D technology glasses and infra-red guns, players shoot aliens that look like they are appearing and chasing the payers in the real world. Players have to sneak around their own home to zap the aliens with the infrared gun.

Computer games and busy lives offer a challenge towards encouraging families and kids to play off-line games. However, if you have the right game with the right features, we have found they will still be extremely popular as kids and parents still value playing games.

We are expecting the new Megableu Spittin’ Camel game to be of great interest as it offers a surprising new feature. In the game, desert stranded players must compete to win bottles of water from the camel’s back, but beware if you can’t beat the camel’s challenge, he will spit at you.

There are lots of games available that are great for other seasonal events rather than Christmas. We have games such as Ghost Hunt and Creepy Hand that do especially well at Halloween.

Parents are also looking for activities to entertain the kids during the summer holiday and half-term breaks that aren’t computer based and are looking for games that appeal to the whole family. If you can offer that, there is a good opportunity for an all year market share. The new Name That game, which puts quick thinking matching skills of people, places and things to the test is a good example of games that can be played all year-round and anywhere you go.

Technology will have a meaningful impact on the sector going forward. Yes, traditional games will continue to be developed with more advanced features, merging reality with augmented reality. The key feature is to maintain the fun, engaging, traditional play patterns and not lose the integrity of the games to the technology.

WORKING TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN

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Toy World 38

Email: sales@traditionalgardengames.co.uk

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Games and puzzles

John Adams

01480 414 361 | www.johnadams.co.uk John Adams is boosting its collection with some classic brands and new products for 2015.

Triominos is a triangular take on the traditional dominoes game. The new range will contain five products under the heritage brand in its 50th anniversary year across a range of price points. The range will be led by Triominos Classic Deluxe, which will feature the recognisable triangular packaging, with other items including Triominos Excel, Triominos XXL, Triominos Travel and Triominos Compact.

The company will be expanding its Action Games category with two new additions: Greedy Sheep and Elly Fountain. Greedy Sheep has a simple format; players take it in turns to feed grass to the sheep. He keeps eating and bleating until finally his woolly fleece flings off. Elly Fountain is the game where being sprayed with water is a good thing. Players take it in turns to feed Elly and press her arm. If she sprays a player with water, they must then take a splash coin. The first player to get three splash coins wins.

The Shopkins licence will be joining the games collection with a range inspired by the foodie themed collectibles line. The Shopkins Puzzle Tin, Supermarket Scramble Game, Pop ‘n’ Race Game and Big Roll Bingo will all be released in the autumn and will offer exclusive Shopkins collectible figures for added play value.

John Adams will be adding Tipping Point to its collection this year. Based on the daytime ITV quiz show hosted by Good Morning Britain’s Ben “Tipping Point is the latest introduction into the company’s TV games collection – an area which we’re Shephard, the game will come complete with a table planning to continually expand on, following the huge success of The Chase and The Cube. The Tipping top electronic Tipping Point machine with moving Point game replicates everything about the ITV quiz show hosted by Ben Shephard, including table-top base plate, as well as question cards and counters. electronic Tipping Point machine with moving base plate, question cards and counters. As with the The Rummikub range has been expanded for 2015.

TV show, the aim of the game is for players/teams to answer as many questions as possible to collect New introductions include Rummikub Xpress, Travel counters. The player with the most counters goes onto compete in the end game to try and win the Rummikub, Rummikub Prime, Rummikub Junior and coveted jackpot counter. We’re delighted to be adding such a popular gameshow to our growing portfolio.”

Rummikub Word.

Simon Pilkington, managing director The company’s Rubik’s range will continue to offer a selection of lines based on the iconic cube.

Hero product

Tactic Games

Cheatwell Games

Tactic expects the Thunderbirds Trivia 50th Anniversary board game to be a magnet for diehard Thunderbirds fans who were addicted to the original series as well as appealing to a younger generation.

For the young gamer there is a range of TY licensed games and jigsaws including Matching Pairs, Domino, Lotto and a memory game all featuring some of the characters from the TY world. The two jigsaws are designed for little hands.

Minions Hit Them Out skittles game is a throwing game for inside or outside and is available in March for the latest film release in June.

The TMN Turtles range, Kimble, Power Cards, Molkky (wooden skittles) and large Yatzy continue to perform strongly with the Kimble Game doing particularly well.

The company expects the two Skylanders games to perform well on the back of the Trap Team game release, which will feature new characters.

For Moomin fans there is a wide range of games, puzzles and craft items available in time for the Moomins on the Riviera film release on 1st May and for SpongeBob followers there are the Kimble, Bingo, Fishing and Molkky (wooden skittles) games.

The Matt Hatter brand continues to grow and the 200 and 500pce jigsaws are doing well and should improve further with series 1, 2 and 3 being repeated later this year on CITV. There are three Zombie related games available for 2015 – Memo/Pairs, Kimble and the Action Game Fight Arena.

The company’s home-grown games such as Cat’s Pajamas, Junior Bingo and Draw out Junior and the PlayTime range are performing well. The top-selling Alias range has been refreshed. The new Wonky Blocks are uneven blocks which players stack onto a tower.

The Flags of the World and Mexican Train ranges continue to out-perform forecasts and the iKNOW range will be supported by a heavyweight advertising campaign.

Family favourite Charades – made by Cheatwell especially for children – has been given an overhaul and been completely revised, while the Jurassic age is being brought back to life with 3D Dino Puzzles that capture what dinosaurs looked like when they roamed the Earth.

The company’s tongue-in-cheek collection of card games includes the explosive Fart game and World Zombie pack as well as the ever-popular IQ range, which has been expanded to include new challenge packs, puzzle tins and Noggin Workshops.

Cheatwell’s flagship board game Tension was among its first creations and the fast-paced game has a huge following, continuing to attract new generations of fans.

The game of naming names sees players race against time to call out possible solutions to a given subject.

The Humm Bug game contains hundreds and hundreds of popular tunes and players can enjoy horse racing with the Race Night DVD game.

01483 332 070 | www.tatctic.net

Toy World 40

02392 524 098 | www.cheatwell.com

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PAUL LAMOND GAMES LIMITED 31 Newington Green, Islington, London N16 9PU Tel: 020 7254 0100 Fax: 020 7254 3400 Web: www.paul-lamond.com

Football Puzzles double page spread.indd 1

MANCHESTER UNITED FC

LIVERPOOL FC

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26/02/2015 09:54

Games and puzzles

Jumbo Games 01707 260 436 | www.jumbo.eu

The Wasgij Imagine General Election is a new collection from Jumbo’s Wasgij range of puzzles. The company has created three themed 1,000 piece editions, each centred on the possible fictitious outcomes of the 2015 General Election.

The company has also launched a political campaign backing candidate Dave Wasgij in the build up to the May General Election – Dave believes that, through puzzling, he can make a divided country fit together once again.

The Disney Frozen Magical Ice Palace board game brings Frozen to life.

Players must help Anna save Arendelle from an eternal winter and Elsa’s icy powers by moving around the board collecting cards and trying to melt the ice by pressing on Elsa’s Magical Ice Palace. If the Palace lights up and sparkles, players can turn over one of their cards but if it turns red their turn is over. The first player to melt all of their Frozen playing cards wins.

This June will see the return of the award-winning Peppa Pig Tumble and Spin, while autumn/winter sees the launch of Spinning Santa Tumble and Spin. These electronic game have Peppa Pig and Santa spinning to music and providing instructions.

Jumbo is adding to the Falcon puzzles range with a The Rugby World Cup puzzle ready for Fathers’ Day. The company will also be launching two Falcon de Luxe Christmas 1,000 piece puzzles.

Jumbo will be adding to the existing Goula pre-school puzzles and games range including Puzzles In a Tin, 1-10 Numbers Wooden Duo Puzzles and an interchangeable magnetic wooden character puzzle. All Goula wooden puzzles and games are produced using sustainable woods.

New licensed products for 2015 include popular brands such as Mr Bloom’s Nursery, Disney, Fireman Sam and properties from Warner.

Mattel

01628 500 000 | www.mattel.com Top-sellers include number three family game Scrabble, number one card game Uno, top drawing game Pictionary and the latest addition, Bounce Off. New for 2015 are Minecraft mini figures.

Scrabble will kick off the year with a major partnership with the Daily Mail launching a new Scrabble promotion using the classic game play whilst giving readers the opportunity to play to win cash. In autumn/ winter, a major new initiative will celebrate Scrabble as the Smart Choice for Festive Fun as the brand highlights its positioning as the favourite game for mind and educational challenges.

Uno is partnering with Burger King this spring and will include card packs in every child’s meal. Uno Facebook fans can interact with the Facebook Game Changer competition to modify the game with new cards. The winner will see their suggested changes featured in the game in 2016. The range includes Uno Cards, Deluxe, Extreme, Dare and Junior.

A new range from Minecraft allows fans to create their own missions with endless opportunities. The range features the two most wellknown tools in the Minecraft world including the Enchanted Sword which transforms into a pick axe. The Three-pack and Single Blind Pack assortments feature characters such as Witch, Steve, Iron Golem, Pig, Creeper and Skeleton.

Hero product “Our expectation going into the toy shows was that Pizza Pizza would be a popular addition to the range, with aspirations for it to be a best seller due to its strong visual appeal and core educational values. We were therefore delighted with the positive response it received, suggesting that it will fulfil our expectations.”

Simon Newbery, managing director

Orchard Toys

01953 859 535 | www.orchardtoys.com Orchard Toys has added two lines to its educational range.

Go Go Dragons is a game of chance. Players are powerless to influence the final outcome of the game as they hope that the next turn of a card edges them closer to the finish line.

Veg Patch Match is a game of strategy in which children try to build a vegetable patch to replicate the one in the centre of the table. The game requires keen concentration and memory skills, as players try to collect the fruit and veg characters to win the game.

Toy World 44

NEW FOR A/W 2015!

The unique Alien invasion game!

Supported by extensive marketing campaign.

Games and puzzles

Cartamundi

01268 51 15 22 | www.cartamundi.com/en The company’s Shuffle range — card games based on popular brands with optional apps for extra fun — has been extended.

The new four-pack Carta Magic range is a natural extension to the Cartamundi ranges of traditional playing cards, which are the core of the magic trick concept. The card packs are supported by guides, extras and tips from professionals on everything from mind reading and card finding to making things disappear, prediction and more, all offered in rising levels of difficulty for children and adults.

The four packs are Carta Magic 25 Tricks, Carta Magic 50 Tricks, Carta Magic 80 Tricks and Carta Magic Tadaaa, a special starter pack for the younger magician. The lead-in to this launch has seen great feedback from retailers across Europ.

Bananagrams 020 7298 9500 | www.bananagrams. com

Hero product “Bananagrams WildTiles is a new spin on the original anagram game that drives you bananas. As players race to complete their grids, they can pick up one of six monkey WildTiles and play it as many times as needed, standing in for any letter. We’re confident that Bananagrams WildTiles will be as big a hit in the UK as it has been in the US. Fans of our classic Bananagrams are sure to love this new take on the game, offering endless word creation. For new players, WildTiles is a great introduction to our range and it’s a solid addition to our line of fun and educational games.”

Rena Nathanson, Top Banana at Bananagrams

Bananagrams has sold 6.5million copies in more than 30 countries worldwide and is available in a series of foreign language editions including Hebrew, Spanish, French, Norwegian, Italian and German.

There is a larger version, Double Bananagrams, for up to 16 players and a supersized outdoor version, Jumbo Bananagrams, designed for the garden or days out.

A new version of the game, Bananagrams WildTiles, was unveiled at Toy Fair. The new game includes six monkey WildTiles, putting an all-new spin on the original.

Players can pick up a WildTile and play it as any letter as they race to complete their grids.

Another word game in the Bananagrams range, Zip-it, will be relaunched with a fresh new look in 2015. The no-space word race is a super-fast game for super-small spaces like airplane traytables. Players throw their cubes and use the letters to make a word grid as fast as they can as their opponent races to do the same. Zip-it comes in a travel pouch that lets children keep track of who is winning.

Bigjigs

01303 250400 | www.bigjigstoys.co.uk New for 2015 are three colourful Arched Puzzles. Split into three levels, these puzzles give youngsters the chance to develop their dexterity and problem solving skills as they build a unique scene with each layer. The line joins the existing Arched Pirate Puzzle in the range and also features popular themes of dinosaurs, the home and farm animals.

The new Chunky Alphabet Puzzle – Lowercase joins its uppercase equivalent in the educational puzzle range.

A host of wooden games join Bigjigs’ collection, each with a modern twist on design. The new games include Animal Shut the Box, Ludo, Lotto, Four in a Row, Chinese Checkers, Codebreaker and the Stacking Tower Game. The games have educational elements, helping children to practice new vocabulary and develop their social skills.

Hero product “Performing particularly well already this year is our new Ludo board game – a colourful and decorative version of this classic game. Children and adults alike can participate in a friendly competition as they race their counters around the board, while also practising social skills and strategy.”

Sam Ireland, operations manager

Toy World 46

Games and puzzles

Esdevium 01420 593 593

The range of Disney licensed games continues to expand this year with the introduction of several new titles, whilst retaining key sellers from 2014 including the Frozen 6-in-1 board game and the Disney Princess range.

Disney Pictopia is a new family game and introduces the concept of PictureTrivia. Players must assess a group of pictures from a range of Disney properties and correctly answer from a number of different trivia questions. Playing in teams, this is the cue for animated family discussion and a real test of each player’s Disney knowledge.

They are also given the opportunity to guess their opponents’ answers. Pictopia is available now and throughout the year.

The new Star Wars licensed version of the card game Timeline takes events from Episodes IV, V and VI, depicting them on cards and evoking memories.

Players take it in turns to place a card on the chronological line with the aim of being the first to correctly place all their cards. They flip over the card to see if they are correct and, if not, must take another. The game is set for a Q3 launch. There may be additional Star Wars games available from Esdevium in the future.

The first-ever TV advertising started for the Dobble Card Game in March and continues across the Easter holidays to maximise awareness over this key sales period.

Hotel Tycoon was a sell-out family game for Esdevium last year. 2015 will see the company support the product with a wide-ranging marketing plan centred on TV advertising.

IMC

01904 720 908 | www.imctoys.com Chrono Bomb was the number one selling game in France last year and number six selling toy across all categories. IMC will be the exclusive distributor in the UK, launching the product this summer with a dedicated TV campaign.

Players must weave their way through the course without touching the wires and defuse the bomb before it explodes. To successfully accomplish the mission, players must pick up all the Object Cards whilst navigating the course.

An augmented reality Chrono Bomb App will be available to download with two bonus games.

Air Hockey is a high speed game for two players. Children can start the blower and slide the puck over the surface with the launchers. IMC’s Air Hockey sets are available in a Star Wars, Avengers or Spider-man design.

The Super Pinball table is portable and comes with lights and electronic sounds. Players must hit the flippers, hit the bumpers and keep the ball in movement for as long as possible to attain the highest score. The set features automatic digital scoring. The company’s Super Pinball sets are available in licenses including Minions, Star Wars, Avengers and Spider-man.

Gibsons

020 8661 8866 | www.gibsonsgames.co.uk The Spot the Sillies range sees a new puzzle this year – Silly Timothy.

The character has hidden items on the box of the Crazy Kids Club, but a sneaky few will only appear when the puzzle is put together and the challenge is to find all 10.

Gibsons presents the work of artist Martin Berry in its brand new range of Oops! puzzles. Kicking off with two puzzles, Street Life and Mudstock, the puzzles are full of reasons why someone might say “Oops!” – such as accidentally running over the cat or setting up camp in the middle of a bull pen.

Following on from the success of its 221B Baker Street board game, the company introduced Sherlock Holmes the Card Game at the beginning of this year. Players can travel with Sherlock and Watson by hansom cab and train, seeking clues and suspects, whilst Police Inspectors, alibis and thick fog cause confusion. All of the cards are illustrated with pictures from the original material and capture the atmosphere of the period.

Gibsons’ traditional wooden games are handmade “Humour is a favourite theme for many of our puzzlers. Our I Love... range illustrated by Mike Jupp from re-forested rubberwood. Benefitting from a has continued to be one of our strongest sellers over the years and there is so much demand for packaging update at the end of last year, the range these types of puzzles that we decided to bring in the Oops! range to keep up with it. Completely comprises of nine games suitable for both new and mad and full of hilarious things to spot, we’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response to our experienced players, including Shut the Box, Solitaire, Oops! puzzles and can’t wait to continue adding to the range.”

Travel Chess and Tiddlywinks.

Amanda Murphy, sales and marketing manager

Hero product

Toy World 48

Winning Moves full page ad Toy World.indd 1

17/03/2015 09:28

Games and puzzles

Clementoni

DKL

Clementoni introduces its Young Learners range this May. The games are designed to develop early learning skills for preschoolers through play.

The Alphabet game has illustrated tiles to teach children the sounds of letters, the alphabet and how to write three-letter words.

Only the right tiles will fit together, helping children to self-correct themselves.

The Numbers game is similarly composed of interlocking tiles that will only fit together if correct and allows pre-schoolers to count sets of animals.

The Farm Animals game teaches children to recognise animals and their footprints.

The Alphabet and Numbers games are available in larger kits with more gameplay options, teaching more complex numeracy and literacy skills. In addition to interlocking tiles there are more challenging puzzles, lotto and bingo games.

Miniland Educational offers a collection of games and puzzles with various educational benefits. New for 2015 is the On the Go collection of travel games.

The collection features six fold-away games which include magnetic pieces.

On the Go boards include themes such as Crazy Faces and Crazy Zoo and are accompanied by a CDU. Elsewhere in the range, is the Pairs game which includes 12 different double-sided cards across four categories. Mini Puzzles come in three designs and are made from highly resistant and washable plastic. As a child’s first puzzle, it aims to stimulate speech and develop their attention span.

Wonderworld’s wooden games and puzzles are created from rubber wood and finished with smooth, rounded edges.

The Wonderworld Fun Safari collection features the Safari Puzzle made of chunky wood and is designed to help children with problem solving, trial and error and hand-eye coordination.

020 3206 1397 | www.clementoni.com

01604 678 780 | www.dkltoys.co.uk

Vivid

01702 200 660 | www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk A number of new launches have joined Vivid Group’s Drumond Park Division for 2015.

The Logo Lite is a pack of hundreds of new cards which are fully compatible with Drumond Park’s best-selling game, Logo. It is also a game in its own right – individual players take it in turns to answer all the questions on a card and collect six different-coloured disks. Each correct answer gives them a go on the spinner and, if it stops on a colour they already have, play moves on to the next person.

Each player has a mission in Rattle Me Bones. The skeleton of a pirate reclines on his treasure trove and players must creep up stealthily and steal his possessions. If he feels a player’s touch, he’ll leap up, rattling and shaking to scare away the thief.

In Og on the Bog, the ogre has retired to his outhouse loo – and players must collect three of his loo rolls to win. Players must be careful not to trigger a noise – if he shouts out then their turn is over and if the bog explodes they lose all their loo rolls and have to start again.

In Don’t Wake Dad, players must avoid the howling cat, tinkling bell and hooting owl. The aims is to creep past dad as he snores in bed, trying to reach the fridge and win a cake.

“Og on the Bog is a brilliant game that has been devised in-house by the Drumond Park Barbecue Party is a simple game for younger development team. We were absolutely thrilled that their creativity was recognised as it received children which helps aid dexterity. Players take one of the Best New Toy awards in the Games and Puzzles category at Toy Fair. Og on the Bog will be a card and either place the item shown on the available from July and will be sure to have youngsters in fits of giggles.” grill – or if it’s there already, take it off and win Mary Wood, marketing director that card.

Hero product

Toy World 50

Games and puzzles

Paul Lamond

020 7254 0100 | www.paul-lamond.com New for football fans is a range of licensed puzzles and collectibles featuring Premier League teams.

The new Puzzle Ball is a collectible 3D puzzle featuring five licensed teams: Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. Each Puzzle Ball features an image of the current manager and top players, and when created the ball is the size of an actual football. Also available are two 500-piece jigsaw puzzles for each club depicting key moments from that club’s history.

Paul Lamond’s range of games and puzzles features some of TV’s most popular shows.

Mrs Brown’s Boys is a board game which brings the series’ colourful characters to life. Players face numerous challenges as they race around the board from Start to Party Night, which must be completed before Mrs Brown speaks.

The Classic British Comedies DVD Board Game is jam-packed with clips from classic BBC comedies such as Hi-De-Hi and Dad’s Army.

The Goggle Box board game features questions such as “Who said the Queen is a ‘top bird’?”

New for autumn 2015 will be the Never Mind the Buzzcocks The Board Game. Based on the cult music show, the game allows players to show off “New for 2015 and available now is a fantastic range of licensed 3D Football Puzzle Balls featuring their musical knowledge. five of the top Premier teams: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester The company’s line-up of children’s games City. Once created the finished Puzzle Ball is the size of an actual football and features 240 pieces. includes It’s a Chicken, a drawing game where To boost the Puzzle Ball’s collectible appeal it is dated on the bottom, has a stand for fans to display players have to draw clues over circle shapes while their winning creation and a new ball will be released every season.” others try and guess what’s being drawn before the Richard Wells, sales director chicken timer clucks.

The Story Telling Game allows children to tell tall, short, fairy or scary stories while the Tyrannosaurus Rex board game brings the Jurassic age to life. Devious strategy and luck of the dice decides which dinosaurs become a tasty treat and which make it safely home.

New for autumn 2015 is the Jacqueline Wilson Dreams, Dilemmas and Divas board game. Players share their secrets and try find out who knows them best as they race to become a star friend.

Hero product

Ravensburger

Rascals

Ravensburger’s children’s puzzle range offers a variety of characters, themes, piece counts and formats. Already part of the licence portfolio are Avengers Age of Ultron, Bing Bunny, Minions Movie, The Clangers, Twirly Woos, Stickman, plus Disney Big Hero 6, Disney Cinderella, Palace Pets, Star Wars Rebels, The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out and Miles from Tomorrow.

New this year are refreshed titles to established ranges such as Thomas & Friends, The Gruffalo, In the Night Garden, Disney Doc McStuffins, Disney Frozen, Princess, Finding Nemo and Disney Cars, plus new products in the award-winning My First Puzzles preschool range.

The Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower and Lighthouse 3D puzzles with lights continue to be popular products among both adults and children. Big Ben with lights will launch later this year. Other new launches include Neuschwanstein Castle, One World Trade Centre and Country Cottage. They have proved to be equally popular with puzzlers and model builders alike.

New from Rascals is the Mr and Mrs Pocket Edition game. Based on the All Star Mr & Mrs TV show, players are challenged to answer in-depth and entertaining questions about their partner, friends or family members.

The Mr & Mrs Pocket Edition game is suitable for ages 10+ and works well as a travel game.

The product includes more than 300 questions and will be available from June 2015 following a period of exclusivity with independent retailer Bookends Christchurch.

The Mr & Mrs Pocket Edition joins Rascals’ existing trio of board games: Mr & Mrs Family Edition, The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game and The Really Nasty Bankers Game.

01869 363 800 | www.ravensburger.com

01473 558 185 | info@rascals.uk.com

Toy World 52

Games and puzzles

Flair

0208 633 0320

Love Monopoly?

Shuffle has a game for everyone!

Flair’s portfolio of games for the year ahead includes Squeaky Chicken, Robo Smasherz, Freaky Franky plus new wooden games for the return of Thomas and Friends.

The Thomas and Friends games are designed to promote educational family fun with much loved characters.

The Wooden Track Dominoes Game has 28 dual sided dominoes and four engines pieces. Children can either play the traditional game matching the images or turn the pieces over to create a wooden train track for an altogether different experience.

Squeaky Chicken features a nervous chicken protecting her eggs. The aim is to take as many eggs as you can from the coop, without waking the snoozing chicken.

Robo Smasherz is a game for two players and includes a pair of InfraRed controlled robots that fight in the Ultimate Robot Championship. Players must pick their corner and help their Robo Smasher leave the main event as the URC Champion.

Freaky Franky is a game of strength and features a large stretchable Frankenstein figure. The aim is to stretch Franky’s flexible arms until his eyes pop out.

University Games subject to licensor

approval

03334 050 120 | www.university-games.co.uk

More great Shuffle titles coming soon!

© 2015 Disney © 2015 Disney/Pixar. © 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Hasbro.

MONOPOLY © 1935, 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Hasbro.

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Following the success of Bunny Jump and Chicken Charades, University Games is further developing its portfolio in 2015 with the launch of three new children’s action games.

Seagull Splat is a game of chance where the unlucky are the victims of a pooping seagull. UFO Alarm sees players trying to keep their farmer and animals from the evil alien.

The company is also launching Aladdin’s Flying Carpet which puts a new twist on children learning the art of balance, dexterity and co-ordination.

University Games is introducing a refresh for both the Pointless Board Game and Mini Game version. The Mini Game benefits from a set of new questions whilst the Board Game receives new questions and an enhancement to play. Players now have the opportunity to download a free scoreboard app.

The range of Mini games includes 5 Second Rule, Smart Ass, Spot The Difference and Sort It Out. Great Explorations, University Games’ glow range, also sees a complete rebrand for 2015, with a full redesign of packaging and branding.

Toy World 54

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Games and puzzles

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Puzzles and Play is now the distributor for the Castorland and Heye ranges of jigsaws in the UK. Castorland Puzzles were established 25 years ago by the manufacturer Castor.

The products cover a variety of topics, from vehicles, animals, art collections and landscapes through to fairies and dinosaurs. Both adults and children are catered for with varying numbers of puzzle pieces and complexity. The children’s puzzles are bright and colourful and depict an array of cheerful characters.

Heye was founded in 2010 as the result of a merger of two German calendar publishers and developed a comprehensive product range featuring a variety of formats and topics. Some of the products quickly became bestsellers and renowned international artists such as Mordillo, Hugo Prades, Rosina Wachtmeister and Victoria Francés became collaborators.

The spring season also sees new releases from Creative Educational Aids. This is a range of educational games and puzzles for children from pre-school age upwards. New releases include four packs of learning aids designed to encourage the use of spelling, reading skills and numeracy. These are packaged in brightly coloured plastic boxes for easy storage. Other new releases include a set of four mathematics practice games and science booster packs covering a large range of topics.

Another product from Creative is a range of educational Early Puzzles. Each box contains four or five puzzles with differing numbers of pieces. Each box has a theme such as animals, alphabet or numbers and brightly coloured pictures to keep the child engaged.

Goldfish & Bison

020 8568 6398 | www.goldfishandbison.com Goldfish & Bison has unveiled the new line-up of Megableu games for 2015. Featuring 3D effects and new gameplay, the range has games for the whole family.

Continuing the success of Ghost Hunt from the Megableu brand, Goldfish & Bison is introducing the new Ghost Hunt Evolution game. Wearing 3D glasses, players have to zap hordes of bats flying at them from all directions as well as shoot the ghost appearing on the walls and ceilings.

The new Alien Mission features aliens that have invaded the world and players must eliminate the off-world visitors to win.

The new Electronic Name That game puts quick thinking skills to the test.

In Spittin’ Camel, desert stranded players must compete to win thirst quenching bottles of water from the camel’s back without the animal spitting.

The new Megableu games will be available from Goldfish & Bison from August 2015.

Winning Moves

0207 298 9507 | www.winningmoves.co.uk Winning Moves is adding new products to its Top Trumps portfolio with some high profile licences. The Minions Movie will have its own Top Trumps Tin and Star Wars Top Trumps Tin, will include characters from the Episode 7 film released later in the year. The Shopkins will also be a new introduction to Top Trumps. The existing Top Trumps portfolio includes the Big Bang Theory and Disney’s Frozen.

The company’s Monopoly Collection sees four new introductions this year with family favourites from the worlds of Disney and Nintendo. Zelda and Assassins Creed are amongst the new additions as well as Doctor Who Regeneration.

The Trivial Pursuits offering will include the Big Bang Theory alongside some nature classics such as Wildlife and Dinosaurs.

Winning Moves’ puzzle collection continues to grow with current offerings including various titles within the Harry Potter range. Both 500 and 1,000 piece products are available including Hogwarts, Quidditch, Magical Creatures and Philosopher’s Stone. Christmas themed puzzles are proving to be strong performers with both the Christmas is Coming 500 piece puzzle and the Christmas Building a Snowman 1,000 piece puzzle continuing to be popular. The range will be joined by some new Top Trumps puzzles later in 2015.

Toy World 56

Games that suit all pockets Introducing the Mr & Mrs Pocket Edition with all new questions

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Games and puzzles

Golden Bear

HTI

The new Peppa Pig Glitter Dominoes from Golden Bear help to develop children’s recognition and manual dexterity skills. Based on the traditional game of dominoes, each player takes turns to match the pictures of key Peppa Pig characters with the winner being the first to place down all their dominoes.

The product comes in a wooden storage box for safekeeping.

The Mr Tumble and Friends Wooden Puzzle includes six chunky wooden pieces each with a coloured peg to help pick up the pieces. Developing recognition skills, dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination, this puzzle is bright and colourful and features different colours behind each shape to match the pegs. The new Wooden Dress Up Mr Tumble has interchangeable Something Special characters.

Toppling Bugbies consists of 30 stackable blocks.

With three different combinations of play, children roll the dice and take it in turns to remove the blocks until the Bugbies tower comes tumbling down.

classic lines that have been designed to encourage early learning and develop hand eye coordination.

The Floor Puzzle is a 49 piece jumbo jigsaw featuring a classroom scene and the chunky 3D Clock Puzzle helps little ones to learn to tell the time as well as familiarise themselves with numbers. Other puzzles include a Peppa Pig Dress Up Numbers and Muddle Puddle Peg Puzzles, offering number learning and shape sorting activities with Peppa designs.

HTI’s in-house games range provides a selection of traditional board, family and strategy games from Draughts, Chess, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders to Bingo and Lotto. The games range also includes compact magnetic compendium travel games that offer four classic board games in one. All the magnetic play accessories can be stored away in the pocket-sized locking cases.

The latest addition to the ranges of games and puzzles from Halilit is Tricky Fingers, a game of dexterity and colour pattern recognition.

The puzzle box is shaken to mix up the coloured balls, then one of the 14 different pattern cards is turned over and the players use their fingers to recreate the pattern in their puzzle box.

The game can be played individually or with a friend to race to complete the challenge. Tricky Fingers helps develop puzzle solving skills as well as hand-eye coordination and is distributed exclusively in the UK and Ireland by Halilit.

Halilit

Hape Toys by Marbel has launched a new range of games including The Ringer and the Colour Croquet.

The Ringer consists of four pegs set in a solid coloured base. The pegs are colour coded and labelled with a score which is dependent on the difficulty involved in slinging a rope ring over the peg. The four rope rings are coloured with a piece of wood that gives them weight to throw and makes them easy for children to grip.

Colour Croquet from Hape is a croquet set designed for children. It is suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

HTI provides a range of Peppa Pig wooden puzzles and toys. An evergreen licence for the company, the range offers a selection of colourful Peppa designs across

Peterkin has recently taken on the UK distribution of King International puzzles and games. The range offers a selection of children’s and adult puzzles and games.

The children’s range covers everything from four piece through to 100 piece puzzles and includes some of the most popular Disney licences for 2015. New introductions for this year include new Frozen images

Peterkin

Rainbow Designs

Toy World 58

and also the Disney 4 in 1 Shaped Puzzle sets – these progressive sets provide an introduction to puzzling for young children.

The adult range offers an extensive selection of 500 and 1,000 piece puzzles, as well as 300 piece travel puzzles, licensed Disney puzzles, comic and Christmas puzzles.

Rainbow Designs’ Peter Rabbit, Guess How Much I Love You and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Nursery collections feature traditional wooden puzzles which have been developed to help encourage early developmental skills and start to introduce learning numbers and letters.

There are two puzzles within the Paddington Bear collection, Paddington’s Tea Party 48 piece puzzle and Paddington Bear 4-in-1 Puzzle. There is also a Paddington Mix N Match Card Game and a Traditional Wooden Dominoes set.

The new Shaun the Sheep Movie collection is targeted at a slightly older audience and features a 100 piece puzzle, snap cards and a Shaun the Sheep Snakes and Ladders game. All products feature artwork from this year’s Shaun the Sheep Movie.

Spin Master’s portfolio of games performed strongly in the market during Christmas 2014.

The extended Hedbanz range which now includes Act Up will be available throughout the year, along with the hands-on games of Moustache Smash and Shark Mania which have proved popular since launch in 2014.

Two new Paw Patrol games, Look-a-Likes Matching Game and the Adventure Game, complete the spring 2015 line up. Further Paw Patrol games will be released in the second half of 2015.

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0145 Toys n Playthings Ad Feb 2015 v2.indd 1

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NPD Column Generosity begins at home The NPD Group’s Jez Fraser-Hook looks at how British parents compare to their European counterparts when it comes to spending money on their children.

F

amilies are at the heart of British life and certainly a vital part of the UK Toy Market. Despite the British reputation for stiff upper lips and reserved natures, the British are actually more generous than the rest of Europe when it comes to spending money on our children.

Across mainland Europe, children under the age of 11 years receive an average of €263 worth of toys, but here in the UK they receive €376 worth of toys – that’s 42% more. This is higher than France, Germany, Italy or Spain. And it’s not due to price differences between countries, as in the UK children receive 39 toys a year compared to 21 in France and 22 in Germany. Spanish children only receive an average of nine toys a year, poor things. So what makes us British supply our children with multiple toys over the year?

In the UK parents spending on toys is higher, accounting for 41% of all toys purchased in 2014 compared to 34% in France, Italy & Spain, although this might be due to closer family ties over the channel with grandparents and other family members contributing to higher spend on toys in mainland Europe. However, self-purchasing is also higher in the UK, accounting for 15% of toy value compared to a lower European average. So parents are seemingly more generous both in their spending on toys as well as providing money for children to purchase toys themselves. One reason to be generous is the number of promotions on the UK. Last year nearly 40% of all toy volume in the UK was purchased on promotion compared to the European average of lower than 35%. That’s two toys in every five purchased on promotion – an extraordinarily high number especially compared to France which is just one in four toys on promotion.

So Brits are ahead in number of toys purchased for children as well as a higher proportion of toys purchased on promotion – we buy more and buy more on promotion. We also buy more online with,

Britain Still Highest Spend For Kids across Europe € 376 € 301 € 263

EU5

GB

FR

€Spend on toys per child in Europe FY 2014– Kids 0-11 € 272

GE

€ 148

IT

SP

Number of toys bought per child in Europe FY 2014– Kids 0-11

39

22

€ 150

21

23

11

EU5

GB

The NPD Group, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential

Document classification Internal Only

FR

GE

Source: NPD Group | Consumer Panel Service

again, nearly 40% of sales purchased either online or via click and collect while total Europe is around a quarter, with both growing ahead of in-store shopping. Self-purchasing in the UK is increasing heavily through online purchasing as well suggesting that the traditional visits to the toy shop with pocket money clasped in hand is being challenged more these days compared to how it used to be.

While there may be cultural differences which account for some of the differences between UK and the rest of Europe, it does give reason to why the UK Toy market is still the largest in Europe and likely set to remain so as long as we continue to hold onto our generous spirit. At least as far as toy buying goes.

IT

9

SP

1

Jez Fraser-Hook

executive director

The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food/food service, home, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless.

To monitor what’s happening in the ever-changing toy market, NPD 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.npd.com. Follow NPD on Twitter @npdgroup

Toy World 60

Company profile

Strong figures signal growth and optimism at Flair Having reported record sales for January and February with the strength of brands such as Shopkins in the Girls market, Doc Mcstuffins in Pre-school and TMNT in Boys, Toy World looks at what makes Flair so resilient, coming back stronger with every challenge that comes the company’s way.

T Doc Mcstuffins

he single most common characteristic of the Toy Industry is the volatility of brands and brand guardians. The fact that well-known brands and companies can experience dramatic changes in their turnover is a given. It’s a situation which Flair has faced many times in its 15 year history, but the company has repeatedly shown the ability to come back stronger than ever.

This January and February, Flair posted the most successful figures it has ever achieved in those particular months. This was on top of record numbers for 2014, despite ceasing to be the distributors of perennial brand Sylvanian Families.

As Flair’s Managing Director, Simon Hedge commented: “We always knew that 2014 was going to be a challenging year. After successfully

developing the Sylvanian Families brand over some 14 years, we handed it over to Epoch’s new company at the end of 2013. We had the challenge of not only replacing a significant amount of turnover, but also proving to a few customers that we were more than just the Sylvanian Families company.”

Of course this was not a new situation for Flair, which in its relatively short history has faced a number of similar challenges, including handing back PlayDoh to Hasbro and giving up the licence for Thomas Wooden railways when RC2 acquired the brand owner, Learning Curve.

As Simon Hedge observes: “Each time Flair has had to respond to a major challenge, the company has emerged stronger and fitter. It’s not that we are complacent about the situation; we are just aware that you can’t afford to rest on your laurels and have to fight to keep you market share.

“Both 2013 and 2014 were record years for Flair, with the successful launch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Doc McStuffins, and the Shopkins brand to add to the already substantial product portfolio offered by Flair. The new brands successfully replaced the lost Sylvanian Families turnover. Indeed

by December 2014, according to NPD, Flair was tracking ahead of the previous year and the introduction of Shopkins delivered a higher monthly turnover than the sadly missed Sylvanian Families.”

From the beginning to the end of the distribution cycle, Flair’s strength is in its relationships. The company has strong bonds with suppliers that trust them to distribute their brands, safe in the knowledge that they will be fully supported from launch. This in turn ensures sales are maximised to their full potential. As a company Flair has a proven track record in investing in heavyweight TV advertising, while its’ PR and retailer marketing activities have proved to be consistently inventive.

So what lies ahead for 2015? Nicola Bergot, Flair’s Commercial Director, confirmed: “Toy Fair 2015 was hugely successful for Flair. We were delighted with the enthusiasm and optimism of our customers.

Brands like Turtles, Doc McStuffins and Shopkins stood out as being able to deliver forecasts well above our expectations and new brands such as Mind Candy’s World of Warriors, Pet Parade and IDO3D all received excellent feedback. We are confident that 2015 is going to be a great year for us and our customers.”

Shopkins

viewpoint Toy World shares insight and opinion The current state of the U.S. toy space

By Lutz Muller CEO of Klosters Trading Corporation, a provider of competitive insights in the mass retail space in the USA and Europe.

Some, particularly those not too familiar with the U.S. toy market, are confused by the fact that there are three very distinctly different ways of assessing it. One is NPD, still considered the gold standard by some, who say that the traditional toy market in the U.S. is at retail worth US$ 18.11 billion. Then there are those, including the Klosters Retailer Panel, who say that it is in fact about 26% higher at US$ 22.98 billion. And finally, there are those that add the toy sales of the Hybrids – Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Amiibo - to this latter total since they believe, and the national buyers concur, that the Hybrids are in fact part of the toy space and not of the Video Game market as NPD asserts.

Chart 1

Source: Klosters Retailer Panel

Chart 2

Source: Klosters Retailer Panel

Chart 3

Source: Klosters Retailer Panel

The difference between the three is best illustrated by a historical chart: (see chart 1) The major winners in 2014, in Dollar terms, were the Building category, followed

by Arts and Crafts. The former was driven by one company only – Lego – which continued to totally dominate it. The second, Arts and Crafts, benefited from two aspects. One was the economy, which made Activity Kits attractive because of their price points; the other, the fact that parents – rightly – believe that arts and crafts endeavours are beneficial to the child in terms of skill development.

The major loser was Pre-school, for two reasons. The first was the economy, which over the past couple of years has forced families on restricted budgets to make choices. One of these choices was to go down the price scale or to substitute when buying toys for the kids below four years in age. The second factor was the inroads made by the hybrids, particularly Infinity and of late also Amiibo, who began to take over market share from traditional preschool toys.

While it is common practice to decry the U.S. toy space as one where nothing ever happens except stagnation, the reality is quite different. For one, whilst the traditional toy market has zigzagged between US$ 21 billion and US$ 22 billion since 2003, this is not a true reflection of the situation for two reasons. One is that whilst sales in US Dollars have indeed stayed level for more than ten years, sales in units have in fact increased at a yearly rate of about 2%. Migration of manufacturing from the U.S. and Europe to China accounts for the discrepancy. By moving production to the Far East, costs were significantly reduced and this allowed prices to drift South, which in turn led to depressed Dollar sales. This trend has come to an end and the turn-around started already last year.

The other is that the traditional toy market numbers totally ignore the impact of the hybrids – the Skylanders, Infinity and Amiibo. This is due to the fact that NPD defines these brands as part of the video game space even though about 85% of their sales are in toy figures, which directly compete with Action Figures and Preschool toys.

By adding their sales back into the toy revenue numbers, we get a greatly different picture, as demonstrated by the chart: (see chart 2)

Toy World 62

So, in short, the toy market is doing pretty well. This does not mean that it does not have its challenges. It is a large, obviously growing, and extremely competitive market place and there are, as you would expect, winners and losers. This is obvious if you look at the toy market shares of the leading retailers: (see chart 3).

The big loser is Wal-Mart, and its decline tells us that pricing is not the sole factor determining market share changes. Wal-Mart is in fact pretty competitive, but it is losing its consumers for a totally different reason – shopping there has become an ordeal. Their shelves are half empty during the day; most of their cash registers are not attended when long lines of very patient customers are trying to pay for their purchases; floors are unswept and toilets are a disgrace. As a result, people have begun to vote with their feet. There are now indications that Doug McMillon, the new Wal-Mart CEO and the first merchandising executive to run the company since Sam Walton, has recognized the fact that changes have to be made, however painful, and that paying their shop floor people a living wage is a good start.

The “Others” are also losers – mainly Mom-and-Pop stores and opportunistic entrants such as the Walgreens and Supermarkets of this world – but this picture is a little misleading. A significant portion of their business is being done online, mainly via Amazon, and their sales show up in the rapidly increasing market share recorded for this retailer.

Another winner is Barnes + Noble, which is slowly emerging as a factor in the toy space. They are still small, at an estimated 1.5% market share, but this is still nearly double of what they had at the end of 2013.

The real winners are the Dollar Stores – their stores are neat and well staffed, their prices are extremely low and their toys may often be close-out, but you would not know this by looking at them.

ToysRUs has recaptured some of the market share lost recently and has begun to further sharpen their competitive posture, at least in the toy space. However, indications are that the gains made in the first nine months of 2014 were, to a large degree, again lost in the fourth quarter.

The three leading retailers – Target, ToysRUs and Wal-Mart – are not immune to the vicissitudes affecting the toy space and they are reacting to them, but each slightly differently. In the case of Wal-Mart, toys are a political football and every new CEO kicks it into a slightly different direction – either viewing it as a traffic driver opportunity or as a second-rate use of space.

Bill Simon, the last CEO Wal-Mart USA, saw it as the latter and toy area hygiene began to suffer. Greg Foran is said to be of the traffic-driver school of thought and, if so, he has his work cut out for himself. In any event, the store area devoted to toys reached a peak in 2008 and then began to fall of a cliff. While there has been a modest resurgence since 2012, I do not see a major expansion in the toy space until the company has got its act together and to a point where toy shelves are consistently filled and maintained.

As for Target, their toy space has stayed pretty even. However, I also hear that there is an ongoing conversation on the senior level at Target about the significance of toys versus baby products and I believe that there is the suggestion that increasing baby product space at the expense of toys should be considered for three reasons.

David Ripley COO of Winning Moves

State of the Toy Nation 2015

A quick Google search of the term ‘UK Toy Industry 2015’ will bring back 2,140,000 articles that are in some way related to the UK toy industry for the year ahead. Add the word ‘predictions’ and a total of 732,000 searches are returned.

One is that a strong baby product presence will over time also benefit toys in that the expectant or new mothers who come to the store will eventually return to also buy toys. The second is that the overall gross margin on baby products tends to be somewhat better than on toys. And the third, and perhaps most important, is that ToysRUs is doing badly in the category and hence could present a competitive opening for Target.

ToysRUs is slowly reducing its overall toy space in the context of their move from traditional TRU stores to Side-By-Side [SBS] stores. The difference between the two is in their space allocation. The traditional store devotes about 60% to toys, 20% to Babies, 15% to Electronics and 5% to other such as service desks, check-out counters, toilets et. In the Side-by-Side stores, toys are reduced to 40%, Babies are upped to 40% and the allocation for remainder stays the same. At this time, there are 214 Side-by-Side stores in the U.S. out of a total of 878 stores. However the conversion rate from regular stores to SBS, which tended to be around 40 per year, fell to a mere 3 between August 2013 and 2014 which suggests a marked slow-down.

Incidentally, the number of pure BRU stores declined in 2014 by 5 stores to 230 stores. At the same time, TRU reports that its Juvenile Products sector is not doing particularly well, and there may well be a connection between this and their slowdown in conversions.

This very tough competitive environment is also leaving scars on manufacturers and this is the primary reason why you have seen so many small and not-sosmall companies being bought by larger competitors in 2014 – most notably Mega acquired by Mattel, Meccano by Spinmaster, Pressman by Goliath, Brio by Ravensburger and Mojang of Minecraft fame being swallowed by Microsoft. The first four are very predictable moves by toy makers trying to enter a new toy category.

The last one, Mojang, is very interesting. Ostensibly bought for their video game business, the company also has a very viable toy business and very solid licencees – Lego, Mattel, Jazwares and ToysRUs. Does this mean that Microsoft will actively enter the toy space just as Namco Bandai has done, or will they simply let their current licencees get on with it and be satisfied with whatever licence royalties they can get? The reasons that led to the number of acquisitions last year also led to a number of changes in the licence line-up. Toy licences are becoming increasingly important in the toy space and now account for more than 30% of all toy sales in the United States. In 2014, Disney’s Frozen became the most important toy licence ever and is expected to dominate the Doll space also this year. Hence the decision by Disney to transfer the entire Princess Doll licence, including Frozen, from Mattel to Hasbro effective 2016 shook the industry to its core. If Disney can move the top Doll licence from the top Doll manufacturer to the top Action Figure manufacturer who has only a modest Girl business then nothing else can be taken for granted in the toy licence universe. However, Hasbro also got a few haircuts, albeit lesser ones, last year. The company lost the Care Bear licence, which they have held since 1991 when they bought Kenner Products, to Just Play; and the Strawberry Shortcake licence, held since 2009, to Bridge Direct.

As you can see, the people who decry the U.S. toy space as one where nothing ever happens except stagnation need to wake up and smell the coffee.

The vast majority of these articles are either loosely associated with the subject matter or outdated reports predicting the state of the UK toy industry in 2015, some from as far back as 2010 which without getting beyond the initial pages of these extensive reports can be easily dismissed. Most of the reports are based on very loose and unfathomable extrapolations that predict global toy industry sales at $100bn in 2015 or at less than $50m based on the prediction that console gaming was to decimate sales of the traditional Toy industry, I suspect the true final global sales figure for this year will be somewhere in between.

The lack of quality predictions for the Toy industry is worrying, with many other consumer goods markets having much written about the year ahead with real insight and considered opinion.

There is very little information of substance in the common domain (by which I define as Google) about direct economic impacts to the global toy industry, from a cursory view of The Plastics Exchange or Platts commodity indices we know with certainty that various fuels and toy related polymer pricing has

Toy World 63

been softening since September 2014 but are once again starting to creep up with the very slow and steady increase in oil prices. The current strength of Sterling vs the Euro and other currencies will be good or bad news dependent on where in Europe you buy from and sell to.

As an industry how do we bring this all together into good quality reporting that UK toy companies can use to make informed business decisions? The reality is that we don’t; NPD makes a good attempt to predict the likely trends within the Toy market for the year ahead but this is based more on looking back than looking forward and harnessing related external toy market factors. The US Toy Industry Association also provided some good insight for the year ahead with the prediction that ‘Open ended forms of play will reign supreme in 2015’...

One report from the Google search that did stand out was the McKinsey report by Gordon Orr (published in Dec 2014) that predicted material changes to the Chinese market and economy that could well have a long and lasting effect on Toy manufacturing in China...well worth a read.

viewpoint

Jim Hawker co-founder of Threepipe PR and digital marketing agency.

Resolving issues

The huge success of loom bands last year and its omnipresence has inevitably led to increased scrutiny about the product itself in terms of how they are manufactured and of course the general safety of the product. There have been some pretty high profile articles written in high circulation consumer titles drawing attention to some of the unfortunate incidents surrounding the product.

While some of the headlines are ridiculous in nature, some of them have not been. This has drawn attention to the need not just to develop creative brand promotion strategies but also brand protection ones too.

Dan Salem Managing director at Prism Media Productions

Happy Easter

To Vlog or not to Vlog that is the question…and if you vlog what do you vlog about? If someone had posed this question a few years ago, you’d have thought they had had one too many drinks and couldn’t get their words out properly. But with stars as big as Zoella on the scene with seven million followers who “love her”; the girl next door. the big sister, the person young girls want to be has built up an audience bigger than some of our favourite tv channels in less than a few years.

Now whilst she may appeal to an audience older than those buying toys, she could well teach us all a few lessons. Moreover these lessons whilst parallel in nature to the toy industry can help us deliver more effective production and media campaigns in the future.

The first is a reflection of an ever increasingly tech savvy young population. With many young children today already having been given access

I have experienced a huge amount of product crises over my career, some of which have been fatal and all have led to a firm requirement to have crisis planning documents in place on behalf of clients. Not every problem is a crisis and there should be an appropriate response designed for different categories of crisis. We create a crisis PR plan for all clients which is reviewed and updated every six months. This is a living document which anticipates scenarios and which has an agreed set of responses between the client and the agency.

As part of this planning there is a review of company spokespeople and media training needs are identified. On many occasions I have had to step in and become the company spokesperson because of a lack of availability or confidence in dealing with the issue from the client.

One issue we dealt with recently highlighted the need for customer service and marketing/PR to be more joined up. We were contacted by a national newspaper for comment on a story about a specific product and one which we were unaware that there was a problem with. It transpired that the customer service team had been made aware of the issue a few months before and it was not an isolated case. With better communication, we could have prepared for the problem and instead we had to scramble around to investigate the

to their parents’ old smart phones since they were two years of age, picking up a tablet or camera and making a half decent video is no longer the preserve of the high end photographer or film maker. And while the content may not always be thought through, from a “you’ve been framed moment” to a credible product review or howto guide, anyone can quite quickly pick up a reasonable global audience.

And with linear TV viewing in decline, whilst children are watching more TV most of that is on catch up services or VOD. Interestingly YouTube’s new kids app, whilst a natural extension to their channel offering, will provide a further filter for the best content aimed at children. And if the stats from current VOD suppliers hold true, much of this content is still being supplied by many of the larger media companies due to the time and expense involved in making great content.

However there is an opportunity to create great toy related content aimed directly at consumers which is more than just a how-to video, and the fact that Lego now has its own content team reflects this and has contributed to its growing brand dominance and success over the past few years.

But there are opportunities for everyone in this space who have the courage to invest and deliver content that is authentic. A major contributor to Zoella’s success is the fact that she is just being herself, and made a conscious decision not to overly commercialise herself , selecting only those products or partners who she would have used despite her growing success.

With this in mind, it would surely be credible

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issue before forming a response. We now review all customer service logs and spot patterns of customer complaint.

Through monitoring social media conversations about certain products we are also able to implement an early warning system about product issues. We can flag these to the client and customer service teams and all be kept much more aware of potential problems coming down the line which has proved to be of immense value.

In the world of social media it seems that every time someone writes a negative comment or threatens to blog about something, that this should be treated as a crisis. These should not be treated as crisis moments – this is part of the day to day job. Helping customer service teams resolve issues is becoming a bigger part of the job for agencies as well as managing the social communities around the brands. Also, all online influencers are not the same. Understanding their online influence is key to gauging how far their negative influence will travel. Having the right analytical tools will allow an appropriate level of response to be formulated.

What is the point of investing so much time and money in a product or brand if you have no plans in place to protect your investment?

for smaller companies such as Mookie to deliver tennis coaching tips and videos, or for Vivid & Crayola to deliver a creative channel teaching kids how to draw. And for the younger viewers, might it be credible for the Clangers to teach kids about space as opposed to Brian Cox? Some brands have created credible content already and maybe before the time was right, such as the Leapfrog Letter Factory in 2011.

And this brings me onto another lesson from Zoella and that is to ensure that you deliver content regularly. Once a year to support a TV ad is not enough. It’s all about attracting an audience and keeping them with you, which can only be done with new and regular content.

Think of it like running your own TV channel.

But this doesn’t need to cost the earth…as content can be created or filmed in one go, broken up and delivered weekly or fortnightly. If this is then supported by social media, PR and other marketing activity, you will have a greater opportunity to engage with your audience.

It is crucial through that the table of content produced reflects the quality of the company and product; it is all too easy to devalue brands with a substandard offering. Quality, relevant content can deliver trust, authenticity and more importantly sales. Traditional TV in the run up to Xmas will never die, but the year is 365 days long; it’s always someone’s birthday, word of mouth goes a long way for the parents buying decisions, and we all love to watch engaging video. If you would like to know more, feel free to get in touch.

Dan@prismproduction.co.uk

Feature

Pre-school

Pushing pre-school into the future NPD statistics show a decline in pre-school sales for 2014 but the sector is looking forward to a fruitful 2015 where technology and licensed products take centre stage. Emily Ansell Elfer reports.

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PD results suggest that last year was disappointing for the infant and pre-school market. The category was down by 7%, which was a surprise considering the market was up by 4%.

However, closer inspection reveals extenuating circumstances; NPD’s Rory Partis says one reason for the decline is that the line between pre-school and electronic products is becoming blurred. More companies are adding technical features to products, meaning they end up in a different category when it comes to NPD’s figures.

He added: “Pre-school has suffered because of the decline in sales of pre-school tablets, figures and playsets which were significantly down on 2013’s figures. Personally, I think pre-school toys will do better in 2015. The tablet decline won’t be as severe, though I don’t think we’ll see growth. Paw Patrol has started 2015 well and should have an impact along with the superhero trend. A lot of the pre-school developments are also seeing a tech edge being added too, which means that some items end up in our electronics categories instead of pre-school.”

Speaking to key players in the pre-school sector, it’s clear that pre-school suppliers are feeling positive about the year ahead. Companies are presenting a range of innovative new products to the market, incorporating interactive elements as well as focusing on popular licences.

VTech’s sales director Graham Canning believes that technology is the route to explore for strong preschool sales and shares similar views to Rory Partis on the reason for the category’s decline.

“A large part of why pre-school was down is that tablets were showing good numbers, but a decline on the exceptional numbers of the past,” he said.

“VTech’s fastest growing brand in the category is the Toot Toot range and I expect to see that growth continue with the introduction of our electronic figures and playsets.”

Michelle Lilley at Little Tikes sees bath toys as a winner for the category in 2015 and says this is an area where a bit of innovation could go a long way.

She commented: “It’s a very competitive market and although there are some great products out there, we haven’t seen innovation across all areas of the category recently. This is why we think our new Sparkle Bay bath line is sure to create interest.

“We believe the Sparkle Bay bath range is the only collection of toys that magically light up when in

motion or in contact with water. The line features some great products, particularly the Splash Fountain which we think is sure to be a hit with any toddler.”

Over at Mattel, 2015 brings a strong focus on licensed products centering on popular pre-school television shows such as Bing Bunny and Thomas & Friends.

Wendy Hill, director of Brand Activation, said: “It is an exciting year for pre-school content, bringing a whole host of new products to support programming. We are looking forward to the launch of our Bing Bunny line based on the popular CBeebies show and we are already seeing phenomenal demand, as well as the strongest content pipeline in history for number one pre-school property Thomas & Friends in his 70th Anniversary year. The junior construction market continues to grow, and as we welcome Mega Bloks into the Mattel family we are excited about what is to come for the new Mega Bloks First Builders range endorsed by Fisher-Price.”

Wendy says that innovation is leading the way in Fisher-Price product development at the moment, with the expansion of the Laugh & Learn range featuring Smart Stages technology. The toys adjust to each child’s level of development and allow them to discover the world at their own pace.

“Smart Stages really adds a unique proposition to our infant toys and we are launching a number of exciting new products in the line including a brand new ride-on toy. We are also very excited about the launch of Dance & Move BeatBo, a new interactive toy with learning and musical content and voice recording abilities,” she added.

Phil Hooper at Spin Master is particularly excited about Paw Patrol and the potential to establish it as a long-term character brand.

“Paw Patrol is Spin Master’s most significant Pre School launch to date and trade feedback on our current range and planned expansion for autumn has

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been phenomenal,” he commented.

“There will always be a place for established licences to underpin the category but this needs to be balanced against new properties bringing freshness back into the market. We certainly hope that Paw Patrol will be one of the standout launches of 2015.”

Golden Bear’s Barry Hughes says that his company enjoyed a successful 2014 and the team are expecting equally positive results this year.

“The majority of our soft toys fall into NPD’s plush category despite the fact that they are all pre-school licensed plush. We consider ourselves as pre-school specialists. We had a very strong 2014 and we are planning for big growth again in 2015,” he explained.

“2015 sees a plethora of new licences in preschool and we are very excited about our two new licences, Hey Duggee and Twirlywoos. Since going on air on CBeebies, the social media reaction on both programmes has been nothing short of astounding. In The Night Garden was the fastest growing pre-school license in 2014 and we have had a great trade response to our new Activity Table. We will be TV advertising all the Something Special plush toys plus the Mr Tumble Sensory Activity Centre.”

Over the following pages, we present a variety of products available in the infant and pre-school category.

Lil’ Ocean Explorers™ Infant preschool toys encourage and celebrate active gross motor play at every primary physical milestone during a baby’s first 18 months. Our brand new range will help parents to encourage and reward each reach, crawl and step.

15+ ways to play

More than

20

rewarding sounds and tunes

Our NEW range for Autumn 2015

Heavyweight media campaign including TV

9

exciting toys in the range

Imaginations In Motion™ Call us: 0845 0533 333 www.littletikes.co.uk

Email us: Little.Tikes@zapf-creation.co.uk MGA Entertainment UK Ltd, 50 Presley Way, Crownhill, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ES

5332 LITTLE TIKES OCEAN EXPLORERS AD 315x240 TOYWORLD.indd 1

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Pre-school

Little Tikes

0800 521 558 | www.littletikes.co.uk Little Tikes has announced the introduction of two new lines: the Lil’ Ocean Explorers, specially crafted to support babies development, and Sparkle Bay interactive bath toys.

There are nine toys to choose from in the Lil’ Ocean range – the 3-in-1 Adventure Course, Stand n’ Dance Starfish, Dunk ‘n Juggle Seal, Ball n’ Crawl Octopus, Crawl n’ Pop Turtle, Catch Me Crabbie, Pull n’ Chatter Lobster and Push n’ Glow Fish. The range of toys is designed to help parents encourage and celebrate active play at every primary milestone during a baby’s first 18 months.

A further four products make up the The Sparkle Bay line – Flicker Fish, Splash Fountain, Octo Hoops and Water Spinners. The toys include multi-coloured LED lights and are activated by water contact and motion. Sparkle Bay is the only line of bath and water toys that light up.

The ranges were created to underpin the success of last year’s Activity Garden and Big Dog Truck. Both are designed to encourage imaginative play and growth and will hit retail from July.

Little Tikes is committed to growing its presence in the pre-school category and will be supporting the launches with a substantial media campaign including national TV support.

Hero product “Sparkle Bay and Lil’ Ocean Explorers are the best pre-school launches for the brand so far and really show our dedication to development in this area. We’re excited as we believe these ranges are bringing something brand new to the market and offer a huge point of difference.”

Michelle Lilley, marketing manager

Mattel

01628 500 000 | www.mattel.com The launch of Little Discoveries leads the the Fisher-Price Discover Your Way brand campaign which was introduced in 2014. The campaign champions child-led play and learning through discovery.

The expansion of the Laugh & Learn range continues to build on Fisher-Price’s Smart Stages technology with the launch of the Smart Stages Puppy and Puppy’s Sis in spring/summer followed by new additions to the collection including a brand new ride-on Smart Stages Scooter plus the Learning Toolbench, Teaching Tote, Counting Colours Clock, Tea Set, Monkey’s Firehouse and Activity Zoo. Fisher-Price also introduces new futuristic friend for pre-schoolers, Dance & Move Beat Bo, a toy featuring three modes of play including voice recording abilities.

Thomas & Friends, in its 70th anniversary year, has product launches across the entire Fisher-Price Thomas & Friends portfolio. Thomas and his friends become ‘rollers’ with the new My First Rail Rollers Spiral Station, while Remote Control Thomas remains a key focus in the My First collection. The Take-n-Play range welcomes the Daring Dragon Drop with zip line action, while the hero item for TrackMaster is the Shipwreck Rails playset based on the latest CGI feature length special Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure to be released this autumn.

Imaginext sees the launch of the new Power Rangers line including key playset the Power Rangers Morphing Megazord. A new transforming Batcave will lead the DC Super Friends offering while all playsets continue to feature Imaginext’s turn disc technology.

This autumn, Fisher-Price launches its Bing Bunny toy range bringing to life the characters and scenes from the show. The new line will include interactive My Friend Bing plus a series of figures, vehicles, playsets and bath toys.

A new Dora & Friends range will feature a Dora Doll and Dora and Perrito alongside accessories from the Nickolodeon programme including Dora’s Smartphone and Magic Charms Bracelet.

Captain Jake launches towards the end of the year with a new Fisher-Price toy range to support the series. The Mighty Colossus stands at over two feet tall and features four levels of play.

Collectibility in the Fisher-Price Octonauts range continues to grow with the introduction of the new Speeders playset for the mini Gup speeders, while the arctic theme remains strong with the launch of Gup I, a new vehicle playset that can transform into three modes with interactive features, as well as the launch of Gup Y and Talking Gup E playsets.

Mega Bloks is now endorsed by Fisher-Price. The popular First Builders range continues to grow and favourites include the Big Building Bag and Build ’n Learn Table. The Push ‘n Pull Block Picker is new for autumn/winter. The launch of The Zooming Along at Brendam Docks playset is new to the Mega Bloks Thomas & Friends collection featuring a buildable and motorized Thomas engine.

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FIGURES

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GAMES

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* NPD EPoS Value (£) YTD Feb 2015

© 2014 Spin Master PAW Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. PAW Patrol and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Spin Master Ltd. Nickelodeon and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

Pre-school

VTech

01235 546810 | www.vtech.co.uk VTech was awarded the Toy Industry Pre-School Range of the Year Award at Toy Fair.

The Toot-Toot Driver is sized for little hands and the vehicles include different phrases, melodies, sing-along songs and sound effects. VTech has continued to grow its Toot-Toot Drivers range and now offers a Police Station, Fire Station, Construction Site and Train Station along with a huge selection of vehicles and, this year, will be upgrading the Toot-Toot Drivers Garage. The new Toot-Toot Garage includes an additional level, a total of nine SmartPoint locations, four electronic locations that play songs, phrases and sound effects as well as a lift, weight scale and gate locations.

The Toot-Toot Animals include different expressions and nature sound effects, as well as SmartPoint technology.

The range originally launched with a Safari Park themed playset and a Tiger, Hippo, Monkey, Elephant, Lion and Zebra. Five new additions include a Sheep, Pig, Donkey, Cow and Horse as well as mummy and baby sets. A Chicken Coop and Animal Farm will launch later in the year.

The new Toot-Toot Friends, launching in autumn/winter, are an interactive group of friends which come to life when placed on MagicPoint locations on Toot Toot Friends’ accessories and playsets. Each character will respond individually to its location and each other, as they all have built in phrases and songs.

Hero product “We are really excited for the launch of our Toot-Toot Friends Busy Sounds Discovery Home later this year, an interactive house for our brand new Toot-Toot Friends range. The Toot-Toot Friends Busy Sounds Discovery Home has already been awarded a Best New Toy Award at this year’s Toy Fair and we are delighted with the amount of enthusiasm we have received for the new range and this fantastic playset.”

Clive Richardson, marketing director

Spin Master

0800 206 1191 | www.spinmaster.com Spin Master’s comprehensive range of Paw Patrol toys includes figures, vehicles, playsets, plush and pre-school games based on the hit CG animated show.

In every episode of Paw Patrol, the pups save the day with gadgets that pop out of their backpacks. Now, with the help of the Action Pack Pup with Badge, children can transform their favourite character’s backpack with the push of a button.

Every pup figure comes with a child-sized, snap-on role play badge.

The Paw Patrol range offers a full assortment of Basic Vehicles. Each signature toy vehicle includes simple features and accessories, such as a moving ladder or traffic cones, as well as an articulated pup figure.

Pup Pals are 8” high and each pup features a detailed outfit and embroidered, expressive eyes.

Two pre-school games, Look-a-Likes Matching Game and Adventure Game, are available now and will be joined by more Paw Patrol games in the second half of the year.

Spin Master’s Paw Patrol range will be supported with a heavyweight TV, PR and marketing campaign throughout 2015.

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Brands that build the imagination! Š2015 Mattel, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

™

Pre-school

Character Options 01616 339 800 | www.character-online.com

Bananagrams

020 7298 9500 | www.bananagrams.com Bananagrams offers two award-winning games for pre-schoolers – Fruitominoes and Pairs in Pears.

Fruitominoes takes classic dominoes and gives them a twist. Colourful images of fruit instead of dots means the time-tested game now appeals to children too and also works for children that are too young to count.

The product comes in a portable fabric pouch and the game has been recognised by the Dads’ Choice Awards, Primary Teacher Update Awards, Loved By Parents Awards and the Good Toy Guide.

PairsinPears contains a range of games that adapts as family grow. It includes eight educational activities for children of varying ages, plus two competitive word games for advanced players. For pre-readers, PairsinPairs helps developmental learning with the games Pattern Grouping and Letter Hunt. Early-readers enjoy the wordplay activities Rhyming and Fill in the Blank and older children can play two games in which each player races to build pairs of words in grids. Pairs in Pears comes with 10 games in total.

Character Options’ pre-school licences include Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly and Fireman Sam, soon to be joined by a new property, The Clangers.

The Peppa Pig Holiday collection launched in January and includes a Holiday Jet, Camper Van Playset and Sunshine Villa. Adding to this in autumn is Peppa’s Once Upon a Time collection inspired by fairy-tales and nursery rhymes. Figure packs of Peppa and her friends will come donned in fancy dress, such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. New playsets have been given a magical touch such as Coachman George with a Pumpkin Carriage, and a Story Time Tea Party playset.

For little brother George there’s a new adventure with his Dragon Flyer that has a light up flame and makes dragon noises as he is flown through the air. Peppa’s Enchanting Tower is also new.

July will see the introduction of the Clangers toy collection which will sit alongside the new TV series. The collection includes scaled playsets that will echo scenes and features from the show such as Small and her Soup Trolley, Major Clanger, Small and the Musical boat and a Home Planet Playset.

A collection of soft six inch plush figures of all the characters, including Small the curious Clanger and Tiny the musical maestro, will be included in the range.

Whistling Plush Figures of Tiny and Small will emit the melodious clangers sound when pressed.

The Fireman Sam collection for summer 2015 is a range of diecast vehicles. With free-wheeling axles, there are lots of favourites to choose from; Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Wallaby One, the mountain rescue helicopter.

The Elf Tree Playset, Magic Class Playset and Wise Old Elf’s Helicopter join the Ben and Holly collection.

Cloud b www.cloudb.com/UK

For over a decade Cloud b has specialised in making therapeutic sleep aids.

Drawing on a wide range of pediatric sleep science, the company has designed a plush collection that helps children of all ages and health conditions fall asleep peacefully and stay asleep throughout the night.

Cloud b products are made to give children a sense of control that leads to selfsoothing, independent sleeping and an overall positive association with bedtime.

As fear of the dark is one of the most common bedtime challenges for children, the company’s sight products such as Charley the Chameleon combine light, colours, shapes and motion to capture children’s attention and peacefully transition them from the bright world of awake-time to the darker, calming world of sleep-time.

The soft and soothing sound products such as Sleep Sheep provide low-level sounds such as lullabies or white noise that allow for a much deeper sleep.

Cloud b’s sound products are designed for optimally healthy sleep in all types of environments.

Cloud b’s multisensory collection offers a combination of calming sights, soothing sounds and comforting touch in one product. The Twilight Turtle Tunes encourages interaction through personalised music options or pre-set sounds, as well as the projection of a starry night onto the walls and ceiling of a dark bedroom.

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LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2015 The LEGO Group.

Pre-school

Golden Bear

01952 608308 | www.goldenbeartoys.com Based on the new children’s TV series airing on CBeebies, Golden Bear’s Twirlywoos range will include plush versions of characters Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy, Chick and Peekaboo.

Varying in size, the range will include talking soft toys, Peeking Peekaboo and Twirly Top Toodloo. The Big Red Boat Playset mimics learning patterns from the show and combines electronic elements and character figures.

Also airing on CBeebies is the new animated pre-school series Hey Duggee. Golden Bear’s plush offering will include collectible characters and talking Squirrel Club Soft Toys, each complete with its own child-safe feature badge. The Woof Woof Duggee Soft Toy with textured fabrics and push-activated badge icons features the show’s theme tune and key phrases from the series.

Pre-schoolers can re-create scenes from the show with the Squirrel Club Playset which comes complete with a Duggee figure and accessories. The Squirrels are also available as individual figurines.

Building on the 2014 success of the In the Night Garden Ninky Nonk Musical Activity Train, the range has been extended further for 2015. The new Ninky Nonk Track and Train Set has an easy start stop button and plays the Ninky Nonk tune. The Peek-a-boo Igglepiggle promotes ‘cause and effect’ play patterns and encourages character-led learning. The new Activity Table features three key ITNG characters plus a host of interactive features all packed into a standing base and multipurpose play table/storage unit.

The Something Special range has been extended for 2015 to include additional hands-on play items including the Roll and Play Soft Cube complete with 36 activity cards as well as the new larger-sized Talking Mr Tumble Soft Plush and Textured Mr Tumble with Fun Sounds. The new Mr Tumble Sensory Activity Centre is packed full with textures, moving features, mechanical sounds and an articulated Mr Tumble figure.

Flair

DKL

Doc McStuffins, Thomas and Friends and Junior Turtles make up a licensed pre-school portfolio for GP Flair.

The company has launched a School of Medicine themed range to tie in with the new Doc McStuffins TV episodes. Dottie’s Eye Doctor Bag allows children to complete their eye doctor rounds while large Doc dolls; Dentist Doc and Eye Doctor Doc continue the interactive fun. The new Light-Up Doctor Shoes can be worn with Doc McStuffins role play outfits.

The Doc Mcstuffins Pet Vet range includes a Pet Vet Doc McStuffins Doll and new accessories such as the Vet Bag Playset and the Pet Vet Book of Boo Boos.

The new Doc Mcstuffins Pet Vet Desk allows children to create their own Pet Vet clinic at home.

The Thomas and Friends range includes Wooden Dominoes and Track Puzzle, Sorting Box, Tic-Tac-Toe and Wooden Clock Game with 12 double side self-correcting puzzle pieces, two jumbo time dice and a clock stand.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have also entered the pre-school scene with the successful launch of the Half-Shell Heroes. The collection will house a variety of key category lines, including twin pack figures, talking figures, vehicle and figure packs, deluxe vehicles and an Electronic Shellraiser. The hero items of the range will be the Super Sewer HQ and the Mega Mutant Leo. The new Ferrari Play and Go is a range of chunky vehicles, playsets and RC toys available from July.

DKL Marketing offers a range of pre-school toys across its portfolio of brands, including Miniland Educational; Wonderworld Wooden Toys; Hama Beads and Corolle Dolls.

Miniland’s pre-school range, The Educational Corner, continues to grow in popularity with its selection of educational sets for learning at home. A bestselling set is the Activity Timer set which helps children to learn to tell the time in relation to day-to-day life at home. The award-winning Activity Buttons incorporates Braille. The new Marbulous, a plastic marble run, includes 38 pieces in primary colours and 38 marbles.

Hama Beads’ Maxi Food set comes in a transparent tub. Other pre-school lines from Hama include the Maxi gift boxes in the themes of Butterfly and Parrot.

Wonderworld has a range of eco-friendly wooden toys. The bestselling Rainbow Sound Blocks continue to be popular in the pre-school category with it’s assortment of different shapes, sounds and colours for children’s sensory development.

New additions to the Wonderworld Young Mini Vehicles range are the Build-a-Loader, Dog Police Car, Chicky Plane and Moo Moo Tractor.

Corolle dolls are designed in France and the Babicorolle and Mon Premier range offer a first doll for girls of pre-school age. Lili Fresh Riviera and Activities is a soft ragdoll designed in new Corolle patterns and colours.

Different sounds and textures are incorporated in the doll to help to develop the senses.

0208 643 0320 | www.flairplc.co.uk

01604 678 780 | www.dkl.co.uk

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HTI

01253 778888 | www.htigroup.co.uk HTI provides an extensive range of Peppa Pig role-play toys, dolls prams, music and wooden puzzles as well as bubbles.

The company is expanding the range to include the Peppa Pig House Kitchen. The product is based on Peppa Pig’s own kitchen from the TV series and stands at almost one metre tall. It includes a fridge, cooker, rotating cooker hob/ toaster, pan and flipping pancake, cooking and food accessories as well as electronic cooking sounds.

The role-play range also includes two new additional character cases – Super Hero George Case and Peppa’s Bedtime Case. The Super Hero George case contains a superhero mask, Projector torch and Mr Dinosaur. Peppa’s Bedtime case that includes a real working lantern, tooth brush, water bottle and hair brush. Both cases pack neatly away once playtime is over. The new Nurse Peppa Medic Case contains all the accessories necessary for mini medical emergencies.

Peppa Pig music toys include a Sing-along Microphone, Big Band Station and First Piano. New to the Peppa Pig wooden range are classic toys including a Peppa and Friends Train, Family Car, Drum of Bricks and 3D Clock Puzzle.

HTI’s range of Doc McStuffins pre-school wheeled toys is extended with the launch of a colourful new Balance Bike. With adjustable handle bars and seat height, the training bike helps with balance. The company is also adding a Doc McStuffins Junior Pram to its range of dolls prams and pushchairs.

The pre-school wheeled range includes brands such as Sofia the First, Disney Fairies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Minnie Mouse and Something Special as well as dolls prams ranges with Sofia the First and Minnie Mouse.

HTI’s own Smart role-play toys cover the themes of cooking, cleaning, shopping and power tools to promote imaginative play.

The company’s in-house Double Bubble brand includes solution bottles, a wand, a bubble truck, a bubble mower and bubble machines.

John Adams

Halilit

01480 414361 | www.johnadams.co.uk

01254 872 454 | www.halilit.co.uk Celebrating 50 years of business in 2015, Halilit continues to add to the brands of pre-school toys which it distributes exclusively in the UK and Ireland.

The company was thrilled by the reaction to the Battat range of bath, role play and push-along toys at their Toy Fair launch. Popular child toy blogger Beau selected the Battat Take-Apart Plane as his favourite new toy at Toy Fair and all the initial Battat stock had sold out by the end of the fair.

Halilit says its range of musical instruments are the only ones in the market that are accurately tuned to ensure that they are note perfect.

Inspired by children’s love of playing with cardboard boxes, the reusable kits from Imaginabox turn any cardboard box into a car, train, aeroplane, cradle or oven using the stickers and accessories provided. The products encourage children to use their imagination when playing.

Halilit also distributes pre-school ranges from Interstar Construction, Edushape and Scotchi’s wipeable and flexible puzzles, games and activities.

John Adams has a new range of pre-school toys for Pip Ahoy!

The company is the master toy partner for the TV programme and the toy range will reflect the characters and themes from the TV series.

Pip’s Lighthouse Playset will be one of the hero products from the range, offering lots of play value for pre-schoolers.

Boasting a plethora of features to encourage imaginative play, including lift, rotating binoculars, kitchen accessories and a Pip figure, the Lighthouse Playset also includes the Rubber Duck Boat which can be launched by pressing down on the life ring stand.

Mr Morris’ Bubble Train Vehicle features fully articulated carriages and seats that bob up and down as the train rolls along and the chimney spouts with bubble effects. Measuring 40cm long, the Bubble Train includes a Mr Morris figure and plug on points for other characters.

Also in the range will be Skipper’s Bucket tug boat vehicle which can be pulled along the ground with a rocking motion or will float in water for bath play and Pip’s ‘Scopey Eye’ Telescope which has a folding handle and x30 optical lens.

The portfolio will also include a 12” Talking Pip Plush character which plays eight phrases from the show and a selection of articulated to scale mini figures available in packs of two or four.

The range will be TV advertised and supported by a strong PR campaign.

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Pre-school

LeapFrog

01702 200 244 | www.leapfrog.com The Musical Rainbow Tea Party is designed to build social skills such as sharing, taking turns and patience as well as teaching early vocabulary and counting. The product features a light-up teapot that can be used for imaginative tea parties and has bright colours and vivid sounds.

With over 50 songs to sing along to which teach manners and greetings, the Musical Rainbow Tea Party helps to build key motor skills with 10 play pieces including tea cups, cake slices, a cake plate and a teapot.

The Mobile Med Kit helps prepare children for real medical check-ups with role play. Little ones can practice giving and getting check-ups with four tools and learn all about the human body as they prepare for what to expect when they visit the doctor.

Children are encouraged to roll the ambulance and press the siren which prompts songs, such as Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, as well as phrases that help teach about health and hygiene. Children can practice being doctors themselves by using the stethoscope, twisting the thermometer to see who has a fever and listen to the syringe squeak as they practice giving a vaccine.

The Learning Friends Adventure Bus is designed to build confidence with new experiences for little ones, while also helping their vocabulary and pretend play skills.

The bus travels to the beach, the library and the outdoors for a picnic, with each adventure bringing its own song, dialogue and sound effects. Three Learning Friends, Koala, Fox and Penguin, all unlock content in the Learning Friends Play & Discover School Set. The bus has more than 20 songs, phrases and sound effects and aims to help children develop their key motor skills with doors that open and close, a picnic table that folds down and a sign that flips open.

John Crane

01604 774 949 | www.john-crane.co.uk John Crane has expanded its collection of pre-school toys for 2015 in a number of different brands.

Tidlo has added a number of new lines including the General Hospital. This 30-piece set features an air ambulance, road ambulance, ward beds, surgery lights and tables, MRI scanner, an X-Ray machine and more.

Also new in Tidlo is the colourful Garage, which has everything little ones need to get from A to B. The wind-up clicky lift goes up to a car park, and the set features an opening parking barrier and ramps.

The B! Mat-a-matics has features to keep children fit and active whilst having fun. Youngsters can watch the musical note glow as they step in time to the music, bounce around making crazy combinations of silly sounds or play nursery songs. This soft, foldaway floor mat comes with four ways to play.

Easel Does it by B! is a classic construction with natural wood. The easel has two storage bins.

KD UK

01727 827194 | www.kdplanet.com/uk | www.kurioworld.com/uk Thomas and Friends and Paw Patrol have joined KD UK’s portfolio. There are also additions to all existing pre-school licences, including Peppa Pig. My Push and Learn Thomas is the star product in the Thomas line-up, which is packed with learning but also has role play value. One side of the train helps to teach children about numbers and letters, whilst the other side helps to develop knowledge of shapes, colours and Thomas and Friends characters.

Paw Patrol My Walkie Talkies have been specifically designed for little hands. There is also a Paw Patrol camera and projector to help teach preschoolers about colours and numbers whilst developing observation skills and hand to eye coordination.

Peppa’s Play and Learn Smart Watch embraces the phenomenon of wearable tech – it’s packed with games, a motion sensor, clock, voice recorder and more for children to play, learn, move, interact and tell the time with Peppa.

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Pre-school

Lego Duplo

0203 6305 527 | www.lego.com/duplo The My First Lego Duplo range offers toddlers an introduction to basic construction. The bigger bricks and sturdy models are simple to stack and the decorated bricks provide talking points whilst setting the scene for learning and role play.

Budding farmers can learn all about life on the farm with My First Farm featuring a feeding trough, range of animal figures and decorated bricks to teach toddlers about farm animals from the noises they make to the foods that they produce. This product works well alongside the My First Tractor. Parents can introduce daily routines to their toddler with My First Playhouse.

Featuring a range of age-appropriate, manageable builds and strong play starters, the Duplo Town collection allows children to create stories inspired by easily recognisable themes, imitating everyday life and learning through play.

The range also includes a Ice Cream Truck, Duplo Café and Mum and Baby.

Duplo has added to its Disney Princess range with the introduction of two new sets featuring Sofia the First.

Little Helper Little Gifts

0203 322 7833 | www.littlegifts.ie Little Gifts is now the exclusive distributor for Buddy Balls throughout Ireland and the UK. The company is also the distributor for Polarx Ornaments & Gifts in Ireland and is the Irish based distributor for Elf On The Shelf.

Buddy Balls by MaxLand Toys are available in four colour combinations. They were created by six-year-old Max and combine a sports ball with a cuddly plush.

Inspired by Max’s creation, MaxLand Toys was created with the goal of producing a highquality plush toy that would become a childhood favourite. The product was chosen to be a part of Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards.

Little Gifts helped to bring The Irish Fairy Door Company to the market in Ireland. The company is currently looking for a number of retail partners that understand the Buddy Balls brand and have the right customer base.

www.littlehelper.co.uk

Exclusively distributed by Little Helper, Italian-born brand Oops boasts a huge range of vibrant, multi-textured and coordinated nursery goods and baby toys, all focused around creatures – some whom habitat Woodland Wonderland whilst others reside in Sunshine City.

From push along toys, puzzles, maracas and night lights to play tents and activity toys, this brand features each of the characters across each product type so little ones not only have a fully co-ordinated nursery and toy box but their favourite animal will stay with them through their baby and toddler journey.

With two different themes, tots can absorb themselves in imaginative play as they explore the tall buildings in Sunshine City or escape to nature’s Woodland Wonderland. Each product has been designed to encourage babies’ development, enhancing senses, hand and eye co-ordination and helping with fine motor skills.

New for SS15 are over 100 soft and wooden toys which come with their own bespoke POS unit for in-store theatre. Little Helper is focusing on selling these new lines into retailers who own physical shop space and not internet-only retailers.

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Scented pens, pencils, markers and much more!

DKL Marketing Ltd 11 Deer Park Road, Northampton NN3 6QD, UK tel. 01604 678780 • email. dkl@dkl.co.uk • web. www.dkl.co.uk

facebook.com/DKL.Toys twitter.com/DKLtoys

So they sent me some...

Perfect!

DEAR ZOO © Rod Campbell 2015.

Licensing by Metrostar Media Ltd.

Get in touch

N ew Wo o d e n Toys !

Welcome to the world of Milly&Flynn ™

Facebook: MillyandFlynn Twitter: @MillyandFlynn Email: sales@millyandflynn.com PART OF THE

Milly&Flynn

01242 241765 | www.millyandflynn.com

Possibly the best in wooden toys (and plastic)!

The Dear Zoo and Disney wooden toy ranges will feature a character push along, a pull along, a skittles game, a wooden block puzzle, a wooden puzzle tray with chunky wooden character pieces and a traditional style shape-sorter.

The ranges are ethically sourced and the Dear Zoo toy range has been designed together with author Rod Campbell to incorporate the book’s animal cast.

The Disney Winnie the Pooh toy range features characters from the Hundred Acre Wood and was a main focus at Toy Fair this year, so-far receiving positive feedback from retailers.

The licensed puzzle range features the characters from Beatrix Potter, Spot, Hairy Maclary and Dear Zoo in a puzzle format as well as a matching pairs game.

These licensed ranges are offered alongside the company’s ownbrand range of puzzles which boast illustrations commissioned exclusively for the brand. Formats include a two-piece puzzle featuring shapes, opposites and numbers, as well as a range of bright, shaped puzzles with special finishes and giant floor puzzles with a ‘what can you find?’ theme.

Milly&Flynn also publishes pre-school books.

Hero product “We’re really excited about our new Disney wooden toy range which will include the brilliant Tigger Push Along. He’s beautifully designed, bright and instantly recognisable to the children (and adults) that love him. After all, the wonderful thing about Tiggers is ‘Tiggers are wonderful things’.”

Michael Byrd, marketing manager

01604 774949 sales@john-crane.co.uk www.john-crane.co.uk

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Vivid

01702 200 660 | www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk Parents who purchase My Friend Freddy Bear can download a free app and type in information about their child so that the bear knows all about them.

In-app activities have varying levels of difficulty to keep little ones entertained. When not connected to a smart device Freddy Bear will talk when he’s cuddled, tipped upside down or thrown in the air.

Story-Telling Peter Rabbit joins Vivid’s Master Toy range from autumn. If Peter’s journal is opened, the pictures will illuminate and he will start to tell a story. The journal is detachable and there is an auto shut-off.

My First Crayola is Crayola’s range of non-toxic products including markers, pencils, crayons and paints. The drawing tools are designed to allow children to spend less time figuring out how to hold them and more time creating. The Doodle Magic Colouring Mat allows children to swipe away their creations.

Rainbow Designs 01329 227300 | www.rainbowdesigns.co.uk

Rainbow Designs is expecting a strong year in the pre-school category for 2015. Its Paddington and Shaun the Sheep Movie ranges continue to echo the brands’ success at the box office and with the DVD releases still to come it is expected that they will continue to be in demand.

New additions to the pre-school and nursery collections this year include products in Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar range. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Friends Discovery Cube is a sensory cube which includes crinkles, a rattle, multiple textures, loops and rings for little ones to explore.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Friends Wooden Learning Blocks will launch in July and include 26 colourful blocks featuring the alphabet in both upper and lower case letters, numbers 1-10 and classic Eric Carle illustrations,. These blocks offer an introduction to numbers, letters and colours and encourage early pre-schoolers to develop their cognitive skills as they play.

Distributed Exclusively in Ireland & the UK by Little Gifts Ltd. www.buddyballs.co.uk - trade@buddyballs.co.uk - 0203 322 7833

Pre-school

Casdon

Worlds Apart

01253 608 428 | www.casdon.co.uk

0800 389 8591 | www.worldsapart.com DreamTown, once the number one brand for role-play in the UK, has been updated for 2015. A restyled Rose Petal Cottage and supporting accessory sets launching this autumn and the range has enhanced play features as well as a fresh design.

DreamTown encourages role play and imaginative fun. The newly styled Rose Petal Cottage has a detailed kitchen and realistic design ranging from a washed-wood exterior and opening door and window, to a wood burner and adorned mantelpiece.

Quality will remain the utmost importance, with a high specification finish using steel frame and doubled skin material as well as new product features.

To complete the cottage décor, two additional sets are available. The Lounge Set includes a table, two inflatable seats and a rose patterned table cloth, while the Kitchen Set includes a sink unit with twisting taps and opening cupboard and a washing machine that opens for realistic play.

A large-scale integrated marketing campaign will support the launch and will include TV advertising, video marketing, social media advertising and extensive media outreach including a preChristmas press day.

Hero product “Rose Petal Cottage perfectly captures the charm of traditional role play and adds modern styling that mums want to have in their homes. The range is strongly positioned to be a special gift for Christmas and birthdays and our marketing campaign will encourage this. DreamTown was an incredibly successful brand for us and we’re excited to bring this refreshed product range to new families.”

Andy Cooper, partner and sales and marketing director

Games that grow with your family!

Perfect for preschoolers and kids of all ages.

+44 (0) 207 298 9500 sales@winningmoves.co.uk www.bananagrams.com

Toy World 84

The Little Helper collection includes Dyson uprights and Hettie and Henry cylinder vacuums as well as other housework role-play items. DIY is also taken care of with the 60 piece Tool Box and Work Bench.

New for 2015 is a range of Annabel Karmel toy baking accessories including mixing bowl and utensils, cookie cutters and cake tins, plus an icing set.

The Little Cook range includes toasters, microwaves, kettles and a Mr Kipling Cake Stand. Alternatively Little Shoppers can have fun with supermarket tills, shopping baskets shopping trollies and more. The hero of the range is a Self-Service Supermarket complete with auto till and pay point.

Learning Resources 0845 241 0484 | www.learningresources.co.uk

The Pretend & Play International School Set helps children to learn about the world around them. The language free version of the best-selling school set means that children of all nationalities can enjoy the role play benefits of the product.

The set comes with props including a world map, bell, hand pointer, clock with adjustable hands, wipe-clean chalk board and a variety of work sheets to brush up on alphabet, number and flag recognition skills.

It aims to broaden children’s awareness of different countries while giving them a chance to act as teacher or pupil in an imaginative way, getting them ready for school.

Bigjigs

01303 212691 | www.bigjigstoys.co.uk This year sees the arrival of two new sorting lorries, Safari Sorting Lorry and Shape Sorting Lorry. Both of these wooden toys offer an assortment of shapes to post through the sides of the vehicle and aim to strengthen language and problem solving skills.

New Car Transporter and Holiday Bus are two move-along toys which offer fun on-the-go for pre-schoolers.

The Sunflower Cottage is new for 2015 and has a gender-neutral colour scheme, six-doll family, 27 furniture pieces and a sheet of stickers for customised decoration. The new Home and Garden Furniture Set extends imaginative play with 22 extra pieces to add to Sunflower Cottage or any of the other dolls houses in the Bigjigs Heritage Playset collection.

The three new Play Planks sets are a simple type of construction toy. Available in natural, marine and sunset colours, these lightweight planks can be stacked into all manner of designs.

Pre-school

H. Grossman

Gibsons Games

MGA Entertainment

Paul Lamond

Schleich

Tobar Wooky Europe

re:creation

Gibsons Games’ My World range teaches children about the world around them and encourages development of essential skills such as vocabulary, numeracy and motor control. Each product supports Early Years Goals and the National Curriculum, as well as giving parents tips on how to make the most of its educational value.

Dino Jigosawrus, a new addition to the range this year, is a set of eight progressive puzzles. Gibsons has also released a new game into the range – Ships Ahoy!

H. Grossman’s chunky, flexible Car Trax track connects and interconnects so that young children can collect the various sets and connect them all together.

Designed in bright colours, each set includes its own vehicle. Children can choose from Turnaround Trax with a turntable, Cross Trax with a figure of eight, Road Trax with the traditional oval track shape and a smaller Starter Trax.

My First Scooter continues to pick up awards for its design. Parents can reduce the scooter to three-wheels and then progress to two wheels when their child feels more confident.

The Lalaloopsy Babies dolls from MGA Entertainment see original Lalaloopsy characters in their baby form with soft huggable bodies. The dolls are accompanied by a bottle in the shape of their pet, pacifier and a hat that matches their personality. Each character

has a specific pattern all over its soft body. The spring offering includes Scoops Waffle Cone, Spot Splatter Splash, Tippy Tumblelina and Bea Spells A Lot. The dolls come in bassinet style open packaging.

New to Paul Lamond’s Chimp and Zee range of preschool games is Spotty Botty. It features an electronic unit with six animal sounds.

The Crafty Kids range now features a double-sided activity tablecloth, which comes with washable pens.

New for autumn/winter is the Thomas and Friends Activity Tablecloth.

Also new are the 4-in-1 games cubes featuring Maisy and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. The Dinosaur Roar range includes a Memory Card Game, 4-in-1 Puzzle and a Giant Floor Puzzle.

Last year saw re:creation launch the elastic Stretchkins plush range. The range of stretchy limbed friends will benefit from new characters Pink Cat and Purple Pony in 2015.

Purple Pony will be a character refresh to the existing line-up of Stretchkins while the new Pink Cat plush builds on the product concept with the introduction of LED lights on the feet.

The Necknapperz animal characters transform into neck pillows. The Lil’ Crazy ride-on travels up to 2mph and brings Razor to pre-schoolers.

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Schleich’s plastic collectible figures include all the familiar faces of the farmyard. New this year will be additional breeds of cows, a pig and piglet, a donkey and a black sheep as well as domestic animals.

Each animal can be collected one by one until a farmyard full of livestock is created. A Horse Stable and outbuildings complete the scene.

Tobar has announced its distribution partnership with Schylling for the UK, Ireland and France.

The range of Musical Tin toys includes Musical Tin Boxes, Tin Whistles, Kazoos and Pianos. Each is sturdy enough to withstand enthusiastic musicians’ little hands. The Schylling collection of classic toys includes Retro Robots, Jack in a Box, Puzzles and Tea Sets.

Bloco construction sets from Wooky Europe allow children to make high density, non-toxic, friendlyfaced foam creatures.

The 3D sets are available in an array of mythical creatures from dinosaurs and dragons, lizards and chameleons, robots and marine creatures to a cat and kitten.

All of the models come with instructions and play ideas to encourage young builders to improvise and build their own creatures.

ooooh!

Childhood is magical

PRE-SCHOOL TOYS FROM BATTAT

Distributed exclusively in the UK and Ireland by Halilit. Call or email for a catalogue.

info@halilit.co.uk T: 01254 872454 www.halilit.co.uk

See the full range on Stand D8 at the Harrogate Nursery Fair

Feature

Boys Action Figures

Time for action Following a successful 2014 for boy’s action figures Toy World’s Daniel Rich investigates what drove the market and looks ahead to the coming year.

I

n 2014 the introduction of new licensed products from tried and tested retro ranges rose like a phoenix from the ashes and breathed life into a category which some claim was floundering.

“The boy’s action figure market has completely changed over the last 20 years. Action figures were always about the big guys with their big licences and collections. A range of action figures would be launched with 8-12 figures, 3-4 vehicles and big play sets. Nowadays that doesn’t seem to happen.

Gone are the days of hundreds of Star Wars figures to collect or loads of play sets to have battles with like Masters of the Universe,” states Dave Middleton of Midco Toys.

Now, the likes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the 1980s and Pokémon from the 1990s have returned, re-energising the category and bringing these classic concepts to a new generation.

Nic Aldridge, marketing director at Flair, states: “For the first time in about six or seven years the category was in growth which was a relief. GP Flair made a significant contribution to this growth, we had an exceptionally strong year – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains a hot property for the sector and enjoyed a massive 2014. It was boosted by a strong combination of new programming, extended broadcast reach with Channel 5 coming

on board and a blockbuster movie. The movie product was hugely successful and outperformed expectations, which bodes well for the sequel in 2016. We received the toy industry award for Best Movie Related Product. What’s more we had a massive sell out success, which confirms just how strong the brand is with the consumer. The end of the year also saw the launch of the new younger segment, Half Shell Heroes which, considering its late launch, performed tremendously well and has continued to do so into 2015.

“In this fast moving, evolving category, boys are still incredibly interested in traditional action figures and are always looking for the next thing that will appeal directly to them. The series launches of Turtles are frequent and the play features change continuously, meaning there’s always something to discover and collect. The Mutations range offers the Turtles consumer a new way to play and collect based around the original theme Mutation of Turtles which has always proven popular while TV and movie launches are also gaining exposure elsewhere.

Flair anticipates World of Warriors also will make waves in many sectors and its collaboration with Moose continues with Mutant Mania. Turtles will remain of great importance – this has not only become an evergreen brand but the development is expanding with a launch in autumn including a new play set, the Mega Mutating Leo, as seen at Toy Fair.”

Matthew Woolf, head of customer marketing, Tomy, commented: “The action figure category constantly changes with the introduction of new TV and movie properties. Tomy is lucky enough to be global master toy partner for one of the most established properties in this changing market, Pokémon. Tomy had a great 2014 with the introduction of the new Pokémon X and Y products. We have seen fantastic sell through at retail and customers are really engaging with our product range. 2014 was also exciting as Tomy started a new relationship with Sega, which will see us bring the Sonic Boom property to market in 2015.”

Toy World 88

Pokémon continues to be a firm favourite and fans across the world are as keen as ever for new figures and toys. This year, to support the launch of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Tomy premieres a range of action figures in relative scale allowing kids to recreate the world of the Pokémon as they experience it in animation and video games. Also new for 2015 are key toy items including Ash’s Arena Challenge, Battle Moves Pikachu and an Interactive Pokédex.

Dave Middleton offers a retail perspective on what he feels will be hot property in 2015: “This year there is some exciting stuff happening in the action figure market, Jazwares Tube Heroes looks awesome and is daring to go and do something that no one else has even thought of doing. It’s before its time but also right on the money. Tomy’s Pokémon range is all being bought into one scale which I personally think looks really cool. There is a movement for more retro action figures and retro style action figures. A Kickstarter project from Warpo saw Legends of Cthulhu action figures made, its strategy, look and image is very 1970s and they have worked really well.”

With such an array of products on the market, the future for boy’s action figures hasn’t looked so bright since Michelangelo devoured his first pizza.

Cowabunga dudes!

Be a Pokémon trainer with great role play toys

T18207 Lightning Attack Pikachu

T18205 Trainer Gloves with Sound

T18206B Clip ‘n’ Carry Poke Ball Cross Belt

For further information please call the TOMY Sales Department on 01392 281 928 Email: ukcustomerservices@tomy.com

Leaflet-Pokemon.indd 2

3/20/15 11:21 AM

Boys action figures

SpongeBob hits land!

He doesn’t live in a pineapple under the sea any more. Toy World spoke to Marianne James, Nickelodeon’s VP Consumer Products, UK & Ireland and European Retail Sales & Marketing, ahead of the launch of the new SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water movie.

How has The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water fared at the box office in the USA since its launch?

The current movie is in its 6th week of release and has grossed $160 million to date.

Are you hoping for a similar performance when the film opens in the UK? We certainly are. SpongeBob and the rest of Bikini Bottom are popular characters in the UK as evidenced by the success of the series on Nicktoons and the product lines, so we are confident that that the Sponge Out of Water will perform really well in UK cinemas as well.

How important is the movie in re-energising the SpongeBob franchise?

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is a great platform for us; the film’s release and success is driving a halo effect across the brand for us in all categories and at retail. Our licencing programme has been re-energised, as has the deep connection that kids and families have with the property. The

movie has served as a reminder of the joy, humour and unique sensibility of SpongeBob SquarePants and these attributes have certainly been reflected in the product range and marketing.

Who are the key licensees in the toy arena?

Simba, Mega Blocks, Sambro, The Ninja Corp Are you pleased with the support you have received from retailers?

Yes hugely; we’ve had an incredible response from all key retailers and, in conjunction with Paramount, are running exciting promotions with money can't buy prizes.

Is there news on when the DVD will be released? Are you hoping that the positive support from retail will continue for the remainder of 2015 and beyond?

The UK DVD is likely to be out in the summer.

The outlook for SpongeBob is positive with continued listings at retail as well as promotional support.

Bandai

Character Options

01489 790 944 | www.bandai.co.uk

01616 339 800 | www.character-online.com

The countdown is on for the launch of Power Rangers Dino Charge this summer.

From July, a range of new action figures will be available.

The 12.5cm Action Figures assortment will include the Dino Charge Rangers and Megazords. The TV advertised Dino Cycles include 12.5cm Ranger figures and can morph into double dino mode.

The 30cm Ranger assortment features Red, Blue, Black and Green articulated Ranger figures. Also available are the 16cm Double Strike Action Figures and Armoured Dino Rangers with battle gear accessories. Complete the collection with the 25cm Battle Sound Red Ranger, simply press the belt for sounds and phrases. Finally, the new Mixx ‘N Morph Figures and Figure Sets include one figure and one Megazord. This range allows kids to create and customise the battle figures using different parts from Power Rangers and Zords.

For spring, Power Rangers Super Megaforce continues with a full range of action figure toys including the TV advertised 12.5cm Action Figure Rangers. Collect all five Super Megaforce Rangers as well as a whole host of Legendary Rangers from the past 20 years.

New for spring are the 30cm Red and Silver Rangers, as well as the 25cm Deluxe Sound Red Ranger.

Toy World 90

The Jazwares Minecraft action figure collection was named the best game related range of 2014. The three inch scale action figure assortments are updated throughout the year with the introduction of characters complete with a block and accessories.

At the centre of the world is Steve, also available as Diamond Steve, along with Hostiles such as Enderman, Creeper and Zombie.

Multi-piece packs are also available, they include the Spider Jockey Pack, Steve with Horse and the Survival Pack with Steve, workbench, wood pickaxe, wood sword, bed and chest.

For Doctor Who fans, new 3.75-inch figures are to be released in regular waves. The Twelfth Doctor played by Peter Capaldi will be ever-present together with foes such as The Foretold and the Skovox Blitzer which were released in spring. Added to this a new Doctor Who Time Squad figures series is to be introduced with blister packs available in a CDU.

Boys action figures

Tomy

01271 336 155 | www.tomy.com New for 2015 to support the launch of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Tomy premieres a range of action figures.

For the first time ever, the Pokémon action figures have been reimagined in relative scale (2-12”) to one another and feature multiple points of articulation. As the figures get bigger they have more functionality resulting in greater play factor. Price increases with size and functionality, creating a traditional action figure product line-up.

The characters cover the range from impulse buy up to gift purchase.

Regardless of size, the figures are compatible with each other and all the figures also work with the new Ash’s Arena Challenge due out later this year.

Pokémon Action Pose Figures are a new entry level price point. Pikachu and the Partner Pokémon from the Hoenn Region are back. These packs include a matchup of two Pokémon posed for battle. Packs include Mudkip vs. Pikachu and Treecko vs. Torchic. Add to battle play with articulated one-pack figures of Hawlucha and Luxio.

Pokémon Action Figures feature 12-13 points of articulation which can be used during battle play. Figures include Ash, Mega Blaziken and Mega Lucario.

Pokémon Action Feature Figures are larger figures with five to eight points of articulation. With Battle Action Gogoat, press the tail to activate front legs battle kicking.

With Battle Action Mega Charizard Y, press on the tail for head and wing action.

Pokémon Battle Action Figures include Battle Action Mega Venusaur and Battle Action Mega Blastoise complete with spinning launcher and water cannon missiles respectively.

Pokémon Large Action Figures are Pokémon from the Hoenn Region including Groudon and Kyogre with five to six points of articulation.

Hero product “The new action figure range takes the toy line of this established brand to a new level with a much greater focus on play factor.

This paired with excellent value for money will appeal to both the collector and the younger Pokémon fan who wants to emulate the battling element of Pokémon.”

Martyn Weaver, senior brand manager, boys toys

Spin Master

01628 535 000 | www.spinmastertoys.co.uk Spin Master continues to support DreamWorks: Dragons with an extended range from the film How to Train Your Dragon 2 and corresponding TV series.

From summer 2015, all new episodes of Dragons will be shown exclusively on Netflix, with Seasons one and two being aired on CBBC and Cartoon Network throughout the year.

The Dragons Egg contains four pocket-sized, detailed mini dragon figures. The Bucket of Dragons offers a selection of 18 dragons and seven Vikings.

For the first time kids can play with a dragon and rider together, whether it’s Astrid and Stormfly, Hiccup and Toothless or Snotlout and Hookfang. Only Dragon Riders come with the addition of a Viking, its signature weapon and the ability to ride any dragon. Toothless and Hiccup’s battle against the Armoured Dragon can be re-enacted, launching missiles to free the dragon’s armour which breaks away when hit. Both Dragon Riders and the Toothless and Hiccup vs.

Armoured Dragon will be TV advertised this spring.

Mattel

01628 500 000 | www.mattel.com In 2015, Mattel presents a portfolio of action figure and collectible toys from brands including Minecraft, WWE and Batman. This year also welcomes the addition of Mega Brands with new launches from Sponge Bob, Minions and Terminator Genisys.

Ahead of the Minions movie release in June, a range of buildable Minion characters will invite kids to play out their favourite adventures of Bob, Dave and Kevin.

A new and full year range from Minecraft allows fans to create quests inspired by the game. The product range includes 3-Pack and Single Blind Pack assortments featuring popular characters.

Wrestling favourite WWE introduces the Double Attack Figure Assortment whilst continuing its Elite Collection this spring/summer. Autumn/winter sees the launch of the Create a Superstar and Customise a Superstar Figure Assortments, where kids can create and customise wrestling superstars.

A full year range from Batman includes the Six Inch Figure Assortment featuring DC Super Heroes and Villains. Diverse characters and figure-compatible vehicles are also available as well as a 12 Inch Figure Assortment.

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Boys action figures

Flair

0208 643 0320 | www.flairplc.co.uk The World of Warriors collection has mini figure packs in twos, fours and eights with over 120 figures to collect in Series one alone. A Battle Arena Playset will be where fans can emulate the game play whilst Deluxe Action Figures with special move features will represent lead hero characters of the app. The launch will include a sampling campaign, TV, digital and pre-roll activity, in-store activity, character visits and swap days.

Spring saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enter the pre-school scene with the launch of the Half-Shell Heroes. With pre-school styling, the collection includes action figures suitable for younger fans, plus an Electronic Shellraiser. The range will include the Super Sewer HQ and Mega Mutant Leo with its many Ninja action features and moving eyes.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutations range are mix and match action figures. Each of the heroes and villains comes with interchangeable arms, legs and heads to provide endless combinations to be created. The Turtle brothers are also represented in the Mutations Deluxe Figures, which change from Pet Turtle to Ninja Turtle in seconds whilst the Turtles Mutations Vehicle and Figure sets transform from flight to fight mode.

The classic TMNT figures will see a launch of four deluxe figures in the autumn. The Hand to Hand SFX figures produce ninja action sounds when limbs are moved. Pressing the plate on the front of the figures’ chest activates a catchphrase.

The spring launch of the Moose Enterprise collectible, Mutant “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles range has some amazing new lines this year. A hero Mania, saw the introduction of the ultimate mix and match for me, and I’m guessing a lot of little boys out there, will be the Mutations Giant Leo wrestling mutant collectible figures. The figures feature several Playset. This colossal playset stands 24” tall, is totally unique and has so much play detachable body parts with a flexi spine. The launch plan has value to offer with many features to discover. It will be a must have for any fan.” included covermounts and major retailer sampling, plus TV Anne-Marie Noon, marketing manager advertising.

Hero product

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Boys action figures

K’nex

Premier Licensing

01189 253 270 | www.knex.co.uk The K’nex Beasts Alive range offers dinosaur and dragon themed construction play. X-Flame has motorised walking and wing movements and three alternate models to build. With dinosaurs and dragons currently firm favourites in the trend stakes, X-Flame and his fiery friends bring relevant innovation to the construction aisle. A partnership with National Geographic Kids magazine will bring the range to life both in print and online.

Licensed product from K’nex continues to perform well with boys, offering fans a way to play their favourite games in a totally different way offline. K’nex continues to refresh its licensed ranges in line with gameplay, so products are always relevant to franchise super-fans. A powerhouse portfolio for 2015 includes the ever popular SuperMario, Mario Kart, Plants vs. Zombies and Titanfall.

02891 811 900 | www.bleachercreatures.co.uk

Premier Licensing has announced it is bringing Bleacher Creatures to the UK gift and collectible market, exclusively.

Bleacher Creatures are true-to-life plush figures that turn the greatest athletes and entertainment icons into characters. Aimed at the gift and collectibles market the plush figures have been popular in the US and Premier Licensing plans to enjoy the same success in the UK and Ireland.

Within three years, a roster of athletes across a range professional sports have been transformed into Bleacher Creatures plush figures including stars from Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer.

New additions to the Bleacher Creatures universe take inspiration from the world of entertainment, movies, TV and comic books, with plush dedicated to Avengers, Spiderman, Antman, Guardians of The Galaxy, Batman, Man of Steel, The Italian Stallion and Heroes of Middle Earth.

Premier League characters featuring the stars of Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC and others are also included.

From Robshaw to Ruckley, Premier Licensing has announced an England Rugby range of Bleacher Creatures in time for RWC 2015.

Schleich

Papo

01279 870 000 | www.schleich-s.com/en

01564 784 969 | www.papo-uk.com To enhance the Fantasy World range, Papo has introduced articulated figurines. The Goblin has a movable arm, and the new Dragon has large articulated wings. There are many other new dragons in the range, including the translucent Emerald Dragon and the Phosphorescent Dragon, which glows in the dark.

Papo’s new 2015 range will feature the Witch King and Horse, as well as the Winged Knight and Horse.

The new knights will be an addition to the Medieval Era range. The White Crested Knight comes complete with a sword and shield and his draped horse, and the Knight in Gold Armour with a sword.

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The Justice League includes the Heroes and villains of DC comics.

Schleich’s series offers a new audience and sales opportunity for the company and its retail partners.

Both aficionados and new collectors will be able to find Batman vs. The Joker, Superman vs. Darkseid, plus other heroes such as the Flash and Green Lantern join both Batman and Superman (each in three separate poses) as standalone figures. As a series, these figures can make up a display complete with branded FSDU for a specialist retailer or can integrate into any store’s Schleich shelf-space.

Feature

Pocket money toys

Picking pockets Pocket money toys collectively generate big business and footfall. Here, Toy World’s Daniel Rich investigates what drove the market in 2014 and what’s going to be hot in 2015.

2

014 saw the pocket money category take the UK by storm.

As World Cup fever gripped the nation adults and children rushed to their local stores for World Cup stickers, while sales of collectible mini-figures and the loom band craze also fuelled strong sales for the sector.

With the performance of the pocket money collectible category so successful last year, what is going to fill the gap in 2015?

Thankfully 2015 is set to be packed full of new collectible ranges to encourage children to part with their pocket money. The year began with the release of Disney’s Big Hero 6, an award winning boy’s property, which has surpassed Tangled to become the third biggest Disney animation release ever, behind Frozen and The Lion King.

“Panini’s Big Hero 6 sticker collection is mirroring this success, with great sales across retail. Frozen is also a phenomenon that is continuing strongly in 2015. Panini has already released a photocard collection, a trading card collection follows in April and then our third sticker collection is due in May, all supported by the release of the new animated short, Frozen Fever. We are also due to launch a Cinderella sticker collection in April, in support of the live action film release. Perhaps one of the

biggest opportunities of the year will be the highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron film, where we have an equally action packed sticker collection,” asserts Rebecca Smith, head of circulation at Panini.

Mark Hillier, chief executive officer and managing director at Click Distribution, added: “We have the newly released Minecraft stickers and cards and Minecraft Buildables in the autumn. Match Attax Extra launched in March and we are expecting sales to increase considerably against 2014. Match Attax is performing exceptionally well this season and I think we can look forward to further growth in the coming months. Topps has some great launches planned this year, including World of Warriors (the new Mind Candy IP) Minions Movie stickers and cards, Lego Friends stickers, and in the summer the England Rugby World Cup which we believe will surprise a lot of people with its level of sales. Panini also has some great launches including the Road to Euro 2016 trading card game and the launch of a new IP called Abatons, supported by a huge marketing campaign. We believe it will be the hottest flow pack toy around this year. In addition to this we also have a second series of Bumpeez launching in June, this time with a Minion movie licence. If pre orders are anything to go by it will be huge.

Then at the end of the year there’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens with which Topps has products to tie in with the movie release.”

So, with 2015 already shaping up to be a huge year for pocket money toys it’s important for retailers to make the most of the opportunity. Visiting company websites to keep up to date with all the upcoming launches, ordering POS material and displaying it prominently in store will ensure the word will soon get round in the playground of who has stock of the hottest items.

“Stocking a good range of collectibles and having a great front of store display is half the battle. On the back of such a far reaching collection as the World Cup, children are really engaged with sticker collecting at the moment, so a great front of store display of a good range of collectibles encourages children to regard your store as a destination shop,” recommends Rebecca Smith.

Pocket money items have always been incredibly important throughout the year providing sales not just during the festive period. A sticker packet is a good entry point in terms of cost, for children to

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immerse themselves in various properties.

“Stickers and trading cards are a great dual purchase perhaps with their favourite toys, with parents favouring the ‘treats not sweets’ feel to these items,” states Rebecca Smith.

Low priced collectibles, be they stickers, trading cards, blind bags or micro-figures, provide purchases that can be made by a child independently, giving a sense of self-sufficiency and often resulting in repeat purchases.

Smaller items with attractive price points are also often impulse purchases by adults, for treats.

“Pocket money items are proven footfall builders, return good margin and have high volume sales at a time when traditional toy sales are slower than in the winter months,” explains Mark Hillier.

But the pocket money category is not without challenges.

“One of the challenges is being able to stock a significantly wide enough range for both girls, boys and pre-schoolers, so parents and grandparents have a complete range of opportunities to purchase in one place,” says Rebecca Smith.

“In store space is always a premium, so it’s important to select ranges carefully and to display them correctly.”

Pocket money toys

Click Distribution 01604 877 888 | www.clickdistribution.co.uk

Match Attax sales are showing increases year on year. The updated Match Attax Extra has just hit the market and early signs are that there is going to be another good period of increased sales levels. Looking forward to the summer Click anticipates strong demand for Topps’ RFU England Cards to tie in with the Rugby World Cup (hosted by England). As well as the normal collector consumer base of children, Click believes this collection will also appeal to the adult consumer, an area which Panini successfully developed for its FIFA World Cup football collections last year.

Frozen collections continue to appeal and Panini is planning more launches including a card collection and a series of photocards. Another sticker collection is also in the pipeline. It looks like a good year for movie tie ins too with Marvel Avengers, Minions, Big Hero 6, Jurassic World and Cinderella all appearing in the first half of the year. With stickers, cards and Bumpeez to tie into the cinematic releases collectors will have plenty of options.

Minecraft continues to enjoy success, Character Options’ toy range is still performing well and Just Toys series two hangers have already sold out with more on order. Just Toys is to launch a series of stickers/cards for Minecraft shortly, initial orders are large and the product is sure to satisfy a demand for a Minecraft paper collectible.

In May Panini launches a new collectible concept called Abatons, which has performed strongly in European Markets. Supported by a marketing campaign, this could take off.

In the autumn and winter months Panini looks forward to the new season (15/16) of Premier League Match Attax and Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie.

Topps has plans to launch new Star Wars product to tie in with the movie release.

HTI

01253 778 888 | www.htigroup.co.uk HTI’s Disney Frozen pocket money range includes assorted Loom Bands and case sets, a Magnetic Sketcher, musical lines, Soft Ball, Mini Band Set, Twirling Baton, kaleidoscope and bubble toys. The flashing Frozen Sparkle Balls light up and flash with every bounce.

Easy to wear 23cm Snap Bands are available in an assortment of three colours featuring Anna, Elsa and Olaf artwork.

HTI offers a portfolio of domestically stocked ranges from Teamsterz vehicles, Jokes and Gags, Razzle Dazzle and My Princess girls’ gifts to Bubblz, FunSport outdoor toys, Pirates, Knights and Groovy Tunes music.

Offering a range of bubble solution and bubbles toys across all value price points, HTI’s own in-house Bubblz range includes assorted solution bottles, wands, swords, guns and play sets. The new Bubblz Magic Bouncing Bubbles set enables boys and girls to amaze their friends with bubbles that actually bounce.

Teamsterz, HTI’s die-cast metal vehicle collectible range, combines sharp price points and quality manufacture to offer high levels of detail and great play value across replica vehicles, from emergency, military and construction themes to city, racings cars and transporters. The Teamsterz Farm range comprises of farm vehicles and play sets and includes a variety of licensed Landrover vehicles.

DKL

01604 678 780 | www.dkl.co.uk Hama Beads is continuing to impress retailers this year and one of Hama’s most popular lines is the Small Blister Pack which comes in six various themes including Glow in the Dark. Each pack contains a pegboard, ironing paper, and enough beads to make three creative designs. For 2015, there are new assortments of small blister packs which can be displayed in a CDU or sold separately.

Another pocket money option is available from Miniland Educational. The mini Plastic Vehicles range delivers high quality at low prices. The vehicles are dishwasher proof and flexible and can also be used outdoors. The Minimobil Jobs vehicles are available in a variety of themes including ambulance, police car, fire engine and digger, all of which are available in a CDU. There are four scales sizes of Breyer Model Horses to collect; the smallest models are Mini Whinnies and the largest range is Traditionals. Bestselling items from this range include the new Champion is Born set featuring a stallion, mare, foal and accessories.

As with all DKL ranges, Hama, Miniland and Breyer are supported by a full marketing programme which includes dedicated planograms, bespoke visual merchandising and extensive PR and social media activity to drive consumers into stores.

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Pocket Money_Toy-world-full-March2015.pdf

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Pocket money toys

Panini

01892 500 100 | www.panini.co.uk Panini’s January launch, the Big Hero 6 Sticker Collection, is backed by a multi-channel marketing campaign including cover mount activity on key children’s magazines, a nationwide cinema sampling, a press campaign and retail investment. This new property from Disney is expected to be popular for 2015.

Panini also offers Disney Frozen products in the form of Photocards and Trading Cards as well as a Cinderella sticker collection, to support the new live action Disney movie which released in cinemas in March. The new Frozen short, Frozen Fever, is playing prior to the movie, so consumers will engage in both properties. For pre-schoolers Panini has launched its Sofia The First sticker collection, on the back of the success it has seen publishing the stand-alone magazine.

Also released this Easter is Avengers Age of Ultron. The original was the biggest super hero film of all time and the third largest film of all time, so the Avengers Age of Ultron sticker collection will have leverage when it launches on 16th April, benefitting from cover-mount sampling and wider media campaigns.

Posh Paws

01268 567 290 | www.poshpawsinternational.co.uk Posh Paws has put together a blend of plastics and plush in its pocket money ranges. The company mixes licensed products with own brand soft toys.

In its licensed offering is a range of Mystery Eggs which includes a figurine key chain (with six characters to collect), stickers and a removable tattoo. These are available in some of Disney’s most popular properties, Star Wars, Cars, Princess, Planes, Minnie Mouse, Doc McStuffins, Avengers and Sofia the First.

The Minnie Pocket Lock-it blind bags contain a small plastic toy shop, a micro figurine, three accessories to build the shop and a sticker sheet to decorate. The blister packs includes an assortment of four shops including Minnie’s Café, Clarabella’s Boutique, Minnie’s Beauty Salon and Minnie’s Grocery Store.

The Posh Paws My Minnie Collection offers six brand new miniature Minnies in a variety of different outfits.

In Posh Paws’ own brand plush range is the PP Pals and PP Ponies Collections. These plush toy animals offer soft collectible plush toys at an affordable price.

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Tomy

01271 336 155 | www.tomy.com The pocket money range from Tomy offers a collectible range of toys that appeal to both boys and girls. With a wide portfolio and some popular licences, the Tomy pocket money range is suitable for all forms of retail channels including grocery, specialist toys, convenience stores and high street retailers.

Each product line includes a minimum of five different packs and from 2015 onwards, collections will be refreshed every quarter meaning there will always be new items to search for. 2015 also sees the introduction of new additions to the portfolio starting with Marvel Figure Mascots and Disney Princess Cute Buildable Figures due out in spring.

Tomy has launched a range of Disney Frozen Olaf Key Chains. For added play value, these packs include an A5 activity sheet.

Across the pocket money range, there are plenty of different concepts to choose from such as buildable figures and pull back and buildable vehicles, keyring danglers, Phone Jakx and ring and bracelet collections.

Licences include Disney Cars and Disney Planes, Marvel, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Hello Kitty, Transformers, My Little Pony, Disney Princess, Furby and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

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Esdevium

01420 593 593 | www.esdeviumgames.com

The POCKET MONEY friendly collection returns!

CONTAINS: 1 ZOMLING

The Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) saw a boost to UK sales across 2014 with a renewed interest in the property at both trade and consumer level.

The growth has continued into 2015, with the release of Pokémon TCG: XY – Primal Clash buoyed by the end of year releases of the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire video games. The new video games, historically a huge driver of the TCG, were widely reported to be the biggest-ever UK launch of any Pokémon video game, with sales outweighing the previous most popular release of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. Esdevium is now gearing up for the May release of Pokémon TCG: XY – Roaring Skies, where Mega Rayquaza-EX makes its debut.

Esdevium idistributes Zomlings from Magic Box, and 2015 sees the introduction of series 3.

CONTAINS: 1 ZOMLING + 1 GHOST TRAIN

CONTAINS: 2 ZOMLINGS

Nutty Putty

02075 664 056 | www.alphabetpie.com

NEW GHOST TRAIN BLISTER PACKS

Nutty Putty is a non-drying, non-flaking, non-messy, easily mouldable putty.

It’s available in over 20 different colours including various glow in the dark.

Furthermore, there’s the option of baking creations in a conventional oven for 10 minutes where it transforms into a permanent smooth, shiny, rubbery creation hence ‘think it, make it and even bake it’.

Nutty Putty zipper packs are a standalone toy or can be added to the Nutty Putty creative set. At a low price, a Nutty Putty pack includes a 30g putty piece and baking sheet. Alternatively a glow in the dark version is available. Ideas for creations can also be downloaded from the distributer’s website.

It is a safe non-toxic, hypoallergenic and hygienic (anti-bacterial agent added) putty. Nutty Putty has been created with educational benefits at the forefront of its design and has been recognised by teachers and educational psychologists. Nutty Putty develops fine motor skills, encourages personal and social skills, promotes concentration, observation and language skills and encourages imagination, exploration and creativity.

It encourages children to explore and develop various art techniques, sculpting and moulding whilst meeting EYFS standards and National Curriculum Key Stage targets.

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Flair

0208 643 0320 | sales@flairplc.co.uk Shopkins are available in two, five and 12 packs.

Each character belongs to a shopping aisle inspired group. Encouraging swaps with friends will be key to the marketing drive with digital, print and in-store activity already activating nationwide Shopkins Swapkins clubs.

Traditional TV advertising and the roll out of the licensing programme will continue and Series 3 will see the introduction of themed segments within the range. A food spree will house food themed characters and accessories whilst a new fashion spree collection will include playsets styled on shoes and makeup.

World of Warriors will be a priority in the second half of the year. The new collectibles, produced in collaboration with Moose, include figure packs in twos, fours and eights with over 120 figures to collect in Series 1 alone.

After a successful rollout in the US, Mutant Mania has launched with a programme of retail sampling and boys’ magazine covermounts. These wrestlers have several detachable body parts with a flexi spine enabling boys to create their very own mutant wrestlers. With 121 in Round 1 alone there are 1.8million combinations to create.

Atomicron and the WWE Stackdown construction series will also hold plenty of playground swap opportunities. With Atomicron whole micro platoons of Matter and Anti-Matter combatants can be collected ready to create legions of warriors. WWE Stackdown allows boys to collect and build their ultimate roster of WWE C3 figures. The WWE’s top superstars will be available in single, twin and triple figure packs.

Brainstorm

01200 445 113 | www.brainstormltd.co.uk Foamin’ Fun is a new product from Brainstorm. Children can blow through the tube and see foaming bubbles come bursting out of the animal’s mouth. The bubble pot can be replaced using standard, off the shelf replacements. Complete with a free CDU, Foamin’ Fun will be launched with a TV advert and supported with a TV, PR and instore marketing campaign.

Hair-ee Spring Magno-Z are springy, stretchy magnetic figures. With six colours and nine different characters, there are over 50 to collect. The patented magnetic connectors mean the characters can be attached to any metal surface. Following a successful launch last year Magno-Z will continue to be TV advertised regularly throughout 2015.

Pocket money toys

Lego

0203 6305 527 | www.lego.com Lego Mixels has introduced a new wave of collectible characters. Series 4 features glow in the dark elements, a first for the series, and incorporates unique moulding and design mechanics, together with custom pieces. A new space based tribe Oribitrons has been added to the new range.

Supported by mini story lines revolving around their battles with the Nixels, the Lego Mixels project has continued to broaden consumer and retailer awareness. Live action TV episodes hosted on Cartoon Network have supported the partnership, with a new episode slated for release later this year.

A year-round social media campaign is in place, featuring monthly building exercises which incorporate input from designers and members of the Lego community. Bespoke creations are showcased via the Lego social media platforms, the best of which are voted on in a Lego Ideas style mechanic, further supporting the brand and its community.

Interactive Mixels stories are shared via the Lego Facebook page and its Twitter #MixelsMonday theme was created to raise brand awareness.

In addition to continued social media and TV support, a new interactive gaming app will be released this summer, promoting further new product releases in June and October. The Mixels range will continue to broaden its portfolio and extend its activity throughout 2015 and 2016.

Lego Minifigures sees three new series launches, including a second Simpsons wave for the summer and a Monsters themed collection for autumn. 2015 also marks the 5th anniversary of LEGO Minifigures as a separate portfolio IP, with further celebrations via social media planned to promote the brand and its achievements.

Magic Box

Bandai

Zomlings was awarded the Toytesters.tv Best Pocket Money Spend accolade in 2014 and 2015 has already seen continued success for the brand.

Zomlings series 3 launched in mid-February and introduced a new collection of more than 100 Zomlings characters. It also introduced new Zomlings Ghost Trains and Zomlings Houses that are bigger and brighter than those found in series 1 and 2.

The Zomlings Ghost Trains have been the stand out hit for series 3with consumers hunting for the rare Gold Ghost Trains. A new series 3 Ghost Train Blister Pack has just been released. The Blister Packs include exclusive Ghost Train colours which are not found in the regular blind bags.

Millions of packets of Zomlings have been sold over the past 12 months and Zomlings is one of the highest TV advertised toys in the UK. TV advertising and other marketing activities continue throughout March.

Zomlings offers a range of products at competitive retail prices. A wider range of toy products is also available including Tins, Magic Trick Hotels and Blister Packs.

Launching from spring 2015 is the Hatch ‘n Heroes range of pocket money collectibles. A unique way for children to play with their favourite Disney characters and dinosaurs, these transforming figures start as simple oval shaped ‘eggs’ and with a few simple twists transform into articulated figures. Available now are Disney favourites Big Hero 6 White Baymax and Armour Baymax, classic Toy Story characters Woody and Buzz, Nemo and Dory from Finding Nemo and Frozen’s ever-popular Olaf. There is even more to come in autumn with the collection expanding to include characters from Disney Pixar Cars and Toy Story as well as a range of classic dinosaurs.

01403 251286 | www.zomlings.com

01489 790 944 | www.bandai.co.uk

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think it make it even bake it

info@alphabetpie.com www.alphabetpie.com

Available in the UK from 30th April 2015

Pocket money toys

Bigjigs

Character Options

The new Bigjigs Pocket Money Display Stand is a display solution for mini collectibles, with Perspexfronted drawers that can be removed for easy refilling.

The sturdy construction accommodates 15 separate sections, filled with Pull Back Hot Rods, Wiggles Worms, Noisy Animals and Wind-up Trains.

Character Options’ The Ugglys Pet Shop introduces mini collectibles. Presented in two figure pet food cans and eight pet blister packs, the collection includes 101 characters. Added to this will be Gross Home Packs that combine and stack into one multistory Pet Store, and the Dirty Dogwash van with over 30 sounds.

Ugglys Pet Shops FSDUs, kids press sampling, digital activity and TV advertisement will also roll out.

Other collectibles include The Zelfs and Disney Princess Palace Pets. In addition Disney Princess Palace Pets mini collectibles will be a new micro option and will launch in late summer.

re:creation

Learning Resources

Jumbo Magnifiers from Learning Resources give children plenty of explorative opportunities. Robust, colourful and extra-large they are designed for small hands and allow for close up viewing of plants, animals and insects.

Featuring 4.5x magnification and built-in stands for hands free viewing these colourful science tools come in six colours, red, yellow, green, orange, purple and blue.

Big View Bug Jars’ wings pop open so animals can be viewed inside. Children can pop open the wings to reveal a 3.5x magnifying lens for a closer inspection of insects and other small finds. The screw on cap and air vents ensure specimens are kept well ventilated and secure.

The Lego Key Lights range offering has grown with additions to themed ranges and the introduction of the new Ninjago collection for re:creation.

Joining the DC Heroes Key Lights launched last year, The Flash completes the line-up of six characters in this range. With Star Wars Episode VII coming in late 2015, the Star Wars Lego Key Lights collection will be

Schleich

in the spotlight and benefit from the addition of Han Solo to the range which already includes six collectible characters. Following the launch of Ninjago series 4, re:creation will introduce a Ninjago Lego Key Light range in summer featuring six characters including Cole, Jay and Zane.

There are eight collectible hand painted Mini Dinosaur figurines to collect from Schleich. Schleich can provide proactive point of sale solutions that will bring in-store theatre to retailers. Demand is expected to be high and retailers should ensure they stock both the new price point items and the existing favourite dinosaur collections. The Dinos add to other mini figurines available from Schleich, from Peanuts favourites such as Snoopy and Lucy, to the new Smurfs characters that are introduced year on year.

Tobar has a selection of pocket money toy lines. These pocket-sized products include bubbles, bouncy balls, squishy toys and more. Retailers can access a wide range of wholesale toys at pocket money prices on the Tobar website.

Tobar

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11/03/2015 15:50

Allegedly

Both Lego and Jakks Pacific released frankly stellar sets of results last month. Lego’s sales and net profit grew by a whopping 15%, a performance which it modestly described as “highly satisfactory.” The UK was one of five territories where the company’s performance was identified as particularly strong, along with the US, France, Russia and China. Lego’s operating margin of 33.9% was also highlighted in some media reports, with observers noting that this is an extraordinarily high profit margin for the sector. Meanwhile sales at Jakks increased by an incredible 84% during Q4, largely due to sales of Snow Glow Elsa. Full year sales increased from $633m to $810m and the company returned to profit. Both Lego and Jakks enter 2015 on a high, having significantly out-performed the market last year, and based on the ranges unveiled at this year’s toy shows, both appear to have another strong year ahead of them….

Shop Direct will be axing 95 jobs as the company continues its five year strategy of moving away from catalogues and switching its business online. To put this into perspective, Shop Direct mailed out 25 million catalogues ten years ago, but only 1 million last year. Although the overall number of jobs going is a fraction of the 4700 staff currently employed by the company, the affected roles are said to be in the creative, buying, merchandising, planning, scheduling and operations teams, so let’s hope that the move doesn’t affect the toy department, as the team is highly regarded in the trade….

It’s been announced that Smyths will be opening a new branch in Alegedly’s home town, Watford, later this Spring. For many years Watford was largely bereft of specialist toy shops; now we have branches of Toys R Us, The Entertainer and Smyths competing for custom. It brings to mind an old Sparks song from my youth: “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us…. and it ain’t me who’s gonna leave.” Let battle commence….

Clive Wooster will be stepping down from his role at Famosa in the near future, commenting: “This was always the plan: I took the role on a short-term basis to help re-establish Famosa in the UK market, which I’m delighted to say has been a great success. I’ve achieved what I set out to do, and I’m leaving the company in very capable hands. Now is the right time to make the transition and I’m very much looking forward to my next challenge in the toy trade.” Clive can be contacted on clivewooster@aol.com and it will certainly be interesting to see what his next challenge will entail…

Argos has released its year-end results, which pretty much define the term ‘mixed bag.’ A mildly disappointing end to the year – sales declined by 4% in the final 8 weeks to 28th February – resulted in the company posting an overall increase in sales of 1.1%. Like-for-likes grew by a modest 0.6%, while net new space contributed 0.5%. Interestingly, internet sales now represent 46% of the total (up from 44%), of which mobile commerce makes up 25 %. On the plus side, gross margin improved by approximately 25 basis points, principally driven by a reduced level of promotional activity, together with the impact of favourable currency and shipping costs. So all in- all a satisfactory performance marred, according to the accompanying statement, by the performance of video games and televisions, categories which are expected to remain weak for the foreseeable future….

Paul Bufton has left Rovio to return to Warner Bros, where he will take on the role of VP Licensing EMEA. We wish him all the best – obviously he missed the old place….

Over in the States, Bryan Stockton, who resigned as Mattel’s CEO in January, has returned to the company as a consultant. It is claimed that he will receive $125,000 dollars a month for the next year, which represents a 30% increase on his basic salary from 2014 (although obviously without any of the additional perks this time round). Coming a week after over 3,000 members of Mattel’s global workforce were laid off, one would imagine that a few ex-employees would have a view on this development….

Sir Philip Green finally succeeded in divesting himself of BHS, although the fact he sold it for the princely sum of £1 speaks volumes. BHS has been acquired by an investment vehicle, Retail Acquistions, which in transpires was set up a year ago with the specific intention of pushing through this deal. While mainstream toys don’t currently play a significant role in the BHS product mix, novelty gift suppliers have historically enjoyed good orders from the chain, and with new owners on board who have promised to return the chain to profit, who knows what the future holds for both categories in BHS outlets. Mind you, having made a loss of nearly £70m on sales of £675m in 2013, the new owner clearly has its work cut out to turn things round. Indeed, a week after the acquisition it was announced that the new owner had drawn up a list of over 50 under-performing stores which it could choose to either close, sell or downsize. That number represents almost a third of the chain’s current outlets, including high profile sites in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham….

Hornby invited a host of journalists to the unveiling of the largest indoor Scalextric track ever constructed, which they’d been asked to build by Sky Sports to promote its coverage of the new Formula One season. Which is how Allegedly came to find himself in a freezing cold TV studio (so cold that the running repairs had to be made to the track overnight), racing against legend Damon Hill on a gigantic Scalextric layout which had to be seen to be believed. Of course, it was only polite to let Damon win (!), but it was still a most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Hornby got plenty of excellent media coverage from the event, part of which was broadcast live on Sky Sports News.

Here is the picture that has briefly made Allegedly the envy of his ‘petrol head’ friends….