Toyworld aug 2016

August 2016 volume 5 issue 11

August 2016 volume 5 issue 11

Introducing the New Enchanted Princess Palace The business magazine with a passion for toys

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The Team...

CONTENTS August 2016 volume 5 issue 11

John Baulch

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

35 Wooden Toys

45 Autumn Fair Preview

Mark Austin

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

News

Opinion

Features

05 From the Publisher

22 Adapting to kids getting

28 Fresh

06 News Graeme Thomas

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

older younger

35 Wooden Toys

25 Talking Shop

16 Industry Moves

45 Autumn Fair Preview

31 Viewpoint

18 Marketing World

58 Plush

34 NPD column

20 Licensing World

74 STEM

46 Touching Base

70 Little Baby Bum

82 Allegedly

Anita Baulch

Circulation and Financial Director anita@toyworldmag.co.uk 01923 711 439

Contributors David Ripley | Andy Clempson | Ruth Clement | Nadia Khaldi | Lutz Muller | The NPD Group | Martin Doyle | Mark Buschhaus | Stephen Barnes

Clarabel Jones

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

58 Plush

74 STEM

Jonika Kinchin

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

toyworld The business magazine with a passion for toys

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hat a month. An almost daily progression of increasingly surreal twists and turns has followed the decision by the British public to leave the EU, a verdict that came as a huge surprise to many of in the business world.

But what does the result mean for the UK and European toy markets, both in the short and long term?

Almost one month on, the only thing we can currently be certain about is uncertainty, which is clearly something which all businesses hate.

Thankfully the initial seismic economic shocks have abated over recent weeks, as the reality is beginning to dawn that real change is likely to be at least two years off, maybe more.

However, in the short term, the main concern revolves around the weakness of the pound, which has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar for three decades. Currency swings of this magnitude inevitably have a major impact on the UK toy market: last year, toy pricing was based on an exchange rate of around $1.50 to £1. Post-referendum, the exchange rate has seen a swing of around 12-13 % against sterling: coming at the time when prices are being quoted for spring summer 2017, it is clear that calculating trade prices – as well as the subsequent retail negotiations - will be a more complicated process this time round. For many UK toy companies, an erosion of margin is the last thing they need. However, major retailers in particular still retain a default setting of refusing to accept price increases, and it is not difficult to see why they adopt this stance: if prices increase, the inevitable corollary is that sales volumes may well fall, which is arguably in no-one’s best interest. It will be a challenge to get the balance right, especially with wages continuing to rise in the Far East, leaving factories in no mood - or position - to mitigate the currency fluctuations When currency fluctuations go against you to the degree they have in recent weeks, it leaves little room to manoeuvre. Indeed, I’m already hearing that some products which were in development for next year are being dropped because the development costs have spiralled too high. Certainly anything which is ‘near the

For updates & more information visit www.funfestuk.com or email info@miprglobal.co.uk the UK’s leading family-friendly blogger conference and brand ambassador exhibition

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edge’ in terms of margin looks to be in a fairly precarious position.

I have heard from a number of retailers who have already received letters from suppliers advising of immediate price increases, and one has to assume these moves are just the start of what’s to come. Having spoken to a number of toy suppliers, most are recalculating prices as we speak, and as new ranges arrive, they are likely to be offered at higher prices. 10% seems to be a benchmark increase, although there are numerous factors that could affect the final figure either way. Of course, whether or not retailers will feel they are able to accept price increases is another matter entirely – but there is the sense amongst suppliers that doing nothing is not an option, and that if price increases are turned down, they may even have to consider declining orders. Welcome to the new reality.

As for what happens next, it is difficult to tell: I’ve read some extraordinarily pessimistic projections for where the pound may eventually end up (parity with the dollar according to some, or even worse!), but it is only speculation.

Some toy companies will have been prepared for what happened and will have forward bought currency as a protective measure, but even those that did are only likely to have enough funds for six months at best, certainly not for the two years or more of the Brexit negotiation period.

For now, communication and co-operation between buyers and sellers has never been more important. No-one wants to see sales volumes decline, but equally no-one wants to sell at a loss. A weaker pound may well have benefits for the country’s balance of payments deficit, but unfortunately the toy industry like most consumer goods markets – is almost certainly going to see prices rise. There are those that think this may not be a bad thing; that toys represent great value and still would, even after a modest increase.

There is an adage about the toy industry that has long been repeated in toy circles: it is said that the toy market is effectively recessionproof, or at very least recession-resistant.

Although the UK is certainly not in a recession, many of the factors which would normally affect toy companies in times of recession are possibly going to manifest themselves over the coming months. The UK toy community is about to find out just how accurate that adage really is.

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Lifetime Achievement Awards for Character Group founders

Richard King, Kiran Shah, Joe Kissane and Jon Diver, the four founding members of the Character Group, were presented with the BTHA Lifetime Achievement Award at last month’s industry day.

The BTHA Lifetime Achievement Award is for individuals who have made an outstanding and significant contribution to the toy industry. Recipients must have facilitated positive and sustained change in the toy industry, and must be inspirational achievers who are widely acknowledged to have made a fundamental and beneficial impact over the long term.

The four award-winners have been hugely successful in business and most generous in their support of children’s charities. The passion they have shown for the toy industry, for products that they were selling and for the company they founded is unparalleled.

As tribute to the four, a video and booklet were made outlining their journey to the top, as well as fond memories and wishes from their peers in the industry, which was showcased over a celebratory lunch. Both the video and booklet are now available to view on the BTHA website.

The Toy Store closes its London, Oxford Street branch

The Toy Store closed its London, Oxford Street branch at the close of business on Sunday 26th June 2016.

Head of buying for the Toy Store’s UK business, Chris Ashton, commented: “Trading conditions within the UK retail market are especially challenging at the present time, which can be seen by recent long-established, high profile retail brands being lost.”

Poundland agrees to takeover by Steinhoff International The discount retailer has agreed to a £597m takeover by the South African retail group, which is paying 222 pence per share. It made an informal approach to make the deal last month, but the original offer was rejected.

Poundland’s share price had fallen from 418p in February 2015 to below 200p, with pre-tax profits sharply falling.

Shares in Poundland rebounded 12% to 220p on 12th July, following the news of the takeover.

Darren Shapland, Poundland’s chairman, commented: “The Poundland board believes that Steinhoff’s all-cash offer presents Poundland shareholders with an opportunity to release their shareholding at a certain and attractive price.”

Steinhoff owns 6,500 retail outlets in 30 countries, and prior to the deal it already held a 23% stake in Poundland.

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Star Wars and Frozen boost Hasbro’s earnings above expectations

Hasbro has reported blockbuster first quarter financial results, smashing Wall Street expectations as a result of sales from Frozen and Star Wars-branded products.

The company reported $831.2m in first quarter revenue, a figure that marked a 16% jump year-on-year and cleared the $768.4m analyst estimate. Net income for the quarter came in at $48.8m, an increase of 83% over the same period last year. This resulted in earnings of 38 cents per share, a figure that exceeded the analyst consensus by 14 cents per share.

“The momentum with which we ended last year has continued throughout the first quarter of 2016, delivering revenue and earnings growth,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman, president and CEO. “Demand for Star Wars: The Force Awakens products continued to be high, and we benefitted from the addition of Disney Princess and Frozen fashion and small dolls. We’re very encouraged with global demand and our outlook for 2016.”

Hasbro’s CFO, Deborah Thomas, added: “We grew revenues, operating profit and earnings despite the continued negative impact from foreign exchange and challenging economic environments in some international markets. While most of the year remains ahead of us, it’s been a good start.”

Hasbro’s girls’ segment’s revenues grew 41% yearon-year on the strength of Disney Princess and Frozen fashion and small doll sales. The boys’ toys segment saw a 24% increase in revenue. Pre-school segment sales were up 11%, while the games segment saw revenue decline 2% during the quarter. Hasbro said it saw strong sales in games like Pie Face, Yahtzee and Duel Master, but recorded sales declined among its other games.

Following the release of its earnings results, Hasbro’s shares soared.

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BTHA wins Trade Association of the Year

The British Toy & Hobby Association was named Trade Association of the Year at this year’s Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards.

The award is given to the association which has demonstrated great success over many different areas of work on behalf of its membership.

In the specific category awards, the Toy Trust won the best CSR initiative of the year. The award recognised the contribution of the Toy Trust raised from across the toy industry to support many different children’s charities.

The association also won the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Social Media categories, as well as being a finalist in the Exhibition of the Year for Toy Fair. The Social Media Award was won by the BTHA’s Make Time 2 Play campaign, which gives parents free play ideas whilst also promoting the many benefits of play for child development.

Linda Cavender, chief executive at the Trade Association Forum (TAF), commented: “The BTHA has had a fantastic year, and has clearly demonstrated its prowess across a number of activities traditionally undertaken by trade associations which have been of great benefit to their industry and their membership. The legislative landscape for the toy industry has provided challenges, and BTHA has done a sterling job providing expert advice and guidance which is key to its members’ business success. The development of a toolkit for members has also seen success, as have social media campaigns, but perhaps one of the most notable achievements has been the agreement of a Primary Authority Coordinated Partnership, as part of the Toy Safety Directive.”

Natasha Crookes, BTHA’s director of public affairs and communications, added: “We’re thrilled to have won Association of the Year and are thankful to the Trade Association Forum for the recognition of our work at the BTHA. It was a lovely surprise for us all and this prestigious accolade is appreciated by entire team and our membership.”

Skinny Sketcher signs Cuckoo Toys for UK sales and distribution

The company has appointed Cuckoo Toys as the UK distributor for its Skinny Sketcher step-by-step drawing kits.

Cuckoo debuted the range of six kits at Harrogate Home & Gift Fair, and the kits will also be showcased by the company at Autumn Fair in September.

“With 25 years’ experience in the gift industry and a passion for art and craft products, Cuckoo is the most natural and perfect fit for Skinny Sketcher,” said Skinny Sketcher founder and director Gillian Logan. “The company has an extensive network of independent toy and gift retailers throughout the UK, and I know they’ll do a great job of building the Skinny Sketcher brand. Bringing them on board to take over the growing sales and distribution of the kits means I can now focus on product development, including our new Colour Up Cups range.”

Cuckoo Toys’ Tony Eves added: “We’re excited to have been chosen by Gillian at Skinny Sketcher to distribute her fantastic product, and we are looking forward to working with Gillian on developing the range in which we see endless potential.”

Retailers who are interested in stocking the range should contact Tony Eves at Cuckoo Toys on 01937 848 460.

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Rubie’s UK launches anti-piracy and counterfeiting strategy

Rubie’s has confirmed its European strategy on anti-counterfeit and enforcement, targeting retailers, distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers.

The new initiative is being put in place in order to police and monitor the sale of all items bearing the trademarks, brand names or designs which the company is responsible for directly, or under licence.

The company is committed to working with its sister companies and distributors around the world to protect its catalogue and deliver a strategy that benefits its retail partners, distributors and the end consumer, and to safeguard its significant investment in licensed properties and dress-up product ranges.

Rubie’s has appointed Mike O’Connell to lead the strategy. He brings with him 12 years of experience in the industry and a wealth of knowledge in both fancy dress and IP infringement. Working with counsel, HMRC, licensors and trading standards, Rubie’s will, as a matter of course, monitor online platforms and specific bricks and mortar retail channels on a daily basis to identify and challenge all infringers, taking a zero tolerance approach to stop the sale of fake products. Where appropriate, policy will always be there to bring civil or criminal prosecutions against offenders, wherever they are based.

Rubie’s UK commercial director, David Wootliff, commented: “We’ve spent many years building an unrivalled licensed portfolio, uniting the strongest entertainment and character brands available. We take great pride in our Intellectual Property rights and that of our licensors, and so are now highlighting this strategy once again to protect, track and monitor the sale of our products and take action against counterfeit product in the market.”

Rubies is urging retailers, distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers to take action if they see an item that they suspect is fake or counterfeit by reporting it at antipiracy@rubiesuk.com.

Mrs White killed off

The long-time housekeeper of Tudor Manor has been replaced by the mysterious Dr. Orchid. The Dr. is the adopted daughter of the mansion’s owner (and the usual victim in the game), Dr. Black.

This is the first time since the Cluedo game launched in 1949 that one of the original six characters has been axed, and the first new character that has been introduced into the standard edition. As a result, the news has attracted a huge amount of media attention, with most major British newspapers running the story when it was announced in July.

Craig Wilkins, marketing director for Hasbro in the UK and Ireland, said: “It was a difficult decision to say goodbye to Mrs. White – but after 70 years of suspicious activity, we decided that one of the characters had to go. Dr. Orchid is a brilliant new character with a rich backstory and links to the Black fortune.”

newsanalysis Christmas comes early at Argos

At last month’s Argos Christmas July event, Clarabel Jones spoke to the retailer’s chief toy buyer, Linzi Walker, about the toy pages of this year’s catalogue and about how the top toy predictions are chosen.

Argos’ Christmas July event saw the retailer showcase its top Christmas toy predictions, amongst many other products that are destined to be big this autumn/winter. The stars of the show this year were Furby Connect, Selfie Mic, Zoomer Chimp, Paw Patrol Air Patroller, Lego City Volcano, Toot Toot Drivers Goldmine, Nerf Modulus Tri-Strike, Tiny Treasures Baby Doll, Design a Friend Tiffany, Snuggles My Dream Puppy, Codeapillar and BB-8.

Clarabel spoke to Linzi Walker, chief toy buyer at Argos, to uncover the criteria for a top Christmas toy. “The top five or six toys actually select themselves, because they’re just so amazing,” she began. “As a team we sit down and debate what we think will be the most sought-after toy, and the number one principle is what we think children will be absolutely delighted to unwrap on Christmas Day. For a toy to do that, it needs to be filled with some sort of awe, excitement and amazement. Sometimes we’re presented with toys which even give me goosebumps, whether that be because it reminds me of something that I enjoyed in my childhood, or whether it’s something I know my own children would love. We also look out for products that have been particularly popular in the past, and when all these factors combine, we know we have a winner on our hands.”

Toy World also asked Linzi whether she believes this year’s autumn/winter catalogue, which launched on 16th July, differs from catalogues in previous years. “In terms of the structure and design of the toy pages, they don’t differ too much,” she said. “I do think, however, that we’ve been bolder with what we think will be the most popular concepts. We’ve been particularly bold with the amount of space that we’ve given to Star Wars, which we know was really popular in the back-end of last year but has continued to be popular this year, and with another film in December we decided to go quite big on that. We’ve also extended our Chad Valley product range, which is our exclusive toy range, and also our Designer Friends collection.”

Children are undeniably becoming increasingly digitally-savvy, but despite kids using their technological devices for more tasks than ever, Linzi still firmly believes that the Argos catalogue is as relevant and useful today as it ever was for children making their wish lists. “We definitely think that children are still using the catalogue to write their Christmas wish lists in the same way they were 10 years ago, which is a lovely heritage for Argos to have,” she said. “We also launched a Wish List app a couple of years ago, which allows children to choose products in a digital way. This has been really popular, and we developed it in quite a big way last year so it’s now much more interactive. It’s important for us to cater for children who prefer choosing their toys digitally, and also for those kids who find excitement in flicking through and folding down the pages of a tangible catalogue.”

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Greenhouse Area sold out for Toy Fair 2017

Located in the centre of the Grand Hall, the area is dedicated to new and smaller companies, helping support and encourage them break into the toy industry, as well as housing many established industry names who have found their home in the Greenhouse over the years.

In 2017 this zone will welcome 40 exhibiting companies, including more than half of last year’s Greenhouse exhibitors.

New Greenhouse exhibitors for 2017 include BKD-London, American Jewel, Funkit World, Rainbow Dreams and Articulate Scotland. After a successful 2016 in the Greenhouse, Eduk8 Worldwide, Kidicraft and Morning Group are all now making the transition to the main floor to expand their stands.

Majen Immink, head of Toy Fair operations and sales, commented: “We’re delighted that the Greenhouse is sold out once again so early in the sales process. It’s also fantastic to see previous Greenhouse exhibitors make the move to other areas of the hall floor after a great initial platform that the Greenhouse has provided for them in previous years.”

Elsewhere in the halls, the show is very nearly sold out with just 3% of space remaining. Potential 2017 exhibitors should submit their online applications via www.toyfair.co.uk as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

Flying Toys ceases trading after 40 years

Established as DPR Models, traditional balsawood kit manufacturers in 1978, the company became known for regular children’s competitions using the rubber powered Spitfires and catapult launched Concordes at the British National Model Flying Championships and Pontins Models Makers Festivals. The National Chuckie Championships became an annual event for adult enthusiasts too, on New Year’s Day at the Model Engineering Exhibition.

Flying Toys directors David and Janine Rawlins have now retired, commenting: “we’d like to thank the Flying Toys team, their suppliers and customers, plus the press and media who have provided so much support over so many years.”

Anyone interested in purchasing the popular domain name www.flyingtoys.com should contact David Rawlins on: david@flyingtoys.com.

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Toy Trust’s Big Cambridge Challenge on track to reach target

On 2nd July, 230 toy industry colleagues participated in the Big Cambridge Challenge.

With more pledges promised, £180,000 has already been raised and the total is on track to meet the target of £200,000, which will go towards the Toy Trust’s Giving the Gift of Play cause.

The monies raised will go to supply play equipment for children’s hospices across the UK. The Toy Trust has committed to supporting all 23 children’s hospices around the UK through a combination of the money raised, and also with a generous personal donation from industry veteran Richard Beecham.

“It was another amazing Big Challenge success story for the Toy Trust, and it was great to see such a large number of people from all areas of the industry coming together to support our Giving The Gift Of Play theme,” said Foye Pascoe, chair of the Toy Trust committee. In other Toy Trust news, the Golf Day, which took place on Thursday 30th June, raised £2,000 for the charity.

Hasbro acquires Boulder Media

Hasbro is to expand its TV and feature film capabilities with the purchase of the animation studio.

Boulder has produced a variety of award-winning series for Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney and BBC. As a wholly-owned subsidiary, Boulder will continue to produce animated series on behalf of third-party clients, in addition to producing animation projects for Hasbro’s best-known brands. Boulder will retain its brand and report into Stephen Davis who leads Hasbro’s entertainment and consumer products licensing division.

“At Hasbro, we’re building our brands through storytelling, and today, we’re telling richer stories across more platforms than ever before,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We’re also reinventing traditional modalities of animation production, both creatively and financially. With Boulder, we will deliver the highest quality animation that will engage our audiences with deep storytelling and great characters in a very costefficient manner.”

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industry moves Grossman introduces new national account manager

Magformers appoints Scottish sales agent The company has appointed Doug Wares as its new sales agent for Scotland. Doug has worked in the toy industry since 1988, and is well-respected north of the border, having represented many brands including Humbrol, Matchbox/Universal Toys and Bandai.

He commented: “I’m delighted to be joining the business to help it establish a foothold in Scotland. It’s a fantastic product with a very strong marketing and promotional campaign in place to support retailers, and I believe it has enormous potential - which recent feedback from the Toymaster show is already demonstrating.”

Scottish retailers can contact Doug on 07807 925 818.

Julie Bunyan has been appointed to the role.

Julie has been in sales for over 26 years, with 20 years’ experience as a national accounts manager. This was across a number of non-food categories, including children’s arts and crafts.

Julie can be contacted through the company’s Glasgow Office on 01416 132 525, or on email at Julie.bunyan@ozbozz.co.uk.

Rubie’s UK appoints new customer services manager Laura Hall has been appointed to the role based in Wallingford. She will manage daily operations of the customer services team, providing customer support to Rubies’ UK business.

Laura brings with her 13 years’ experience dealing with customer-facing enquiries and a wealth of relationship management expertise from within corporate strategic services and the automotive industry, where she was responsible for training sales managers in core customer service skills.

David Wootliff, UK commercial director at Rubie’s, said: “Customer service is a key focus for Rubie’s, and the recruitment of Laura with her proven experience in the field reinforces this commitment. Laura joins Rubie’s with a vast amount of experience in delivering first class customer service, having successfully managed various customer service departments in the past. She is an invaluable addition to the team, and we are very much look forward to working with her.”

IMC Toys announces new appointment Alexandra Gannon adopted the newly created role of marketing assistant in July, having recently graduated from York St. Johns with a degree in Business Management.

She will assist marketing manager Kirsten Chambers in delivering campaigns and executing the growth plans IMC has laid out.

Managing director Terry Crew commented: “We’re delighted to have welcomed Ally into the IMC team. She will play a key role in assisting in the marketing department, and comes at a pivotal time within the business as we continue to grow from strength to strength.”

Toy World promotions A year after joining Toy World, Clarabel Jones and Jonika Kinchin have been promoted to the position of assistant editor.

Publisher John Baulch commented: “I am delighted by the progress that both Clarabel and Jonika have made over the past 12 months, and I’m very pleased to recognise their continuing development with new job titles and increased responsibilities. They have both made valuable contributions to the continuing success of Toy World, are a pleasure to work with and have a real enthusiasm and passion for the toy trade.”

Skip Hop welcomes new employees Three new members of staff have been appointed to the newly opened UK office.

The UK country manager Jon Tilley has been accompanied by Emma Finch, the general sales manager. Emma will be working with retailers to help expand Skip Hop’s distribution and presence in the UK. Shelly McAlinden is Skip Hop’s customer service executive and is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of customers, orders and the general administration of the UK office. Lastly, Gemma Stokes joins Skip Hop as a marketing executive, and is responsible for raising awareness of the Skip Hop brand and the general day-to-day running of all marketing activities.

Jon Tilley commented: “Now that the UK team is complete, we can focus on fulfilling the appetite for the brand in the UK. The trade response has been amazing, and now we have a fantastic team in place to build a great subsidiary for Skip Hop.”

Geomag appoints two new field sales personnel Geomagworld UK has announced it is adding two field sales personnel in the shape of Rob Staff and Nigel Blackburn.

Clive Wooster commented: “We’ve had a great response from our independent customers to the relaunch of Geomag, and want to support that sector. Rob and Nigel have excellent reputations, and both have Geomag experience, so it’s an obvious step. Nigel will be looking after the northern region (Birmingham upwards) and Rob will be working on areas south of that. They will be able to share details of our TV campaign and the Christmas order deals.”

Rob and Nigel can be contacted on Rob@rhsales.co.uk and Nigel@Nigelblackburnagencies.co.uk.

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marketing world The toy trade’s no.1 resource for marketing news and opinion

LeapFrog marks launch of LeapStart LeapFrog is providing parents with tips and activities that they can practise with their kids over the summer. To help prepare parents emotionally for that important first day of school, the company has teamed up with four vloggers from Channel Mum, two of whom have children starting school this September. One of the vloggers is Liat Hughes Joshi. In a dedicated series of the videos, the mums discuss how they are feeling ahead of the first day at school and share their tips on how to help kids get school ready.

Liat Hughes Joshi commented: “A child’s first day at school is such an emotional time for the whole family. It’s important to remember that in preparing for this day, it’s not about competitive parenting, but more about giving children the skills to make sure they can be confident and happy and ease into this new stage in their lives.”

The company has recently launched LeapStart, an interactive learning system which aligns with the school curriculum and teaches children key school and life skills. Available in two models - one for pre-school children and one for primary school children - LeapStart works with a library of 16 replayable activity books across four learning levels, that provide productive, safe and fun off-screen play. LeapStart system, as well as the 16 LeapStart Activity books, are now available at selected UK retailers.

Sally Walker, managing director of LeapFrog UK, added: “We’re delighted to be introducing LeapStart, as it’s perfect to help children and their parents engage and enjoy many of these activities, while ensuring that both of them are as ready as they can be for that next big step in their journey of life.”

Vivid reveals new Fungus Amungus TV campaign The company has unveiled two new TV adverts to support its latest Fungus Amungus product range.

The first advert focuses on a new collectibles range, featuring over 100 new sticky figures, whilst the second showcases the Yuck Truck playset.

Vivid will also continue to feature the ExGERMinator gun from the range throughout autumn/winter 2016.

The campaign was commissioned from creative agency Superhero, and started airing on 16th July across major children’s channels in the UK and Ireland. Media planning and buying was by Generation Media.

“Fungus Amungus has been one of the break-out collectible brands of 2016, and our latest marketing campaign aims to capitalise on what has been a very exciting launch. Our TV campaign showcases some really exciting new product extensions that we hope will continue to capture kids’ imaginations,” said Tom Bennie, brand manager at Vivid.

Halilit unveils new Taf Toys POS material The range of POS materials is available for retailers to help maximise sales of the developmental nursery brand in store.

The new look FSDUs hold a mixture of products from all categories of the range. There are also shelf strips, floor stickers and header boards, all in Taf Toys’ signature blue.

Stockists of Taf Toys, distributed in the UK by Halilit, can now utilise these tools to create visually pleasing displays in store.

Top Trumps to become TV quiz show Winning Moves and Boxatricks have signed an agreement to jointly create and market a bespoke TV quiz derived from Top Trumps.

Winning Moves is the producer of board games such as Monopoly, Cluedo, Connect 4 and Pass The Pigs, with specialist versions of all of the above being created and distributed worldwide from the company’s HQ in London as well as from its offices in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Serbia, Italy, India and Australia.

Boxatricks comprises the original co-creators and producers of TV hits, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Blind Date.

The Top Trumps TV quiz will be played by pairs of contestants in the studio and, by covering a wide range of question categories and topics in every episode, is designed to encourage families and friends to play along at home whilst watching the quiz on television.

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Living in a digital world This month, Martin Doyle explores the ever changing use of online platforms, especially Facebook, by children and pre-teens.

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hen I was 13 years old, my parents announced that we would be spending Easter taking a family trip to the Isle of Man. I was filled with dread: what could possibly be of interest to me on this desolate island in the middle of March? What would I talk to my ancient parents about? Most importantly, how would I show my face back at school if someone found out? Somehow, I wriggled my way out of it and spent that particular school holiday doing far more exciting things with my “actual friends”. Of course, nowadays I would jump at the chance to spend more time with my family, but back then it was probably the most embarrassing situation I could possibly have imagined.

Fast forward to the digital present, and have things changed at all? We hear reports of youngsters deserting Facebook in their droves to avoid their adventures being spied on by parents, or even grandparents, who sign up as late adopters. It’s hardly surprising – with everyone remembering their own childhood angst, a tabloid writer doesn’t need too many facts to propose this desertion. But is it really true that Facebook is now a no-go zone for young people – and if so, what does that mean for the future of their userbase and ad revenue?

I’ll start by pointing out that the pre-teen demographic was never the one that Mark Zuckerberg set out to cater for when he set up the blue giant 12 years ago. But success amongst college students and young adults made this an aspirational place to be, and under 13s followed. That was against the rules of course, but what could be cooler than that?

Let’s look at the hard facts. TGI data tells us that the number of 7-10 year olds using Facebook increased progressively until 2011, when 17% were regularly logging in. A relative plateau followed before the number plummeted: now only 6.3% of 7-10 year olds are using Facebook. The 11-14 age

group has fallen even more dramatically – from 60% in 2014 to 23% in 2015. So statistically there are fewer using the service. Yet using the same research, Facebook does remain the most popular social network.

Where have these kids gone? The likely answer will not come as a shock to regular readers of Living in a Digital world. For adults, Facebook remains number one but there are always new networks, apps and properties being developed – the flavour of the month taking up a fashion-conscious youngster’s screen time: just look at the growth of Instagram, Snapchat, PopJam or the very recent Pokémon Go! YouTube now boasts usage of up to four in five kids, rising significantly amongst secondary schoolers. There may also be something in the algorithms, with YouTube’s “up next” content conveyer belt becoming increasingly sophisticated, encouraging youngsters to hang around longer and watch more content, rather than browse various different social networks.

So what of the ad revenue? For me, there are three reasons that I don’t think Mr Zuckerberg is losing too much sleep over the dip in his younger demographic numbers.

Firstly, Facebook has never been the right environment to reach kids for an advertiser. It is a much more appropriate and effective platform for reaching parents and giftgivers. Add to that the stringent protection offered by US COPPA regulations and its forthcoming EU GDPR counterpart, and it’s no wonder that Facebook maintains its stance of over 13s only.

Secondly, that massive drop off in kid users hasn’t been replicated in the adult space, notably the 1524 age group. This demographic using Facebook has barely moved; it’s the same as it was in 2012 – around two thirds. Yet they have aged too, so there must be new, younger users coming in

Martin Doyle - Head of digital Tel: 0207 307 7098. martin.doyle@generationmedia.co.uk from somewhere.

Finally, a matter of opinion: 35% of 7-10s think that Facebook is a “cool” brand, 40% are indifferent (teenagers before their time…) but only 18% see it as “uncool”. Those who think it cool far outnumber its actual users in that demographic. I can only speak for myself, but as I grew up and my life outside of work became more squeezed, my personal online repertoire consolidated, became less exploratory and more mature. Given that Facebook’s userbase continues to grow, one could hypothesise that our current youngsters are not deserting for good, but avoiding what is for them an irrelevant pastime in the same way I once avoided that Easter trip to the Isle of Man. Just like me now welcoming time with the family, I believe that today’s absent kids will be back as mature adults. Digital platforms may be constantly evolving, but it appears that kids and families aren’t all that different. To me, there’s something reassuring in that.

Schleich’s dinosaur collection receives support from independents Schleich’s dinosaur collection will receive extensive marketing support this summer with a nationwide retailer initiative with its independent customers.

To celebrate the launch of the First Dinosaurs collection, retailers have been provided with a full kit to hold a fun in-store activity, including posters, colouring sheets and trail cards for children to complete the hunt. Children who take part will have the opportunity to win an in-store prize, whilst all entrants will also be eligible to win a national prize. This dinosaur activity further supports retailers for the Schleich dinosaur collection.

Jeremy Robinson, country manager from Schleich UK, commented: “Following the success of the retailer campaign in 2015, we felt it was a no-brainer to run the campaign for 2016 to support both our First Dinosaur collection and our independent retailers. Lots of children took part last year and the feedback we received was extremely positive.”

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licensing world The toy trade’s no.1 resource for licensing news and opinion

Mattel wins Jurassic World toy licence The company has taken the licence from Hasbro, starting next July.

The fifth film in the franchise, which is currently untitled, has been set for release on 22nd June 2018.

Chris Sinclair, Mattel’s chairman and CEO, commented: “We are honoured that NBC Universal chose Mattel to help bring the Jurassic World brand to life, and we look forward to developing multiple new lines of innovative, engaging toys and products.

Spanning three decades of sustained worldwide popularity, few entertainment properties have so successfully captured the collective imagination of millions of fans around the world, and we are delighted to be a part of this truly evergreen franchise.”

Mattel’s licence rights for the franchise include action figures, playsets, vehicles, games, plush, role-play, pre-school and activity toys, with initial products hitting the shelves in early 2017.

Dreamtex launches new glow in the dark Ghostbusters bedding Dreamtex has launched its latest bedding collection inspired by the Ghostbusters movie, which is in cinemas now. The classic design features glow in the dark printing, creating an outline of the iconic logo.

Washmitts and cushions complete the range.

Andrew Downie, commercial director at Dreamtex, commented: “The team are delighted to be part of this fresh take on the classic comedy.”

Jumbo announces new licensing agreement with BBC The company will launch a range of puzzles around Autumnwatch, Springwatch and Winterwatch. The new collection will feature the fortunes of British wildlife during the changing of the seasons in the UK, as seen on the BBC television series.

The first puzzle in the range, which will be available in September, will focus on autumn animals, and then January will see the introduction of the first Springwatch puzzle. The line will include a variety of wildlife shots across 1,000 and 500-piece formats.

“This is a very exciting deal for us to secure, and fits perfectly within our Falcon De Luxe puzzle brand,” said Stewart Middleton, managing director at Jumbo Games. “Adult puzzles remain a core focus for us at Jumbo, and we believe this hugely successful new licence will be very popular amongst our adult puzzle fans.”

Topps to produce Trolls line of cards and stickers The deal covers launches for Topps collectibles throughout EMEA and Asia/Pacific.

The new collections, which will launch in October 2016 as the film hits theatres this autumn, will be packed full of colourful characters and images from the movie. The collection will consist of 180 cards, including super shiny cards, sparkly shimmer cards, colour-me-ins and fuzzy cards. The sticker collection contains 170 stickers, and features the Trolls as well as activities.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with DreamWorks to launch a range of collectible products across the globe for what is an iconic and loved brand,” said Chris Rodman, vice president at Topps Europe. “We’ve already seen considerable excitement for the Trolls movie and are confident this new range of stickers and trading cards will be a hit amongst Topps fans and movie goers alike.”

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Marbel launches Finding Dory figurines Leading characters from the new movie are now available in the form of hand-painted PVC-free figurines. Manufactured by Bullyland, the figurines are available to buy either as single characters, in a point of sale 24-piece assortment set, a four-piece gift set or as a double pack.

Also due to hit shelves in time for Christmas is the new Finding Dory advent calendar, which doubles up as a storage box with 24 compartments.

For more information, or to place an order, please contact your sales representative or the Marbel office on 0845 6000 286.

Posh Paws lands EMEA Minions plush licence ahead of new movie The company has partnered with Universal for a two year contact ahead of Despicable Me 3, the latest instalment from Illumination that is expected to hit cinemas in summer 2017.

The company will deliver a limited range from the back catalogue of Minions Movie and Despicable Me characters for this autumn/winter, with a bigger emphasis placed on specific development for Despicable Me 3.

The contract includes the rights to supply the plush range across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and as a result the company has a whole host of distributors across these regions already on board.

Lauren Shipman, brand manager at Posh Paws, said: “We’ve already seen huge success with our Minions and Despicable Me backpack ranges, so it goes without saying that we’re thrilled to now become the EMEA plush licensee for the brand. We’re also excited about what’s to come next year, and will be working with retailers to jointly maximise the opportunities in line with the 2017 movie release.”

Cartamundi and ITVS GE bring Thunderbirds Are Go to new game releases

The agreement, signed at the recent Las Vegas Licensing Expo, will bring images of the show’s characters and vehicles to a Snap game and a Happy Families game, launching in early 2017.

A game box featuring both the Snap and Happy Families games, along with an action game, will appear towards the end of the same year.

Trudi Hayward, SVP global merchandising at ITVS GE, commented: “The Thunderbirds Are Go licensing programme has enjoyed great success already, and demand is growing. Products that reflect the visual appeal of the show are always in demand, and Cartamundi has brilliantly adapted the show’s visuals to a pair of family card games that we are sure will be enormously popular.”

Hayley McAuley, UK sales manager of consumer products at Cartamundi, added: “This is a wonderful deal that adds an enormously successful action show for young audiences to Cartamundi’s popular range of licensed games.

As one of the most exciting and visually inventive kids’ shows around, Thunderbirds Are Go is perfect for a card format that will make the most of its fantastic imagery.”

Golden Bear signed as toy partner for Lily’s Driftwood Bay Created and produced by Sixteen South, Lily’s Driftwood Bay premiered on Nick Jr. UK in May 2014 and has been watched by over 7.8 million viewers to date. Golden Bear has been appointed as the master toy licensee for the programme, with a range that will feature soft toys based on the main series’ characters.

“Lily’s Driftwood Bay is a series that has captured the imagination of younger children since launching on air,” said Katherine Pierce, senior licensing and marketing manager at Golden Bear. “The fun characters and stories in each episode link into the wonderful creations Lily finds and builds. She explores the power of friendship which connects with both parents and children through simple narrative and beautifully designed animation.

We’re thrilled to be working with Nickelodeon and Sixteen South to create a beautiful range of toys to delight and inspire fans of the programme.”

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Feature Opinion

Adapting to kids getting older, younger

Arena Azure’s Tristan Brooks looks at how children’s digital content consumption is changing, and what this means for the toy market

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fter speaking to a number of key industry figures about this, I’m aware that this is not a new topic and one that raises its head every now and again. However, the reason I raise this now is that in a relatively short period of time we’ve seen an unprecedented increase in the use of digital devices in the home, and more importantly child ownership of tablets. Devices which allow, unless controlled of course, access to virtually any content (YouTube being a prime example).

To give context to recent digital growth, 96% of children aged 5 to 15 (Childwise; The Monitor Report 2016 & 2015) claim they went online in 2015 (up 3% year on year). 67% of children aged 5 to 15 claim to own a tablet in 2015 (up a massive 22% year on year). These figures will have risen by now.

But are parents concerned about this? In a recent Ofcom survey (Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report November 2015), only 25% of parents of children aged 5 to 15 were “concerned” or “fairly concerned” about content on the internet: this figure had actually decreased

3% on the previous year. Yet according to a recent NSPCC report (July 2016), 28% of children by the age of 11 have seen adult material. There seems to be a disconnect between parents’ perception of what children are consuming and the reality.

The implications of children consuming older content could, over time, have obvious repercussions for the toy industry. If they are consuming less of the licensed content and advertising created for and targeted to them and are increasingly exposed to older opinions and content, this could in turn influence their purchasing choices, making them increasingly harder to reach and engage efficiently. So do we need to consider rethinking what a seven-yearold is really into, replan marketing campaigns, target younger, rework packaging, creative etc., or is there no real tangible evidence to support this?

This is obviously a massive topic which won’t be reconciled in one article; however, it’s an interesting debate in the face of an ever evolving digital landscape. In this article I’ve looked at a few key media consumption trends over time as potential indicators of what’s really happening now.

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Tristan Brooks client services director at Arena Azure

Children’s TV age profiles shifts are inconclusive…

I’ll start with the positive news. After age profiling all children’s commercial TV channels (UK only) over the past five years via BARB industry data, there’s little conclusive evidence to suggest TV channel profiles getting younger in general.

There’s data supporting the argument both ways, for example Cartoon Network has a 4% increase in audience profile for 10 to 12 year olds in 2016 vs 2014, whereas Disney XD has a 12% decrease in profile for the same audience across the same period, there’s nothing conclusive here. Overall it looks like the main influence on age profiles of channels shifting is down to the programming content and the engagement of this content with specific age groups.

Social gaming usage has fallen…

There does seem to be some evidence that social gaming websites have lost engagement with children over time. The Google Trends graph visualises this quite succinctly and is one data source that visualises quite effectively search demand over time as a barometer of demand.

The trend lines are shown as an index referencing

search volume over time (in this case UK search volume from 2005 to July 2016). (Searches in full for Moshi Monsters, Bin Weevils, Club Penguin, Roblox and Minecraft) (see image 1).

Back in 2011 data (Childwise; The Monitor Report 2011/12) showed that 20% of children aged 11 to 12 played the top four games at that time. By 2015, Minecraft dominated this space with 43% (The Monitor Report 2015) usage of all children of that age, however the rest of these sites have seen usage drop to under 10% of usage within that age group in 2015. In the last year for that same age group Minecraft has dropped a further 3% (The Monitor Report 2016), indicating a further slowdown in the social gaming category.

Under 10s have also seen a drop in usage of Minecraft recently. In 2015 59% of children aged 9-10 played the game, this has now fallen to 52% (Childwise; The Monitor Report 2016). One of the few games seeing recent search demand growth is Roblox, but it’s fair to mention that search volume for the brand term is still low in comparison to previous search peaks within this sector.

Social media apps are getting younger, certainly with girls...

One of the biggest shifts in children’s media consumption happens when children move to secondary school at the age of 11. This shift is as a result of teenage influences filtering down from the older years. A period when being seen to be on trend becomes increasingly important rather than just having fun, and mobile phones become the device of choice.

However, recent data indicates that the consumption differences between primary and secondary school are breaking down slightly as younger children are increasingly consuming older targeted social apps. Looking at the larger social apps in this sector, Snapchat and Instagram (social media image/video messaging applications) have seen usage growth double among 9 to 10s from 2014 to 2015 (from 10% to 18% and 18% to 37% respectively. Childwise; The Monitor Report 2015/16). Snapchat was picked up on recent data (Childwise Playground Buzz Report – Summer Term 2016) as being number two in terms of favourite brands for girls aged 7 to 12 and with Instagram number three, only YouTube was higher.

What these platforms offer is a place to connect socially and share with friends but also to follow favourite vloggers across the social channels they broadcast their content through. And this raises a more important point. YouTube has gone from strength to strength and remains the most talked about brand in the playground (Childwise Playground Buzz) across both sexes.

But as mentioned in previous articles, YouTube is a behemoth, an all-consuming and relatively unregulated channel for children to get their consumption fix from.

There’s little accountability, except for the YouTube channel owners themselves to selfregulate the content they broadcast, otherwise the threat to them is audiences could drop and

Image 1

Image 2

potential brand partners be put off, but that’s about it. As children spend increasing amounts of time on YouTube at all ages, including pre-school (35% of under fours use YouTube. Childwise; PreSchool Report 2015), their influences become less regulated in comparison to the tough guidelines TV broadcasters’ content is scrutinised by. This, driven by greater access to digital devices and the increased appropriation of social media applications at an increasingly younger age, could in the long term in my opinion, influence children’s attitudes and media choices to become increasingly older.

Over 11s seem to be buying less toys...

The chart below (Childwise; The Monitor Report 2016) shows children’s toy purchasing broken down by age. From the data you can see purchasing drops considerably when the child moves to secondary school. Looking at previous years’ data, one thing is quite striking, that the

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11+ audience seem to be less engaged with toy purchasing. Those 11 to 12 year olds who have ever bought toys for themselves back in 2014 were 29%, as you can see from the 2016 data below, this is now at 19% (see image 2) How the toy industry adapts to this older end of the market, taking into consideration their changing media behaviour and key influences is critical. Products need to be built with the target audience in mind, increasingly allowing for their appropriation and ownership (think Stick Bots as a great example) because if you’re not on trend and adding something of value, that increasingly can be shared and enjoyed socially, then toy purchasing could end at ever younger ages. Only time will tell. I write this as Pokemon Go launches in the UK, a product that embraces this new world perfectly.

E-Catalogue: http://issuu.com/swt5

talking shop Summer Lovin’

We are now well and truly into the summer season. Traditionally the time for dusting off bikes, Frisbees and other outdoor toys, Jonika Kinchin speaks to independent retailers about what they’re doing to push summer ranges this season, and how they utilise window displays to draw customers through their doors.

Dave Middleton Owner, Midco Toys We have a lot of instore activities planned over the summer in store. We are running a variety of events including Yokai Watch weekends, Nerf blaster competitions, Pom Pom Wow demo days, a Shopkins competition and character meet for July. We are also working with our local football team Burton Albion to bring their mascot instore, which should help raise local community spirit.

In terms of specific summer products, we see an upsurge in Nerf products in the hotter months, and we are fully prepared for all the new releases over the summer, such as Shopkins Season Five, Num Noms Series Two, The Grossery Gang and Twozies. We’re also anticipating big movie releases, with Suicide Squad being the main focus, as we know bigger retailers are sometimes cautious with the more controversial licences.

We tend to change our window displays every three weeks. Toymaster’s window kits work really well for us, giving us a fresh window each time, and they keep the store looking professional. In terms of the actual content, we like to tie the displays in with new releases or a promotion, but we also like to keep a certain aspect of transparency in store – so we don’t overdo it too much. We also work with brands such as Epoch and Pokemon if we want to do anything more specific.

Captain Neil Captain Neil’s Toy Chest, Wellingborough To prepare for the summer we’ve ordered in lots of outdoor toys, to hopefully get the kids playing outside and away from their computer screens. Specifically, we’re got in an abundance of cricket sets, footballs, chalk for hopscotch, Frisbees, boomerangs and kites to name but a few.

Surprisingly, jigsaws are consistent good summer sellers for us, which is strange for me as I relate them to cold evenings in front of the fireplace.

We have an advantage in the summer as for the past three years we’ve had the Wellingborough Beach nearby, and this year I’m trying to get all the shops involved where each morning a different shop would place a hidden treasure token in the sand, and the lucky winner can come along to the shop and collect their prize. It’s a way of hopefully getting all the town involved and getting people into our stores instead of just staying at the beach for the entire day.

I’ve come to realise that a good window display can make a huge impact on customers. In our old

premises we didn’t really have the window space area to do much, but since moving we have a huge double fronted window area and we’re always getting lovely comments about our displays. We change the window displays every three to four weeks to keep it fresh. I’ve got a great Olympics themed idea with lots of Minions and bananas, so watch this space!

There are a few suppliers who are very helpful

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when it comes to window displays. Orchard Toys comes to mind, Simon Prest is always willing to help out as much as possible with materials to help boost item appearance and sales. Window displays are extremely effective in driving our business. We try to make the business tell a story and so far so good. I’ve got some crazy ideas in my head, so I’m excited for what the future holds.

Amanda Dunlop co-owner, Toys Ahoy, Hythe, Southampton We make sure to that we make special preparations for the summer period, and this year we are introducing a few new ranges. We’ve been lucky enough to be one of the first shops to stock the Simbrix kits, which is a construction toy ideal for long car journeys and holidays in general. We also stock a wide range of different outdoor games, and every type of ball you can think of. Things like balls, bubbles, crab lines and buckets and spades sell consistently well in the summer period. Summer also seems to be a peak season for pocket money toys. Our best sellers include general putty, slime, anything stretchy or squidgy, and surprisingly, loom bands are starting to sell again. We also sell Pandora style bracelets and beads for our tween customers; these are very popular and are a good pocket money choice for the older girl. Outdoor toys that we’ve found to be popular this year include the scrunch frisbee from Funkit World which is selling well. Nerf super soakers always sell

Honey Bowdrey HoneyJam, Notting Hill We are so excited this year as Honeyjam is ten years old. Our official 10th birthday is in September and we have plenty of celebrations up our sleeves. Since the start of the the year, web sales have picked up at a steady pace and our strong local customer base has supported us through the ups and downs of the current climate. We are very lucky to have their loyalty.

Also, we have lovely suppliers to thank who are always thinking of new ways to support independents like us.

We are based in Notting Hill, home of the Notting Hill carnival, so a big part of our summer preparation time is taken up by arranging to flee and board up the shop while the crowds invade. Prior to that, we have plenty of activity toys for rainy days and even the odd hot one, should we be so lucky.

With our fingers crossed for some lovely summer weather, we have stocked some fantastic self-filing water balloons and high jet water pistols for great outdoor play. Also we’ve ordered in some pocket kites that fly however little wind. We’ve also got in bag size sticker books and Scribble Downs transfers to help amuse children should they be travelling. We’ve also got in plenty of great arts and craft activities.

Local families tend to head out of the area for the

out around this time, and we’re also doing well with a variety of Intex products, such as pool rings, arm bands, beach balls and paddling pools. To help promote us throughout summer we tend to put on things like colouring competitions to draw in the crowds. We are at an advantage in the summer time with being close to the seaside, as people often stop off on their way. We also have a ferry that links Hythe to Southampton with a Victorian pier train that attracts tourists.

I believe that window displays do indeed have an impact on consumers, but they must be changed regularly to keep the interest of the local community and passers-by. They entice people into the shop and give the first impression of what will be available inside. We try to make sure that we change the window display around every two weeks. Typical themes could be pink, animals, under the sea, football, pirates, anything

summer and are replaced by tourists visiting town, so we also try our best to cater for that trend.

Window displays definitely have an impact on costumers. Windows are often the first impression a customer gets of the store, and the better the window the more likely they are to come in.

We aim to change our windows every two weeks.

With a strong local customer base, new stock has to go in the window to catch their eye and let them know we’ve got new things for them to see. We have such fun with seasonal windows, a personal favourite being our Christmas display when we have a huge tree decked with lights and baubles and red stockings full of treats hanging next to it. For Halloween we create a spooky scene with scary spiders, rats, cauldrons, pumpkins and more.

A lot of suppliers are really supportive when it comes to helping with displays. When we set up shop ten years ago, suppliers would often send out great window displays and props. I remember having giant Sylvanians, which was such fun. There are a few suppliers which run competitions to showcase their product and be in the chance of winning free stock which seems a creative way to do things.

The displays offer a great showcase for new products and are a good way to entice customers in. We are a small independent shop who don’t have a large

red, anything cuddly as well as seasonal displays such as Christmas and Halloween. Some toy companies will supply items to assist with window displays if requested, but I think demonstration toys would be much more useful as stock tends to fade in the windows.

amount for advertising so it is important for us to make sure we capture the interest and attention of new customers who might not have been into the shop before.

If you would like to get involved with next month’s Talking Shop, please get in touch with Jonika: 01442 502 406, jonika@toyworldmag.co.uk

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Tracie PeacockQuinney,

indie viewpoint

Ella’s Toy Shop, Royal Leamington Spa To make the most out of the summer period, we make sure that we order in as many outdoor toys and travel games as possible.

Outdoor toys will always sell in summer, whatever the weather. We make sure we’re well stocked with things like cricket sets, bats and balls, Frisbees and all products along those lines. We also stock bug catchers and lines revolving around nature, which sell very well for us, such as the magnifying glass and other products from Brainstorm. We have a table and a wall display dedicated to travel games. Parents come in looking for something to keep their children occupied during long journeys, whether it’s a long hall flight or a simple car journey. These games are ideal as they can be used at home for usual playtime as well as on the go. They sell especially well in summer due to the school holidays.

To keep both parents and kids interested during the holidays, we put on events and promotions throughout the period, as well as getting involved with the local community. We often supply the art and craft materials for family fun days, community get togethers and charities. Having this type of relationship with the local community is so beneficial to us and more valuable than any form of marketing, as the word of mouth and recommendations are really effective. This also helped us out three years ago when The Entertainer opened up shop nearby, which fortunately we were unaffected by. Our customers stayed loyal to us, and we stay loyal to them. We have customers coming back week after week, who don’t always know exactly what they’re looking for, but trust us enough to give them genuine advice for birthday presents, gifts and just toys in general. We have to keep bringing in new stock and be more and more creative to keep these customers interested and coming back.

Window displays are absolutely essential for us. It’s the first thing that a customer sees and can often make up their mind on whether they’ll come through the door or not. Most recently, we had a sale of stock that we’d had for a while and put the best of it in the window, along with “75% off” sale signs, and I’m happy to say that we managed to shift over half of the stock. We tend to change the window displays every one to two weeks, but we don’t plan what we’re going to show. We look at what’s popular and see what we’ve got in that week. I like to create scenes in the windows as opposed to just leaving things in their packaging. For example, for summer we have put out outdoor toys such as a cricket set, and positioned it as if a game had just finished. We also occasionally put on half window displays with two different themes, sometimes just to make sure it is gender neutral.

Themes we’ve used include science, maths, pirates, fairies, princesses and more. We always make sure we have something eye catching, as we are based on a main road with a lot of cars driving past.

We create seasonal displays when it gets to Christmas and Easter etc., and I like to combine different brands and products to create scenes, as opposed to promoting just one particular product or brand. We also make sure we respect our local community; we don’t tend to put much out for Halloween, due to the local church down the road, whose members don’t believe in it.

We do get some help from companies with display, for example K’Nex sent us a Ferris wheel which attracted a lot of attention. Cuckoo also sent us a Calafant pirate ship, which being around 5ft high was hard to ignore. In general, we try to stick to what we know and what we’re good at, and so far our customers have stayed loyal, so we must be doing something right.

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes Toy Barnhaus

Movies and shakers

H

i all. Trade for us has been a bit mixed of late. June started well, with the half term falling a week later this year.

After that, we seemed to hit a bit of a lull for a few weeks.

Whether the referendum and the fallout from that has had any impact on toys, it is difficult to say. As we write this in early July, trade has started to pick up. Obviously we stockpiled a lot of the Euro stickers for the start of the football championships, and then wished we had not, after the England team’s performance. So then we tried to invest heavily in stocking the Iceland team…

We had optimistically put time aside in our schedules for England to get to the finals. However, since this did not happen, we used the spare time to go to the cinema instead, and watch Secret Life of Pets. This looks to be the film of the summer so far in terms of toy sales. The lines from Spinmaster have been fantastic sellers – the characters really seem to relate to traits that we see in our own pets. We are also eagerly awaiting the launch of Shopkins Series 5, as we are getting asked for this daily; there is certainly no sign of it slowing down. What we could certainly do with is the temperature to go up about five degrees for a week or so, that would help clear our mountain of paddling pools and save us having to store them for another year. We also need the space for all the Christmas stock that will be arriving soon.

With the fashion and baby dolls categories quite flat for us at the moment, one area that has really taken up the slack is plush. Ty beanies are the absolute star, and have been phenomenal for us. The new Teeny Tys have been fantastic, a great pocket money line; it’s a real battle to keep the stand full.

This is one range that really benefits from having someone to look after it, and we leave it to our rep Peter, who is very thorough and meticulous in ensuring we have all the bestsellers. The licensed Ty also does well, especially the new Secret Life of Pets and My Little Pony, which are worth keeping in stock. On top of that, we stock a tight range of generic plush, which sits nicely alongside the Ty ranges.

Having upsized two of our shops in the last few months, we are now taking the opportunity to spend some time really looking at ranges in our stores. For example, in wooden toys, we stock Bigjigs and have now added in Brio. This provides a different offer to the customer and the two brands complement each other well. Ravensburger has done a great job in promoting Brio and we are planning in a couple of Brio events, to help recruit new customers.

Our last show of the year is always Autumn Fair, and we use it as a chance to pick up any final products for Christmas. There are always some great deals on, and we find it is not too busy to see the suppliers we are interested in.

Although not all companies are there, there are usually several that will give us something different to add to our ranges. We just do one day, and always find it is time well spent every year.

With that, we are off to see Finding Dory at the cinema, and then pray for some sunshine.

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Fresh

FRESH THIS MONTH:

Each month Fresh sets out to find the latest products that will have toy retailers reaching for the phone.

In August we have new releases from: Bananagrams, Character Options, Golden Bear, Hasbro, IMC, John Adams, Mattel, Re:creation and Simba Smoby.

Everything’s better Two-gether

Character Options has unveiled its new girls’ collectible, Twozies. Toy World spoke to marketing manager Mark Hunt about the new launch.

A new girls’ collectible from Moose Enterprises, Twozies will be hitting shelves in time for the August bank holiday. Already launched in the US with phenomenal success, Twozies is a range of cute babies and pets that is all about friendship and the chase of finding the perfect pair. For every baby Twozies that children collect, there is a matching pet to be found. Presented in stylish shadow boxes that can be stacked or mounted, each character is collectible in its own right, but find its matching pet and the two-gether-ness is complete.

There are 140 different babies and pets to collect, find and match. The Twozies Surprise Pack provides the perfect entry point; each pack holds one surprise baby and one non-matching pet, with a shadow box and scene card. There is also a Twozies Two-gether Pack which includes 12 characters, with some hidden to offer a surprise element that is revealed once the pack is opened. For the ultimate collector, the Mega Friendship Pack offers 24 characters.

Toy World: How important is the collectability aspect of Twozies?

Mark Hunt: The find-and-match element definitely adds a unique point of difference, because it represents a new way for kids to collect and play. However, the heart of Twozies brand DNA focuses on the celebration of friendship and the realisation that everything is better when done together – hence our tagline “everything is better…two-gether.” The playsets also have a significant role in the collection and give girls an extended play pattern. For instance, the Twozies Twoplayful Café is the perfect place for the characters to meet up for cake and a play. All the playsets have the same shadow box styling, so girls have the opportunity to build a world of Twozies by displaying and playing with them in their shadow box homes.

Toy World: What about those all-important “rare” pieces?

Mark Hunt: There is definitely an element of finding exclusive Twozies, as kids love to find those really rare characters. Throughout the collection there are a number of

Limited Edition Twozies, including Precious Metallic Twozies and ultra-rare Neon Twozies.

Toy World: How is Character Options going to make Twozies stand out in the crowded collectibles sector?

Mark Hunt: Demand is already high thanks to an early launch in the US. Unboxers have gone wild for the range and UK kids who watch YouTube are already eager to get their hands on the collection. Character Options has put a vast amount of support as ever into this launch: the campaign starts in August with continued support up until Christmas. Our multi-media campaign kicks off with an extremely cute TV commercial delivering over 300 targeted TVRs over the first month, with a continued schedule running through to November. We also have a four-week sponsorship campaign on Disney Channel that runs from 1st of September delivering an additional 150 target TVRs during the period.

Toy World: Do you have any other initiatives planned to get the product into consumers’ hands?

Mark Hunt: Sampling will be key; we have shipped in 130,000 blind bags that have two Twozies included. We have created almost 500 retailer sampling kits, which will be distributed in August ahead of launch, as well as a cover-mount with the UK’s best loved kids’ animal magazine, Animals and You. UK Unboxing is already underway with Tiana Wilson from Toys AndMe heading up our activity online. Of course, traditional media is also in place and we have extensive coverage in the kid’s press from August through October and an eight-week digital campaign from September, which completes what we believe is a very comprehensive marketing plan.

Twozies launches August 26th. For more information, call Character Options on 0161 633 9800

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Furby Connect

Hasbro Hasbro has introduced the digitally-integrated Furby Connect, an interactive companion that uses Bluetooth technology to connect with kids through video clips, songs, phrases, global events and more.

The Furby Connect creature reacts intuitively to sound and touch, speaking more than 1,000 phrases and expressing its moods through more than 100 colourful animations displayed in its full colour LCD screen eyes.

Enhanced movements appear more natural than before, and multiple sensors throughout its body allow it to respond to touch.

The new Furby Connect World app offers an immersive virtual world by delivering new content via Bluetooth, allowing users to engage in entertainment content. In the app, owners can also care for their Furby friend, raise virtual Furblings, play games together and discover entertaining video clips in the Furby theatre.

Furby Connect is available exclusively on pre-order at Amazon.com in pink or teal, and at retailer’s nationwide beginning autumn 2016 in three additional colours. The Furby Connect World app is available for download now at the Amazon Appstore, App Store and Google Play, and will be compatible with specific Fire tablets, iOS and Android devices.

Turtle Fun, Speedy Bin and Treasure Detector

My Mini Mixie Q’s

Mattel My Mini Mixie Q’s infuses play value into the collectibles market by encouraging children to pop and swap the figures. Each individual figure will offer consumers a deeper way to play with collectibles, with interchangeable hair and clothing which offer the potential to create over two million combinations.

The brand launch will consist of a figure offering and playsets. The line will be supported by an extensive marketing and retail programme including a TV campaign, PR activation and in-store display materials.

The new range of mini collectible figures is out now.

IMC Toys IMC Toys will be launching three new products into the games market this month: Turtle Fun, Speedy Bin and Treasure Detector.

Turtle Fun is a memory game for all the family. Players need to correctly guess the colour sequence by pressing the correct fin. If players get it right, Turtle Fun lays an egg, and the winner is the player with the most eggs at the end of the game.

In Treasure Detector, one team hides the treasure and the other team has to find it. Bars shown on the detector will increase as kids get closer. Before the countdown runs out, players must take the diamond out of the treasure chest and slot into the detector.

Speedy Bin is a game which requires players to choose a colour and throw all their paper into the bin. The fastest player to get rid of all their paper wins the game.

To support the launch, IMC has invested heavily in a 360 marketing campaign including over 3,000 TVRs across the range.

Bananagrams Party

Bananagrams The Re-Gifter, The Thief, Switcheroo and Pouch Head are just some of the 14 Party Power tiles in the new Bananagrams Party edition.

Each tile gives the receiving player the power to unleash a special action on an opponent of their choice. Whether it’s making them play without their thumbs, or forcing them to do a lap around the table, each action is sure to cause mayhem while players race to use all their letter tiles and complete their own word grids.

A sociable spin on the classic anagram game, Bananagrams Party helps mark the company’s 10th anniversary. The original game has sold more than seven million copies in 30+ countries globally since launching in 2006.

Bananagrams is available now from Winning Moves.

FRESH

Oddbods Golden Bear

Rubik’s Spark

John Adams Featuring bubble control, a new dimension of games control which involves no buttons and no touch screen, players can simply control the Spark by tilting and turning the cube to enjoy an interactive experience guided by LED lights. The Spark contains special sensors so it knows when and where the lights are going as players move the cube.

Complete with six interactive games, including Seek & Destroy and Tilt n Zap, Rubik’s Spark features both single player and multiplayer modes.

Rubik’s Spark launched last month, and will be supported by a strong TV advertising programme as well as a consumer press and influencer focused PR and marketing campaign.

The new Oddbods toy line hit shelves last month, and consists of feature plush and collectibles.

Based on the sketch-based series, Golden Bear’s new range has been designed to reflect the fun ethos from the show, with an emphasis on character collectability. The show debuted in the UK on CITV last autumn, and is already one of its top five shows of 2016, racking up six million views to date.

The company’s toy range will consist of a collectibles range which includes blind bag figurine packs and figurine collector packs, as well as the Face Changer figurines available in Fuse or Pogo options. The collectibles line will be complemented by a character vehicles collection. The range will also feature the Voice Activated Fuse and Pogo interactive plush, which are activated when they hear a voice.

“Oddbods is an exciting launch for us,” said Katherine Pierce, senior licensing and marketing manager at Golden Bear. “The range looks fantastic and we have a great media campaign to support the release. Response from retailers has been strong, and we’re looking forward to product going on the shelf so consumers can get their hands on them.”

Now You See Me 2: 150 Trick Set

Re:creation Re:creation has joined forces with Fantasma to launch an exclusive Now You See Me 2 licensed magic kit. The first Fantasma product to be launched in the UK, the kit enables fans of hit movie franchise, Now You See Me, to learn and perform some of the illusions showcased in the films.

The Now You See Me 2: 150 Trick Set includes a comprehensive instruction manual, specialist card sets and equipment to recreate 150 tricks. Fans can learn the three card monte, escape from chains, read people’s minds, vanish objects in their hands, and more. Presented in a stylish black briefcase, the set also includes download instructions for further card tricks by the magician that actually taught the stars. The case itself also has a built-in secret.

Re:creation will support the launch with PR, demonstrations and digital communications.

Transformers Optimus Prime Battle Truck

Simba Smoby Simba Smoby UK is delighted to be working with Hasbro on Transformers, and is particularly excited about the upcoming Transformers 5 movie, which is coming out next summer.

The company has a full range of die-cast, feature mechanic and radio control Transformers toys, including the Transformers Optimus Prime Battle Truck. The front of the truck transforms to reveal the massive light-up battle cannon with sound effects.

Kids can shoot mini-con discs from the front of the Battle Truck and launch them from the transforming 360 degrees firing stations. The product includes two mini-con figures to place on the Battle Truck, and four mini-con firing discs, as well as numerous light and sound features.

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viewpoint Toy World shares insight and opinion

Ruth Clement Full Steam Consulting

PLUs - People like us…

Hmm, should I mention the “re-F” word or keep to less divisive topics? As a researcher I can’t help taking a professional view of the proceedings which led up to the Brexit vote on 23rd June.

What struck me is that the decision making process on which way to vote, despite its far reaching consequences, was very reflective of how we make day to day decisions, whether it’s in choosing a brand of baked beans or a toy.

Neither decision, Leave or Remain, it appears, involved much research by voters, who generally admit to having followed their gut instinct. It’s the same with most purchases, even the planned ones, and toys are no different.

David Ripley Groupon

Last exit from Brussels

Finally, a high profile bona-fide craze has erupted in Toys - Pokemon Go – which generated more tweets in a week at 15.3m than the Brexit campaign during the fever-pitch week of the referendum at 11.7m.

So what does this tell us about social media and public interest in relation to the EU? Possibly that Pikachu et al are decidedly more interesting than the EU political establishment. The only parallel I can draw from the two events is that whilst there

Over 70% of decisions are made at a subconscious level, with no rational computation by the brain at all. When we are totally relaxed and on autopilot, making those decisions is an easier, even a pleasant experience. In this relaxed state, we rely on a combination of motivations, biases and rules of thumb (heuristics) which familiar needs, culture and experience have embedded in our memory over time.

But why would we opt for such a primitive decision making system when we have this brilliant brain power with which to compute all the right answers?

Because our rational, computing brain slows us down and requires additional effort, and with the additional element of peer influence, the comfort of our tribe is far greater than the influence of wise men. Experts might as well have the words “alien species” written above their heads. In the same way that mums prefer to read advice given by other mums on infant toys and equipment, voters would rather hear from other PLUs (people like us) than an expert.

Shopper and consumer marketing techniques which enable decisions to be made on auto-pilot or with emotions roused above the noise of reasoning tend to deliver results. When shoppers look back on the items which they have bought, they’re often surprised by what ended up in the basket, contrary to their intentions, but bought on an emotion-led whim.

In research, I aim to get beneath the surface and dig around in the subconscious of my respondents.

What they don’t articulate is often far more informative than what they do, so careful observation of facial expression, body language, structure of language, dynamics in the peer group and attentiveness are key.

A good researcher will spend as much time observing as in taking note of post-rationalised responses.

Back to toys. What can you do, knowing how shopper (and voter) decisions are made by the subconscious?

• Plant the seed of a big idea (think Boris’ final prereferendum speech) which the shopper will then cultivate in to their own vision of how good they will feel having bought and gifted your toy to their child.

• Activate their peers to advocate for your brand, on your behalf, as PLUs are far more compelling than experts. (How many times did you hear “don’t trust the experts” in the referendum debate?)

• Prime with imagery and visually evocative language to arouse an emotional response and a sense of purpose along the path to purchase, to guide shoppers subliminally towards your brand (the rallying cry to take control with the union flag).

• Make that entire path to purchase one that is easy to navigate on auto pilot, make it easy to navigate the store, find the category and shop the fixture.

When it comes to in store communication, less is more (simple messages, repeated often enough: Take back control).

are an eye watering 742 Pokemon “Gotta catch ‘em all”, there are even more MEPs, 766 in fact, aimlessly wandering between Brussels and Strasbourg trying to find a ‘raison d’être’ which as a name could qualify as Pokemon character 743.

It would be remiss of me not to expand upon the In/ Out referendum; beyond anyone’s wildest predictions/ dreams/fears [delete as applicable], the sky didn’t fall in the day after the Brexit vote, unless of course your name was David Cameron or George Osborne and quite possibly Jeremy Corbyn. In one fell swoop the Out avalanche has removed a large element of the political establishment, not just secondary elements but the scalps of the highest profile leaders.The UK was outed by the great British public via a referendum vote by the majority of its voting age citizens, a total turn out of some 33.5m voters. It’s exciting times for the UK, the feeling is almost anarchic.

I wonder what the result would have been if everyone in the UK capable of drawing a cross in a box had been allowed to vote? A large proportion of this excluded population would have been children aged 5-14, 7.2m of them according to the 2010 census. Of course this would never happen but sometimes the rationale thinking of a child has more common sense cut-through than most adult arguments I heard before and after the referendum.

I was going to use this column to demonstrate the pros and cons to the UK Toy industry of the Brexit vote, but clearly it is way too early to understand anything at all as a result of the vote. If uncertainty looks like a country frozen in shock, that never planned for such a result, then this is the outlook until the end of the year at least. Even after Article 50 is triggered, the reality is that nothing will actually happens until 2019 at the earliest. With a few legal challenges and reviews, we may even be looking at 2020 before the UK regains its status as an independent nation. I am sure that trade deal negotiations with the largest non EU nations will run in parallel to the EU exit negotiations. Trading frameworks can be set up much quicker than many anticipate, and the benefits of globalisation allow the UK more than enough precedent agreements on which to base its own deals with other trading nations.

I think when the dust settles, we will all realise that trade deals can be more nimbly negotiated by one nation than the many, and that outside of the bloated and burgeoning EU super-state we will be forced to be much more competitive and sharper on economic policy, including a very attractive corporate tax rate. Exciting rollercoaster times ahead.

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Andy Clempson Toy industry sales and commercial expert

At your (Customer) Service

In between the general doom and gloom of recent news stories about UK politics and sport, I have noticed a few press and social media reports raving about fantastic acts of customer service - the recent story of the lady on a supermarket checkout who helped calm a young autistic girl sticks in my mind.

These kind of things seem to happen so rarely these days that, when they do, they get shouted about. It seems that we have all grown accustomed to outsourced customer service departments and faceless electronic help, shouting things like “unknown item in the bagging area”, and now seem to be conditioned to accept generally poor levels of service and satisfaction.

As the consumer has grown in power, with more choice, greater access to comparison sites and increasingly easy ways of shopping, it seems to me unusual that customer service is still not always that well emphasised by both suppliers and retailers as a real competitive advantage.

Customers are not loyal by nature and research shows that emotion influences purchase decision six times more than rationale, so are we all missing

Nadia Khaldi Head of Engagement Generation Media

Global platforms increasing demand for a “Glocal” approach

The world is shrinking. Local news stories are making global headlines, You Tube personalities are becoming international stars overnight, cult TV followings are transcending oceans, and productions from outside of the UK and US are enjoying international success. Being a Swedish national myself, Wallander and Danish show The Killing are two of my favourite shows – readily available to me in the UK. The changing media landscape means new opportunities for toy advertisers. Reviewing consumer habits across multiple territories reveals strong common trends, particularly in the online space. Kids have increasing access to digital devices and many platforms are popular regardless of

a trick? Feeling great about a service experience can play a very big part in trying to win long term customer loyalty. It can deliver return business, increased business (such as deeper penetration within existing customers’ organizations), and new business, by building reputation and combining it with excellent products.

Reactions to service can of course be subjective - I love the overall service at my local indie toy store, but I also know people that don’t feel necessarily feel the same way. We would however probably agree on what good service looks like: • Having enough trained and knowledgeable people.

• Having people that are enthusiastic, polite and respectful.

• Having people that are responsive and who come back to you when they say they will.

• Having people that listen and in general go above and beyond your expectations.

The attitudes and actions of suppliers’ and retailers’ staff have a direct impact on how their companies are perceived. If I can’t find anyone to help me or call me back, then this will normally translate to: I won’t be dealing or shopping with you in the future, if I don’t really have to.

Some of the customer service teams I have been lucky to work with in the toy industry have had great knowledge, experience and passion, and have needed it all as the face and voice of the company. I would argue that they are worth their weight in gold.

From dealing with basic product enquiries and order entry to major product recalls, they sometimes don’t receive the gratitude they should get - but of course face the criticism if things don’t always go according to plan. This goes with the territory of servicing the customer.

Customer service is not just a department, it’s an attitude. It’s everyone’s job to try and get it right and so it really should be embedded in the training and culture of a business. Companies often make use of their own “mystery shoppers” to measure quality of service, or compliance with regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services.

This is more generally the practice of retailers, but you could argue that it would be just as valid with the supplier base testing their own activities.

The results of poor service can be costly. It can be really hard to shift negative perceptions once these get established; just think about most of the utility and telecoms companies we grudgingly deal with. I have not met many of their fans. You have to work really hard to get lost customers back and it is normally much more expensive. The last figures I saw stated that it can cost you up to five times as much to win a new customer than to keep a current one.

In today’s digital world, (bad) news can travel fast and this is starting to affect how close companies actually want to get to their customers. I have recently heard of companies becoming very wary of how they manage their company Facebook page, or questioning whether they should even have one.

Offering a direct opportunity for the customer or user to leave potentially negative and damaging comments and reviews, open for all to see, is a potential PR risk.

Analysts often talk about the key drivers in what makes people choose a supplier or retailer - location, product range and value. Quality service should be well up this list in my opinion. On its own it may not deliver us all success, but the prizes can be great by establishing a really positive service reputation.

territory: YouTube, Angry Birds, Roblox, MovieStar Planet and Snapchat. TV broadcasters like Disney, Viacom and Turner have the ability to reach millions of viewers across the world, whilst VOD platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, as they grow outside of the UK and US, will further shrink the content gap between markets.

This presents expansion opportunities for domestic advertisers. With the UK and US acting as leaders in the online space we are seeing many media owners accelerate their journey into new territories. This provides opportunities for advertisers and their agencies to negotiate panterritory savings on media whilst benefitting from cost savings and continuity in creative and strategy.

This shift in online also reopens the question on the scope for international trading on TV spot buying with key international contractors in the kids’ space.

But, we can’t ignore the underlying cultural and market differences between markets. As kids specialists, we know the importance of recognising the social and physical differences amongst this broad group. The same applies at an international level. Although there are some broad similarities in market and behaviours, it is important to acknowledge local variations from dominant TV stations, website reach, device ownership, parental control, education structure to name a few, all of which impact on media strategy.

By adopting a “glocal” approach, speaking a global media language with clear regional dialects, advertisers can successfully maximise their media

budgets and planning process. In order to do this effectively, brands need to have on the ground knowledge and access to local measurement tools across all operating markets During recent projects, I have personally observed a number of examples where local market insight is a must. An example: kids in the UK often navigate the online space on their own from an early age, but in France and Germany heavy parental supervision prevails until an older age. In the TV arena, the UK has one of the largest selection of kids focused channels, whilst Germany is dominated by one key player with only a couple of other industry recognised commercial channels to select from. These differences can affect recommendations on everything from pricing to creative execution.

Generation Media has addressed these issues by establishing The Next Generation Media Exchange.

Our international network of independent agencies is now fully established and delivering Generation’s kids and family expertise, underpinned by local buying power, insight and measurement tools.

As the central management point, we know that the “glocal” approach can pay back in terms of marketing continuity and cost savings for advertisers.

The pace of technological advancement means that this approach is the best way forwards for brands wanting to thrive in the international marketplace. The world might be shrinking at a rapid rate, but the opportunities for advertisers are expanding even faster.

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Lutz Muller

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

Infinity – Disney makes a U-Turn

It came as a surprise when Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, announced during the May earnings call that it was pulling the plug on Infinity. This is how he explained this abrupt decision: “We thought we had a really good opportunity to launch our own product in that space. I realise it was console space, but a large component of it was the toys - they call it the toys to life space. We did quite well with the first iteration of it, and we did okay with the second iteration. But that business is a changing business, and we did not have enough confidence in it being stable enough to stay in it from a self-publishing perspective”.

When you see such opaque language then you know that there are some important unspoken reasons for this decision. Firstly, where was Infinity when it all ended?

Infinity had three components: the interactive figures for players to play with; the gamepad on which the interactive figures are placed to connect in the game; and the game itself which requires access to any of the major consoles - PS4 or PS3, Xbox One or 360, or the Wii U. The brand had three major competitors; Skylanders from Activision, Amiibo from Nintendo and Dimensions from Lego. There is also Playmation, also from Disney but sold by Hasbro, which is an outlier and so far not a factor.

The product did extremely well in terms of its sell-through performance in the United States at least until end of May.Infinity became the market leader during the second half of last year when it launched the Star Wars range and the brand maintained this position until end of May. Infinity also performed well in terms of shelf space at the leading U.S. retailers and it was only in mid June that Skylanders recaptured its traditional number one position. Internationally, the toys to life category also produced positive results. The U.K. market grew from £93 million in 2014 to £129 million in 2015. In Germany, it grew from €47 million in 2014 to €72 million. The rest of Europe performed in a very similar fashion. Toys to life as a category and Infinity as a brand have been successful.

There has been the argument that this success is transient and that toys to life are going to flame out in the near future. Firstly, this is speculation and there is no hard evidence for this assertion. Secondly, toys to life owe their success to the fact that they cannibalise traditional toy categories, at this point mainly action figures and pre-school. Given the fact that toys to life only represented somewhere around 3% of the traditional toy market worldwide at the end of 2015, it would appear that there is still room for growth.

So, we have a category that continues to grow rapidly and a brand that is gaining significant market share. And this leader of the pack is pulling out because “we did not have enough confidence in the business in terms of it being stable enough to stay in it from a self-publishing perspective”? Obviously, there was a reason for this move and most likely not the one Bob Iger stated. I spoke to a few of my friends at the major retailers and these are the possible scenarios they see: • Infinity did not produce the profit that had been forecast. Disney had ventured into mass retail for

the first time and were doing it all themselves – production, marketing, supply chain and distribution - and the fixed costs of the exercise were higher than anticipated. The bean counters could make the argument that real current losses outweighed the uncertain future potential for Infinity and they won the argument.

• Disney saw that it was getting very serious competition – not only from Activision’s Skylanders which it could have handled, but also from such toy heavyweights as Lego. Disney did not trust themselves, as a relative newcomer to the toy retail space, to be able to compete against these extremely well entrenched toy manufacturers in the mass-retail market place.

They decided to do what they do best; create IPs, back them with first-rate movies, and license the product opportunity to companies such as Hasbro.

• Infinity had been created by Disney as a test to determine whether a strategy of taking its own IPs to market rather than subcontracting it to middlemen such as Hasbro could work.

The benefit of such a strategy was very clear – nothing adds to a top line faster than a licensed product that you take in-house. If there was any scenario that could keep Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s CEO, awake at night, this was the one. This test was aborted either because of pressure from Disney’s main licensee, Hasbro, or from internal opposition to this strategy.

Nobody except top Disney management can tell you which of these three scenarios, or which combination of them, finally pushed the company to call it quits, but it is fairly clear that the reasons officially given are not the ones.

What is very clear is who the winners are: the first one is obviously Hasbro. The thought that Disney could be pursuing a long term go-italone strategy must have been a real nightmare, given its dependence on Disney licences. This was already a significant concern last year but now has become even more acute given the transfer of the Princess licence. The other reason is that with Infinity, Disney clearly competed against Hasbro, since the Infinity Star Wars product line made inroads into the traditional action figure category dominated by Hasbro’s Star Wars.

The second winners are both Activision and Lego. Both stand to benefit from the demise of Infinity, but the jury is out who will benefit more. Both are focused on the action figure toy category – as was Infinity. Skylanders has the benefit of being more strongly entrenched whereas Lego’s Dimensions has the benefit of strong licences.

Nintendo’s Amiibo is unlikely to gain much from all this since its focus is virtually totally on pre-school.

Some of my friends speculate that Infinity saga has not ended, but that the brand will simply become another IP for Disney to license out. If this is the case, there will be likely another winner – the licensee. If this is the direction Disney takes, all eyes are on Electronic Arts as the probable beneficiary.

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NPD Column UK Toys Report Card – So Far So Good The NPD Group’s Rory Partis looks at how the UK toy market has fared in the first half of 2016

W

e have now moved into the second half of the year, which always seems to come round so quickly.

For toys, it’s a time to look and see just how we have done against expectations, and consider what the year-end numbers will be. So what has worked so far this year and what is potentially to come? This column will also comment on areas of the market that have possibly not been heralded as much as others; everyone knows that Star Wars has been the big property for the year, but are there any others that have been a more unexpected success? And are there any categories that have seen an unexpectedly strong first half of 2016?

At the time of writing, the latest UK toys EPOS data is YTD Week 25, so one week short of official half way point, but as close as possible to the half year result. The current position of the UK toy market is very healthy, at +7% in value and +13% in volume; so more is being spent and more units are being sold. That really is a fantastic performance, with many areas of the market in growth; we have all but two super categories growing in value YTD and five of those are showing double digit growth.

Looking at the top performing categories, the best value growth of +18% is being seen in All Other Toys: this is where football stickers are categorised, so not a huge surprise. The next best performing categories are Plush and Games & Puzzles with +17% and +15% value growth respectively. I think that is slightly more surprising, given the strength of categories like Building Sets and Action Figures which are influenced more by the big movie releases. So why don’t we take a look at those two categories in a little more detail?

Plush has been one of the standout categories so far this year demonstrating positive growth in all but two of the 25 weeks of 2016. Special Feature Plush has shown +33% growth this year and Traditional has grown +11%, so it looks like the growth has come from Special Feature category (but bear in mind Traditional is twice the size in value.)

Looking a little deeper gives an insight into why

the category has had Supercategory Performance such a good year, with YTD Wk 25 2016 vs 2015 growth across a broad range of properties 5 Supercategories showing double digit growth in 2016. with both brands and licences performing All Other Toys well. There is some Plush impressive double digit Games/Puzzles growth with brands Building Sets from TY and also Arts & Crafts Action Figures & Acc from Club Petz from Total Market IMC, whereas licences Dolls performing well Infant/Toddler/Preschool Toys include great growth Vehicles from Teletubbies from Outdoor & Sports Character, Bing from Youth Electronics Mattel and Twirlywoos -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% from Golden Bear, Value % Change 2016 vs 2015 to name just a few.

Games & Puzzles has Source: NPD EPoS Retail Tracking The NPD Group, Inc. | Proprietary and confidential grown +15% vs the same period last year. healthy toy market in 2016. With recent goings on in For a category which traditionally has most of its the UK, the media has been somewhat downbeat, so sales in the last quarter, that’s a pretty impressive let’s celebrate a great half year report card for the toy performance for the first half of the year. Children’s industry.

Games is the largest subclass within Games and has Document classification: Internal Only

continued last year’s strong performance in 2016, helped by the continued success of the Pie Face from Hasbro. However, a less heralded subclass is the top performer within Games, as Trading Card Games is growing by +57% in value so far this year.

Trading Card Games has an element of the gameplay of traditional games but also the collectability factor which we have seen be so popular this year. The performance of Trading Card Games is being driven primarily by Pokemon cards from Esdevium Games in the UK, this property has seen growth of +100% in value this year and is the #1 property in Games & Puzzles in 2016.

Outside of these two top performing categories we have looked at in detail, there has been a lot of good growth from Building Sets, Action Figures, Arts & Crafts and Dolls and these are primarily the categories that grab the headlines. the combined performance of all these areas this adds up to a very

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 34

Rory Partis

executive director

Feature

Wooden toys

Touch wood

Timeless and traditional with great play value, wooden toys of all shapes and sizes have been favourites amongst parents and children for decades. Clarabel Jones spoke to a handful of key suppliers and retailers to find out how the category is developing, and how products are being updated to keep the sector fresh.

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stablished brands such as Brio have been working in the wooden toy category for many years now, offering high quality classic products that are proven to endure the test of time. Having recently been relaunched into the marketplace

by Ravensburger, Brio is certainly showing no sign of losing its place as the leading brand in the category, with multiple plans in place to further build its profile in the UK market.

Toy World spoke to Benn Bramwell, marketing manager at Ravensburger, to find out how successful the brand’s relaunch has been. “Our relaunch of Brio has been at the very top end of our expectations,” he began. “We’ve found that as soon as customers have had the chance to see the quality of the product and the marketing execution, most have then given us their full support. The specialty toy and gift retailer is always asking for high quality toys, with a high value perception that offers a good margin. As far as the product is concerned, we’ve not had to do anything; the fabulous team in Malmo, Sweden has done a perfect job of developing an outstanding range.

What we have done here is work hard on the local marketing, and especially point of sale solutions, to maximise the brand impact.”

So, having given the brand such a strong push in the right direction, what does the company have in store for Brio for the near future? “The wooden toy category is a very fragmented category with lots of different offers,” Benn continued. “Our aim at Ravensburger is to ensure that Brio is the leading brand that can drive profitable growth in the long term. The main initiatives are point of sale solutions plus digital support from the excellent Brio website and consumer brochures. However, by far the most important tool for us remains the Brio Playtable - in my opinion there is no better piece of point of sale material. In addition to this, we are mounting several Brio play events across the country.”

With any major relaunch, retail support is particularly important in ensuring a brand is reaching as many ears and eyes as possible. Brio’s popularity as a heritage brand means it has been graced with a substantial amount of backing since its relaunch, with many independent retailers building awareness through in-store events such as Playfests.

Cheshire Toy Shop, having stocked Brio for the last two years, is one such retailer which regularly engages its customers in dedicated Brio Playfests in a bid to reel in fans, old and new. “We like to promote Brio with our Playfests which we put on for our customers several times a year, usually during the school holidays,” the shop’s owner, Jane Holtom, explained.

“We are based in a farm retail village so we’re in the perfect spot to put Brio’s tracks, trains, accessories, bridges and tunnels outside the store for kids and

parents to play with. We always see a huge spike in sales after putting on one of these events, and we often have people coming in and buying things on the day, but also two or three weeks after the event when the word has been spread.

We promote the event through our Facebook page and our website, which tends to get a fair amount of traffic.”

Another retailer getting on board with Brio’s Playfests is Toys to Grow, an independent toy shop based in Cheltenham. In addition to these, owner Sarah Price has noticed a surge in popularity for the brand since its relaunch. “Brio has always been a firm favourite in-store and is still a top-seller, but since the relaunch we’ve noticed that the new My First range is proving to be particularly popular. I think the brand has remained so strong as it’s retained the high quality that Brio is renowned for, whilst combining the old and new perfectly. Our customers love our busy Brio Playfests which we hold throughout the year, as it gives the children a chance to play and see what accessories they enjoy.”

Despite the current strength of the Brio brand in the wooden toy category, many other companies are making an impact through their ability to bring innovation into what is traditionally a very classic category. Milly & Flynn is one company which has been injecting originality into the sector through its selection of licensed wooden toys and its creative approach to product development. “There is plenty of scope for format and packaging innovation, even in this traditional category,” Lewis Allen, the company’s product development director, told Toy World. “We’ve found the application of the licence to the product format is absolutely key to this. It’s simple to apply character artwork to an existing product format, but there is little opportunity for innovation. We aim to look at each character property as an individual product offer; this approach has enabled us to be creative with individual formats and packaging. Our

Toy World 35

Kidkraft

new Peppa Pig offering is a great example of this; it includes innovative product construction and presentation of product in packaging, but with tried and tested play mechanics.”

This demand for a fresh take on traditional toy structures is a trend which KidKraft has also noticed. “What we’re seeing in the last few years is an increasing demand for modern features such as lights, sounds and interactivity,” explained Marc Vorstermans, the company’s sales manager. “Wooden toy manufacturers have to be creative and have to keep up with technological developments. Our key wooden products and ranges for this year are our new puzzles. We will introduce new floor puzzles, but will also come out with a line of peg puzzles, hide and seek puzzles and even peg puzzles with sounds. In our kitchen category, we will be introducing two new kitchens with lights and sounds, and in our dollhouse category we will introduce two new licensed dollhouses, the Cinderella dollhouse and the Belle dollhouse.”

When combined with the successful resurgence of Brio, it’s clear to see from the ways in which companies working in the wooden toy category are keeping the sector modern, fresh and relevant, that the category as a whole is thriving. Over the next few pages, Toy World presents the newest and best wooden toys to hit the market this year.

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Wooden toys

Ravensburger 01869 363 800 | www.ravensburger.com From rattles and push-alongs for babies and toddlers, to the interconnected and variety of Brio World, Brio has something for every baby, toddler and child.

New for Brio this season is the Fire & Rescue theme, which includes a Rescue Firefighter Playset and a Rescue Emergency Playset. Each of these train sets come complete with everything kids need to get their Fire & Rescue Station started, including a Fire Truck with sirens and lights, wooden track, fire station and lots of role-play accessories. These sets can connect with any other Brio World playset.

There are lots of Fire & Rescue accessories, including the Emergency Fire Truck which comes with a hose wagon and a push button for the siren and light. Every Fire Station will also need the Rescue Fire Train, with its quick release hose wagon and water tank. The Rescue Helicopter and Rescue Boat are also available.

The Central Fire Station is an integral part of the Brio World, and can be played with as a standalone playset. Complete with helipad, it also comes with a fire alarm, a slide for the firefighters and lots of space to keep rescue equipment.

All the products from the Fire & Rescue range can connect with Brio World, meaning children can continuously create their own worlds as they develop.

GP Flair 0208 643 0320 | www.flairplc.co.uk

Inside Out Toys 01908 969 969 | www.jumini.net The company is launching a new brand of traditional crafted wooden toys, Jumini. There is a wide range of toys available, suitable for both babies and children.

Products range from development toys such as the Blue Whale Clock and Blackboard, which helps children learn how to tell the time as well as with their writing skills, to other categories such as puzzles and vehicles. All products are produced from a variety of beechwood, iron, MDF, pinewood, plywood and teawood. The collection consists of a range of different sized products, such as the small Push-Along Friends which come in fox, chicken, turtle and elephant designs to the Pink Kitchen, ideal for little ones to roleplay along with the wooden utensils included.

All toys have been produced by an environmentally conscious manufacturer, which ensures they are made from sustainable materials and that they meet the highest quality and safety standards. With a showroom based in Milton Keynes, retailers are welcome to make an appointment to come and view the products for themselves.

Toy World 38

GP Flair has a traditional range of wooden games featuring Thomas & Friends.

The Thomas & Friends collection includes both new and familiar play concepts that will enhance learning while playing. A Sodor version of noughts and crosses come with Tic-Tac-Toe, while a Wooden Clock Game comes complete with 12 double-side self-correcting puzzle pieces, two jumbo time-dice and a clock stand.

For enhancing children’s colour matching skills and fine motor control, there’s the Colour Stack Game. Kids can roll the dice to choose a colour and then remove a matching block from the stack.

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Finger Puppets Puzzle Blocks

Also in the range: Magnetic Play Set, Skittles Game, Puzzle Tray and more ...

Come and see the range at

Autumn Fair stand no. 3T41

MillyandFlynn @MillyandFlynn MillyandFlynn sales@millyandflynn.com www.millyandflynn.com

Artwork and packaging subject to licensor approval.

Wooden toys

Jumbo Games 01707 289 289 | www.jumbo.eu Goula is a well-known European brand recognised for its educational range of high-quality wooden puzzles, games and toys. Jumbo’s UK portfolio currently boasts over 65 products, offering plenty to choose from for both retail and consumers.

The Tiki Musical 3-in-1 Bird holds play value for young children looking to explore different noises through interactive gameplay. With a built in drum, xylophone and guitar element, children can create their own sounds and develop a sense of rhythm through improving their sensory perception, manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination skills.

The Goula Fishing Game is a colourful wooden game. Using the wooden fishing rods provided, children can attempt to catch the wooden fish that are at the bottom of the sea-themed box, using the magnetic hook on the end of their rod.

The Geometric Shape Sorting Farm Playset is a colourful farm house that helps children develop problem-solving, shape and colour recognition and hand-eye coordination skills, by matching the correct shapes to the cut-outs in the farm house.

The Goula Stacking Cubes are brightly coloured cubes in assorted sizes, which can be built to create a picture both vertically or horizontally. Using these woodland animal-themed and numbered cubes helps to develop sensory perception, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills in young children.

KidKraft 0808 101 9297 | www.kidkraft.com KidKraft’s wooden activity puzzles feature bright colours, chunky pieces and educational themes that help toddlers explore while developing fine motor skills and learning shape recognition.

KidKraft has a full range of well designed, sturdy wooden toys and furniture décor items for children. Each toy is designed to maximise interaction and encourage creative play. Kids will be able to interact with knobs that turn and click, operate doors that open and close, and pretend play with their own play smart phone.

The company will soon be launching a line of gourmet wooden play kitchens with faux granite countertops and lights and sounds.

In addition, this year KidKraft will launch wooden peg puzzles, wooden puzzles with sounds and new licensed dollhouses (Cinderella and Belle).

With its new UK warehouse now open, KidKraft will be able to reach and deliver to its UK customers with even more ease.

Little Concepts 07870 132 595 | www.littleconcepts.co.uk For more than 30 years, PlanToys has been creating sustainable products for children. Continually pushing the design and development of new production techniques has enabled PlanToys to become one of the leading wooden toy manufacturers in the world.

Over 50 new products are being released this year. Amongst these is the classic Dancing Alligator, which has been an iconic product since 1999 and is produced from sustainable rubberwood.

2016 has also seen the creation of more wooden bath toys. Joining best-sellers, the Pirate Ship and Activity Boat, comes The Floating Island which includes the sea, sand, a coconut tree, a shell, a turtle and a crab, all produced from PlanWood.

During the run-up to the Christmas season, PlanToys’ larger items are particularly popular with retailers, such as the Victorian Dollhouse, Parking Garage and range of kitchen role-play items.

Child development experts are consulted throughout the PlanToys design process, which results in design-led toys, and products that actively encourage children’s physical development, social interaction and hand eye co-ordination.

Toy World 40

Quote TOYWORLD08 when placing your order & receive a FREE box of Push Alongs! *Offer valid until 31st August 2016. *Free Push Alongs will be selected by Orange Tree Toys. *Usual Terms and Conditions apply.

AUTUMN FAIR

NEC BIRMINGHAM 4th - 7th September 2016 - STAND 3U42

Wooden toys

Milly & Flynn 01242 241 765 | www.millyandflynn.com Milly & Flynn will be launching new ranges of traditional toys this autumn.

The company’s traditional-style Peppa Pig wooden toys have been created to occupy little hands and stimulate growing minds. The range will include a Peppa Push-Along, a Campervan Shape Sorter, a Skittles Set, a Magnetic Play Set, Puzzle Blocks and more. These products are all ethically sourced and beautifully presented.

Milly & Flynn is also launching a range of The Snowman & The Snowdog wooden toys, featuring a Shape Sorter and Puzzle Tray.

To celebrate 150 years of Beatrix Potter, the company has produced a special collector’s board game, Peter Rabbit’s Race Game. This limited edition product is a faithful recreation of a game originally designed by Beatrix Potter herself in 1917.

Designed using Beatrix Potter’s original illustrations and text, Peter Rabbit’s Race Game is presented in a high quality lineneffect box with a 50 x 76cm game board, four pewter figurines and a vintage-style dice and shaker.

Milly & Flynn’s existing range of Dear Zoo wooden toys has been well received by retailers, with the quality and design being major factors in generating this success.

Orange Tree Toys 01242 244 500 | www.orangetreetoys.com Following the initial launch in 2003, Orange Tree Toys’ wooden push-along toys immediately became one of the company’s best-sellers, and has remained so ever since. The company’s collection of push-alongs is constantly developing and being added to, now featuring 26 designs.

The push-alongs are classically displayed by retailers on a stand, making them easy for little ones to pick up and play with in shops. With a wide variety of designs, they also come at an affordable price.

In 2015, a boxed version of the Peter Rabbit Push-Along was released, alongside the traditional style.

Packaged in thoughtfully designed boxes, the product became an even more popular gift than the classic design.

Following such positive feedback for the Peter Rabbit Push-Along, and by request of many customers, Orange Tree Toys has now launched a further six designs of Boxed Push-Alongs. Carefully selected from the vast range of designs, the Lion, Monkey, Pink Mouse and Soldier have been chosen, alongside the licensed designs of Jemima Puddle-Duck and Paddington Bear.

Since being released at the beginning of May, the company’s range of Boxed Push-Alongs is already proving popular among customers.

Marbel 0845 6000 286 | www.marbel.co.uk Hape is set to launch a new railway range alongside accessories that will be available in the UK from September.

Hape’s new design has given traditional wooden railway a creative twist that will enhance the play experience for both young toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Amongst the company’s new wooden railway ranges are interactive accessory features such as the rainbow xylophone track, the colour and shape sorting track, the bead maze rainbow track and the pop-up monkey mountain track.

For slightly older children there is a range with play components including an automatic gate rail crossing, an automatic bell signal, a record, listen and light railway station and a battery powered engine that has a light.

Also within the range are a number of complete railway sets with varying themes such as the jungle train journey set, forest railway set and a double loop railway set. These include a track, accessories and brightly coloured trains.

Toy World 42

Autumn Fair 5A65

littleCONCEPTS

www.littleconcepts.co.uk hello@littleconcepts.co.uk

Wooden toys

Little Tikes 0845 053 3333 | www.littletikes.co.uk Little Tikes has a range of wooden toys sourced from FSC forests, which promote responsible woodland management.

The Little Tikes Woodland Play range caters for all budgets and spaces, with products from swing sets to sand and picnic tables.

The Buckingham Climb ‘n Slide is an all-in-one garden activity play centre. The playhouse comes packed with features including three different types of swings, a slide, a climbing wall and a sandpit.

The Cookin’ Creations Wood Kitchen comes complete with a pretend kitchen playset including pots and pans, a washing machine and dishwasher. Children can role-play a variety of household activities with 11 accessories, including a basket, play phone, spatula, pots and pans and spice jars.

Casdon 01253 608 248 | www.casdon.co.uk

Gibsons 020 8661 8866 | www.gibsonsgames.co.uk

Casdon’s Wooden Boxset is a portable wooden box for kids on the go. There are 10 different themes in the collection, ranging from a Pirate Island to a Fairy House. Every boxset comes with a handle, and can be folded up with all of its contents inside to make for easy and safe storage.

Also on offer is Casdon’s Wooden Easel. Each Easel has a wooden frame with two different surfaces. One side hosts a chalkboard whilst the other has a wipe-clean side for no-mess drawing. This 2-in-1 product comes complete with clips to attach paper, two water beakers, chalk and a wiper.

All of Casdon’s collections are supported with month by month outreach campaigns with mummy bloggers, plus social media support including its very own Little Helpers Club.

Gibsons’ range of wooden games consists of classics which have been played worldwide for generations.

Shut the Box is a game where players roll the dice to close the number tiles, in the hope that they can clear them all to win. Players have the choice of any combination of active numbers to shut, as long as they add up to the number on the dice.

There are nine products in the range, from traditional Solitaire to Chinese Chequers. The range also includes four travel games: Travel Chess, Mini Shut the Box, Mini Tiddlywinks and Mini Solitaire, which have been designed with internal storage space for pieces.

Each of the planet friendly games in the range is made from the smooth wood of the rubber tree. The trees are only cut down once they are no longer producing rubber, and are replaced with another tree.

DKL Marketing 01604 678 780 | www.dkl.co.uk Introduced this year by DKL, Scratch Toys offers wooden toys in design-led packaging.

With the Circus Truck, children can develop their spatial awareness through putting the circus animals in the Wagon Shape Sorter. The seal has a magnet on the bottom, so it can ride on the roof while children pull the circus wagon. Other wooden pick-up lines include the Pull Back Cars, the Shape Sorters and the Pull Alongs with Nodding Heads.

Scratch’s wooden musical instrument range includes everything from maracas and ukuleles to Maurice the 3-in-1 Musical Fish Bench, a smiling fish bench which includes a drum, cymbal and a xylophone, as well as guitars and drums in various colours.

The furniture collection offers themed tables and chairs with car, owl and fish designs amongst others. The range also encompasses jigsaws, games, outdoor toys and bikes.

Scratch’s wooden toys are supported by a full in-store marketing programme including dedicated planograms and extensive social media activity.

HTi 01253 775 544 | www.htigroup.co.uk HTi’s own Wood Works range of traditionally crafted, premium quality wooden toy lines includes puzzles for little ones. The pre-school offering comprises chunky shape sorters, a learning clock, alphabet and number puzzles, dominoes, an abacus, chalkboard and jumbo floor puzzle. Assorted peg puzzles provide children with hours of shape sorting fun with pegs that are ideal for little fingers.

All of Wood Works’ pre-school puzzles have been designed to help develop recognition of numbers, letters, shapes and colours as well as enhance handeye coordination, cognitive abilities and stimulate visual development. All supplied in fully branded display CDUs, HTi’s Wood Works range provides strong margins to retail partners as well as great value for money for consumers.

Toy World 44

Feature

Autumn Fair

Fair game With over 1,400 exhibitors across numerous categories, retailers can expect to see a large number of new launches from companies with offers that are exclusive to Autumn Fair. Jonika Kinchin finds out more about this year’s show, and what it is that keeps retailers coming back for more.

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part from the suppliers and the product, how will this year’s Autumn Fair differ from previous events? Naomi Barton, portfolio director for Autumn Fair at i2i Events, told Toy World about the new seminars, speakers and content that will be appearing at the show. Confirmed speakers include Facebook’s Niall Hanlon, Twitter’s senior retail account manager, Catherine Bennet and more. Visitors can take part in a number of these free seminars aimed to discuss a variety of key topics around ecommerce trading in the dedicated e-commerce theatre. “There will also be a ‘meet the experts’ set up, comprising of a full lineup of industry names who will host one on one retail clinics, offering visitors the opportunity to speak directly to experts around any retail challenges that they face in their businesses. The full line up will be revealed in the coming weeks”, Natalie explained.

One of the main attractions of the fair is for retailers to make sure they are well stocked up ready for Christmas, as well as to look for those last minute additions that could tip sales over the edge. As well as planning for Christmas, it offers retailers the opportunity to connect with suppliers much earlier, in line with changes to their buying patterns”, added Naomi.

Tracie Peacock-Quinney, owner of Ella’s Toy Shop, visits Autumn Fair specifically to do her Christmas ordering. “It’s where I place my big orders which I know will last me for the Christmas period and beyond. I don’t go with a shopping list so to speak, as you never know what you’re going to find”, she commented. “I will be heading to the event to find some inspiration, I like to go around all of the halls as well as the toy and gift ones, because in my opinion you never know what you’re looking for until you find it”, she added. Tracie first picked up Kinetic Sand from Marbel at the show, which has been a best-seller in her shop.

Retailer Steve Mohabir, who owns The Toy Box in Godalming, has been visiting Autumn Fair for years. He specifically enjoys the

sociable side of the event, and looks forward to finding out about new products. “One of the main advantages of Autumn Fair is that it’s a much more relaxed atmosphere, suppliers have a lot more time to stop for a proper in-depth conversation instead of just having a rushed five-minute chat about what to order. We’ve had the opportunity to make personal relationships with suppliers, so if there ever is a problem we know there is someone we can deal with directly, and the event just gives us the opportunity to reinforce those relationships face to face”.

Steve also keeps an out eye for new movies coming out and checks for trends of any new licences that will be arriving. “There are constant new releases within film and

TV so it’s always good to have at least a small chunk of everything, because you never know what will take off. Last year we did exceptionally well with Star Wars over Christmas, based on new product we picked up at the show”, he added.

With both Autumn Fair and Spring Fair taking place annually, what is it that attracts visitors year after year? Natalie believes that the breadth and scope of brands on offer keep bringing buyers back to the show. “The show is becoming a more critical date in the calendar for brands to launch new products, in line with in-season buying”.

Over the new few pages, exhibitors are offering a preview of what can be found at the show.

DATES & TIMES Saturday - Volume Halls Only Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

3 September 2016 4 September 2016 5 September 2016 6 September 2016 7 September 2016

Location

The NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT

Toy World 45

10:00 - 17:00 09:00 - 18:00 09:00 - 18:00 09:00 - 18:00 09:00 - 16:00

touchingbase

Autumn’s about With Autumn Fair almost upon us, Clarabel Jones spoke to a handful of exhibitors to find out why the show is important to them, and what they will be unveiling at the fair.

Richard Greaves

Phil Nelson

Kidicraft

Little Concepts

We’re delighted to be exhibiting at Autumn Fair for the first time this year. Little Concepts has had an amazing first seven months of trading, so we have loads to show off. We will have new wooden toys on show from PlanToys, new building block stickers from BrickStix and we’ll also be showcasing the bestsellers from Avenue Mandarine.

We love getting our brands in front of buyers; we know that the products work at retail, and as a new business, we’re looking to grow our customer base. It’s great to see retailers’ reactions when they see our products on display, as it really is the best way to gauge just how innovative PlanToys has been over the past 18/24 months in terms of wooden toy design. The water toys from Plan have been amazing this year, as they’re just so unique, and it’s really hard to see this innovation from a page of a catalogue on a website, so trade fairs are really important to us.

We represent all three of our brands in their own unique way at the shows, as each has a different feel and USP and trade shows are key to get this across. In terms of importance, I think the retail point of sale we use is a big focus for us. Retailers can see what we offer in terms of free merchandising kits, and we can demonstrate how we see retail sales increase by up to 40% when stores use these displays.

As usual we will have show offers available at the show, including starter packs, free display stands and a unique show offer. The best advice we can give is to sign up to our retailer only mailing list (www.littleconcepts/ mailinglist) and follow our twitter (@littleconcepts), as we use these platforms in the run-up to the show to communicate all that we’ll be offering.

Autumn Fair is traditionally very useful for seeing retailers large and small from the toy, gift and garden centre trades, and can often be a springboard for early selections for the following spring/summer seasons, as well as for receiving orders for the build-up to Christmas.

At Autumn Fair this year we’ll be showcasing our full range of 3D Magic Motion jigsaw puzzles, the high quality Primo range of children’s arts and crafts and Moxtaix, which allows children and adults to create their own mosaic pictures without the need for any glue or heat. There are seven more new puzzles to add to our 3D Magic Motion range, and we will also be showcasing our in-store display units at the show.

Kidicraft will also be adding to its already successful 3D Jigsaw range with the introduction of seven more puzzles. Visitors should look out for the three new 48-piece Animal Selfie puzzles designed to appeal to the younger end of the market, each based on paintings by artist Howard Robinson. There are also two 63-piece puzzles featuring either dinosaurs or sea turtles, and two 150-piece puzzles called Dinosaur Valley and Reef Sharks. For gift and stationery buyers, Kidicraft also has a range of 3D lenticular postcards and notebooks using images from the vast National Geographic library. Amongst many others, there are pandas and penguins, seals and sharks, meerkats and eagles. All notebooks come in a counter display unit if required.

Kidicraft will have special deals for all customers who place orders at the show.

There are deals based around our floor display units for Primo and Puzzles, and open deals for retailers who wish to order a mix of products.

Julian Garner Inside Out Toys

We’re incredibly proud to be launching Jumini at Autumn Fair this year. Jumini is a new brand of traditional crafted wooden toys, finished to a high standard yet sensibly priced, with the small independent retailer in mind. We have a wide range of toys available, suitable for babies and children of all ages. As well as the much-loved traditional items, our designers have also come up with some new toys which will make any wooden toy display stand out from the crowd. The entire range is new, with many products that won’t have been seen before, so there’s lots of exciting stuff for visitors at the show to look at. Smart logos and packaging all add up to offer retailers a bright display to entice the customer to buy. Add this to the sensible RRPs and competitive trade discounts, and we believe we have a lot to offer.

With the resurgence of traditional toys, we’re sure customers will love Jumini. All our toys have been produced by an environmentally conscious manufacturer, which ensures they are made from sustainable materials and that they meet the highest quality and safety standards.

In parallel to our appearance at Autumn Fair, we’ll be launching a new website (www.jumini.net) to allow retailers to order stock online. Stock will be available to purchase immediately, delivered from our warehouse facility in Milton Keynes.

We will be running show offers at Autumn Fair; for orders above £500 we will add selected free product up to 10% of the order value.

Toy World 46

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Autumn Fair

Kay Thompson

Mark Jones

Attending Autumn Fair enables us to spend time with many customers within a short space of time, giving us the opportunity to support their business, demonstrate products and showcase what’s new to ensure their offer is the best, and to secure orders on hot licensed games over the peak period. The show also presents an opportunity to meet new customers who are looking to add reliable branded family games to their customer offering. The show is also a great chance for us to get feedback on our new TV advertised Top Trumps Quiz and Top Trumps Match products.

Adding to our fresh collectible Top Trumps range, we’ll be introducing Paw Patrol, Candy Crush, Finding Dory, Disney Classics and Captain America: Civil War at the show. In addition to this, two new titles have been added to the Bananagrams range: My First Bananagrams and Bananagrams Party. My First Bananagrams is the perfect first word game for preschoolers and early readers, and Bananagrams Party is a new edition featuring 13 Party Power tiles for added chaos and hilarity.

This year we’re giving away a free Pass the Pigs to the first 20 orders at the show.

We’ve exhibiting at Autumn Fair for 27 of our 30 years as a company; it’s a very important event in our calendar. We see it as an opportunity for our independent retail partners to pick up some last minute Q4 lines, and it’s also a great opportunity to offer sneak previews of what’s coming next year and to get valuable feedback from our customers.

Pass The Pen, the fastest drawing game of the year, and the award-winning Tell-a-Tale, have both been the stars of all our trade shows this year, so we’re looking forward to showcasing them at Autumn Fair. Alongside that, we’ll have our popular popper shooting range, best-selling card game Plop Trumps and flagship board game, Tension.

We’re certain that Chris Webb’s delicious homemade date and cherry slices will bring the buyers to the stand this year; he’s a man of many talents. Visitors will have to visit us on stand 5A05 for a date and cherry slice to find out about our show offers.

Winning Moves

Tina Chiffers Teddy Mountain

As we’ve now launched new individual products for the retail sector that potentially have no room for the larger displays of a Make Your Own Bear addition, Autumn Fair seemed to be the ideal time to showcase these products to this audience, highlighting that we now cater for every type of business – big or small. This will hopefully increase our market share in the retail environment, showing the wide range of locations that Teddy Mountain can now be sold from.

Teddy Mountain’s new Bear In A Box will be the focal product at the show this year, as well as our new individual vacuum-sealed Fibre Packs and display stands. However, the whole stand will be important for us, as it will show to potential new customers the various ways that Teddy Mountain can be incorporated into a range of different retail environments.

Cheatwell Games

Peter Lockey The Puppet Company

2016 will be our 15th year at Autumn Fair. We love exhibiting at the show, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the show brings us this year, and to showing off our new lines.

Autumn Fair is a great show to launch new product at, as it gives retailers the opportunity to stock new product for the Christmas rush, and gives them ideas of what they can look forward to for the next coming year. Autumn Fair also gives buyers and businesses an insight into how we’re developing as a company year on year.

We will be launching our new Dressed Animal Puppets at the show this year, a striking collection of eight new characters, which bring playtime to life in an instant. Following in the footsteps of our popular Classic Collection, the Dressed Animal Puppets feature a badger, fox, frog, hedgehog, mouse, owl and Mr and Mrs Rabbit. Each puppet has been suited and booted in a beautifully designed outfit to reflect their individual personality. These puppets are sure to become the best of companions, and will no doubt help with storytelling and be at the heart of family play.

We’re also excited to be presenting our new Large Creatures collection, which currently includes a crocodile, iguana and a chameleon, with a shark, octopus, turtle and dolphin on the way. With their striking appearance and up to 105cm in length, we are sure these huge puppets will be immensely popular with little ones. They are easy to manipulate, have excellent mouth movement and are made from bold-printed fabrics.

I think the range to watch this year will be Cuddly Tumms. They are a crossover puppet, being part soft toy and part puppet. They sit and cuddle like a soft toy, but have the functionality of a puppet.

Helen Webster Anker International

We find that Autumn Fair is the best way to showcase new licences and product ranges to as many of our valued customers, and potential customers as possible, all at one time and in one place for the convenience of our customers. The show is also a great place to showcase up and coming licences for spring, and to check up on trends in the marketplace in general.

This year we will have a number of new launches to showcase, including Teletubbies creative play, Trolls stickers, Disney Princess and The Lion Guard colouring, activity and stickers, and finally another sticker range for Disney’s movie for autumn, Moana. Alongside these licences and product ranges, we will also be showcasing our best-selling Paw Patrol, Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory and Star Wars product ranges.

We have some great new licensed gifting lines for Christmas at the show, and we believe these will be very popular judging by initial retail discussions. We will have some special offers available, but these will only be available at the show itself.

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BIG BRANDS, GREAT PRODUCTS

© Disney

COME AND SEE US AT AUTUMN FAIR

Hall 1, Stand H22 - G23

Main Showroom Anker International Howard House, Howard Way, Interchange Park, Newport Pagnell, Bucks, MK16 9PX, United Kingdom Contact Telephone: 01908 618811 Email: info@anker.co.uk www.theankergroup.com

Visit us at www.copywritedesigns.co.uk

© Disney

LICENSED STATIONERY | CREATIVE PLAY | STICKERS

Autumn Fair

Anker International 01908 618 811 | www.theankergroup.com Hall 1, Stand H22-G23 Copywrite Designs will be launching several new licences and product ranges at Autumn Fair this year.

A range of creative play toys inspired by the new Teletubbies TV series airing on CBeebies will be on display. Comprising everything from Chunky Chalks and Chunky Crayons to Colouring & Activity Placemats and a Very First Stationery Set, this range will be a favourite with Teletubbies fans.

Also on show at Autumn Fair for the first time is Copywrite’s sticker, colouring and activity offering for Disney’s autumn 2016 movie, Moana, which will be released into UK cinemas in November. The range will feature a Novelty Sticker Fun, Play Pack and Tattoo item.

Two other new product launches from Copywrite will be a new design and product offering on Disney Princess stickers, colouring and activity, and a new Lion Guard product range inspired by the Disney Junior TV series.

This September, the company will also be launching a new range of sticker products featuring Dreamworks’ Trolls. The Trolls movie will be released into UK cinemas in October, and Copywrite’s product range will feature all the usual favourite formats plus a Mega Sticker Set, Fabric Stickers Set and Customising Stickers.

Cheatwell Games 02392 524 098 | www.cheatwell.com Hall 5, Stand A05 Cheatwell’s Tell-a-Tale Pirates was recently awarded the gold medal for Best Literacy Game in the Imagination Gaming Awards 2016. The Tell-a-Tale range is a guided storytelling game, complete with a play area, four chunky wooden dice and a selection of characters, and is available in Fairy Tale, Farmyard and Pirate editions.

Pass The Pen is the fastest drawing game of the year. Players have to set the pen timer to 10 or 15 seconds and try to draw the challenge on the card before the pen nib completely retracts and they have to pass the pen to the next player to continue the drawing.

The Tension Family Edition is the company’s most popular board game, even without TV advertising. The cards vary in difficulty, and areas of expertise, depending on the colour drawn from – orange for younger players and purple for grown-ups.

Also displayed will be the new packaging for the Game Pod Pocket range, with the first three titles covering kids, family and adults. Repackaged and updated, these tried and tested titles are stored in a new case allowing cards to be cycled through perfectly as kids play, whilst also storing them safely in the clip top carrier.

To attract till-point impulse purchases, the Games in a Tin range are a must-see. Each pre-stocked themed CDU holds 36 units of nine games.

Kidicraft 01282 505 988 | www.kidicraft.com Hall 5, Stand A40 Kidicraft will be launching a new range of 3D Animal Selfie Puzzles, along with four other new puzzles.

Kidicraft’s 3D Magic Motion Jigsaws use images from the National Geographic Kids library, along with others based on paintings by British artists, Howard Robinson and Kevin Walsh. 63-piece and 100-piece Kids puzzles feature baby chimps and other animals such as pandas and baby lions. Howard Robinson’s pictures feature puppies, kittens, dinosaurs and dolphins. 150-piece puzzles include wildlife from sharks and tigers to meerkats.

Four 500-piece puzzles feature world heritage sites such as the Roman Coliseum and the Sphynx, alongside six products based on Kevin Walsh’s paintings of old-world British scenes including Windsor Castle and the Flying Scotsman.

The Primo arts and crafts collection includes school-standard chalks, wax crayons, coloured pencils, finger paints and fibre-tipped pens with a cap-off time of five days. There is also air-drying modelling clay and multi-coloured soft modelling material.

Primo Watercolours last longer than average watercolours, as they are of a higher than average consistency. The Ready Mixed paint range consists of paints which are guaranteed to be completely washable. A free floor display unit is available with either the Puzzle or Primo ranges.

National Geographic Stationery Kits each include a Super 3D Notebook, Magic Motion Pencil Case, Super 3D Ruler, four Colour Markers, two Push Pencils and one eraser, featuring lions or pandas.

Kidicraft’s Mostaix Push-fit Mosaic Art Kits allow kids and adults to create patterns or pictures, and can be used without heat or glue.

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Little Concepts 07870 132 595 | www.littleconcepts.co.uk Hall 5, Stand A65 New exhibitors at Autumn Fair, Little Concepts is bringing its diverse mix of brands to show.

Recently launched in the UK, BrickStix is a reusable building block sticker accessory, compatible with all major brands such as Lego and Mega Bloks. The stickers are available in 12 different designs, including Pets, Rescue and Fairytales. Each pack consists of 60 reusable and repositionable stickers. To support sales in-store, CDU and end cap displays are also available.

From France comes the Avenue Mandarine selection of games, puzzles, crafts and pocket money products. Over 10 new products will be launched this season, including a new range of Graffy Felt Tips and Crayons. In-store display units and special show offers will be available at Autumn Fair.

For more than 30 years, PlanToys has been creating sustainable products for children. 2016 is no exception, and with new products being released at Autumn Fair, there is something for every retailer.

Stand-out products include the classic Dancing Alligator, which has been an iconic product since 1999.

2016 has also seen the creation of more wooden bath toys. Joining the Pirate Ship and Activity Boat comes the new Floating Island, which includes the sea, sand, a coconut tree, a shell, a turtle, and a crab, all produced from PlanWood.

Puzzles and Play 01354 669 733 | www.puzzlesandplay.co.uk Hall 5, Stand D70-E75 Puzzles and Play will be introducing Popar Toys at this year’s Autumn Fair. Popar Toys uses Augmented Reality (AR) technology to create an immersive reading experience that will allow the user to see virtually real 3D objects and animations that will pop out of the book or cards. Popar Toys is designed to change the way families interact and experience stories, adventures and learning.

Popar Toys combines traditional books, charts and puzzles with a digitally enhanced bonus experience. When kids complete the jigsaw puzzle, an added layer of digital information is visible through their smart phone or tablet, just above the puzzle pieces.

Kids can then play for hours zapping bugs and squishing ants with friends and family to see who can get the high score.

The range includes a large variety of topics from princesses and bugs to the solar system and dinosaurs.

Milly & Flynn 01242 241 765 | www.millyandflynn.com Hall 3, Stand T41 Milly & Flynn will be sharing its stand space with sister company Ginger Fox. Whist Milly & Flynn will be showcasing its Peppa Pig wooden toy range and its limited edition Peter Rabbit Race game, Ginger Fox will have its usual range of novelty gifts and games on show.

This year the classic TV game show Blockbusters is back. Players can use their knowledge and strategy to answer the questions and try and cross the classic Blockbusters grid. The winner of the first three rounds goes on to play the infamous Gold Run and be crowned ultimate Blockbuster champion. The game is a strong addition to Ginger Fox’s successful licensed TV game show range, which already includes family favourites such as Catchphrase, The Chase, Deal or no Deal, Eggheads and The Million Pound Drop.

The company will also be showing its new fast-paced Emoji game, which will challenge players to take a second look at familiar faces. Players must collect a full set of emotions before their opponents, but regular emoji users will be tested by the devious action cards, or their opponents’ ability to challenge them and steal cards, in their quest for a full set.

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Autumn Fair

Teddy Mountain 01803 559 768 | www.teddymountaindirect.co.uk Hall 5, Stand C35 Teddy Mountain UK is introducing its new Bear-In-A-Box kits to retailers at Autumn Fair this year.

These new kits will allow stores to sell individual boxes, with everything a child needs to make their own teddies at home, including stuffing fibre, a wishing heart and their very own passport. Clothes, scent and voice chips can also be sold separately.

Themed boxes, such as Under-the-Sea, Jungle or Fantasy, come with a selection of soft animals including turtles and dolphins, giraffes, tigers and unicorns.

They can be ordered in batches of six, or 32 to receive a free display stand, matching the retailer’s chosen theme.

The Aromabearapy scent chips, including candy floss, popcorn and cupcake, make the teddies smell good enough to eat. Sound modules can give the bear a voice, through which they can sing, make animal noises or say I love you. Alternatively, the child can record a message of their own.

The Puppet Company 01462 446 040 | www.thepuppetcompany.com

Orange Tree Toys 01242 244 500 www.orangetreetoys.com Hall 3-3A, Stand U42 The company’s collection of push-alongs now contains 26 designs, and is constantly being developed. They come in a variation of designs, and can be displayed easily in a way that children can play with them in store.

On display will be the boxed version of the Peter Rabbit Push-Along, as long as the much requested further six designs of boxed push-alongs, including the lion, monkey and soldier. Licensed designs of Jemima Puddle-Duck and Paddington bear will also be on display.

Hall 5, Stand C20-D21 The Puppet Company will be exhibiting its extensive collection of over 750 puppets at Autumn Fair this year, and will also be showcasing lots of new lines.

Visitors can discover the new Dressed Animal Puppets, a collection of eight new characters. Following in the footsteps of the popular Classic Collection, the Dressed Animal Puppets feature a badger, fox, frog, hedgehog, mouse, owl and rabbit. Each puppet has been dressed in an outfit to reflect their individual personality. All of the company’s puppets are soft to the touch and have faces full of character.

The Puppet Company will also be presenting its new Large Creatures collection at the show. This collection includes a crocodile, iguana and a chameleon, with a shark, octopus, turtle and dolphin on the way. With their striking appearance and measuring up to 105cm in length, the puppets are easy to manipulate, have excellent mouth movement and are made from bold printed fabrics.

Smart Toys and Games 01903 885 669 | www.smartgames.eu/www.smartmax.eu Hall 5, Stand C24 At Autumn Fair, Smart will be showcasing its new range of SmartGames as well as many current favourites from both SmartMax and SmartGames.

In total there are 14 new SmartGames this year including two new IQ games, premium games, travel games, and a new compact format. To coincide with the release of the new games, Smart will be launching a refreshed packaging look for SmartGames which customers can view on the stand.

SmartGames is the worldwide leader in multi-level logic games. The award-winning games have multi-level challenges from the very easy to the very challenging, ideal for players of all ages. Each has an individual game mechanic with themes that appeal to both boys and girls. They come in travel, compact and table top editions in plastic or a premium wood range.

SmartMax, the award winning pre-school construction system allows children to explore the world of magnetism in a safe way. The products are safe and durable and made from the highest quality materials, and the magnets can carry up to 60 times their own weight.

Every SmartGames product comes with an extensive challenge guide, and every SmartMax product comes with a colourful play guide.

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Autumn Fair

Marbel 0845 600 0286 | www.marbel.co.uk Hall 5, Stand C82 On display at this year’s fair on the Marbel stand will be items from the new Hape railway range. From a musical xylophone track to a pop-up monkey track accessory, there will be something in the range for all wooden railway fans.

Other ranges on display will be Nanoblock, Bullyland and Kinetic Sand. New to the Bullyland range for autumn/winter are the characters from the Disney Pixar movie, Finding Dory. There will also be new gift sets and a Finding Dory advent calendar for Christmas.

Other new licensed figurines being released later in the year will include Disney’s Moana and The Lion Guard.

Winning Moves 0207 298 9500 | www.winningmoves.co.uk Hall 5, Stand D51 Winning Movies will be exhibiting its fresh new range of Top Trumps titles. New releases include Top Trumps Finding Dory and Top Trumps Candy Crush Saga, which contains a game guide with tips and strategies for clearing the most challenging of levels.

Also available will be a Top Trumps Captain America: Civil War, Top Trumps Paw Patrol and Disney Classics, which will feature classic characters such as Cinderella, Simba, Bagheera, Genie, Captain Hook, Snow White and many more.

New titles also in the pipeline include Trolls, Rogue One and Tsum Tsum.

Customers can pick up a free Pass the Pigs for the first 20 orders placed.

Cuckoo 01937 848 460 | www.cuckoo.ltd.uk

H Grossman 0141 613 2525 | www.ozbozz.co.uk

Hall 5, Stand A13

Hall 5, Stand 5D20-E21 Autumn Fair will see a lineup of Ghostbusters scooters, skateboards, pogos, helmets, bikes and a range of pocket money items from whoopee cushions to wobblers.

Grossman has The Secret Life of Pets licence for wheeled goods and pocket money toys, with a full selection from scooters to sand sets on offer.

This year the OzBozz brand sees a selection of new offerings including scissor scooters, satchel scooters, light-up scooters, a new pro scissor scooter and new styles across pogo sticks, hog trikes and the Nebulus, Torq and Elektra ranges. The My First Scooter has been revamped with a new folding system and new colours.

Car Trax, Train Trax and Sand Sets all have new line extensions, and this year also sees more introductions into the Megasaur range.

Special show deals will be revealed at the show.

Inside Out Toys 01908 969 969 | www.jumini.net Hall 5, Stand A67 Inside Out Toys will be launching the Jumini brand at Autumn Fair.

In parallel, a new website to allow retailers to order stock online has been launched. Stock will be available to purchase immediately, delivered from the warehouse facility in Milton Keynes.

The entire range is new, and features products never seen before. Smart logos and packaging will offer retailers a bright display. The company will also be putting on show offers. For any orders above £500, the company will add on selected free product with up to 10% of the order value.

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Cuckoo has been busy introducing new items from suppliers including the Baking, Pizza, Snow Cone and Ice Cream-making kits from Small World Toys, and the Funky Garden Plush to sit beside the MiYiM, Deglingos, Mistinguette and Rudolph Shaffer collections.

The company has also expanded the Sugar Pie children’s dress-up and jewellery line along with an expansion of the collection from T S Shure.

Also showing will be the Mahina Mermaid collection and the Escabbo Bath toy line.

Everything on display will be in stock for immediate delivery. Cuckoo will be offering show special packs and a discount on orders made at the show.

GREAT GAMES make GREAT GIFTS

Award Winning Games

www.cheatwell.com

For more information and a copy of our latest catalogue please contact mark@cheatwell.com or call 02392 524098

Feature

Plush

Softly, softly With the plush category ranging between huge, high price point stuffed animals to tiny, pocket money priced items, it can be a challenge for retailers to get the balance right of what to stock and when to stock it.

Jonika Kinchin reports.

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here will always be people buying special teddies for new-borns, a themed stuffed animal for a gift, and the latest movie character in plush form. According to NPD data, the plush super category is the best performing super category YTD 2016, having grown by 17% with feature plush leading the way. It has demonstrated positive growth in all but two out of the 25 weeks of 2016. Lauren Shipman, group brand manager, Posh Paws commented: “Plush remains a core category across the retail landscape from supermarket and toy specialists, to fashion and department retail. Soft toys and in particular licensed plush has widespread appeal for kids typically aged between four and seven”. Licensing also plays a major role in the plush category: Lauren also mentions that the likes of Lion Guard and Disney Princess have flourished in the first half of 2016, while Finding Dory movie plush is expected to be one of the stand out lines in the category, as well as Tsum Tsum, which “continues to be a strong driver in the plush market due to its widespread appeal across boys, girls, women and

men”, according to Lauren. “We’re also seeing the likes of Star Wars and Marvel plush remain solid sellers in the boys’ market, and I think this is largely down to soft toys reaching younger boys before they move on to the likes of action figures and playsets”, she added. Lauren explained that plush also complements other retail categories nicely, such as fashion. “It sits well with fashion retail particularly alongside the likes of nightwear, as many kids will cuddle up at night with their latest soft toy”.

Plush toys can be found across all age ranges.

Barry Hughes, general manager at Golden Bear, points out that it can bridge a gap between preschool toys and toys for older children. “It goes from nursery and pre-school right up in age, and appeals to both genders. We have seen older boys buying Minecraft plush in recent years, and we believe our new Oddbods plush range will have the same great appeal, so we’re looking forward them to hitting shelves”, commented Barry.

The category is no longer limited to simple stuffed animals. Advancements in technology means that toys can now move and interact, from a particular catchphrase, to a song, to a personal recorded

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message. “We find that interactive plush and talking plush do very well, as well as plush toys that offer something extra,” commented Barry Hughes. “Our new Sleep Tight All Night offers something which hasn’t been done before – as well as taking the company into the sleep aids arena. We also make sure that all of our plush toys across the whole of our portfolio are made from high quality, super soft fabrics which consumers respond well to – whatever their age. We also have exciting new launches across our portfolio, including My Best Friend Igglepiggle under the In the Night Garden banner, which provides children with a companion day or night, as well as new launches in the Twirlywoos range including Interactive Chickedy and Chick and the adorable Dance-along Peekaboo”. As well as talking and moving, the category offers more chances for expansion such as microwaveable plush, hot water bottle plush and scented plush. Teddy Mountains is one of the companies that offers a scented range.

“This year we have introduced more scents into our Aromabearapy range to complement the new Sweetshop line of items, as well as a vibrating heart insert which really makes the plush come to life”.

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Plush With plush being available in so many forms and styles, Teddy Mountain also offers retailers something different. It gives customers the opportunity to make their own bear in store, where the child can choose the bear, fill it, make a wish and name their new friend. They can also choose outfits, clothes and accessories for the bear. Its products can be incorporated into retail environments in various ways, as the company offers a tailored solution for everyone. Tina Chiffers, sales director at the company advises retailers on the packages that the company offers. “For example, we now sell the full party package, where stores and centres can either conduct a party on their premises or sell the party kits online. There is also the option for customers to purchase extra outfits and accessories online for their new friend”.

Plush is an ideal category when it comes to gifts. Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas and even graduations, there is a plush gift for every occasion and event. “Plush provides the perfect add-on sale. We’re finding that more and more retailers that attract older buyers such as parents and grandparents are using plush as an opportunity to drive additional revenue”, commented Lauren Shipman. “The customer tends to buy this as a gift purchase either to reward their own children or grandchildren, or for a friend’s birthday”. NPD data shows that Traditional Plush has grown by 11%.

Steve Mohabir, owner of The Toy Box in Godalming, points out that “grandparents often come in looking for traditional teddy bears, whereas children themselves tend to surpass them and go straight for anything with big eyes that’s particularly fluffy and sparkly. It doesn’t have to be massive in size or in price point. What’s also great about the category is that it’s not just for girls, we have little boys come in and head straight for the sparkly, cute looking plush

that is more often than not pink”.

They can deny it as much as they like, but there are many adults who still keep hold of stuffed toys from their own childhood, whether they still have a place on their bed or are secretly stowed away in the wardrobe. For products with such high sentimental value, it is important that retailers get it right. “Plush is a huge seller for us and is not just limited to gifts for babies”, suggest Honey Bowdrey, co-owner of independent shop Honeyjam. “These are the toys that a child never gives up and will keep forever.

There seems to be a very special place in everyone’s heart for their childhood bear”.

One of the main appeals that the plush category offers is the touch and feel aspect. Any child would instinctively pick up a cuddly toy from a shelf because they want to know how it will feel, and enjoy carrying it around the shop. Richard Harding, owner of Puffs Toymaster said: “The main area of success for us in the plush category comes from The Puppet Company, with both the puppets and its Wilberry range”. Steve Mohabir also sees positive reactions in his store to The Puppet Company lines. “We do well with the hand puppets that kids love to play with instore. We make sure to put all the cuddly toys on a stand together, as well as in the window display as they really draw the kids in”.

With feature plush seeing such a boost in the past year, what is next for the super category?

Factors such as new licences and new ranges could contribute to how the sector fares over the next year.

Lauren Shipman commented: “Spring/summer 2016 has been strong, but we expect that over the next few months the category will drive volume sales at retail with the release of movies that sit hand in hand with the core age range for plush toys. We are also looking forward to the release of Disney’s Moana that will hit cinemas and shelves just prior to Christmas this

Golden Bear 01952 608 308 | www.goldenbeartoys.com Autumn/winter 2016 will see the company launch its new concept, Sleep Tight All Night, which combines the benefit of a child sleeping aid system with a soft daytime toy.

The Twirlywoos range is expanding with the Interactive Musical Chickedy and Chick and Dance-along Peekaboo plush toys. Interactive Musical Chickedy and Chick feature poseable arms, songs and phrases and twinkling lights.

The In The Night Garden range will also see new plush introductions, including My Best Friend Igglepiggle. Kids can lie Igglepiggle down and his eyes will close. He will then play a phrase whilst a glowing light will appear in his body. When he sits back up and opens his eyes, he will say daytime phrases and stories.

The newly rebranded Mr Tumble’s Something Special collection has had a complete refresh with updates across the whole of the current range. New products for autumn/winter will include Mr Tumble with Tumble Tapp and Mr Tumble with Lights and Sounds. With a squeeze of Mr Tumble with Lights and Sounds’ hand, kids can hear lots of phrases. Mr Tumble’s spotty bow tie also lights up.

The new Oddbods plush collection will be led by hero product Voice Activated Walking Fuse and Pogo, which walks and makes sounds from the show when it senses someone speaking or clap.

The company has also recently added various new licences to its portfolio, and will be launching new plush ranges under the Thomas & Friends and Messy goes to Okido brands respectively. Golden Bear will also continue to support the Woolly and Tig and Hey Duggee brands.

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Posh Paws

year”. With plush coming under both toy and gift categories, it is an ideal seasonal product. Barry Hughes believes that the category can only go up from here, as higher price points traditionally do well in the last quarter.

Over the next few pages, brands and companies have displayed their newest and best in show products.

from

*Source: NPD value sales Jan-Dec 2015.

Tel: 0118 973 6222 I e:mail: sales@recreationltd.co.uk I website: www.recreationltd.co.uk

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Plush

High Resolution Design 0203 488 1558 | www.highresolutiondesign.co.uk High Resolution Design is looking to strengthen its grasp on the licensed plush market with a new line of Thunderbirds Are Go plush, shaped in the style of the iconic craft.

In a licensing partnership with ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the company is targeting retailers with a new line of Thunderbirds Are Go craft cushions this autumn/winter and spring/summer.

High Resolution Design is currently working on the line that it expects to hit retailers by spring/summer this year, with a further expanded range to be released for autumn/winter 2017, adding Thunderbirds Are Go craft-shaped door stops and a Thunderbird 5 plush to the range.

This is the latest in a long line of licences to have been picked up by the growing plush firm which has already seen success in the market with its collection of soft toys based on the iconic London Underground, Royal Mail and London Taxi Company brands.

The company, which launched only 14 months ago, is also negotiating licensing partnerships with Virgin Atlantic and Marmite brands.

High Resolution Design intends to continue to promote the new toy range to retailers and wholesalers. It is looking to reach major department stores in the UK, as well as toy stores.

Just Play 0208 643 0320 | sales@flairplc.co.uk The Leap N Roar Kion and Magic Twirl Mim Mim are new additions to Just Play’s plush portfolio, while new additions from Barbie and Shimmer and Shine add to the line-up.

Kion, a key character of the Lion Guard TV series, is available as an interactive Leap N Roar Kion plush that includes 10 character sounds, a pullback feature and a motion sensor that will make him roar as kids pass him by. The 8” Plush with Sound range offers four key characters from the show, complete with their own sounds and phrases.

Just Play has more plush to offer in its Kate and Mim-Mim toy collection. Kids can hold the interactive Magic Twirl Mim-Mim feature plush’ hands and twirl to hear him chant. In addition, there are four smaller plush to collect and a Jumbo Mim Mim with poseable ears.

From October, Just Play’s Shimmer and Shine range will offer four soft plush characters.

The Barbie Great Puppy Adventure Plush is available as four different characters, and comes complete with a bow for their hair.

Enesco 01228 404 022 | www.enesco.co.uk The new collection from Gund includes a selection of dragons and unicorns, available from June.

Children can choose from the LilyRose Pink Unicorn, or from three dragons, Spark Black Dragon, Ember Green Dragon and Russle Teal Dragon.

The LilyRose Pink Unicorn is available in large and jumbo sizes, and the three dragons are available in small and jumbo sizes.

As the only official licensee of Pusheen soft toys, Gund uses its experience in creating high-quality soft toys to bring Pusheen fans a new collecting experience: Mystery Boxes.

Two collections are being launched in the UK for June 2016. Series one features the grey tabby cat in eight different poses with her favourite snacks including a pizza slice, doughnut or cookie. Series two is all about Christmas, and welcomes the first introduction of Pusheen’s little sister, Stormy.

Each Mystery Box contains a sealed foil pack containing either a mystery keyring in Series One or a versatile ornament in Series Two, which can be used as a gift topper, tree decoration or can be attached to bags and backpacks. Some styles will be harder to collect than others.

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Plush

Character Options 0161 633 9800 | www.character-online.co.uk My Dream Puppy Snuggles will join the Little Live Pets range this autumn. With soft fur and lifelike movements, the plush puppy drinks from its bottle, opens and closes its eyes, moves its head and breathes like a real puppy.

Character Options also offers plenty of plush play with the Peppa Pig collection. Coming soon is the Laugh with Peppa feature plush toy. When tickled, the Peppa toy falls over onto its back and then giggles and wiggles its arms and legs, just like the animation in the show.

With a dedicated TV ad, Peppa will appeal to pre-schoolers and parents alike. The Princess Peppa & Sir George range also boasts a Princess Singing Peppa.

The Teletubbies signature 8” Talking Plush features original speech and sound effects, and won this year’s Best New Toy in the plush category at London’s Toy Fair.

There are also larger feature plush to choose from, such as the lively Jumping Po, which bounces up and down and sings a song. There is also the 10” Lullaby Laa-Laa, which comes complete with a built-in night light and soothing lullabies.

Asobi 01628 200 077 | www.asobi.co.uk Asobi is engaging in creative play as the UK distributor of Schmaze, a new range of soft sports- shaped toys designed to introduce babies, toddlers and young children to sports. This range provides a safe and entertaining first introduction to the world of sports, and encourages active and safe play whilst building confidence and improving skills.

Promoting active and fun play at an early age, the Schmaze range offers cricket, football and rugby sets ideal for helping to develop hand-eye coordination and confidence through the early years.

The My First range will launch this month and offers cute and engaging characters and shapes, with each product containing a rattle to help stimulate early development.

The Softer Side range will follow in 2017, and has been designed to encourage children to fully enjoy playing sport without the fear of getting hurt, allowing them to take their first steps towards sporting and personal success. The Softer Side range will encourage parent and child bonding.

The Schmaze range made its first appearance at London’s Toy Fair in 2016, and was well received by many independent retailers. The launch will be supported with marketing and a strong social media presence.

KD UK 01727 827 194 | www.kdplanet.com/uk KD UK is pleased to be introducing its new range of Little Baby Bum Plush characters that are based on programmes from the number one education channel on YouTube.

Little Baby Bum is an animated preschool series of 3D high definition episodes that are filled with characters who, through imaginative and captivating storytelling, entertain, educate and inspire children globally.

The 25-30cm electronic plush will feature four nursery rhymes each, with six characters to collect including Mia, Twinkle Star and other favourites from the hit channel.

The bright and colourful plush aims to empower children as they learn and grow, with content which encourages active learning.

The Little Baby Bum musical plush range will launch this August and will be supported with a targeted marketing campaign that speaks directly to the digitally engaged consumer and Little Baby Bum channel subscribers and viewers.

Plush

Posh Paws 01268 567 317 | www.poshpawsinternational.co.uk Posh Paws is looking forward to the retail launch of its Finding Dory plush range. The soft toy collection comes in a variety of sizes and includes Dory, Bayley, Destiny, Hank and Nemo. In addition, the company has announced that a new 10” Baby Dory plush has been added to the line-up, and is available to order now.

Posh Paws’ latest range of Disney Princess Plush Dolls each feature an iconic scene from the films on their dress.

The range currently includes Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Snow White and Aurora. There are also additional characters planned for spring/summer 2017.

As many retailers focus on Dream Big Princess campaigns, Posh Paws will be launching a Disney Princess FSDU that will be available for spring/summer 2017 and will showcase a mix of sizes of product to suit different price points. The FSDU will also offer retailers an opportunity for additional sales around the launch of the live action Beauty and the Beast film, planned for release in March 2017.

Posh Paws is also gearing up for the big blockbuster animation release from Disney this December, Moana. Set for release on 2nd December, the company will have a full line of plush product in a variety of sizes to support the launch. More details on the full range will be revealed soon.

Re:creation 0118 973 6222 | www.recreationltd.co.uk The march towards the festive season brings new additions to Re:creation’s Snuggables plush portfolio, including refreshes for Stretchkins and Bright Light Pillow. The company will roll out heavyweight TV support for the portfolio throughout the second half, as well as driving column inches with PR. Launched in 2014, Stretchkins has continued to deliver strong results. Named by NPD as the Best New Non-Licensed Plush in its launch year, the range of toddler-sized stretchy limbed soft toys has gone on to make its mark in the category time and time again. In the second half, Pink and Purple Bear refreshes the character line-up which, as well as three other characters, also includes special feature plush Pink Cat with its motion-activated lightup feet.

The Bright Light Pillow range welcomes the special feature addition, Beatz Star, with its sound activated light show that pulses in time to children’s music. The regular Bright Light Pillow line-up of light-up pillows is also refreshed with Princess Crown.

The Emojis have cast their magic on Re:creation’s Necknapperz range this year, and the line-up of four popular characters has delivered strong results. These cushions filled with microbeads transform in seconds to become a practical neck pillow.

Rainbow Designs 01329 227 300 | www.rainbowdesigns.co.uk The latest plush range to join Rainbow Designs’ portfolio is the My First Thomas & Friends. The collection includes a range of soft toys including a Chime Ball, Activity Cube and a plush My First Thomas. The range also features a Comfort Blanket, a Tummy Time Activity Playmat and a feature plush Thomas Activity Toy that says phrases, and also features a peek-a-boo mirror and Thomas-shaped teether.

The Peppa Pig for Baby collection is going from strength to strength with a range of plush toys now available, including the award-winning Activity Peppa Pig. The feature plush plays sounds as well as the theme tune to the TV show, and also features a peek-a-book mirror as well as multiple textures and sounds.

Other soft toys available in the collection include Activity George Pig, Jiggle Peppa Pig and Jiggle George Pig, an Activity Cube and Activity Spiral, as well as the Rattle and Chime Peppa and George Pig toys.

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HALL 1 1D-B26 & 1D-C25 BRAND NAME GALLERY

The Secret Life Of Pets © 2016 Universal Studios

Plush

The Puppet Company 01462 446 040 | www.thepuppetcompany.com There are two new arrivals to the Wilberry Soft Toy collection, with the introduction of the Wilberry Woodland and Wilberry Wildlife collections, filled with new animals.

The Woodland Collection features a fallow deer, fox, hedgehog, barn owl, tawny owl and red squirrel.

The Wilberry Wildlife Collection includes a chimp, elephant, giraffe, lion, tiger and wolf.

Made from Wilberry’s signature soft and high quality fabrics, the new collections will provide even more characters for little ones to collect.

Vivid Imaginations 0147 322 000 | www.vividimaginations.co.uk Oodlebrites are light-up plush characters which come to life and change to up to seven different colours when tapped. There are five characters to collect: Moodles the Mouse, Choodles the Monkey, Foodles the Dog, Noodles the Unicorn and Purdles the Cat. Flip a Zoo, new from Vivid this autumn, is an assortment of 2-in-1 creatures. Children can simply grab and flip to reveal the second furry friend.

Each character is highly detailed with different textures, and measures 40cm long. Available in the first wave are Theodore Tiger/Emma Elephant, Caleb Cat/Sawyer Mouse, Poppi Polar Bear/ Asher Husky and Imogen Dragon/ Persephone Unicorn. The brand is supported by TV advertising and a PR campaign focusing on using Flip a Zoo as a tool to recapture the lost art of storytelling.

Vivid’s Care Bears range is refreshed, with new characters across all assortments this autumn. New to the bean bags and medium plush assortments are some of the Cousins, as seen in the series on Netflix, alongside classic Care Bears, whilst Secret Bear and Wish Bear are new to the large plush.

Animagic will be supported this autumn with a range of TV advertised items. As well as Fluffy Go Walkies and Alfie My Training Puppy, who both carry forward after a strong 2015, Ruby & Lottie come into the range. When they’re apart their hearts glow blue, but when put together their hearts will change to pink.

Teddy Mountain 01803 559 768 | www.teddymountaindirect.co.uk

Clementoni 0208 782 1134 | www.clementoni.com The Sandy Cuddle and Learn Bear is an interactive development plush. The product will be TV promoted, and parents can also download an app which brings Sandy to life on screen. Children can learn the alphabet and numbers as well as develop their hand eye co-ordination.

The company has expanded into a second large warehouse in order to be able to keep up with demand and provide the level of service its customers have come to expect.

Teddy Mountain is the only Make Your Own Bear wholesaler to be Trading Standards approved.

In January, the Sweetshop range was introduced with a range of partythemed boxes which have proven to be stand-out sellers. More scents have also been introduced to the Aromabearapy range to complement the new Sweetshop line. A vibrating heart was also introduced, that makes the plush come to life.

Later this year a new product, Bear in a Box, will be introduced. This is an ideal product for those with limited space or staff, and as the name suggests everything needed is in the box – including a passport.

Customers simply choose what design of plush they want and take the box straight to the cash desk to make their new friend at home. Five different box themes will be launched, including Teddy Mountain Generic, Christmas, Jungle, Castle and Under The Sea. There is a Teddy Mountain option for every type of retail environment, and the product also encourages repeat visits due to the customers’ demand for outfits and accessories for their new friend.

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Suncrest 0116 232 8800 | www.suncresttrading.com

Funrise 01908 555 640 | www.funrise.com Funrise has introduced a range of My Little Pony soft toys that girls will be eager to collect.

The range of My Little Pony feature plush is available at many price points. Girls can start their collections with the 3” ponies with clips that can hang from school bags or belt loops, to the 5” and 10” ponies that are available in a variety of colours and styles. On a larger scale, the 20” ponies make an ideal bedtime companion.

The company’s Sparkle Horn Pony Plush will light up when cuddled. There are two characters to collect: Rarity and Trixie. For a nighttime toy, the Twinkle Star Light Plush can also be used as a nightlight for little ones who are afraid of the dark.

Twinkle will light up a bedroom with stars that are projected from its wings.

Asobi half p toy world aug 2016:Layout 1 12/07/2016 13:52 Page 1

The Funberry Farm range features animals such as the Penny Pig Musical Toy. The musical activity toy can enhance senses with contrasting colours, varied textures and a teething ring.

Also in the range is the Reggie Rooster Activity Toy, which is easily attachable to prams and has a baby safe mirror.

Sunny Jim features soft sounds, a baby safe mirror and a variation of textiles that will encourage stimulation and interaction.

The new Ragdoll range from Suncrest features three dolls: Willow, Katie and Lizzie. The dolls have wool style hair with different coloured dresses.

The Sandy Cuddle and Learn Bear is an interactive development plush. The product will be TV promoted and parents can also download an app which brings Sandy to life on screen. Children can learn the alphabet and numbers as well as develop their hand/eye coordination.

• T: 01628 200077 • www.asobi.co.uk • info@asobi.co.uk

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Coiledspring Games 020 3301 1160 | www.coiledspring.co.uk A completely new line, Worry Eater Kids, will see five new characters join the collection, along with key ring versions this autumn.

Lotti, Limo, Mika, Fips and Zack join the Worry Eaters range.

They measure 18-24cm, offering collectability at a competitive price point. Featuring embroidered detail and the distinctive zip mouth, they are available in an array of new shapes and colours. They’ll also come in keyring form, for worries on the go. An exclusive addition to the junior line is also currently available in the form of a limited edition Junior Wanda.

Supported by extensive PR and social media campaigns, Coiledspring Games will continue to grow the line with the introduction of more Worry Eater characters beyond 2016.

The © fantastic new My First 2016 Gullane (Thomas) Limited.

Thomas & Friends Nursery Collection includes an exciting variety of nursery toys, featuring baby soft materials, multiple textures, sounds and engaging activities.

PMS International 01268 505 050 | b2b.pmsinternational.com Gosh Designs from PMS International has action and adventure covered with vibrant plush ranges and fan favourites from DC Justice League and Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time.

The DC collections include designs covering Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Flash and more. Fans of all ages can collect cushions and bolsters, accessorise their bags with mini clip-ons and get comfortable with a selection of plush neck cushions. To suit every pocket, there is an expansive range of soft toys with some lines including gift-ready packaging.

The Adventure Time collection features a range of travel accessories, cups, cushions, novelty plush hats and gift items.

See us at Kind & Jugend 15–18 Sept 2016 Hall 11.1 Aisle 1 Stand 28

Chicco 0121 454 9707 | www.chicco.co.uk Designed to comfort and reassure, First Dreams Baby Bear has a soft projection tummy that activates a goodnight message for baby when pressed. A button on the bear’s tummy activates the melodies and a light show.

After 20 minutes of playing, the product automatically turns to stand-by mode. Parents have control over the settings and can choose between on with light effects and melodies, on with light effects only, or off. The plush is available in light blue and pink.

All Aboard for Spring/Summer’17 New & exciting products will be joining the range for a fun filled journey in the nursery.

Call 01329 227300 or visit our website www.rainbowdesigns.co.uk © 2016 Gullane (Thomas) Limited © 2016 HIT Entertainment Limited

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Brand profile

Baby steps After fidentifying a lack of baby-friendly content on YouTube, Derek Holder decided to take matters into his own hands. He spoke to Toy World about how with his IT skills, his wife’s graphic design agency and a name inspired by his baby daughter, Little Baby Bum was born.

“Little Baby Bum started in June 2011 when I was sitting in front of my computer with my baby daughter, whose nickname from a few weeks old was little baby bum, and I was looking for any videos of nursery rhymes for her to enjoy.

I found there wasn’t the right mix of entertainment rooted in educational content to share with my daughter. As an example, there were some poor videos of Baa Baa Black Sheep where the animations were of a goat rather than a sheep, or the sheep was white or even grey. Also, the lyrics were often just plain wrong. I compared the existing YouTube animations with the quality programmes seen on CBeebies, and they just did not compare. However, even the poor quality videos on YouTube were getting 10-20 million views, so I felt there was an opportunity to deliver a quality show via YouTube. My background is in IT and telecommunications, and lately also in search engine optimisation (SEO). I had also pottered around with music in my spare time, while my wife ran a graphic design agency.

We decided to combine our skills and have a go at producing our own digital series. We wanted to create a creative play and learning experience initially for our daughter, as well as something we could be proud of.

Our first video was a 30 second 3D animated version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, our

daughter’s favourite nursery rhyme. It was watched about 17,000 times in the very first month, and although the numbers weren’t that huge, it showed that we were on to something. We continued on and released our second animated video, Baa Baa Black Sheep, paying special attention to getting the sheep right. From there, the number of views continued to grow, to the point where we were able to hire a professional musician and continue to improve the quality of our animated content.

I believe there are various reasons as to why we’ve seen success; my SEO skills and technical experience was certainly a contributing factor.

The fact that my wife is a brilliant graphic designer with an inherent creative eye and feel for our animated series’ DNA became our real secret weapon, which set us apart from all the other preschool channels.

Our animated episodes have to pass our test first, before we release and upload a Little Baby Bum episode. We listen carefully to the feedback from our fans to improve what we do. The biggest reward is when we hear directly from them about their child’s successes, from learning the alphabet, to potty training and more.

Today we run a major YouTube channel with over 200 episodes, and upload two new episodes each week, which keeps our fans engaged. Our average daily views range from 800,000 to over 1 million from the UK. Our one hour compilations have been another key to our success; parents and caregivers love the longer format.

We strive to deliver relevant themes in our episodes - themes that parents really care about and which kids are eager to learn.

The Little Baby Bum experience is participatory, whereby the child and parent celebrate each success their child has accomplished together.

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Seth Bishop, MD, KD UK Toy World speaks to Seth Bishop, managing director of KD UK, licensee of Little Baby Bum, to find out what will be included in the new range, and why retailers should get behind a digital only brand.

What attracted you to the brand?

As a company we have enormous experience of pre-school and infant brands and licences. When we were first introduced to Little Baby Bum, considering both the extraordinary scale of engagement and the appealing educational and entertainment content, we had a strong feeling this was, for the toy industry (but not consumers) an undiscovered gem.

What does the initial launch range consist of and when will it be available at retail?

The range, which we are distributing on behalf of Commonweath Toy & Novelty, will launch in late August. The range comprises 25-30cm Musical Cuddlers, electronic feature plush. Initially we will launch five characters, as featured on YouTube, each playing four cuddle-activated nursery rhymes. More characters will follow later in the year.

Infant and pre-school is a competitive category – what will make retailers get behind a new brand that exists purely in the digital arena?

That’s an interesting question, asked as though somehow that is a disadvantage. I can imagine the same being asked 15 years ago about whether online retail will be able to compete with big high street store brands.

Toy retailers value licensed brands and recognise that when high quality content meets a large and engaged audience, there is an opportunity to translate that momentum into toy sales.

We are talking about a huge engaged audience with Little Baby Bum - a world record-breaking channel with greater magnitude than the combined online engagement of Disney, CBBC, Peppa Pig and Nickelodeon. Over one billion minutes of viewing time have been spent by UK children watching hundreds of Little Baby Bum episodes in the last year alone.

Even with that audience and our ability to promote on the Little Baby Bum You Tube channel, we are going much further with our marketing campaign and will be making sure mums know the plush line is available.

Retailers are already getting behind the brand, and our first two 40” containers are already allocated. We have more stock on the way.

Surprise Plush – Mystery Boxes

Surprise Plush – Mystery Boxes include a sealed mylar bag containing a random Pusheen® plush in one of eight styles and comes in a counter display unit.

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Enesco Limited, Head Office & Customer Services, Brunthill Road, Kingstown, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 0EN Tel: 01228 404022 Fax: 01228 404041 email: uksales@enesco.co.uk Overseas Customer Services: Tel: +44 1228 404066 Fax: +44 1228 404080 email: eurosales@enesco.co.uk © 2016 Pusheen; Pusheen®. © GUND 2016. © 2016 Enesco Ltd.

07/07/2016 09:08

TM

Spy Net continues to lead the high-tech boys category, with continued investment in highly realistic, inspiring new gadgets driving the brand to new heights. Since 2010, Spy Net has dominated the sector by blending reliability and performance in a range of product that really works. Be it Laser Trip Wires, Vibrasonic Hearing Head Sets or Night Vision Goggles, Spy Net brings what was once unreachable tech down to affordable price points.

The range is now stocked by all good toy retailers.

Jakks invests heavily in TV Media support, focusing TV activity in Q4 when these price points become more relevant.

Kids press and launch events are critical during August and September to drive early interest.

Social media will also come into play in Q4 to reinforce the message to parents and grandparents.

SpyNet Eyeclops TV Microscope

This will magnify any object up to 200 times and show it up close on your TV screen, allowing children to detect every bit of evidence from the hand held IRIS lens.

SpyNet Touch Video Watch

Record video and sound with the hidden camera, playback in realtime or download. Stores over 2000 photos and three hours of audio.

01344 638900 | jakksuk@jakks.net

Feature

STEM

Full STEM ahead

STEM learning is a principle that is becoming increasingly important to schools, parents and their children, but how exactly does this method of teaching and learning transfer into the toy trade? Clarabel Jones uncovered how STEM products translate into retail, and at how they differentiate from other educational toys on the market.

S

TEM, an acronym supporting the academic importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is a term which many toy suppliers and retailers are welcoming with open arms. Its growing relevance in the toy market means that more and more parents are starting to recognise the educational and developmental benefits that STEM toys provide, not to mention the encouragement they give children to pursue careers in these fields.

Christine Lawson, managing director at Eduk8 Worldwide, supports this tendency that STEM toys have to inspire children to follow particular career paths. “STEM matters to the government, it matters to the education leadership, it matters to schools and therefore it matters to parents,” she began. “STEM toys have the ability to span pre-school content and beyond. Research has indicated that a child’s curiosity significantly develops at the age of two, so experts recommend this as the age to begin engagement to stimulate a lifelong interest.”

Not only is STEM important for ensuring children’s futures are bright and full of opportunity, but it can also benefit our economy.

“Research has shown how the UK now has fewer STEM graduates than ever, especially amongst females, and this has become a source of political pressure on the education sector,” Christine continued. “STEM jobs make a difference to the country because innovation drives GDP. They are also amongst the highest paid, and the sector is predicted to grow.”

It’s this focus on the application of skills in a real-world environment that many believe separates STEM toys from other educational products on the market. “STEM toys go much further than the traditional educational toy, mainly because they specifically merge the theory with the application in a real-world environment,” explained Fred Halliwell, UK sales manager at Engino. “With STEM-orientated toys, children are encouraged to make use of their analytical skills and also use the knowhow they have gained to construct a scientific model and to achieve a certain outcome. Products in Engino’s Discovering STEM range, for example, all come with a comprehensive theory booklet with features, experiments and quizzes to engage children with the subject. Then, once kids have a grasp on the idea, we encourage them to build a model which best portrays the theory in a tangible sense.”

With this in mind, it’s evident that the focus with STEM learning is not necessarily restricted to what children are learning, but is extended

Learning Resources to how they are obtaining this new information.

Learning Resources’ managing director, Dennis Blackmore, agrees that what makes the company’s STEM toys special is the ways in which they encourage children to discover the world around them: “STEM is more than just an amalgamation of four areas of learning; it’s about how children learn. Real STEM products must engage the user in the complete engineering process which involves defining the problem, planning solutions, making a model, testing the model, reflecting and redesigning. It’s in this problem definition and problem solving process where the value of STEM learning can be found.”

This proactive way of learning, now adopted by schools nationwide, is also one which parents are starting to pick up on. “Demand for our STEM-related toys, such as Discovery Kids and Science Mad Kits, is increasing as families are realising that there is a whole range of fantastic science-based toys that are not only fun, but will also support their children’s learning in school,” Lindsay Hardy, marketing director at Trends UK, told Toy World. “It’s a great way for the whole family to support education in the household, and is fun for the adults too.”

“We’ve also found specific subjects and areas which feature in the school curriculum to be

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really popular,” added Fred. “Engino sets such as Pulleys, Cams & Cranks and Newton’s Laws are our best-sellers because parents are becoming wise to the benefits of STEM-orientated products which can not only further their child’s development, but also increase their understanding of a subject through real-world application.”

What’s more, this increased awareness is only predicted to continue as more retailers get behind the concept. “The popularity of STEM is only going to rise, as parents are increasingly seeing the huge benefits of toys which focus around STEM,” Fred added. “At Engino, we’ve found that our STEM lines match and sometime even surpass some of our products geared more specifically for retail. This highlights the demand and the need for retailers to carry STEM products in store. We’ve found that having a good selection and range of STEM products on display helps, as consumers get a real sense of what the products can offer.”

So with their many disparities from other educational toys on the market, what else can suppliers and retailers do to further increase parents’ awareness of toys in this sector?

“Learning Resources’ range of STEM products has been created with both the classroom and the home in mind,” Dennis Blackmore told Toy World.

“With eye-catching packaging, bright colours and

M4789 UK ToyWorld STEM AD5_HI.pdf

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STEM easy to follow instructions, they translate perfectly into retail. This is a huge opportunity for retailers, as STEM is becoming a hot topic in primary schools, so children and informed parents will be already primed with an interest for it. Educational toys that promote aspects of STEM will also be very popular this year, especially seeing as this trend encompasses the wider trend towards outdoor play and exploration.”

Toy World also spoke to Clea Ewing, director at Fun Learning, to get a retail perspective on where the key opportunities lie with stocking STEM toys, and how best to ensure products stand out on shelves. “At Fun Learning, we find that parents buy our STEM products to engage their children in activities that will benefit their thinking, knowledge or creativity. At the moment, we stock Learning Resources’ science and construction kits, Brainstorm’s Discovery Range and Stikbots, Lego Kits, products from Magformers and many more, which all sell extremely well. We always get the products out of the box as much as possible, as it’s important for the parent to see the merit of the product, but we also want the child to engage with and enjoy the experience. We have held Science Shows in conjunction with Learning Resources, where we demonstrate experiments and have lots of science and engineering gear out for people to try.”

In addition to this, Lindsay Hardy from Trends UK has also noted how, with a growing amount of children and parents using online shopping as a way of keeping up to date with all the latest toy trends, the importance of building an online presence is paramount. “The concept of STEM

toys is becoming more widely understood amongst consumers and retailers,” she said.

“There is a feel-good factor involved in buying a toy with educational features for a child, and as a result we are seeing the development of STEM specific areas in toy retailers, especially online.”

This is something which Just Childsplay has adopted; despite not having a designated spot for STEM products in store, the retailer has ensured that its STEM products can be easily searched for online.

“Our STEM products go into our science and technology sections of the store at the moment, but if customers type STEM into our website, all the relevant products will show up,” the retailer’s company director told Toy World. “STEM is a relatively new concept at the moment, but it’s definitely getting more attention from parents who have heard about it from schools. Depending on how big STEM becomes over the next year or so, we may well make our own space for it in-store as well.”

Trends

It’s clear to see that STEM is making a substantial impact in the toy market, and this impact is only set to grow further as the method of teaching and learning becomes more prominent in the education system. Over the next few pages, Toy World presents a selection of the hottest STEM products hitting the market this year.

>40mm Astronomical Telescope

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>Planetarium

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> Creature Creator

>360 HD Microscope To place an order please contact:

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For media enquiries, please contact Ane Olesen: ane@wirepr.eu Discovery Kids © 2016 DCL. Fright Factory is a trademark of Tech 4 Kids Inc.

STEM

Brainstorm 0120 044 5113 | www.brainstormltd.co.uk New to the Brainstorm Toys brand this year is the Rocket Projector and Room Guard. Complete with a table-top or wall-mounted launch pad, the model rocket stands 35cm tall. It also has 24 space-themed colour images of planets, astronauts and spacecraft to project onto walls and ceilings. Kids can flick the switch and the Rocket will blast into room guard mode with flight sounds and lights. A secret code is also included for kids to unlock online space facts. The Rocket Projector and Room Guard will be launched later in the year, and will be supported with TV in the final quarter.

Kids can view the earth by day and space by night with the 2-in-1 Globe Earth and Constellations. The 22.8cm globe shows a daytime view of political boundaries and natural features, and children can also explore the night sky with the illuminated night view, which shows key stars and constellations.

An advanced light-sensor automatically turns on the LED illumination, transforming the earth globe into a map of the stars.

Aqua Dragons are real-life aquatic creatures that kids can hatch and grow at home using Brainstorm’s all-inclusive kits. The new app will enhance the consumer experience through augmented reality, games and educational content. The new Sea Friends branded range includes a double-sized tank featuring one of the Aqua Dragons characters as its centre-piece. This tank also comes complete with a double egg pouch and bubble pump.

DKL Marketing 01604 678 780 | www.dkl.co.uk DKL is increasing its SmartLab range with the addition of six new products.

A new addition to the line is the Demolition Lab: Wrecking Ball, which allows children to build an abandoned building and then place the wrecking ball to knock it down. Kids can get hands-on experience experimenting with potential and kinetic energy, momentum and other principles of physics.

Motorblox: Robot Lab is another addition to the SmartLab line. Children will enjoy building and testing three different walking robots: a Biped Bot, a QuadraBot and a HexaBot. Kids are also able to add their own bricks, as components are compatible with major plastic construction building block brands. Robot Lab helps young engineers develop problem-solving and experimentation skills while teaching them about robotics and mechanical locomotion.

Miniland also offers a range of STEM toys to encourage learning through play. A highlight from this range includes Electrokit 198 which allows children to conduct up to 198 experiments.

DKL supports all its ranges with a full marketing campaign, including everything from bespoke planograms to extensive social media and PR activity.

Eduk8 Worldwide 01434 672 336 | www.eduk8wordlwide.com Eduk8 Worldwide has been a major supplier to UK and international education sectors for 15 years. All of the company’s educational toys have been developed to encourage learning through play, with careful research and design tailoring them to the current needs of the sector.

Eduk8 Worldwide has been developing STEM toys for the past few years for the educational sector. This means the company’s products are tried and tested, and are also yet to hit mainstream retail. Many of Eduk8’s toys are also tested and verified for special educational needs.

The company is now looking to bring these products to retail. Key products include the large 100 Square Playmat, which won the Best New Toy award at Toy Fair 2016, and the Resistance Parachute, which allows children to learn about wind resistance. Also featuring in the company’s portfolio is the Ocean Liner, a wooden boat with 26 magnetic blocks, printed on four sides, with the alphabet in upper and lower case, numbers and shapes.

New for 2016 is the Aquascope, which allows children to view underwater objects without getting wet, also eliminating surface reflections.

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Trends UK 01295 768 078 | www.trendsuk.co.uk For over 14 years, Trends UK has been a leading supplier of science toys in the UK. Now with the introduction of the new Discovery Kids branding, alongside the launch of the new Fright Factory, there are lots of products on offer to support STEM learning.

PR and social media campaigns will promote the newly rebranded Discovery Kids range from summer to Christmas.

TV advertised during autumn, the Globe Planetarium teaches kids about the planets and the universe. The light-up globe projects star constellations onto walls and ceilings, while the electronic base rotates the globe. A light pointer enables particular constellations to be pointed out. The product also includes a disk packed with details about the night sky.

The new lightweight Digital Metal Detector features a sensitivity and volume control. The detector emits a beeping sound when close to metal, and the flashing indicator lights speed up and change colour.

Also new to the Discovery Kids range are the Digital Walkie Talkies, which have an outdoors range of up to 3km.

The new Fright Factory Creature Creator enables kids to create 3D creations without the need for any heat. The Creator comes with a selection of moulds and coloured gels. Gel Refill packs and extra creature expansion sets will also be available.

With WowWee’s new coding robot COJI, STEM comes together to teach children basic programming skills using the language of visual emojis. Kids can test their problem-solving skills and play games using the free app to control COJI’s actions.

Learning Resources 01553 818 062 | www.LearningResources.co.uk Learning Resources has launched a new STEM range featuring five hands-on activity sets that bring learning to life across science, technology, engineering and maths. The activity sets include Force and Motion, Magnets, Sink or Float, Simple Machines and the Code & Go Robot Mouse. Each focusing on a different skill, the sets encourage an approach to learning that asks children to solve real world problems through enquiry based processes and hands on experimentation. From conducting investigations to recording observations, activities range from measuring the impact of speed on motion to testing which objects will sink or float.

With the Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set, children can programme the sequence of steps on a maze board or on the floor, and then watch the mouse race to find the cheese. Large, colourful buttons make programming simple for children, and light and sound features make coding interactive for all learners. The activity set includes 16 maze grids to create a maze board, 22 maze walls and three tunnels, plus 30 double-sided coding cards, 10 double-sided activity cards and a cheese wedge. An Extra Robot Mouse is available separately.

The set has recently won the Education Resources Award for Best Primary Resource (including ICT).

Engino 0800 988 7065 | www.enginotoys.co.uk Engino is continuing to build on the success of its Discovering STEM range with the launch of the new Robotics ERP Mini. Children can build six robotics models which can be programmed manually through the control panel and also through the patented ERP software. Also included in the set are two infrared sensors and two motors.

The biggest STEM seller for Engino in 2016 so far is the Discovering STEM Newton’s Laws set. This product teaches children about subjects such as Inertia, Momentum, Kinetic and Potential Energy all through a comprehensive theory booklet. Children can then apply their knowledge by building eight models based on the subjects.

Other products from the range include sets which cover Pulley Drives, Cams & Cranks, Wheels & Axels, Levers & Linkages and Gears & Worm Drives.

With TV advertising scheduled for later this month, Engino has launched a scheme to get new retailers on board to benefit from the advertising. The Pay as You Go scheme means retailers are entitled to further benefits through POS displays, rebates and further marketing support. Engino will deliver a full range of products to stores with no upfront cost to retailers. The retailer then only pays for products once they have sold them at the end of the month. This allows stores to benefit from a TV advertised brand, without investing a large lump sum. The scheme is open to select premium retailers only, and stores under the scheme will always be the first to benefit from new product launches without delay.

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Smart Toys and Games 01903 885 669 | www.smartgames.eu/www.smartmax.eu

John Adams 01480 414 361 | www.johnadams.co.uk Following on from the success of Sparkle Science, John Adams has expanded its collection with Neon Science, which launched last month. Featuring three science experiments, Neon Science is a neoncoloured science set which enables kids to make wearable, sparkly neon nails. Kids can also create a crystal winged fairy and make a glow in the dark, sparkly neon-nightlight jar. The Neon Science kit also includes a UV light.

The new introduction will join the company’s science portfolio, sitting alongside sets such as Hot Wires, Gross Science, Glow in the Dark Science and Booms, Bangs, Fizzes. Neon Science will be TV advertised and will have PR support.

The new Rubik’s Spark features unique bubble control, a new dimension of games control which involves no buttons and no touch screen. Players can control the Spark by tilting and turning the cube to enjoy an interactive experience guided by LED lights.

Clementoni 0208 782 1134 | www.clementoni.com Adding to Clementoni’s range for 2016 is the Cyber Robot, a programmable robot which is directly controlled via an app on smart phones and tablets with Bluetooth connection. Cyber Robot registers and executes all demands in real time, and comes complete with sound effects and lights. Children can also take photos and videos while Cyber Robot is in action. Included within the four play modes is the Self Learn, where Cyber Robot will register all commands and reproduce the saved paths. Cyber Robot can also be played with offline in a manual programme mode.

The Mechanical Laboratory is a modular construction system with varying levels of difficulty. The kit comes with over 200 pieces with almost 50 constructions possible including a helicopter, car and crane.

SmartGames is the worldwide leader in multi-level logic games. The company’s award-winning games include between 24 – 120 multi-level challenges, each with a game mechanic and themes that appeal to both boys and girls.

They come in travel, compact and table top editions in plastic or a premium wood range.

SmartGames help stimulate a number of key cognitive skills including spatial insight, planning, problem solving, concentration and visual perception.

On every product’s packaging, the level of each cognitive skill is displayed so the parent or guardian can easily identify the skills each game focuses on developing.

Magformers 08000 385 195 | www.magformers.co.uk All of Magformers’ STEM products foster brain development and encourage scientific and mathematical thinking through the use of magnetic geometric shapes.

The company is also at the forefront of the transition from STEM to STEAM with its new S.T.E.A.M Basic, S.T.E.A.M Master and Super S.T.E.A.M sets.

Magformers’ commitment to producing high-quality STEM toys is evident in its Deluxe and Hi-Tech lines. Boxed sets such as the Power Gear Set introduce physics in motion. Altogether there are 60 individual pieces, with gears and power blocks included to illustrate the principles of transmission.

Amongst the builds children can make is an LED-lighted merry-go-round, which can be set into motion with a power generator and remote control.

Deluxe boxed sets include the Magformers Super Brain Set which offers 256 pieces including pulleys, air blocks, wheels, axles, joints and characters.

In every set, special idea books or illustrated cards demonstrate mathematical and scientific principles and exercises.

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Trod Limited has agreed to accept a fine after admitting using automated repricing software to implement an illegal cartel. Following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, Trod has accepted a fine of £163,371 for taking part in the cartel. The online seller has admitted agreeing with its competing online seller, GB Eye (GB Posters), that they would not undercut each other’s prices for posters and frames sold on Amazon. The agreement was implemented by using automated repricing software, which the parties each configured to give effect to the illegal cartel. Provided it continues to co-operate, GB Eye will not receive a fine, having reported the cartel to the CMA and co-operated with the investigation, in accordance with the CMA’s leniency policy…

Meanwhile, former Trod owner Dan Ashton has wasted no time re-establishing an online toy retail business, after his previous business was wound up earlier this year. If you have a look on Amazon for Boxbot, you’ll get an idea of what he’s up to. A few toy companies are already onboard – most notably Melissa and Doug – so it has to be presumed that they must all have faith in his creditworthiness (if that is indeed a word).

He is by no means the first retailer or supplier to have popped up again after administration, and it will be interesting to see if the new scaledback version can succeed where the previous operation didn’t. As last time, the emphasis seems to be on selling via Amazon, which other toy retailers tell me is still a tough area to trade profitably in….

The proposed acquisition of Argos by Sainsbury’s has been given the go ahead by the Competition and Markets Authority, after it confirmed it would not be referring the deal for further investigation.

So with the last potential obstacle to the deal having been officially removed, it won’t be long before we get to see how the merging of the two operations will pan out. According to well-placed sources, the takeover is likely to be completed on or around September 1st, after which time changes to the Argos team are expected to follow relatively swiftly. There are rumours emanating from the Milton Keynes area that immediate redundancies are anticipated, possibly running into the hundreds. There is also speculation about the future of the Argos catalogue, with Argos chief executive John Walden admitting he has been surprised by the reluctance of consumers to let go of the paper catalogue.

Around seven million catalogues are currently printed each year, although this year the retailer is running a trial at 23 stores by not supplying them with catalogues. One local press story focused on an irate shopper in Wrexham who was told to go to Chester to collect a copy, which doesn’t exactly seem an ideal customer service initiative. However, the big question remains that if the catalogue is indeed phased out, how will Argos / Sainsbury’s replace the profit derived

from the contributions that suppliers make for their products to be featured in the book?

Somehow I doubt it will be straightforward to convince suppliers to contribute similar sums without having a catalogue presence to justify the (vast) expense…

There are suggestions that some retailers have bought fairly conservatively for this Christmas, hoping to place top up orders from domestic stock if sales do outstrip expectations. I suspect that if this is indeed the case, Brexit may have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works, especially if retailers were expecting to secure additional stock at the same price. And what will all this mean for the aggressive festive sales and promotions which traditionally kick in over the coming weeks? There are rumours that one of the big retailers may be about to commence a ‘3 for 2’ across its entire range, which - if true - will certainly result in more of a hit to their margin than ever. It all brings to mind that popular Chinese saying ‘May you live in interesting times’ (along with that other popular Chinese saying “That’ll be 15% more - no, there is no discount”)…

Nat Southworth has parted company with Hornby as part of a wider company restructure. With Nat’s industry knowledge and experience, I’m sure he’ll be snapped up when he’s able to re-join the fray in due course…

Philip Morris has left his role at Papo UK after seven years at the helm. With many years’ experience in the trade, I am sure Philip is keen to remain within the toy market – he can be contacted on philip@phmorris.co.uk or 0774 815 0906…

Pokemon Go seems to be taking off in a big way.

Toy World’s assistant editors Clarabel and Jonika are both avid players; indeed, they tell me that the Post Office depot at the end of the road is a Pokestop (which might be of interest to anyone visiting our new office). I saw a tweet from one independent toy retailer pointing out that his shop has apparently been designated a Pokegym, and asking if this is a good thing – I’m reliably informed it is a very, very good thing. Licensees are already reporting a massive upsurge in interest in their ranges from retailers, and I would imagine that the Pokemon stand will be one of the busiest at BLE in October, as the property remains relatively under-licensed (but not for long I’m sure) …

I would like to send my best wishes to David and Janine Rawlings, who closed their Flying Toys business and retired last month. The company was formed way back in 1978 and the couple have always been genuinely passionate about their part of the toy market and a delight to work with.

I wish them all the best for the coming years...

The Puppet Company Ltd. Please come and view our Wilberry soft toy collection along with our huge range of puppets at the Autumn Fair Hall 5 C20-D21

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Pup Co pet mp any Ltd ÂŽ .

We are a UK based Design & Wholesale company supplying over 1000 high quality puppets and soft toys of all shapes and sizes! Have a puppet - Have fun!

www.thepuppetcompany.com Tel: +44 (0) 1462 446040

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