Touching Base

Thinking outside the box

the Games and Puzzles category experiencing a surge in sales in 2020, Toy World spoke to a number of suppliers to ask them how sales can be maximised this year and what their advice would be to retailers wanting to hold instore retail games events and promotions.

Katy Fletcher - Head of Marketing and Product Development, Ravensburger

Despite the latest economic challenges, spending more time at home means getting out family games and puzzles. Consumers want innovation and new products as well as best-sellers and family favourites. At Ravensburger, we’re fortunate to have winning formats in both puzzles and games, many of which also possess heritage value. Labyrinth, for example, celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2021 and now comes in a variety of play formats, from special editions to children’s and licensed versions, and our own Memory, which launched back in 1959, remains one of our strongest volume drivers for children.

Maintaining relevance and re-engaging with brand refreshes is a win-win. We’ve seen this with Memory but also with the children’s game Zingo!, which relaunches this autumn with a new look and the same successful gameplay.

We continue to build upon the popular Disney Villainous and Marvel Villainous franchise with regular new expansions and standalone games such as the highly anticipated Star Wars Villainous, which launches in September. Additionally, the popularity of fan-based and movie inspired games, such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, Alien and Back to the Future, gives players a more challenging and longer-lasting game with a great story interwoven into the gameplay. There is more opportunity for growth here in future years.

We’re in a fortunate position as a market leader. We currently hold the highest number of licences across adult and children’s puzzles, and licensors trust our ability to be innovative with the brands and deliver a superior product which will appeal to consumers. Be they educational, fun, seasonal or particularly challenging, our knowledge and insight spanning more than 135 years in puzzle design means we continually bring new developments to market, working with both trusted and new designers who can respond to our creative briefs.

Innovation is key. This year we launched our first circular puzzle, while last year saw the launch of our Escape Puzzles for adults and children. Combining puzzles and games into one item has proven to be a winning format. Our 3D range continues to perform across many designs too, particularly vehicles, the Children’s Globe and Planetary Solar System.

Supporting our retail partners is so important to us. This has always been driven by regular face to face visits, supported by our twice-yearly print trade catalogue and digital sales tools. 2022 is a year for driving footfall back into bricks & mortar stores. We have focused our efforts on promotions and activations with CreArt, GraviTrax and ThinkFun. Traditional marketing in-store activities include POS displays, in-store theatre, bespoke shelving, lightboxes, digital screens and product displays, all of which enhance our marketing support at a grassroots level.

Consumer marketing efforts this year have a stronger digital focus, with ready-made social media posts, lifestyle and product images as well as video content. We are also investing in cinema for the first time ever.

Chris Beardmore - UK sales manager, Learning Resources

Each year our company launches over 100 new products and educational games, and puzzles are always part of the product mix. From maths to literacy and coding fundamentals, using educational games is an effective way to build and reinforce skills through play, which is how children naturally learn.

With more parents than ever looking for toys and games that have an educational purpose, we continue to expand our range with innovative early years games and puzzles that build a variety of skills. This allows us to offer trade customers a range of games for different ages and developmental stages to suit their target markets.

All our products are developed to encourage learning through play. The Puzzle Cards range offers simple puzzles for pre-schoolers that teach children early maths and literacy skills, and each individual puzzle assembles in a unique way which means there’s only one correct answer. This allows children to self-correct and builds their confidence as they figure out the solutions for themselves. This unique feature is incorporated into all our puzzles, including the new Numberblocks puzzles which launch in January 2023.

Likewise, our games are all developed in collaboration with experts and are recommended by teachers, making them fun to play with while building skills such as mental maths fluency or fine motor skills. This makes them a top choice with parents: many are best-sellers and award-winners.

To grow brand awareness, Learning Resources runs a continuous multichannel consumer marketing campaign focusing on our brand, and core product categories. We also offer our customers plenty of support when it comes to setting up their own eye-catching retail displays, in-store activities and online displays.

Stewart Middleton - Consultant, VR Distribution

The biggest opportunity in the games market at the moment is the world of social media: creating products that become social media sensations. We first noticed this a few years ago, most memorably on TikTok when overnight sales of Incohearent exploded because of the viral videos users were sharing. More recently, we’ve enjoyed some great influencer content for our new game, The Fuzzies. This resulted in us selling out a full container in around three weeks. This month also sees us launch Ladbible First Impressions, which takes the successful social media entertainment and news platform and turns it into a game. These sorts of partnerships offer us great consumer recognition from day one plus significant, organic online content.

VR Distribution is in a unique position. We’ve introduced party games to many UK retailers over the past three years and these introductions have coincided with lifestyle changes - not just brought about by Covid but also by a shift in consumers’ available time and appetite for fast to learn, fun and quick games. Our growth has therefore been significant since our UK launch. This success has helped us gain distribution of global best-selling games such as Cards Against Humanity and What Do You Meme and means that we’re in a good position to gain more distribution of quality new games that provide strong play value.

As we all know, 2022 has been, and will continue to be, a challenging year. We have worked hard to maintain key price points and retailer margins, and to allocate stock so all channels can offer our high-demand lines. We run regular promotions, like our recent mid-season sale which offered our customers additional margin on current selected lines, rather than just clearing/moving bulk stock to one or two retailers.

We’ve also just committed to extending the range of our Duncan pocket money lines, specifically yo-yos and puzzles. The Duncan range has taken us in a slightly different direction but has grown well through spring/summer 2022. We have also produced POS in terms of CDUs/PDQs and FSDUs to help retailers display the range at its best, so it doesn’t get lost on-shelf.

John Briggs - Commercial director, Epoch Making Toys

The biggest opportunity for Epoch Games in the current games category is to maintain and build on the investment in family game play time that blossomed during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. In the three years since we launched our Super Mario games range, we have gone from strength to strength and are now one of the largest manufacturers in children’s games. Our games resonate well with parents and gift givers, who are looking for products that the whole family can play together. Each year we introduce range extensions to satisfy enthusiasts of iconic licences whilst expanding fan-favourite games such as Super Mario Blow Up! Shaky Tower. The collectability of our games brings families back time and time again, for a fresh take on traditional game styles.

Super Mario is a cult classic with familiar faces and games that parents will have grown up with and can enjoy again and again with their children. The majority of the characters within our range interact with one another, meaning characters from one game can be used within another providing great value and enhanced play options for consumers. Fans can switch between characters or use their favourite every time. Meanwhile, low entry points make the games accessible for all.

A 360 omni-channel marketing campaign kicked off in August, running until the end of Q4, with an abundance of influencer partnerships and the launch of our brand-new social media channels. Marketing spend will cover TV, YouTube, video on demand and gaming platforms to complement the original IP. We will also be taking The Epoch Games Super Mario range to The Big Christmas Press Show in September, giving us an invaluable opportunity to get the games in to the hands of the press while securing all important coverage in Christmas gift guide lists. Furthermore, we’ll be supporting the brand via TikTok activations in Q4. From an in-store point of view, we can support retailers with bespoke POS and lightboxes to bring additional theatre in-store and draw shoppers into the range.

Simon Newbery - Managing director, Orchard Toys

Making the most of the opportunities out there hinges on offering customers products that score high on relevancy. Games and puzzles that reflect a current theme or trend always prove popular with shoppers, of course. Current winners for us are our dinosaur themed products. Dino Snore Us, Dotty Dinosaurs and Dirty Dinos offer varied gameplay for a range of ages, which makes them very popular. Of course, it’s key is to keep evolving your designs and gameplay to maintain that relevancy. This is what we’ve done with our new puzzles for this year, and why you’ll see dinosaur exhibits in our new At the Museum puzzle. The appeal of dinosaurs is timeless, and they’re popping up in everything from games and puzzles to family-friendly attractions and cinema releases. We’ll be continuing to feature them in new and exciting lines we’re working on ready for a 2023 launch.

Brand love and loyalty ensure Orchard Toys continues to be a best-seller with consumers. The success of our core lines, such as the best-selling Shopping List, speaks for itself. We’ve invested in building the brand, earning our reputation as a trusted choice in the educational games and puzzles sector and as the go to brand for customers. ‘Learning Made Fun’ sits at the heart of each of our products, ensuring they strike the perfect balance between education and fun.

We give retailers a great choice of products suitable for kids from 18 months to 10 years, offering a variety of popular themes and price points. Our range appeals to a broad cross section of consumers and gives retailers the opportunity to achieve high levels of sales year-round. Our customers know they are buying quality, value and educational fun when they see our products on-shelf.

We appointed Kayes of Cardiff as our exclusive distribution partner for the independent sector earlier this year. This was a key strategic move for us. It’s allowed us to enhance the service we offer independent retailers by giving them access to all the games and puzzles in our portfolio as well as practical retail solutions. We’re also looking at producing POS packs for our other retail partners.

Philip Kaye - Managing director, Kayes of Cardiff

We at Kayes of Cardiff see the Games & Puzzle category as one of the fundamental sectors within the toy industry. It forms the basis of any retailer’s stock and is essential to Kayes in providing a one stop shop offering to the independent retailer looking for a range of branded and popular quality toys. We try to ensure most lines are always in stock subject to manufacturing and supply chain constraints. This enables the retailer to purchase a wide selection and fulfil the needs of their customers’ demands without committing to large volumes of stock . All the new releases of games and puzzles for the autumn/winter season are available to put on shelf during September, providing the opportunity for early selection and purchase.

Kayes tries to stock a range of popular household games as well as the specialist variety. Snakes and Ladders, Draughts, Chess and Ludo are just a few of the evergreen family favourites popular with customers. Along with the vast selection of other core games and the branded selection we stock, this makes up everything a toy store could want to complete a fantastic retail offering with a wide spectrum of games for customers to choose from.

Kayes is proud to work very closely with its branded partners enabling the independent retailer access to leading brands in small quantities and competitive prices giving them every opportunity in the high street marketplace.

Kayes has invested in its new showroom layout and has made it available for customers to visit, by appointment and see the full range of products on offer in a friendly and warm environment. All the products can be viewed first hand enabling customers own selections to be made with ease of choice. Kayes continues to endeavour to offer the retailer access to the best leading brands and has this year added Orchard Toys to its ever-expanding portfolio. Orchard’s very high reputation in the toy industry together with Kayes established connections and service levels make this an ideal and exciting partnership.

Cristiano Tonelli - International sales manager, Lisciani

Lisciani has developed a fantastic portfolio of games and puzzles based on the growing body of research around how fun activities and games can be used to support learning. Games have been shown to motivate students to learn and pay attention, whilst also helping to refine a whole host of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. In fact, our company has a unique background: it was born as a publishing house operating in pedagogy and teaching. Giuseppe Lisciani, a historic founder of the company, was an international university researcher and helped to affirm pedagogy as a science.

Popular collections include Kids Love Monsters and the new Montessori Baby line. Kids Love Monsters offers children a fun, educational range based on C. G. Jung’s atavistic theory. The funny little monsters in this collection are designed to accompany children in their development. The Giocare Educare Montessori Baby is a new line of games based on Maria Montessori’s experience-based learning approach, adapted for little ones. These games are designed to teach children in an effective and fun way, through the use of the senses.

We have responded to opportunities in the market is with our Disney Eco Puzzles. With increased demand for ecoconscious toys and games, they offer families all the joy of beloved Disney characters, in an environmentally friendly format that can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Lisciani has been designing, developing and manufacturing educational toys and games for the last 30 years. It’s also a Research Centre for childhood learning strategies. It is this that gives us such a unique perspective and an approach that is founded on real pedagogical knowledge. We offer a one-stop-shop for games and puzzles which support learning in the most fun way possible, with a range that is as popular with consumers as it is with retailers and suppliers, offering products that are one-of-a-kind and cannot be bought from elsewhere. The portfolio also offers an exceptional quality/price ratio. Lisciani has a strong social presence and a wide array of display options and materials to support its online and brick-and-mortar customers. For more information, please be sure to get in touch with our sales team.

Karen Clarke - Brand director, Smart Toys and Games

Parents continue to work towards striking a balance between digital and non-digital activity in the home. Learning with Smart Games is fun, and playing our games encourages players of all ages to develop a number of key skills as they pick up the tactile puzzle pieces and turn the page of their booklet, ready to take on the next challenge. With sustainability at the forefront of our minds, all our games have been designed with longevity in mind. Last year, we launched our first 100% recyclable collection of sustainably made games; Go Genius. Now including six titles with more to come in 2023, Go Genius ticks all the boxes as it takes players on an educational trip of a lifetime whilst making learning fun. With the encouragement to pass on our games to other family members and friends, we provide a replacement part service for every game part to ensure the play never stops.

From a minimum of 48 multi-level challenges to our renowned IQ collection including 120 challenges, we offer great value for money in each of our games. Predominantly designed as single-player games, players as young as two years old all the way up to grown-ups will love taking on each challenge. With a fast-growing collection of award-winning games ranging from pocket-size to XXL, there is a price point suitable for every puzzle game lover. Mindfulness is so important and being able to play Smart Games anywhere, anytime is the perfect treat for the mind.

As consumer spend continues to tighten, we are always happy to work with our retail partners to provide them with a Smart collection that is value for money. We love to show off our games and for anyone that wants us to come and show their customers our products we have a full demonstration programme planned for this year. Simply contact us and we will arrange a day of entertainment and challenge for all the family. We also provide free demonstration samples and access to a range of point-of-sale material and online assets. We just want everyone to be Smart.

Lynette Leet - Marketing manager, John Adams Leisure

Despite the games market being relatively flat in terms of NPD data, at John Adams we’re bucking the trend and growing our business year on year.

This is thanks to our strong portfolio of products that really offers something for everyone. Our everpopular children’s action games, such as Windy Knickers and Gassy Gus, continue to perform well, whilst heritage brands such as Rummikub are going from strength to strength. During tough economic times, we see consumers turning to brands that they know and trust, and that provide a sense of nostalgia, so games like Ghost Castle and Othello are also proving popular this year.

At John Adams we know the games market inside out. We have many years of experience of launching successful products. We know what works (and what doesn’t), so retailers can rely on us for the best concepts that have wide consumer appeal.

Whether it’s fun and frantic like Soggy Moggy and Monster Mash, or something that brings the whole family together like 60 Seconds and Split Second, all our games are carefully developed within our UK headquarters, ensuring high quality whilst also hitting key price points and offering value for money.

As always, we continue to support all our key brands and games with heavyweight media, digital, social and PR campaigns. This year is no exception. We have robust marketing plans in place throughout Q4, so our retail partners can be reassured that we’re behind them all the way, driving awareness and sales throughout the allimportant run-up to Christmas.

Scott Clarke - Sales and Operations director, Rex London

We’re really excited about puzzles at the moment. We have several in-house designed prints that we’ve used to create whole product ranges, and we realised that they not only look great on items like bags and bottles but also make really enjoyable puzzles. With options including Garden Birds, World Map and Periodic Table, there is something for everyone. And, even better, our retailers can pick up matching gifts and accessories to go with them.

We’ve created some traditional format 1,000-piece puzzles, but we’ve also introduced a new format. Our 300-piece puzzles are packed in a cube shaped box for added interest and stand alone as a piece of home decor in their own right. Such has been the success of our puzzles so far this year that for autumn/winter 22 we’re adding our first puzzle designed specifically for that purpose, rather than just inspired by existing designs. As well as our more grown-up puzzles, we also have loads of engaging options for kids. Earlier this year we introduced a collection of mini matchbox puzzles in some of our most popular children’s ranges, which will make excellent stocking fillers this Christmas.

Our team of designers also uses Rex London’s original prints to take simple games and turn them into something bright and fun, yet still affordable and accessible. We’re proudly ‘un-digital’ and are inspired by nostalgia when thinking about what to add to our collection: our traditional playground games Hopscotch and Jacks are great examples of this. We also like to add an educational element wherever we can. Our newest memory games, Ocean and Nature Trail, not only each contain 20 beautifully illustrated cards but also the names of all the animals. We’ve even included the Latin names too, if older siblings or adults feel like an added challenge.

We’re continuing to support our retail partners by providing the high level of service they have come to expect from Rex London, developing new products, and, most importantly, keeping our best-sellers in stock. Given the ongoing disruption to supply chains, we’ve been investing in keeping much more stock available from our London warehouse so it’s ready to go whenever our customers want it.

Hedley Barnes - Senior vice president International, Spin Master Toys

Following the pandemic’s effect that prompted the resurgence of classic games, consumers are now shifting to new game innovation. Added challenges, fresh play patterns and interesting innovation will dominate. Spin Master continues to keep families engaged with new features added to key core titles like Hedbanz and Beat the Parents. We’ll also merge an exciting adventure themed board game with our iconic and popular Kinetic Sand in the new Sink N’ Sand game that offers mess free sensory fun. Additionally, this autumn, the classic Rubik’s Cube will see the introduction of Rubik's Phantom, featuring thermochromic technology that temporarily reveals the tile colour with touch.

As one of the largest games companies in the world, Spin Master continuously delivers family time moments, friendly competition, and brain-bending challenges through gameplay. Our portfolio targets board game enthusiasts of all ages, from children to adults and families, providing fun, challenging and collective experiences. Known for our innovation, we are continuously reimagining experiences and introducing innovation across our wide-ranging library of owned and licensed titles, adult and children’s puzzles, and classic games.

We are focused on bringing our innovative products to life for consumers as we navigate them to shelf, educating them on the key features and inspiring them to add our titles to their collections. With careful consideration and feedback from our retail partners, we’ve developed comprehensive marketing plans to get our games into the hands of our target audiences. This kicked off with two family festival partnerships this summer as well as a six-week Welcome Break Services campaign that brought our games to selected motorway service stations. Moving into the final quarter, we’ve actioned a robust campaign, hitting all touchpoints across Sink N’ Sand, Hedbanz, Beat The Parents and Perplexus.

Mark Jones - Sales director, University Games and Lagoon

Games and puzzles is a staple category in the toy sector but it is important to keep the range fresh and on point. One trend that has taken the world by storm this year is online word guessing games. At University Games we are all about offering entertaining and inclusive games that bring family and friends together, so this month we are launching 5-Letter Wordlet, a new confounding word strategy board game. Wordlet is a popular online single player trend, and we are bringing it into the home to be played in competition with family and friends.

Another focus this year is football. The Lionesses have made the country exceptionally proud, winning the Euro 2022 this summer, and hopefully setting the tempo for England’s journey in the FIFA World Cup later in the year. Our ever-popular Subbuteo table football range includes both the Official England and Official Lionesses main games, which are both certain to be on the top of many Christmas lists. To help support this, our multi layered, heavy-weight media campaign for Subbuteo, that will run throughout Q4, will provide high levels of consumer awareness for the range.

Iconic licences, coupled with great games play or build ability is a winning combination that consumers love and retailers can capitalise on, especially leading into the festive period. Star Wars, Disney, Harry Potter and Marvel Avengers always provide great opportunities for retailers, and we are seeing this with the success of our new 3D Model Kits and 3D Puzzles which feature some of the most iconic characters, spacecraft and buildings from renowned blockbusters.

Our combined 700-strong University Games and Lagoon portfolios means we really do have a game and puzzle for everyone in the family. We offer high quality products with great games play and, critically, we are offering competitive margins to our retail partners. We cover all ages and markets including a preschool range for the youngest of players and a wide range of titles for children that includes a host of popular licences. Our family portfolio is bursting with triviabased games, murder mystery, strategy-based and adult games alongside the iconic Subbuteo and a huge 3D Puzzle and Model Kit series featuring some of the most iconic licences of the screen. For retailers looking to stock this category we really are a one stop shop for quality games and puzzles.

We are supporting many of our brands with a fully integrated marketing campaign this year including TV advertising for Subbuteo and Smart Ass along with a complete digital campaign for lines such as Judge Your Friends, Perudo, Who’s In The Bag, Bigger Is Better, Murder Mystery Case Files, Quicksand and 5 Star Review to name just a few.

Our full-time sales team are on hand to offer advice and support for all our retail partners and, as usual, we will be offering excellent stock availability, low minimum orders, reasonable pack sizes and high margins – all of which will go a long way to guaranteeing a successful year for our customers.