Of Robots and
Retrenchment: Toy Fair 2001
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (MARCH 2001)
Advance
publicity for this year’s Toy Fair generated all the
thrill of a wet blanket, with announcements rolling
in from industry giants Mattel and Hasbro
that their presence at the 98-year-old show will be
significantly notched down in 2002. As talk of “downsizing”
and “retrenching” swirled in the press, we were also
treated to the news that while 1999 toy sales showed
the largest increase in a decade, last year’s sales
dropped 1.4% to $16.4 billion, with units declining
4.9% to 3.4 billion. The industry blamed soft holiday
sales on everything from a weakening stock market to
the presidential election, according to Patrick Feely,
chairman of the Toy Manufacturers of America.
Indeed, the brightest spots in the toy biz playpen were
the booming scooter industry, a 5.5% uptick in the infant/preschool
category brought on by some high-tech gizmos, and the
emergent field of robotic animals (see below).
Amid the gloomy outlook, it would seem that toymakers’
dependence on volatile movie-related licensing gigs
(with the exception of flukes like Toy Story, of course)
just confirms that book-originated characters are the
ongoing lifeblood of the industry. To prove the point,
once again the annual shindig at the Javits Center,
the Toy Building, and other selected New York City venues
was dominated by a book character: the ubiquitous Eloise
(well, ok, Barbie was everywhere too, but she
seemed to have lost some of her verve). Eloise has come
into her own following the death of author Kay Thompson,
who had heretofore rejected all licensing and repackaging
attempts on the part of its original publisher, Simon
& Schuster. Licensee itsy bitsy hit the
ground running with Eloise, however, and their booth
was dominated by the little lass. S&S, meanwhile,
will be moving on with the launch of six new licensed
properties this fall, including corporate cousin Nick-sourced
Little Bill and Rocket Power as well as
Peanuts and OshKosh B’gosh, among others.
Book-originated characters, it seems, will always be
sharing a portion of the Toy Fair limelight with their
non-literary friends.
Still, the sassy young resident of New York’s Plaza
Hotel even knocked Harry Potter out of the park,
raising questions about Harry’s relatively understated
toy presence. Normally one would expect about 100 movie
tie-in licenses for such a major property, but Ms.
Rowling’s interest in protecting her protégé from
over-exploitation has resulted in far fewer toy releases
for the Potter series. (Warner Brothers would
not reveal the actual number, however.) All the same,
the market can look forward to such wondrous Potter
items as a Quidditch broom from Tiger Electronics;
Hasbro’s “interactive candy” in the form of Bertie Bott’s
Beans, with both good and bad flavors; and Mattel’s
handheld “levitating” game. Spied here and there at
the fair were also a kite, puzzles, board games, and
paper goods, while apparel is said to be in the wings.
Note: Last year’s desk diary from Andrews McMeel
reportedly netted out at 1.2 million units, with
a 1 million first printing, followed rather too rapidly
by an equally huge second printing after advance orders
ate up the first in five weeks. (A no-no in calendar
publishing, but the flesh is weak — and greedy!) It
was also reported that the Warner Bros. style guide
was very difficult to work with, which might have scared
off some potential licensees. And apparently Rowling
won’t approve any subsidiary use requiring text — so
everything is word-free. Despite the low-key role for
Potter, there is said to be a global publishing tie-in
deal which won’t be announced until the end of March
— and by the time the movie hits in November, Harry
could be the new mascot for Toys ‘R’ Us.
Most of the book publishers at Toy Fair — whose booths
were looking rather more spruced up than usual — reported
a solid response to their wares, even if they weren’t
offering much that was novel. Booths for School Zone,
Sterling, DK, HarperCollins, and
Klutz were buzzing. And McGraw-Hill Children’s
Publishing (formerly called Consumer Products, the unit
was created following the acquisition of Tribune
Education, which included Landoll) was crowing
about its new status as the #1 children’s educational
publisher (with more than 20 million children ages 3–13
using their materials daily) and its presence among
the top 10 of US children’s publishers. With the latest
acquisitions, McGraw-Hill is able to reach all markets
from top to bottom, and their showroom in the Toy Building
featured licensed products from the likes of Disney,
Nickelodeon, Arthur, Little Critter,
Henson, Warner Brothers, and their latest Nelvana
— and they’re on the lookout for more. Incidentally,
Jeanne Finestone was recently named vice president
of marketing for the children’s unit (she was formerly
managing director of McClanahan Book Company).
Goodbye
Rambo, Hello Aibo
On
the book front, Learning Curve International,
the Chicago-based toy developer, will soon be a major
publishing force, with the redoubtable Mike Morris
and Patty Sullivan advising them on product
development and sales, and Rachel Ginsburg handling
additional markets. Their proprietary publishing line,
originally spawned from a Lamaze license via
B&N’s Michael Friedman, continues
to expand. In response to many of the toys on display
at the Javits Center, the president of Learning Curve,
John Lee, in conjunction with Playing for
Keeps, a broad-based coalition, announced the group’s
second annual conference. Dedicated to promoting “the
right of children to creative, imaginative, and non-violent
play,” the conference — limited to a maximum of 250
people — will be held at Wheelock College in Boston
on March 16–18. “This year’s conference,” says Lee,
“will provide another opportunity for leaders in the
children’s toy, media, and entertainment industries
to come together with educators and family advocates
to discuss play practices that will benefit children.”
(For more information contact Linda Yates at
617 879-2185 or email lyates@wheelock.edu.)
But
enough about books. The star of Toy Fair for many participants
was clearly Aibo, the Japanese computerized dog,
which retails at $1500. (“Personality Enhancement Aibo-ware”
was available for an additional $90.) TV cameras followed
fair spectators around, recording their reactions to
this sleek critter, who wags his tail when petted, and
will kick a ball placed in his path. An overheard comment,
which made him seem more human, was that Aibo will “forget”
if he isn’t played with constantly. (One wonders if
he bites, too.) On the other hand, for a mere $99 wholesale,
you can get two Insectazoids, which are hideous,
radio-controlled cockroach-like beasts that are quite
a bit larger than life. Looks like Aibo’s got his work
cut out for him.
©2001
Publishing Trends
