History and Hysteria : Vampire Invade europe, Japan’s Humbert Humbert, French Firefighters Go Macho
Just as it seemed the somnolent retail toy market was perking up, with strong late-December sales and words like “optimistic” floating through the press, this year’s lackluster Toy Fair served as a reminder that it’s going to take more than a nuzzling T-Rex to bring the industry out of its slump.
The largest to date, boasting 1600 exhibitors from 31 countries, attendee registration for “Play Meets Profit” was reportedly up 18%, and although the miles of snaking line dividers seemed to suggest that organizers had planned for a descent of the hordes, the absence of people waiting in lines called into question where exactly that 18 percent was hiding.
The newest addition to the fair was the Reading, Writing and Rhythm section that grouped all of the publishers – from industry giants Scholastic and HarperCollins to unknown independents Knowing and Growing and ee publishing – in one aisle. The section also attempted to cash in on the booming children’s audio market, an endeavor that might have been successful had the aisle of choice not been aisle 3000, located in what turned out to be the Jersey of the Javits, (which, in a year filled with talk about experimental marketing, and the importance of product placement in innovative venues, was ironically ineffective).
Apart from Scholastic and Klutz, which were buzzing near the entrance, Time Warner, Disney, HarperCollins, Silver Dolphin (the AMS imprint), Wiley, Evan Moor, Random House, Harcourt and Candlewick were all empty. In some cases, not even the exhibitor was present, and the stands were left to fend for themselves. Although Usborne’s distributor EDC (also empty) said they didn’t notice a large difference in crowd size after being subsumed by RW&R, other publishers were more pessimistic, noting that not only was attendance sluggish, but that buyers who did manage to wend their way to the far end of the fair were doing much less on-the-spot buying than in years past.
Not withstanding the above, Reyne Rice, Toy Trends Specialist for the Toy Industry Association, said that they had received a “very good response” to the Reading, Writing and Rhythm section, and that it “will be back next year.” But to the casual observer, publishers who opted out of the RW&R conglomeration – like publishing newcomer University Games (with their enormous right-at-the-front-door spread), Lisa LeLeu Puppet Show Books, and Soft Play – seemed much more pleased than those who didn’t. One vendor near the back wall managed to put a positive spin on things, however, as he sat eating chocolates in his empty booth. “It could be worse,” he said. “I’m just happy I’m not across from the guy with the washboard ties.”
KAGOY is the Word
“Kids are getting older younger” or KAGOY (as the sassy industry acronym goes) was the catch phrase of the moment, after high tech toys for tots offered a sunny respite from an otherwise gloomy overall retail decline. According to The NPD Group electronic learning and youth electronics toy sales in the infant/preschool and learning/exploration categories were up 10% to 19% respectively, putting a spotlight on the diaper demographic.
“Pre-School is hot,” said Chris Campbell, SVP Marketing at Publications International, emphasizing what has long been known to be a pillar of licensing activity. “Kids are constantly exposed to progressively more sophisticated, interactive opportunities,” he said, “and if you look at product going forward, the majority will have some level of interactivity with an electronic component.”
With 90% plus market share in the sound books business, PIL has a slew of interactive books for young kids. Their hallmark product, the Story Reader, is a portable electronic case that holds refillable books, and automatically recognizes the page that the child is on, reading out loud accordingly. After selling 1.5 million units since it debuted in 2003, PIL has plans to crack the even younger market by introducing a My First Story Reader aimed at children six months to age three (and featuring Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh and Baby Einstein) this fall.
One of the most exciting PIL sound books, however, was the Sponge Bob cash register book that will come fully equipped with a scanner that scans barcodes inside the book and then posts the total on the attached cash register’s LCD screen. The register acts as a calculator as well, with a functional money-filled drawer that pops in and out. For those shopping-savvy toddlers who know that plastic is the way to go, the book also comes with a credit card that keeps track of purchases, allowing the child to learn the joy of addition and subtraction by racking up debt.
KAGOY doesn’t just mean trickle down high-tech, however, and already a “pendulum swing toward low-tech products” can be seen as well, Rice pointed out. Anticipating the stress that such a frenetic techno-gadget world can induce, parents are jumping the gun and buying low-tech to counteract the onslaught, snatching up yoga videos from Kids Musical Yoga and relaxation CDs from Joy Stories for their newborns to three-year-olds.
Now, if only Starbucks would come on board with chai flavored breast milk…
Can You Say Buen Negocio?
As an aside, Spanish was everywhere at this year’s fair, from product lines (1/3 of PIL’s line now has Spanish language equivalents) to the chatter in the aisles. In one of the newest successful developments in the growing English/Spanish asociación, Baby Einstein was licensed by Disney to AMS’ Silver Dolphin for distribution in Mexico. According to Jeanne Mosure, Disney’s VP Global Retail Markets and Sydney Stanley, AMS’ VP Product Development, the joint venture, Silver Dolphin En Espanol, launched with 12 titles in 2003, followed by 8 more in 2004, and was hugely successful (fueled, no doubt, by Costco’s growing presence south of the border). This early success prompted AMS/Disney to test distribution for the same Spanish language titles in the US via PGW. Plans for this year include expanded distribution to Chile and Argentina.
