TOTAL LICENSING
toys, inflatables and outdoor play Despite slowing sales, particularly as we go to press, final numbers have
items. In addition, Martin Yaffe exhibit- during the turbulent economy that not yet been released.
ed outdoor and moulded items featur- plagued the fourth quarter of 2008, This said, the atmosphere within the
ing other key properties including Bob recent research from NPD shows halls was generally positive. Manufac-
the Builder and Thomas & Friends. spending on toys captured the larg- turers are gearing up to trends for
Finally in our quick roundup of the est share of total expenditures on 2009 that many would not have fore-
Nuremberg Toy Fair, Golden Bear kids ages 0-14 during the five weeks seen a year or so ago.
launched a range of new products in- leading up to Christmas. Apparel and In terms of licensing, Disney properties
cluding an extension to their My First accessories, video game hardware, and fared well with Princesses, Fairies and
JCB line. The company also debuted a video/PC game software followed toys High School Musical appearing on a
collection of Shaun the Sheep products in terms of dollar sales ranking. number of booths. Movies in the form
including aprons, keyrings, CD holders, “While many industries are feeling the of Harry Potter, GI Joe, Transformers
air fresheners, hanging car dice, mobile effects of the economy, this shows that and DragonBall all made good show-
phone and iPod holders. toys remain a vital part of total spend- ings at the fair as did classic properties
The Talking Thomas & Friends range ing on kids,” said Anita Frazier, indus- such as Sesame Street.
introduces a new character whilst The try analyst, The NPD Group. Some manufacturers demonstrated
Peppa Pig range has been extended to Several key super-categories expe- their skills at keeping up with trends,
include new wooden products. rienced significant swings in sales on and attracting attention, with a number
In addition, the Golden Bear Charlie both the positive and negative sides of showing product featuring President
and Lola collection has been broadened the spectrum, with Building Sets and Obama – in particular US Games Sys-
to include new items such as Bouncing Plush showing growth of 26 percent, tems who launched a card deck with
Lola, as well as the Charlie and Lola and 22 percent, respectively. On the each card representing a campaign
space hopper and the introduction of downside, Vehicles, Youth Electronics, promise.
Sizzles the Dog. and Dolls saw the largest declines in At the other end of the scale, an ac-
Overall, according to a sur- tion figure of a pitchfork-
vey of exhibitors carried wielding Bernard Madoff at-
out by the organisers more tracted sufficient interest that
than 80% were more than its creator expected to have
happy with the results from sold over 1000 by the end of
this year’s event. Over 89% the third day of the show.
intend to exhibit next year The doll was originally cre-
and, most importantly, more ated to cheer up a friend who
than 82% of visitors intend to visit the 2008, with respective losses of 16 per- lost money in the alleged $50 billion
show in 2010. cent, 14 percent, and 10 percent over fraud by Wall Street investment man-
2007. ager Madoff.
According to figures released by The All channels experienced declines in Selling for nearly $100, the Bernie ‘He
NPD Group just prior to the open- 2008 except for Food/Drug stores, Made Off with My Money’ Madoff ac-
ing of this year’s American Inter- which experienced a slight gain of 1 tion figure comes with a hammer, de-
national Toy Fair, US retail sales of percent. Mass Merchant/Discount, signed to ‘pulverize Bernie Madoff’.
toys generated $21.64 billion in 2008 and Online/Internet channels saw the In terms of the major players, Mattel
compared to $22.32 billion in 2007 - a most modest declines, with losses of 2 unveiled their revamped Barbie line in
decline of 3 percent. With a loss of 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively. anticipation of the doll’s 50 anniver-
percent, the fourth quarter of the year In terms of licensing, the leading prop- sary and Hasbro’s key toys for 2009
showed the most significant decline in erties for the year (based on total included GI Joe and Transformers
sales for the year. dollar sales) included Barbie, Crayola, ranges based on the movies due out
Star Wars, Transformers, and Webkinz. later this year.
Licensed toys represented 27 percent When the dust settles on the show,
of total industry sales in 2008 – the no doubt manufacturers are in for a
same percentage as in 2007. Star Wars difficult year – made all the more dif-
and Disney Princess topped the list of ficult by the fact that the coming year
2008’s best-selling licensed proper- is difficult, if not impossible, to predict.
ties. However, as several manufacturers
Following the general trend of other told us, parents and carers will still
toy fairs in the first quarter, The Amer- buy toys for their kids. The question
ican International Toy Fair which took is how much will they be willing to
place mid February at New York’s spend. And, in today’s changing climate,
Jacob Javits Center seemed somewhat nobody has the answer to that at the
quieter than previous years although, moment.
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