Printing in-store is messy and slow, but shops are ideal for stocking accessories, says MakieLab’s Alice Taylor... by Dominic Sacco
THE OWNER of a digital-inspired doll start-up believes retail has nothing to fear from the potentially lucrative 3D printing manufacturing process. Shoreditch-based firm MakieLab allows customers to create their own virtual character using its website, makie.me. For a fee, the company can turn this into a physical toy Makie doll using special software and 3D printers, before posting it out directly to the consumer. Founder and CEO Alice Taylor says that while 3D printing is unsuitable for retailers, as it’s ‘smelly and messy’, there’s still an
opportunity for them to get involved. “We’ve had a couple of meetings with retailers and we’ve talked about things like kiosks and printers in the shop,” she told ToyNews. “FDM plastic smells of warm, burning plastic.
MakieLab says it’s been influenced by the smash hit Moshi Monsters online game, which spawned a plethora of popular licensed toys. “We’re looking at Makie going [the way Moshi Monsters did],” Taylor added. “If you go into a toy store they have Moshi Monsters stickers. They don’t have the online game, but they have everything else. “[Moshi creator] Michael
TAYLOR: “We’ve had a couple of meetings with retailers and we’ve talked about things like kiosks and printers in the shop...”
“And so I’m not thinking shops will have 3D printing on-site. “Plus it’s kind of slow, unlike Build-
A-Bear teddy bears, so I don’t think retail will get in on this angle of 3D printed toys yet.
“That said, once you’ve created a
toy, you’re back into the little accessories world. We might make some Makie sticker sets that can go into retailers. You could also have point-of-sale gift cards.”
Acton Smith is a friend of mine and I’ve watched him do it from the beginning. “It’s amazing. With Moshi, Mind Candy took a year going into open beta. They spent that year with 12 people and we modelled MakieLab with that.” Looking forward, eventually a Makie online game will launch, allowing users to level up and unlock new items for their Makies. hello@makielab.com
Now Mattel eyes up success in digital by Dominic Sacco
SOME of the biggest IPs in digital will bridge the gap between toys and games this month – including the billion-selling Angry Birds. Mattel is releasing its new Apptivity range in September, which consists of toys that can be placed on an iPad and used to control what happens on screen.
Each £11.99 product consists of a toy which can be used in a downloadable game, but there are £24.99 Starter Packs available, too.
Apptivity toys include Hot Wheels, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, WWE Rumblers, Cut the Rope, Fruit Ninja, Fisher-Price Laugh ‘N’ Learn and Angry Birds Magic. “We’ve been doing card games and board games for decades,” Mattel’s UK general manager Geoff Walker told ToyNews. “And [recently] we saw kids and adults swinging to these apps. We launched Angry Birds at the end of last year and it’s just been on fire – it wildly exceeded our expectations. Now we’re moving into Cut The Rope and Angry Birds Magic.
“The momentum hasn’t slowed down. It’s really translated with consumers. When you put the character on the iPad, it unlocks new
We launched Angry Birds
last year and it’s just been on fire.
levels. For the Angry Birds fan it’s going to be massive.” Mattel: 01628 500000