viewpoint
contrast, paying taxes is seen as being totally optional, something the politicians and civil servants are happy to overlook so long as the brown envelopes flow uninterruptedly. Those of you involved in supplying these
Ali Mafi 50 Fifty Gifts
It has to be really tough on the bankers
I kind of feel as if I have been wheeled out of retirement as I had, as some of you have noticed, kind of stopped writing. Writing something short but really funny is a bit of a toughie considering the financial markets around the world are falling apart at this precise moment. I am also hugely disappointed to discover that despite having turned 60 last week I don’t qualify for a bus pass for another six years now. But back to the subject of financial collapse:
It has to be really tough on the bankers who must have thought they were over the worst of it and that the gravy train was about to start rolling again because those southern Europeans have royally screwed it up. You see, the thing is that in most northern
European countries we are kind of obliged to pay our taxes or end up in the slammer if we refrain from entertaining Her Majesty’s Revenue’s requests to part with substantial parts of our income. In southern Europe, by
countries will be aware that payment for goods is often seen as an option. The problem is that our banks are into these
countries for huge wedges of wonga and have for years been propping up these failing economies in order to maintain the debts in their books as being good. I am not going to be over dramatic but I will say that four or five European countries defaulting on their debt is pretty much on the south side of good. Italy is in the G7, meaning it is amongst the
seven richest nations on the planet and Spain is the fourth largest economy in the Euro Zone so a default by them is not like you and I missing a mortgage payment: it’s a tad more dramatic than that. I am inclined to go along with the economists who believe the whole system is rotten to the core and the best solution is to allow these countries go bankrupt and start again. The one bit of good news is that businesses
do survive and prosper under all conditions and it is only a matter of adapting yourself to the market. The problem is the triple whammy we are going to suffer with our currencies becoming weaker, the Chinese economy getting ever stronger and raw material costs escalating meaning far higher cost prices - but then they have been totally unrealistically low for far too long.
I am absolutely certain that the balance of
economic strength is going to see a seismic shift to the East and that our days of wealth dominance are over. We are going to start working hard for our money again and I say amen to that.
In my opinion the companies that will
survive are those who innovate and create toys with play value at an acceptable (notice I have not said ‘low’) cost. Importers and sourcers are going to have a tougher time too as retailers will, of necessity, cut them out. Those of you interested in F1 racing will have
noticed that in changing weather conditions the major teams wait for one of the minor teams to take a risk with a tyre change and then make their decision based on the performance of that team before and after. There are plenty of opportunities for us to
observe other people’s successes and failures and act accordingly and the one observation I can make is that label-slapping is no longer an acceptable way of marketing a product. Both the buyers and the consumer are far too wise for that.
So if you want to survive this double dip you need to be really lean, efficient, innovative, frugal (do without the Bentley for now) and dynamic. Oh and if you can afford it then buy gold and platinum to hoard. Those who survive will be rewarded very handsomely but it does take a certain mentality and sadly most don’t have it.
• Ali Mafi heads up 50 Fifty Gifts and Mint Toys.
Ramblings of a media man Simon
Poole Simpool Solutions Ltd
When Toy World asked me to contribute a piece on media on a monthly basis, the brief to me was “make it interesting”. Thanks. Unfortunately media is all about
figures that seem irrelevant and jargon that makes no sense, so I think the best thing to do is not to write about media at all.
No, I hear you say, we need to know, we
want to know, we are interested… I will tell you therefore, that Cartoonito is
up over 100 per cent year on year (brilliant result) and that Nicktoons are having a complete shocker at 38 per cent down year on year.
I will also tell you that CITV on breakfast weekdays has the
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