viewpoint Richard
Gottlieb Global Toy Experts
Top 10 U.S. toy industry news stories of 2012
It’s that time of year again for us to look at the top news stories of 2012. So, here is my list, not in any particular order, of what made news this year:
Toys and politics: Etch-A-Sketch, Ohio Art and KB Toys It was both amusing and disconcerting to see the toy industry get involuntarily pulled into politics. Eric Fehrnstrom, an advisor to Mitt Romney’s campaign, predicted that his boss would move away from his more extreme statements once the election was over. This is how he put it: “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign; everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch; you can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.” Mr. Romney’s more conservative followers were disconcerted, but Ohio Art had a field day with free publicity. Ohio Art was not the only toy company to get pulled into the political arena. In the primaries and during the election, Mr Romney’s opponents attempted to tie him to his former company Bain Capital and its stewardship of bankrupt KB Toys. Mr. Romney wasn’t at Bain when KB was acquired but that didn’t stop his opponents from calling him to task for what was perceived as questionable management. Even though the election is over, toy companies continue to be part of the political discussion. President Obama, after the election, visited the K’Nex factory in Pennsylvania to celebrate American manufacturing.
Neil Friedman and Greg Ahearn exit Toys R Us Last year’s Top 10 included the news that Neil Friedman had been hired by Toys R Us to become president of its US division. This year’s Top 10 also includes Mr Friedman but this time for leaving Toys R Us. Also departing this year was Greg Ahearn who moved to Leap Frog where he is now chief marketing officer.
Richard Barry becomes chief marketing officer at Toys R Us Richard Barry was promoted to chief marketing officer for Toys R Us. This was a popular choice for those who enjoyed seeing a company veteran rise to the top.
Walt Disney Company purchases Lucasfilm This story caused industry heads to spin around like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Walt Disney, the 10,000 pound gorilla became the 20,000 pound gorilla through the purchase. A lot of people are holding their breath to see how Disney uses its exponentially increased clout. Who will Disney buy next?
JAKKS successfully fends of Oak Tree Capital and Jay Foreman Jay Foreman and Oak Tree Capital made a considerable effort to take private the publicly held JAKKS. This year, Foreman and Oak Tree folded their tents and withdrew from the battlefield.
Spin Master purchases the key Wild Planet intellectual property assets It was sad for many in the toy industry to see Danny Grossman’s company, Wild Planet, sell off its key intellectual property assets. Grossman, who started the company in 1993, was a toy industry stalwart not only building a company but contributing his time and energy to the industry at large. It would be great to see Danny make a comeback.
Ali Mafi 50 Fifty Gifts
It’s for you...
Not many things really annoy me. Well, that’s not exactly true, but humour me. I was mega
annoyed trying to get through to BT yesterday and speak with a human being. I would gladly have accepted speaking to someone from the more far-flung call centres in the middle of their night, but even this modest wish was not fulfilled. Please note that we are talking about one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world. So you dial ‘100’, and the first thing is about ten minutes of a recorded message trying to convince you to put the phone down and go online, but I was determined to hold on. So next come the options which sadly did not include: ”If you are really annoyed and want to meet and punch our CEO in the face, please
Girls Construction Toys Arrive Lego, after numerous failures in trying to create a girls construction line, finally got it right with its Lego Friends line. Not to be outdone, rival Mega Bloks countered with Barbie Build ‘n Style. Good for Lego and Mega Bloks, great for girls.
Big Wheel is Back Kids Only got the rights to the classic Big Wheel and have brought it back. Good for them; but the question that arises is why did it go away in the first place? Many a father and mother who loved their Big Wheel are going to be buying one for their child.
Battleship movie bombs; GI Joe movie postponed It was not a good year for Hasbro at the movies as its Battleship movie drew small US audiences and bad reviews. Here is how the Hollywood Reporter put it in its article, “‘Battleship’ Fallout: Lessons From a Box Office Sinking (Analysis): When a big movie like Battleship tanks, inevitably a sense of dread ripples through Hollywood.” That may be the reason that Hasbro postponed the
release of its GI Joe: Retaliation movie from last June to this coming March. It was said that the reason was the studio wanted to add 3D and other effects. The fact that tie in products had already shipped and had to be called back makes you suspect that someone decided that they might have had another failure on their hands.
Brian Stockton named chairman of Mattel board Last year Brian Stockton made our list by becoming the company’s new CEO. This year he became the supreme leader. This should be good news for Mattel and for the toy industry. As I wrote last year: “Bryan Stockton is known for being highly collaborative and inclusive as can be witnessed with his very visible presence with the Toy Industry Association (2011 Chairman of the Executive committee. So I think, look for Mattel to take a broader view of the importance of the entire toy industry in factoring its own goals.” So, that’s it for 2012. What will 2013 bring?
type in ‘412’.” So having gone through all the options, sub options and tertiary options, I was asked for my account number. I assumed this to be my phone number, but no, that wasn’t being accepted. I had a brain wave: I will select an option which
requires human interaction; I know I will want to enquire about getting a new line so I pressed ‘8’ and waited. Ok, I did go through a few more of the options on offer which I selected randomly. I think it amounted to wanting to move to Edinburgh and needing 632 new phone lines... I had one of those ‘eureka’ moments when a human being answered. It didn’t last long because whoever it was that answered the phone
Toyworld 59
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230