allegedly...
The new Transformers movie (Age of Extinction) is currently being fi lmed at North Point in Hong Kong, and according to stories which have been circulating online and in the South China Morning Post, director Michael Bay has been involved in a fracas with the locals. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of blackmail and assault after what was described as a “huge disturbance”, which resulted in the director sustaining injuries to his face after being attacked by an air conditioning unit. It is thought that Bay’s assailants were local businessmen who were seeking compensation for disruption from the fi lming, and it took local police – rather than Optimum Prime and his cohorts – to come to the director’s rescue….
The US-based China Labor Watch is at it again, accusing one of the toy giants of reducing its workers’ benefi ts by failing to pay overtime. The rights group claimed it found six factories failing on legal and ethical violations. The ‘wage theft’ is alleged to be as much as US$10m per annum....
Last month’s Allegedly column touched on the reputation that some UK buyers appear to be getting within the Chinese manufacturing community, and one experienced toy supplier emailed me to offer his thoughts on the subject, which I reprint verbatim below: “This is quite true. I was in China last week myself “encouraging” our vendors to pull their fi ngers out on the tail end of our peak production. There is good capacity in places, but the key factories have been rammed with work the last few months. The US has come in very late with production and is now demanding priority. The additional downside for UK suppliers is that, because so many of our lovely retailers impose ridiculous fi nes for late deliveries - up to £10k per line in some cases - factories are now beginning to turn away orders for certain retailers to avoid the potential for these additional fi nes, or even the requirement to air freight at their cost. This means you sometimes end up manufacturing at a second choice factory, which has the labour shortages and unreliability that leads to late shipment anyway! Catch 22 or what!” Perhaps it’s time for a rethink on the penalty clauses?
Over in the US, a minor panic rippled through the supplier community when it emerged that an email from Wal-Mart to a supplier written back in September suggested the retailer would be cutting orders over the next two quarters to address rising
74 Toyworld
inventory. After a lacklustre Summer period – when weak demand for toys based on Summer movies and indifferent weather apparently cost the industry as much as $700m according to some observers – this was the last thing that American toy companies wanted to hear. But just how much the alleged Wal-Mart cutback will impact on toy sales specifi cally, and whether other retailers will take up the slack, will no doubt become clearer over the coming weeks....
Allegedly read a fascinating article about the never-ending Bratz/Barbie legal battle, which fi nally explained in layman’s terms (your columnist not being a real lawyer and all that) what the verdict hinges on. It turns out it all comes down to one word in a contract. The word in question is ‘invention’ and apparently the dispute comes down to whether ‘invention’ also covers ‘ideas’. According to the article, whichever way the jury goes on this point may well decide who wins the case and who loses (although based on the past few years, don’t bet on that!). If any of you would like to stop reading now and go and check the wording on your employees’ contracts, you are excused....
The Hong Kong football match is making a welcome return next year. Tuesday 7th January is the date to put in your diaries. The UK toy trade’s fi nest footballers will once again be pitting themselves against a formidable Hong Kong team at the Happy Valley Stadium, with all proceeds in aid of the Fence Club. Tickets are a snip at £85, especially as all food and drink for the night is included (yes folks, ‘drink and save’ is back! The more you drink, the better value the ticket is...). There are also a number of of sponsorship opportunities, and if you are a handy footballer, you might even be able to force your way into the squad (email
davidb@charactergroup.plc.uk for more details). Allegedly has fi nally hung up his boots, but will certainly be there supporting the lads....
There is often a tendency to come out of exhibitions on a high which can colour your judgement, but even without the benefi t of hindsight, there’s no doubt this year’s Brand Licensing Show was a successful event. There’s no need to trot out the ‘it’s quality not quantity which counts’ argument about attendance; it was absolutely humming from the start of day one, and in stark contrast to the Vegas Licensing Expo, even the last day seemed busy. There seemed to be a greater percentage of international visitors
than previously, and importantly, pretty much everyone seemed to be in a positive frame of mind. One major toy company owner did suggest to me that with the October Hong Kong trip growing in importance, the timing of the show presents a few challenges to his team, but BLE seems to be on a roll, so it’s unlikely that the organisers would want to change a winning formula, especially with broadcast show Mipcom taking place the week before....
My favourite new phrase at BLE was ‘Co-exclusive rights’, which even by licensing industry standards is a stroke of genius. A licensee also mentioned that one licensor used the phrase ‘Over-arching retail road map,’ and – even better – the person in question had a completely straight face whilst doing so....
BLE is always a good place to catch up on gossip: among this year’s nuggets was the news that Jonathan Rose has left Cartamundi and has joined PR company MiPR as commercial director; Mookie Toys has a new head of marketing in the shape of Stuart Picton and Alex Phillips has left his role heading up the toy team at Tesco, although he remains within the company. In addition, Tesco boys and construction buyer James Kelsey has left to head to Dubai, where he joins Gulf Greetings, which coincidentally is the subject of this month’s retail interview. Strong rumours were also circulating suggesting that Tesco will shortly be opening its own eBay store, which will certainly be an interesting move if it proves to be true.
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