[LBW]⋙ Read Gratis The Real Toy Story Inside the Ruthless Battle for America Youngest Consumers Eric Clark 9780743247658 Books

The Real Toy Story Inside the Ruthless Battle for America Youngest Consumers Eric Clark 9780743247658 Books

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The Real Toy Story Inside the Ruthless Battle for America Youngest Consumers Eric Clark 9780743247658 Books

Eric Clark offers a robust review of the American Toy Industry. With such a large industry it is no surprise that there are limitations (little to no mention of the worldwide toy industry, limited historical information in favor of 1990+) but things flow well and avoid getting overly detailed in any one area. The anecdotes in each chapter help to provide the fun expected of a book on play things while Clark still provides plenty of insight into the business challenges, ethics, and financial issues of the industry.

Published in 2007, the anecdotes are starting to be a bit dated and major changes have happened in the industry (Lego exploded between 2007-2014, Web presence has created pressure for the big box retailers) but most of the workings of product development, inventors, and companies still follow many of the same practices outlined in the book.

Other books for those interested
Toy Monster: The Story of Mattel
http://www.amazon.com/Toy-Monster-The-World-Mattel/dp/0470548584

Toyland a similar expose written in the 1990's (interesting to contrast/compare what is the same and different between the two)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0809245205/ref=pdp_new_dp_review


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The Real Toy Story Inside the Ruthless Battle for America Youngest Consumers Eric Clark 9780743247658 Books Reviews

I recently purchased, read and enjoyed a companion book, Toy Wars from the late 90s. This book picked the ball up and kept my research on this topic updated to about 2009. Not too shabby. Very enjoyable read. Recommended.
I really enjoyed reading this book and feel it has educated me about a number of things in dealing in the business world of games and toys.
I developed a board game myself and thought it would be simple to get it looked at by a major player - Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Hasbro, Mattel etc. It turned out to be anything but. Little did I know the game companies won't even talk to independents such as myself. If I had read this book first I would have known that up front. A developer such as myself must go through one of a small number of approved Brokers (ceding them 40% of your royalties in the process) simply to get the game shown to the game manufacturers. What an education that was. Then trying to get a broker such as Anjar in Rhode Island to simply return a phone call (I called them ~20 times over 6 weeks leaving name and phone number with no call backs) is an unimaginable headache. You'd think if you were eager to write them a sizeable check simply to "review" your product with no commitment on their end, they'd be eager to call you back, but such is not the case. Apparently they are too busy (doing who knows what) to bother returning calls.
The Real Toy Story shares many of the hard realities of what it takes to get something done in a business that despite marketing teddy bears and barbie dolls is cut-throat and abusive. I fully believe in the game I have created and have gotten nothing but rave reviews and feedback from all those who have test marketed it. Getting anyone in the industry to actually open their eyes and talk with you though has turned in to a headache I never anticipated. If I had read The Real Toy Story before hand I would have been better prepared in dealing with these people.
The Real Toy Story is an inside look at the toy industry, and how toys are invented, manufactured, and marketed. The book also describes the difficulties of the toy industry, and what companies do to overcome these obstacles.

The top two sellers in the toy industry are Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us. Thirty percent of all toys sold in the U.S. are purchased at Wal-Mart, which prices their toys so low that other companies have a very hard time competing. But Wal-Mart is not making a profit on toy sales. Their strategy is to use toys as a loss leader to generate more foot traffic into the store. A loss leader is defined as a product or service sold at a substantial discount in order to generate additional sales. Does the strategy work for Wal-Mart? The company has 22 to 26 visits a year by the average family, compared with 4 to 5 at Toys "R" Us. In 2007, Wal-Mart's toy sales brought in $5 billion in revenue worldwide, and Wal-Mart`s total worldwide sales was $270 billion. It's not uncommon to see a flashing sign at a gas station advertising a low price for milk or other items in order to lure consumers into the store. While the gas station might be losing money on the sale of the milk, it gets people into the store with the hopes that higher profit margin items will be sold, such as coffee and candy. This is an example of a loss leader. Both Sony and Microsoft have sold their video game consoles, the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, at a loss and made up for it through game software and other accessories sold at a profit. Wal-Mart is wisely leveraging the appeal of low-priced toys as a way to generate more foot traffic, and in turn generate more sales of higher margin items.

Seth Goden, in his book All Marketers Are Liars, points out that great marketers focus on the attributes of a product, as much as focusing on telling a story about the product to a select group of people with a worldview that fits with that story. In turn, a successful story will appeal to that group, who will buy the product, and tell friends and others about it. In the 1980's, toy advertising was under tight guidelines established by the National Association of Broadcasters. One rule was that the use of animation in advertising was strictly prohibited. This was to protect child viewers from confusing what was real, and what was fantasy sell. Hasbro had purchased a toy idea from a Japanese inventor, which were cars and airplanes that transformed into robots. Hasbro decided to license the toy, but needed a way to market it successfully without being able to use animation in advertising. Hasbro decided the toys were going to be characters in a story. Good guys versus bad guys. Good versus evil, with each character having its own look and identity. Because comic books did not advertise on television, there were no guidelines for commercials for comic books. Hasbro decided to team up with Marvel Comics and create the Transformers comic book telling the story of the Transformers characters, complete with plots and action. The comic book discreetly served as one big advertisement for Transformers. In addition to the comic book, Hasbro created a Transformers animated show, which told the marketing story loud and clear to millions of children using the medium of television. Essentially, Hasbro circumvented the rule against using animated advertising by creating the animated show, which was basically an entertaining "program-length commercial" and became wildly popular with kids. By reading the comic books and watching the Transformers show, kids had bought into the Transformers story. In turn, when kids saw actual television commercials advertising Transformers toys, they were already immersed in the marketing story, and fully aware of what the characters represented. Kids all over the world were eager to buy the toys and tell their friends. In a stroke of pure marketing genius, Hasbro made millions of dollars from their Transformers toys by using television and comic books as marketing tools to tell a powerful story to children.

In reading about the characteristics and challenges of the toy industry, I contrasted it with the automotive industry. The automotive industry is driven by the tastes of adults, which remains relatively stable and consistent, and doesn't typically change on a whim. This makes the lifespan and production output for cars much easier to predict. Compare this with the toy industry, which is driven by the fickleness and unpredictability of children. What kids are eagerly demanding today could change next week, next month, or next year. Who can predict it? Instant gratification allows children to get sick of a toy quickly, and replace it with a new favorite in a very short period of time. This makes it very difficult to control the manufacturing output. If a company sells 10 million gizmos this year, should output be 20 million for next year? What if the latest craze takes over and wipes out sales? Companies run the risk of losing a lot of money if things don't go according to plan. Additionally, the automotive industry is a seller's market, in which manufacturers can consistently demand higher prices over time for their cars. Contrast this with the toy industry, which is saturated with so much competition, it has become a price-sensitive hyperchoice buyer's market. However, for all the challenges in the toy industry, toys have an advantage over all other consumer products. They are traditionally economy-proof parents sacrifice and scale back on themselves before they do on their kids. Sales of toys will continue at a normal pace when economic recessions occur. The automotive industry is not economy-proof. Downturns can cause new car sales to stagger, with consumers spending on used cars as a more economical alternative during hard times.

I enjoyed reading the book. Being exposed to the inner workings of the toy industry was truly eye-opening. Children can be incredibly hard to predict, making the marketing and manufacturing of toys a very high-risk, high-reward endeavor. Toy companies can be incredibly cutthroat and competitive in searching for that next big hit, and low-cost way to bring it to market. I found it both fascinating and revealing to learn how many animated movies and television shows have a hidden agenda to exploit their characters and tell a marketing story that will appeal to children and sell toys. (E.g. Toy Story trilogy, Thundercats television show, and so many more). With today's generation of children having an endless amount of activities to choose from, places to go, and programs to watch, it's no wonder toy companies are constantly battling for a position in the impressionable mind of a child.
Eric Clark offers a robust review of the American Toy Industry. With such a large industry it is no surprise that there are limitations (little to no mention of the worldwide toy industry, limited historical information in favor of 1990+) but things flow well and avoid getting overly detailed in any one area. The anecdotes in each chapter help to provide the fun expected of a book on play things while Clark still provides plenty of insight into the business challenges, ethics, and financial issues of the industry.

Published in 2007, the anecdotes are starting to be a bit dated and major changes have happened in the industry (Lego exploded between 2007-2014, Web presence has created pressure for the big box retailers) but most of the workings of product development, inventors, and companies still follow many of the same practices outlined in the book.

Other books for those interested
Toy Monster The Story of Mattel
http//www./Toy-Monster-The-World-Mattel/dp/0470548584

Toyland a similar expose written in the 1990's (interesting to contrast/compare what is the same and different between the two)
http//www./dp/0809245205/ref=pdp_new_dp_review