5
QUESTIONS WITH
Josh Loerzel, national sales manager 1. What is the history and mission of Zing Toys? Zing was founded in 2006. The basic philosophy of the company, which still holds true today, is that kids spend too much time indoors watching TV or playing video games. We wanted to create a company that focused on developing innovative, exciting products that would compel kids to get off the couch, put down their smartphones, and get outside and play. At first, we started selling primarily to the specialty toy and gift market, but as we developed new and even more highperformance products, our distribution expanded. Today, in addition to selling to specialty retailers, we sell into the massmarket chains as well.
3. What factors do you consider when developing a new product? First and foremost, we consider whether or not the product concept is exciting and fun. Will it compel kids to get up and play? Do we like playing with it? If not, then it’s not worth our time to develop. If the product is exciting, the next question is, can we package and market it so that the concept is clear and understandable to the consumer when they see it on the shelf? Is it a great price value for the item? 4. What have you learned from your successes during the past year? You don’t always need a hot license or huge TV marketing budget behind a product for it to be successful at retail. The latter certainly helps, but if a product really performs at an amazing level, is genuinely fun to use, and is clearly defined and explained at retail, it will be a success. It’s still all about the product. Sky Ripperz was an example of that this year. They launch 300 feet high and sold very strongly in the specialty markets and mass market with no TV promotion and no license behind the product.
2. Zing Toys is constantly expanding its line of bows and other kid-powered toys. What’s next for you? This year, we took our best-selling item, the Z-Curve Bow, and gave it a pink and purple makeover to appeal to girls and fans of recent movies that feature bows and arrows, such as The Hunger Games and Brave. For Zing, most of the colors in our products are considered Air Huntress Z-Curve Bow, gender neutral—blue, green, orange, from Zing Toys etc.—but as we found out with the movie releases last year, there was a strong demand and a new 5. Is there anything special planned for the upcommarket to tap into: young girls who want to shoot bows too. ing release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire? We advertised our Z-Tek Bow, our newest bow design The reaction to the Air Huntress has been terrific, and that we launched this fall, across 3,600 movie theater we’ve recently introduced a compact version of the product called the Air Huntress Z-Bow, which has a lower price point screens during the weekend that The Hunger Games: Catchthan the Z-Curve, but packs nearly as much punch. And, ing Fire debuted in theaters. It was a 30-second advertiselike the Z-Curve, kids can only launch the soft-foam arrows ment before the movie to help share the excitement and and darts through the innovative loops system; no sticks, performance of our bow and arrows—which actually funcrocks, or harmful objects can be launched, making it parent- tion similar to real archery—to fans who are already crazy about Katniss and archery. n approved for indoor and outdoor use.
12 • THE TOY BOOK
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014