John Gessert, President, American Plastic Toys
Jazwares
Which toy categories do you expect to expand in 2015? Which do you expect to contract? We are starting to see more interest at the consumer level in toys that promote or support basic play patterns. We have received notes from consumers that complement our products not only for being made in the U.S., but also for providing a basis for good basic role playing that results in active play that promotes imagination. Another role-play area that seems to be increasing from initial line reviews for fall is in doll-related play. It appears that demand for doll accessories has increased for 2015. It appears that the demand for entry-level riding toys is diminishing as we go into 2015. This may be the result of pressure at retail for shelf space more than customer demand or children moving to entry level, more-sophisticated riding toys (e.g., bicycles).
How have you seen consumer expectations change over the past decade? Over the past 10 years, the convergence of toys and entertainment has been unprecedented. Consumers have come to expect both online and offline experiences from their favorite brands. It’s not enough anymore to create a new toy. Stories, videos, and other content is needed to really engage kids and toy fans of all ages. This leads into another big change: If you want to reach consumers today, traditional formulas from years ago need to be augmented with strategies that include communication across multiple social platforms. Kids are engaging in new ways with different types of media; they might interact simply by sharing images and video of exciting new toys on various social channels or become avid fans and essentially create celebrities on YouTube. They want the whole experience and the brands of tomorrow will have to provide it in accessible and innovative ways to stand out from the crowd.
How have you seen consumer expectations change over the past decade? The two main areas where we have seen a change in customer expectations are in accessibility and assembly. Today’s customer expects to be able to find, examine, purchase, and praise or complain about products. They want—and, frankly, expect—to be able to do all of these activities at the tip of their finger, or thumb, as is more often the case today. The second would be ease of assembling products. Customers are placing a high value on ease of assembly more so today than in the past. It doesn’t seem that consumers are against all products that require assembly. They seem to take issue with excessive assembly. In response to this trend, we have both engineered and re-engineered products to reduce the amount of assembly, trimming of parts from clusters, and eliminating fasteners like screws.
How do you use 3-D printing in your R&D? Will you incorporate 3-D printing into your consumer offerings in the future? We are extremely happy with the 3-D printer and rapid prototype machines here at Jazwares, which help us to design products that are of superior quality. We use the machines specifically to determine the best size, scale, and articulation for figures. This allows us to then create samples for customers and to better share our vision with licensors. Our digital team has been working on some creative ways to meld our 3-D outputs with customizable skins that may be available to consumers in the future.
FEBRUARY 2015
Laura Zebersky, CCO and EVP,
Which categories were driving sales in 2014? Which categories will flourish this year? The global success of action figures related to gaming properties, such as Minecraft, Plants vs. Zombies, and Terraria, will continue well into 2015 and beyond. Content for preschoolers is better than ever and after our successful 2014 launch of Chuck and Friends, we are thrilled to be launching Peppa Pig in 2015.
THE TOY BOOK • 61