State of the Industry
THE (CONTINUING) EVOLUTION OF TOYS, AND THE COMING OF TOYS 4.0 by Bruce D. Lund, founder, Lund and Co. Invention LLC
W
e see it happening before our very eyes: I can feel the ground move under my feet as the toy business changes, convulses, and evolves. The tidal wave of children’s tablets and smartphones with toy and game combinations that we thought would be the undoing of us all has quieted. Now, waves of drones and robots are on the rise, capturing headlines and the public’s attention. They’re popping up all over—and not just in toy retailers, but at electronics retailers and other non-toy specific outlets. The Internet of Things, aka “IoT,” is one of the next big things in technology. It will no doubt become part of the toy industry and toys will be in communication with us, each other, your kitchen appliances, and satellites circling the Earth—all interconnected for reasons that will become clear to us one day. Apple’s Siri system has evolved into dolls and plush that seem to carry on a real conversation with kids. Not to mention, wearable electronics will continue to evolve and expand. One component of Toys 4.0 will be sophisticated, interactive, and intelligent electronics. That, at least, seems abundantly clear. Yet, those electronics do not lend themselves to many product categories in the same way that plastic universally replaced metal and wood as the choice material for toys. We see the innovation of smaller, more agile, and inventive companies taking business away from the lumbering giants that are less able to innovate and are forced to deploy their resources to feed the insatiable maw of their existing brands. These behemoths are left with little or no room for real innovation, new brands, or new technologies. We see the consumer fatigued by some of these older brands. The toys their grandfathers played with do not hold the allure of the new and never-before-seen. These brands become tired and lack freshness in the face of the fireworks of the new
66 • THE TOY BOOK
flashier items and product ranges. All things come to an end—whether it be the Roman Empire or the once-masters-of-the-sea, the British Navy. Child World and Kiddie City were once prominent toy retailers that have long-since disappeared. Today, Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart struggle to maintain their once dominant positions, as forces such as Amazon threaten their leadership in the toy arena. As manufacturers such as Worlds of Wonder, Trendmasters, and so many others disappeared from the landscape, so, too, may we be seeing the twilight of once-dominant brands and companies. They will also slip into the shadows of toy history, to be replaced by newer, fresher, more exciting, edgier, or more sophisticated concepts. History teaches the inexorable march of the new. Industry 4.0 is on the cusp, according to those whose business it is to observe and comment on such things. It is a developing new generation of factories and products, industrial, commercial, and consumer, though it is not yet close enough to clearly define. Toys 4.0 is evolving before our eyes, but has not yet taken clear final form. The transition from metal to plastic took a decade or more, and only in hindsight would it have been clear that the transition to a new state of the industry took place. The times they are a-changin’. It’s just not yet clear how. ■ Bruce D. Lund has been a constant champion of the toy industry for more than 30 years, and both he and his team have invented some of the hottest toys and games on the market. After a brief stint at the Marvin Glass & Associates studio in Chicago, Lund started his own toy design and product invention company. He has created hundreds of toys and games, including TMX Elmo, Baby Alive Sip ’n Slurp, Baby Alive Yummy Treats, Uno Roboto, Dino Construction Company, and more.
FEBRUARY 2015