TALKIN’ TOYS
ODYSSEY TOYS DRIVES TOY INNOVATION IN 2019 The Toy Book catches up with Odyssey Toys’ Head Toy Maker Sal Irigoyen about the company’s growth and what sets it apart from other R/C companies. Toy Book: Tell us about how Odyssey Toys got its start. Sal Irigoyen: We started back in 2006 because my friend, who was the vice president of merchandising for Home Shopping Network at the time, asked me if I could source toys for him for the network’s Christmas in July shows. I went to China and found three to four items that all sold out within the first couple of shows. We had to run back to find more for the fourth quarter, and those also sold out. After being in the consumer electronics business for 25 years and in the music industry for five, I decided that toys were for me. At first we didn’t even brand the products that we brought in, and my wife ran customer service from an office in my house. Then in 2008, we went to our first show at Toy Fair New York, and Odyssey Toys was born. TB: What makes Odyssey Toys different from a traditional R/C company? SI: We always strive for uniqueness and try not to be a “me too” company. If somebody else has it, we don’t want it. We also look for new technologies before they become mainstream, and that gives us an edge over other companies. Our factories in China always present new concepts to us, and we try to make those into products that have the fun factor. TB: What new strategies are the company taking to keep up with the changes in the R/C category? SI: When we realized that everyone started copying drones, we started designing new products that were based on land, which is where we originally started in the R/C category. Although, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but our strategy is designed all around fun and uniqueness from everyone else. Regardless whether we produce flying drones or land R/C, our uniqueness makes us stick out.
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Auto Moto Battling Robots, from Odyssey Toys
TB: How do you decide the different ways to incorporate technology into your products, and what are they? SI: The problem with technology is that it is an ever-changing and moving target. You have to be very careful in not putting a whole bunch of features in your product that the customer will not use or understand. For instance, voice control is great in our Auto Moto line of transforming land vehicles, but not in flying products. We could have added the feature, but we didn’t feel confident in the functionality of the feature with the level of stability of a drone. At the end of the day, we want the products to make sense to our customers, and that’s our mindset when adding new technology to our products. TB: Odyssey Toys expanded its product offerings to include mobile gaming products. What sparked the idea for the new line? SI: That’s an easy answer. I don’t really know the exact percent of kids who have phones or tablets, but it’s pretty high, and it’s not limited
THE TOY BOOK | MARCH/APRIL 2019 | toybook.com
to teenagers. Some of our mobile games involve virtual and augmented reality (AR), such as our Upshot Bow and Virtual Racer, or our educational mobile games, such as ARIA, which uses AR to teach kids about animals. Even our new Ultimate Mobile Gaming line, which is made up of triggers and handles that turn your phone into a remote control, helps kids play their favorite games, such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, at a higher level. TB: Besides Ultimate Mobile Gaming, what other new products are you excited to launch this year? SI: We added two new products to our Auto Moto line of transforming R/C: Diggin Moto (a bulldozer) and Dumpin Moto (a recycling truck). Our Glow Striker is off the rails, and everybody is going crazy for it. We also are launching a 4K video drone at an MSRP of $99.95, and it has a ton of features. We have a couple more in the oven that are not ready yet. We will likely introduce them at the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy show. »