Suddenly, low-tech is getting a high profile in Toyland.
The breakout success of the interactive talking Furby several years ago launched a wave of increasingly sophisticated electronic “smart toys.” But even though this year’s crop of such gizmos boasts more computing power and bigger memory chips than ever, the toys generating buzz at the 99th Annual American International Toy Fair are mostly a blast from the past.
At this year’s fair, which runs through Thursday, “retro toys”–reintroduced versions of the playthings that amused today’s 30- to 50-year-olds decades ago–have been stealing much of the limelight.
“What was old is new again,” says Ronnie Goldfinger, head of Highland Park toy distributor Distributoys Inc.
Traditional toys proved to be one of the struggling industry’s bright spots last year, and now many of the familiar playthings of the world are back on top of their game. As Goldfinger predicts, “The stuff that was always fun to play with will be big.”
Why such a rush to retro, in an industry known for constantly seeking the next mega-selling new concept? September’s traumatic events have spurred many parents to buy their kids the play equivalent of comfort food, experts say. What’s more, in these economically shaky times retailers are less inclined to take a chance on new electronic gizmos that may not sell: Frisbees seem a safer bet than Furbies.
As Baby Boomers move out of their child-rearing years, the toy industry is now mining the memories of Generation-X parents. As kids, Gen-Xers were exposed to much more sophisticated brand marketing than earlier generations, and toymakers are betting that serious money can be made in retreading some of the commercial icons that were decorating school lunchboxes back when Gerald Ford was president.
The result: The sleeper hit of the past Christmas season was the Shrinky Dinks Oven, a 1970s-era toy relaunched last year by Spin Master Toys. Mattel this year will bring back Malibu Barbie, who originally made the beach scene back in 1971. (“We added sunscreen,” says a chipper corporate spokeswoman.) Mattel is also reintroducing the Masters of the Universe, those hyper-steroidal action figures whose bizarre musculature appeared, then disappeared, back in the 1980s.
Even when they’re not being brought out of retirement, many older toys are getting a renewed marketing push. Hasbro kicked off this year’s fair with a celebration in honor of the 50th anniversary of its Mr. Potato Head, and the company is also launching brand extensions and increased ad spending for longtime stalwart GI Joe.
GI Joe sales moved up sharply after U.S. combat forces became active in Afghanistan. And since Sept. 11, sales of Mattel’s Billy Blazes and the Rescue Heroes have been similarly hot (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). But experts say the jump in sales of those “aspirational figures” is fueled by a change in the attitude of parents, not the kids,
“For preschoolers, the purchaser’s usually the mom, although the child’s the ultimate user,” notes Neil Friedman, president of Mattel’s Fisher-Price subsidiary. And among parents, “There’s certainly a trend toward classic values and evergreen products,” he says.
All of it mingles at the once-a-year toy fair here. There are aisles of stuffed bears, giraffes, dogs and frogs. Hello Kitty handbags and Radio Flyer wagons compete for attention with full-size teepees and scale-model Patriot missiles.
Toy trains whistle and puff smoke. Angelic dolls, bathed in light, nestle in the branches of a display made to resemble a golden tree. Nearby is the Get Real Girl line of dolls, featuring athletically inclined figures who, according to their maker, “are more empowered” than mainstream dolls. Elsewhere in the hall, the air buzzes with the bleats and honks of toys, and the sound of hardball commerce.
In this real-world version of Santa’s Workshop, there are no children. The acres of vendor booths set up in the mammoth Jacob Javits Convention Center mainly play host to grim-faced buyers for the nation’s retailers.The products the buyers order this week will be the ones on store shelves when the holiday selling season begins nine months from now.
The buyers confer with headquarters on their cell phones in a babble of different languages. They stalk the aisles, lugging bags that are heavy with the giveaways hopeful vendors have pressed into their hands. They are searching, almost defensively, for the undiscovered toy that could turn into the next Tickle Me Elmo–the must-have Christmas toy.
In tiny sales areas behind the whimsically decorated booths, they talk business with the vendors. The talks don’t always go well. “I said to him, `You guys want to play games, no problem,’ ” growls one attendee to his companion as they stride past cheerful displays.
After several years of good times, the industry’s batteries have run down of late. Last year, sales grew only 1.7 percent to $25 billion, according to the Toy Industry Association trade group.
If a softening toy market has complicated life for Mattel and Hasbro, it has made things even harder for the hundreds of small-scale companies that fight for whatever consumer dollars the market’s two giants haven’t managed to claim.
Asked if the fair represents his best chance for ringing up hefty Christmas orders on his company’s precisely detailed military figures, one small-scale vendor replies, “It’s the only chance.”
Many figure Kmart’s plan to close hundreds of outlets will only give the remaining retailers more purchasing leverage.
“I think this is going to be a good year to be a toy buyer,” says Distributoys’ Goldfinger.
In contrast to the mom-and-pop toymakers, where the chief executive can often be found standing hopefully in the sales booth, the industry’s top two toymakers hire professional actors to present their wares.
“As you can see, the Jedi figures are dynamically sculpted,” says a Hasbro presenter clad entirely in Star Wars costume, including tunic, light saber and wide leather belt. His listeners, a handful of jowly, middle-age men, nod in understanding.
Nearby, a Hasbro presenter dressed in a deliberately filthy chef’s costume scratches himself, taps ash off his cigar, and boasts to passersby about the Queasy Bake Oven, a new spinoff of the company’s long-popular Easy Bake product.
“I’m thinking to myself, boys want something that’s gross, but satisfying,” he says, offering visitors a choice of fake Sewer-Sludge Shakes or a sample of the gross-looking Blend-a-booger Drink that Queasy Bake buyers will soon be able to whip up.
But high-tech isn’t completely dead. Not far from the faux-foul kitchen, Hasbro shows off what may be the most talked-about toy unveiled at this year’s show: Wally Getsa Wedgie, from its Tiger Electronics unit.
“Wally’s an obnoxious little brother, see?” explains an energetic presenter. The doll, loaded with sophisticated sensors and electronics, begins to whine and tell horrible jokes.
“When it gets to be too much, you just give him a wedgie, like this,” says the presenter, making a swift grab at the back of the toy. Wallie begins an agitated hollering. “There’s a super-wedgie, too, if this doesn’t work,” the presenter yells above the animatronic racket. “Right over his head.”
