Leisure and entertainment: Toys, games

 

Upon its original launch in 1996, the Tickle Me Elmo became a surprise success through a combination of word-of-mouth, celebrity enthusiasm and unexpected shortages. A campaign to celebrate the tenth ...

This article describes how toy marketers are developing their approach in line with children's use of new media. Children and young adults have their own virtual worlds, social networks and media chan ...

The board game market is characterised by higher sales from October to December, normally producing a seasonal peak of up to 75%. However, it has also come under threat from video games and the intern ...

Fisher Price (part of Mattel) is a market leader in the field of toys for small children, which aims to create a new culture around playing and sustains the importance of educational toys for children ...

With the popularity of video games infringing upon the children's-toy industry, the largest toy manufacturers reported that the maximum age of children playing with toys dropped from 12 years o ...

Frustrated by the lack of educational toys, in 1995 Mike Wood, a California attorney, rewired a talking greeting card to help his son differentiate between phonetic sounds. Soon afterward Wood founded ...

Crayola was the most recognized brand name in children's art products, but as the twenty-first century dawned, the company that made Crayola—Binney & Smith of Easton, Pennsylvania ...

This paper details the 2005 launch campaign for a new version of the board game Monopoly. The objective was to revitalise the brand, make it less seasonal, broaden its appeal, and increase sales value ...

Following the introduction of many electronic games into the competitive Spanish market during 2005, this brief paper discusses the effort to re-launch Furby through a variety of mediums during the mo ...

The authors examine the opportunities for brands and businesses within gaming which, they say, is now bigger than film, music and video. It is set to become a $54.6 billion industry by 2009. They cite ...

Manufacturers in this industry produce toys, dolls and doll clothing, stuffed toys, children's vehicles (except bicycles), games (except electronic game cartridges) and sporting and athletic equipment ...

This paper covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing games and game sets for adults and children and mechanical and non-mechanical toys. Important industry products include games; toy f ...

This paper covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing dolls, doll parts, and doll clothing, except doll wigs. The paper provides a snapshot summary of the industry in the US, with additi ...

A vox pop asks several parents and their children about licensed products. The research explores the effects of parental preferences versus peer pressure and mass media messages. It also examines the ...

There are two secrets to capturing a child's imagination to ensure the success of successful licensed products: immediacy and story. The author shows that it is quite easy for a licences property to ...

This article looks at the changes in the US toy market over the last 20 years. It examines the demise of the ‘hot toy’ – the must-have Christmas present that featured heavily in the media and parents ...

In 1999 and 2000 the LEGO Company was enjoying success with its two new product lines Slizer and RoboRiders. They were part of a whole new category of toys – action figures that were easy to construct ...

The major problem facing Crayola was that it had become a ‘once a year’ brand with sales concentrated in the ‘back to school’ period. While the company had developed new products they lacked awarenes ...

This paper describes the development of Leapfrog educational toys since its launch six years ago. During this time the brand has expanded from one to 134 products. In 2002 the campaign objectives we ...

The advertising objective was to generate a 20% increase in October and November in order to protect the sell through and stocking levels for the critical four week impulse period. Not only were sale ...

Campaign in 1998 (Christmas) by Lowe Howard-Spink for Scalextric (Hornby plc). New approach to motivate fathers to buy it for their sons, to play together. Media: TV, press.

Game Boy was already established as a children's icon when Nintendo asked JWT to send it zapping up the sales graph, which meant identifying a new audience. By understanding the tension between the ch ...

1987 campaign for LEGO. Opportunity seen to make advertising work harder, by getting children to buy small LEGO packs not just at Christmas, and without damaging existing sales. Key was to realise tha ...