#255: 5 Lessons to Take You From Hidden Genius to Rising Star Toy Inventor
Let’s face it: toy brands get almost ALL the glory, but the inventors behind the product—people like you—deserve the spotlight too. In this episode of Making It in the Toy Industry, I’m sharing 5 lessons to take you from hidden genius to rising star, inspired by my own experience and my recent convo with Tim Walsh, inventor of ‘Blurt!’.
We’re talking about why advocating for yourself matters (yes, you can request your name on the box), how to time your ideas to ride the perfect trend wave, and why pitching just one idea is a rookie mistake. (Spoiler: you need a whole pipeline of concepts.)
I’ll also give some insight into how to spot the white space in the market, using data-focused tools and cross-industry trends.
Hit play if you agree with me and Tim Walsh that toy and game inventors are criminally unrecognized. 🙂
Listen For These Important Moments
[00:01:46] - Recognition for Toy Creators
[00:07:27] - Collaborating with the Industry
[00:10:55] - Designing for Connection
[00:12:25] - Playtesting in Real-World Environments
[00:14:10] - Timing and Persistence
[00:18:23] - Pitching Multiple Ideas
[00:20:50] - Finding White Space
[00:23:28] - Drawing Inspiration from Other Industries
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This week’s challenge: Create a white space map for your product category. Identify gaps or customer frustrations and brainstorm ways to fill them. Need guidance? Book a call at thetoycoach.com/workwithme or connect with @thetoycoach on Instagram. Let’s level up together! 🎉"
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[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It In The Toy Industry, Episode Number 255.
[00:00:06] Azhelle Wade: Hey there, toy people. Azhelle Wade here, and welcome back to another episode of Making it in the Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by TheToyCoach.com. So this week, we are diving into key lessons from the great interview I held with Tim Walsh last week. Tim is an award winning game designer, author, he's a filmmaker, and his work has sold over seven million copies worldwide.
[00:00:49] Azhelle Wade: His creations include iconic games like Tribond and Blurt, which is standing the test of time with its 30 year anniversary just passing. So whether you are a budding toy creator or an established game inventor, today's episode is going to recap the key pieces of advice that were unveiled in the interview last week.
[00:01:11] Azhelle Wade: My goal is to help you create better products and hopefully an award winning career in the toy industry for yourself. Now, if you missed the full episode with Tim Walsh, that full interview is. It's still available. Don't you worry. But right now we're going to break down the key lessons. By the end of today's recap, you will walk away with strategies to boost your creativity, market your ideas, and stay resilient as a toy or game inventor.
[00:01:36] Azhelle Wade: Super important. I know my inventors out there have been pitching and pitching and it's hard to stay focused. So we're going to get into that today. By the end of today's episode, you're going to learn five key things.
[00:01:46] Azhelle Wade: One, why recognition for toy inventors and game inventors is key and how you can advocate for yourself. Two, the link between play, creativity, and emotional resilience. Three, how to balance timing, persistence and market awareness when you're launching your ideas or pitching your ideas. Four, the importance of creating multiple ideas instead of just betting on one and constantly repitching that one. Then five, we'll get into practical steps to find the white space in your category and make it your own.
[00:02:20] Azhelle Wade: So, diving in, key lesson number one, recognition for toy creators, why it matters. In my conversation with Tim Walsh last week, we couldn't stop talking about why toy and game inventors are often so overlooked, even though their creations are shaping culture and connecting people across the globe, across different languages and ethnicities and ages and genders, everything.
[00:02:46] Azhelle Wade: So, Tim referred to this as a crime, highlighting that even inventors of mega hits like UNO and LEGO rarely receive public recognition. Do you know the inventors behind these iconic toys and games? One of the things Tim said in our talk last week was this:
[00:03:05] Azhelle Wade: " Uno hasn't sold a million or ten or twenty, but like a hundred and fifty million times platinum. And no one has heard of Merle Robbins. It's just a crime. It's a crime of the joy that these inventors have given people.", quote by Tim Walsh. So the recognition gap isn't just about personal fame.
[00:03:27] Azhelle Wade: It's also about advocating for the value of your own work. Crediting inventors elevates their status and strengthens the industry as a whole.
[00:03:37] Azhelle Wade: Okay, now, if you are subscribed to my newsletter, it's a weekly newsletter I put out called The Play Pattern by Azhelle Wade, then you received an email about why toy inventors are criminally unrecognized and my opinion being because they suck at branding.
[00:03:52] Azhelle Wade: And in that email, we break down four different steps to build your inventor brand. Now while I do agree with Tim and the conversation we had in that interview about how more and more companies should be promoting the inventors by putting their names on the back of the boxes and putting their photos in the back of the boxes, there is also some responsibility on the inventor to build up their brand.
[00:04:17] Azhelle Wade: Granted you have your name on the back of the box, but if no one's seen that name or that face anywhere but that back of the box, is it really going to have a big impact to letting people know who this inventor is and how and why they're so important to the culture of games and toys?
[00:04:34] Azhelle Wade: So let's talk a little bit about how you can help build your own brand recognition as an inventor. Well, first up, you can pitch more than just your idea. You can pitch your brand. You can pitch your story. So when you're pitching your product or your game idea to potential licensing partners. Consider including the story behind your invention or the story behind your inventor's studio or the story behind your brand.
[00:05:04] Azhelle Wade: It could make your pitch more memorable and relatable, but it also might trigger some ideas for how that company might be able to integrate your brand into the selling of that product. If we look at some of the most successful toys to date, these are licensed products like the Miss Rachel toys, which were very successful in the 2024 holiday season with Walmart reporting that it was their most successful toy presale ever. They were in high demand with the speak and sing dolls selling out quickly.
[00:05:37] Azhelle Wade: Resellers were even able to flip the dolls for a profit on eBay, selling them for more than 75. So, think about the importance of having a brand that is recognizable to everyday consumers to tie to that toy or game invention you might be pitching. All right. Another way you can apply this is to seek recognition opportunities.
[00:06:00] Azhelle Wade: So one could be looking for opportunities to get yourself featured in the Mojo 100. Right now, a lot of toy and game creators are announcing their features in Mojo 100. Or looking for other awards that you can apply for to raise your recognition in the toy industry. But further, if you want to raise some recognition outside of the toy industry with the general public, perhaps you want to look to work with manufacturers or publishers that have credited their inventors on their packaging in the past.
[00:06:32] Azhelle Wade: So companies like Educational Insights have started to include inventor names on their products, and you can advocate for this at whatever company you are pitching to. Sometimes the company will have the name. Sometimes they'll have the logo of the inventor studio, but it is becoming more and more common in this industry to see the name of the inventor on the back of the box.
[00:06:54] Azhelle Wade: That is great, but also remember, we want to try to take that a step further. How can you utilize getting on the back of that box and use it to build your brand? Not just rest on the Laurel, but that is the recognition in itself.
[00:07:07] Azhelle Wade: A third thing you can do is collaborate with the industry. So you can build relationships within the industry with sites like the People of Play site. The People of Play organization, as Tim mentioned in his interview, is an organization that is championing to make toy inventors and game inventors more recognized with their platform.
[00:07:27] Azhelle Wade: Not only can you feature what products you've developed, but you can also write articles to highlight your knowledge about the industry. These platforms have been in the past used, by people outside of the industry to find experts to speak at events and on TV shows. So you do want to build your profile on these platforms as well.
[00:07:50] Azhelle Wade: Okay, let's move on to our key lesson number two, the power of play, why it fuels creativity. So. Playing is tons of fun. We know kids play because it's fun. It's easy. It's enjoyable, but it's also essential for building problem solving skills, developing connections, and fueling creativity. So in my interview last week, Tim shared how a playful moment in a third grade classroom when he was just trying to entertain the kids, sparked the idea for Blurt, a game that's now celebrating its 30th anniversary. So Tim said this, "I grabbed a children's dictionary off the shelf and said, all right, I'm going to quiz you. The kids went from having no interest in me to literally leaning forward and yelling, give us another one. That's when I realized the power of play to engage people." Here's why it matters to you. Play allows you to experiment without fear of failure, to build stronger relationships and to discover unexpected solutions to problems. In this scenario, Tim was just trying to play with these kids. He was trying to engage with these kids.
[00:08:55] Azhelle Wade: He was trying to connect with these kids and it actually helped him find a solution and invent a game. So, you can adopt this by doing a few things. One, you've got to adopt a playful mindset. Approach your product development process as an opportunity to explore and experiment. Give yourself permission to fail and iterate.
[00:09:17] Azhelle Wade: One of the lessons in my program, Toy Creators Academy, I was so hesitant to create it, but the lesson actually says, great, now that you've learned everything you need to know about your competitors in the toy industry and the category you're trying to innovate for. I want you to stop learning. I want you to drop everything, go hang out with your friends and family, go hang out with your cousins, your nieces, your nephews, and do not think about what you're trying to innovate or the brand you're trying to improve or the category you want to, revitalize.
[00:09:50] Azhelle Wade: Don't think about it. Because sometimes when you just let go and enjoy life and enjoy the people in your life, amazing ideas come to you because you already have that industry insight and that desire to develop something unique. Sitting in the back of your mind. So adopting a playful mindset, not thinking everything has to get done right now and at a timely manner can actually help you become a better game inventor.
[00:10:18] Azhelle Wade: Another thing you can do is design for connection. If you think about creating toys or games that are focused on encouraging a shared experience, that is a totally a new way for you to make sure that you are developing a play pattern that fuels creativity and connection. So the next time you sit down to develop a toy or a game, instead of just saying, "Okay, this company wants to create, I don't know, a game that is designed for three players specifically, because a lot of families right now are three person families."
[00:10:55] Azhelle Wade: Instead of just thinking that way, sit down and say, "Okay, they want a three player game, but how can I design a game intended to create connection? A game that is cooperative and is intended to make the group interact, but there still will be one winner." You can add that connection or cooperative element any type of game you might be innovating right now to add an additional layer to it and just to help you think differently about it.
[00:11:23] Azhelle Wade: Another way you can apply this is to play test your game in playful environments. I know when we play test our products, we often want to go to our friends and family, people that we think it's easy to test the products with. And we often don't go to the kids that are the right age, especially if we're new to playtesting. We just go with adults because they're easier to get a hold of. But one of the things you can do is to playtest in playful environments. I've found museums tend to be an inviting place. If you can connect with someone who's higher up at the museum, they can give you an opportunity to, have kids play with your product and see how they react with it.
[00:12:02] Azhelle Wade: You can sometimes connect with play cafes or small schools or daycare programs to have play sessions. It's best when you're playtesting your product to observe how your product is used in real world settings without you controlling the play process. It will help you uncover opportunities for improvement.
[00:12:25] Azhelle Wade: You might think it's super obvious that you're toy or your game is meant to be played in a certain way. And as soon as it gets into the hands of the kids that are at the age that you think that product is for, they could do something totally different with it. And that something totally different could inspire a whole new idea, or it could just be a problem that you realize you have to solve before you pitch that idea.
[00:12:47] Azhelle Wade: So don't be afraid to test in playful environments. Let's move on to our third key lesson where timing is everything, however, persistence is key. Now, we've got to just be honest. Pitching toy and game ideas is no easy feat. Even the right idea at the wrong time can fail. In my conversation with Tim, he discussed how Tribond succeeded by launching well after the craze of Trivial Pursuit. Tim mentioned that had they launched that game earlier, it might have just gotten lost in the whirlwind that was Trivial Pursuit. His journey also highlighted the value of persistent because especially when his game Blurt temporarily left the market before eventually returning stronger than ever.
[00:13:38] Azhelle Wade: So regarding Tribond, Tim said this, "Tribond came out after Trivial Pursuit, but it wasn't right at the tail end of it. Ours came out in 1990, but it was enough of a delay to succeed." Knowing when to launch your toy or game can make or break your product. However, resilience is going to ensure that you stick with your idea long enough, you pitch it frequently enough to eventually catch the wave when the opportunity comes.
[00:14:10] Azhelle Wade: There definitely is a scenario where you can stick with your game or your toy too much, but there's also a scenario where you can give up too soon. I've definitely met with people who have seen crazes like the comfort trend come in and say, "Oh, I had this idea years ago and now all of a sudden everybody's really into these comfort plush and I feel like it's too late."
[00:14:36] Azhelle Wade: It's not too late. Sometimes you have this amazing idea. And it's just too early because you're not able to beat the drum loud enough on your own. And then suddenly other brands come in in a similar category, but with a different product to yours. And they together are now beating this drum. In this example around the comfort, trend in toys
[00:15:00] Azhelle Wade: and that tide is rising. Now everybody's eyes are on this comfort trend and you might be thinking I've missed my moment. These other brands have gotten so far, but this is actually the perfect moment for you because now you've done so much work on this comfort toy that you've been developing. You've got, you know, years of reviews.
[00:15:23] Azhelle Wade: You've got. Inventory ready to go. You've got images, you've got a mission statement, you've got a website and now is actually your time to relaunch and strike while the tide is rising the category that your product is in. So persistence is key, but timing is also everything. Look for that right time and don't stop being persistent until that right time hits.
[00:15:50] Azhelle Wade: All right, let's move on to key lesson four. Think beyond one idea. Okay. Early in Tim's career, he made the mistake of pitching a single idea to a major company. He told the story of coming into an office, pitching an idea and them saying, "Okay, great. What else you got?" And he said that that was it. And they couldn't believe that he flew all the way there just for the one idea.
[00:16:12] Azhelle Wade: So today, Tim advises inventors to diversify their concepts, to increase their chances of success. I encourage that wholeheartedly. One of the big things that I will ask you, if you ever hop on a consultation call with me is what is your goal? Do you want to be a toy inventor or a toy entrepreneur? And most people do not have an answer to that question.
[00:16:35] Azhelle Wade: I don't really expect you to, because over the course of the call, I'm going to figure it out. You're going to share with me your idea or your ideas. You're going to share what you've done so far in them, what you like doing what you struggle with, what's worked, what hasn't, and little by little through those questions, I'll be able to identify like, "Okay, this person seems to want to be an inventor or this person seems to want to be an entrepreneur, but maybe there are a few things holding them back from going full out in either direction.
[00:17:04] Azhelle Wade: One of the key differences for an inventor versus an entrepreneur is the inventor thinks beyond the one idea. The entrepreneur has this one big idea that they are just creating the product for and selling over and over again. They might make some iterations, but there is this one main idea and vision that is being produced, manufactured, and sold and pitched
[00:17:30] Azhelle Wade: over and over again. However, the inventor is selling ideas, plural. So the inventor's whole job and the inventor energy and the inventor mindset is one that is flooded with ideas. One that loves to tinker and build out concepts and throw away things that don't work and keep building on things that kind of do work until they're perfect or close to perfect.
[00:17:57] Azhelle Wade: So One of the quotes from our conversation last week was when a company told Tim "you flew to Toronto with one idea?". That's what Tim experienced, with Spin Master. And I don't want that for you. If you're going to pitch to a toy company, I mean, a lot of inventors pitch 10 different ideas in that one meeting, and you want to pitch as many as you can, as well as you can.
[00:18:23] Azhelle Wade: So you do want to practice those pitches. You don't want to sound like you're just rambling them off, but you, you do want to try to fit in as many well developed, well thought out ideas as you can in a meeting. That meeting time that you get is precious, so don't waste it.
[00:18:38] Azhelle Wade: Now the toy and game industry thrives on new ideas. The more concepts that you develop, the better your odds of success. And the easier it's going to be to pivot when one idea doesn't land in a meeting. I mean, imagine you go to a meeting, you pitch an idea. They're like, that's not for us, but you know, you have five more ideas to share with them.
[00:18:56] Azhelle Wade: It's going to be a lot easier for you to maintain confidence and enthusiasm when you're like, no problem. I got you. Let's move on to the next one. Okay. How can you apply this? How about we start with setting an idea goal?
[00:19:11] Azhelle Wade: So why don't you aim to have at least five to 15 ideas in various stages of development at all times. Some can be a sketch in a notebook. Some you could have bought materials and started a prototype with. Some you could have full rules and a prototype in the print process or sample ready to go and pitch.
[00:19:33] Azhelle Wade: Some you have a sizzle video for. But I'm going to say 5 to 15. 5 if you're new, 15 if you've been doing this for at least a year. The second thing you can do is keep a creative journal. Document every idea, no matter how small, so you have a pool of concepts to pull from. If you're like me, you might have post its around where you scratch out ideas and you slap those post its into that idea book, tape them down.
[00:19:57] Azhelle Wade: So keep that creative journal. Document All the ideas, even if you're like, that seems silly, it's such a small idea, write it down and look it over once every month. The third thing you can do is to test and refine quickly. So prioritize your best ideas, the ideas that are making you the most excited, that you think are the most promising, that are in line with toy company's wishlist and work on those ideas and give yourself a deadline to get those ideas pitch ready.
[00:20:27] Azhelle Wade: When you get a toy company meeting, make sure you have at least, at least five ideas developed to the prototype stage so you can pitch them in that meeting. All right, let's get to our key lesson number five from last week's interview, finding the white space, the key to innovation. So white space is the gap in the market where customer needs aren't being met.
[00:20:50] Azhelle Wade: Tim's success with his game Blurt and other games that he's done demonstrates the value of identifying and addressing these gaps. It's so important that you are aware that innovation doesn't always mean creating something entirely new. It can often mean improving on what's already out there. So this lesson on white space is actually a full module in my program, Toy Creators Academy. If you wanna learn more about TCA, by the way, go to toycreatorsacademy.com and you can find all the info there. But we spend a full module on how to identify white space, understanding white space, understanding trends, and applying them to white space. So let's just talk about some top level ways you can apply this lesson right now.
[00:21:40] Azhelle Wade: Number one, research consumer pain points. There are some great tools out there that you can use to research what is bugging your consumers right now. And what is bugging your consumers is white space. That's something that you can fill. So there are tools like Amazon reviews. Or you can conduct your own surveys to identify frustrations with existing products in your category.
[00:22:06] Azhelle Wade: You know, is a slime kit that's really popular selling 5, 000 units a week, just too messy. And parents can't understand why the slime kit is so popular because it's so messy. Can you create a less messy slime kit? Is there a game out there that's selling 8, 000 units a week? And people just can't understand why people love this game because the cards are so boring.
[00:22:32] Azhelle Wade: They're not interesting at all. They didn't keep their family members engaged and people were leaving the game left and right. Can you improve upon that? All of these things are white space. Is there a doll line that is super culturally aware, has so many different characters and cultures. However, they, for some reason, never created a Japanese doll.
[00:22:55] Azhelle Wade: Is that an opportunity for you to step in and create something like that for them? So this is the very first step. You want to make sure that you're identifying white space. The easiest way to do that is to look at reviews. There are great reviews on Amazon you can look at. There are great reviews on Target and Walmart, anywhere customers are leaving reviews about product, you can analyze those reviews, usually the three star and lower reviews to identify the big problems in a product, improve upon that, and use those points as main marketing points when you launch your product.
[00:23:28] Azhelle Wade: Second thing you can do is look outside of the industry. So I love looking outside of the toy industry. I teach my students this all the time. Borrow ideas from other industries. So for example, Tim's Blurt game inspired, new formats, like creating blurt for national parks additions to reach broader audiences. So you can also find inspiration outside of the toy industry for your initial ideas themselves.
[00:23:57] Azhelle Wade: So outside of the toy industry can inspire your existing toys and games to expand, but it also can inspire new ideas. completely. The third thing that you can do is to solve real problems. Now, whether it's simplifying your gameplay or creating eco friendly packaging, there can be meaningful improvements that you create on problems that might be problems that your retail partners bring to you.
[00:24:22] Azhelle Wade: So we all know that there is a big focus on eco friendly packaging. For example, we are seeing the toy industry take away plastics, covers and blister trays from our products. We're seeing that already. So identifying real world problems, whether it is the amount of plastic and packaging the size of packaging, or just the longevity of an existing product, that is a similar approach to identifying white space, but instead of just looking at customer pain points, you could also be looking at, real business problems. Maybe it's an eco friendly issue, but maybe there is a cost issue, for a product. In my interview about two weeks ago, Ron Weisman talked about identifying the real problem that a lot of bubble companies were shipping water, and he didn't think that was necessary, and pulling that out actually reduced some shipping costs.
[00:25:18] Azhelle Wade: So look into not only customer pain points, but also real world problems that your product can solve.
[00:25:26] Azhelle Wade: Before I summarize today's episode, let's give a quick shout out to one of our listeners over on YouTube. MelanieGreen1480 left this lovely comment on YouTube.
[00:25:37] Azhelle Wade: "Melanie says, I'm over here beaming, smiling, laughing, and learning. What a great conversation. I love the idea of expanding the promotion of game designers and inventors. I'm inspired by the conversation around keeping it simple. I'm going to take all of this with me. Thanks to you both for such a great conversation."
[00:25:56] Azhelle Wade: Melanie left that comment regarding our interview last week. So if you haven't already heard it, please go back now and listen to it. Melanie, thank you so much for that review. I really appreciate it. All right, quick recap on what we learned today. Key lessons: one advocate for your recognition to elevate the status of yourself as a toy or game inventor, and also build that brand. Two, use play as a tool to spark creativity and connection. Three, research market timing and stay persistent with your idea in the face of setbacks. Timing is everything, but you have to be there when the time is right. Four, build a pipeline of ideas to. Keep your creativity flowing and your options open.
[00:26:40] Azhelle Wade: If somebody doesn't like that first idea, no worries. You've got five more in the hopper. And finally, five, identify white space in your category so that you can create meaningful innovation for the consumers and for the business side of the toy industry.
[00:26:56] Azhelle Wade: If you're interested in discovering the patterns of winning brands, so you can sell more toys, subscribe to my free newsletter, The Play Pattern, head over to thetoycoach.com/theplaypattern to subscribe to that newsletter for free.
[00:27:14] Azhelle Wade: It's read by over 3, 900 toy people, and you can certainly become one of them. This week, I challenge you to create a white space map for your product category. I want you to look at the competing products, identify some gaps in that space in the toy industry, or some customer frustrations, and brainstorm how you can.
[00:27:34] Azhelle Wade: fill that space. I would love to work with you as you develop that. You can always go to thetoycoach.com/workwithme and we can book a call. You can also send me a message at @thetoycoach on Instagram or tag me in a story if you want to share that you're listening to this podcast, I'd love to connect with you there.
[00:27:54] Azhelle Wade: As always. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there. So it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one until next week.
[00:28:07] Azhelle Wade: I'll see you later, toy people.
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