Have an idea for a toy or game, but you're struggling to find a way in to a toy company to pitch it? I've worked in the toy industry for over 11 years, gaining three patents and managing multi-million dollar toy lines. I help mission-driven toy creators make their toy dreams a real thing with advice like this. Let's say you have a pretty amazing toy idea and you want to get it in front of a toy or a game company, but you have absolutely no contacts in the toy industry. Where do you start? How do you get in the door to get your idea heard? There are three main ways on how you can get in at almost any toy company.

3 Ways New Inventors and Toy Industry Experts Benefit from the TCA Virtual Pitch Event

In September 2020, Azhelle Wade, AKA The Toy Coach, created the Toy Creator’s Academy. This online program is designed to give toy inventors and entrepreneurs essential information and practice in developing, marketing, and selling their unique toy ideas. Throughout the program, Azhelle, a 3x patented toy inventor herself, shares best practices and insider tips that she learned over more than a decade in the toy industry.

The Toy Creator’s Academy also connects participants to toy companies, distributors, and retailers through the TCA Virtual Pitch Event. This is a bi-annual event and only those who are current or former participants of the Toy Creators Academy are eligible to apply. The event gives the inventors the valuable opportunity to put together and present a mini-pitch to experienced toy executives who are seeking products to place in their stores, inventions to license into their lines or show concepts to develop.

What is the FIRST step that you should be taking before you develop and pitch your toy idea?

I’m covering exactly what you need to do and more importantly, how to get it done. The important step I teach in this video is one that most new toy creators skip when developing their toy ideas to embarrassing results!

Azhelle Wade, AKA The Toy Coach, has hosted more than 100 episodes of her podcast, Making It In the Toy Industry. The podcast features informative interviews with anyone related to the toy industry, from lawyers to creators and toy inventors of popular products to marketing experts. Other episodes focus on important topics for both experienced and expert level toy entrepreneurs like legal issues affecting the toy industry, the toy industry events you must attend, and tips for achieving success as a toy inventor.

Azhelle gained over a decade of experience working in the toy industry for companies including Toys ‘R’ Us, Madame Alexander, and Party City before becoming The Toy Coach and starting the podcast. As The Toy Coach, she uses her knowledge as a 3x patented and award-winning inventor to help people bring their invention ideas from concept to reality through the podcast and the Toy Creators Academy, a valuable educational program she created in September 2020. Through the academy, she helps toy inventors with pitching, often with the goal of getting a deal to sell, distribute, or license their product or IP with a professional partner in the toy industry.

The Toy Coach has also been a featured guest on many other podcasts. Some of her other podcast appearances are focused on the toy industry, but many are focused on marketing, entrepreneurship, or being a podcaster.

Amy Porterfield, an online marketing expert and digital entrepreneur interviewed Azhelle for her podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy. The podcast supports people who want to leave their corporate 9-5 jobs and jump into the world of entrepreneurship. This is something Azhelle definitely knows about!

Azhelle Wade, AKA The Toy Coach, is well known for her toy industry expertise. She has over a decade of experience in working with major brands and is a 3x patented toy inventor.

In 2020, Azhelle quit her corporate job to focus on building The Toy Coach, including the podcast, Making It In the Toy Industry, and The Toy Creator’s Academy, the only toy program that helps people develop and pitch their toy ideas. As The Toy Coach, Azhelle helps people develop their ideas into actual products and market those products for success.

Over the past 2 years, media outlets including Podcast Magazine, The Marie Forleo Podcast, Access Daily, and The History Channel have sought out and featured Azhelle’s industry knowledge. Recently, Azhelle was honored to have her second appearance on Access Daily.

Access Daily is a daytime talk show hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, and Scott Evans. It’s a lighthearted spinoff of the show Access Hollywood. Access Daily focuses on pop culture with fun celebrity interviews and lifestyle segments to inform viewers about interesting trends.

Azhelle’s most recent segment on the show featured products made by three inspiring kid entrepreneurs. Kids are so creative. They’ve always come up with great ideas, and with extra time on their hands due to staying home during the pandemic, some enterprising kids really got their creative juices flowing and put on their inventor hats. Entrepreneurship projects can be fun for the whole family.

Here’s some solid toy advice: before you even create your product, you need to have a marketing plan. Having marketing at the core of your toy creation will allow you to do more than just make it, it will allow you to sell it!

This 3-step toy marketing triangle creates a solid foundation and lets you know where you can begin with your marketing plan. This plan is accessible to anyone, and can be scaled up or down depending on your needs and budget.

This year's event features the return of Licensing U, produced by Licensing International, the US market debut of License This!, and an opening keynote address from senior executives at Warner Bros. Consumer Products, plus the launch of Digital Brand Roadshows, Retail Clinics, Sustainability Clinics produced in partnership with Products of Change, along with GLG educational content. "We are so excited to reveal this year's agenda as we tailor-made each offering to mirror the industry's most pressing and ever-changing needs," said Anna Knight, vice president of Licensing, Informa Markets. "As a result of extensive conversations with our exhibitor and attendee community, we have devised the strongest agenda to date that is geared toward inciting collaboration, drawing hundreds of IP to the forefront, and addressing the challenges our attendee-base faces daily."

Being a toy designer is an extremely rewarding, inspiring and creative job. But the big question is, how do I get a job as a toy designer? You may find yourself also wondering; What do I do to gain toy design experience? How do I cross over from other industries if I already have experience as a product developer, graphic designer, or industrial designer? Whether you are making a change from a different industry to come into the toy industry, or looking to change roles in your already thriving toy career, these 10 tips are sure to help you land the toy job you’ve been dreaming about.

The digital age is here and just like everyone else, toy inventors need to embrace the internet and social media in particular. E-commerce managers, distributors, licensors and other professionals who scour the web for new toy inventors to work with look at social media, in addition to sites like Kickstarter to find the next big thing. How will you “wow” them? Keep reading to find out.

Greg Watson, the national account manager for Publisher Services, Inc. (AKA PSi), one of the top toy distributors in USA, says that at PSi, they consult with buyers to learn about their needs. That allows them to pick the perfect products for their markets. Then, they also work with publishers and game developers to figure out how to provide the most value to the buyer.

You’ve got this great idea for a product but now you realize you’re drowning in the prospect of toy safety testing. The whole process seems overwhelming and a bit scary. But here’s a guide to get you started on the process. Don’t let the safety rules intimidate you.
Why are there so many regulations? Well, in 2008, there was a big safety scandal that led to the creation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act(CPSIA). The toy industry had to quickly adapt to the new regulations.

Coming up with toy ideas is fun, and over time it gets easier and easier. And vetting ideas that you’ve come up with is the trickiest step of all, because of our own ego. Ego can get in the way of you recognizing if your latest toy or game idea is really GREAT or just OK.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to write and illustrate a children's book? Maybe you have a few ideas but you’re not sure if they’re good. Or maybe your book is complete but you don’t know what to do next. How do you find a talented editor, agent, or publisher? Most people have a great idea to create something but they get caught up in the little things, which stops them in their tracks. Instead they watch other people’s ideas come to life.

Finding the right factory doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. But there are very specific steps you should follow on this journey. It’s a journey that you should document in as much detail as you can in an Excel file.

Amazon Live video is an interactive product commercial. The show’s host, whether it’s an Amazon influencer or the product’s manufacturer, can interact with the live attendees of their show via Chat. This offers a unique opportunity to answer product questions and concerns in real time, while showing the benefits, features, and value of your product on the exact platform where your ideal target market (ITM) is shopping for them.

Podcast Magazine recently featured Azhelle Wade aka The Toy Coach for an incredible interview about the vision that pushed her to leave her 9-5 to help aspiring toy inventors and entrepreneurs with her podcast, Making It In The Toy Industry with The Toy Coach. Azhelle’s podcast has been releasing episodes every single week (sometimes more than once a week!), since its inception in 2020. The show is credited with inspiring and educating listeners from across the globe and giving them the tools they need to take the next step in their toy businesses.

During the pandemic, consumers purchased, what we refer to in the industry, as “traditional toys”. The sales went to games and puzzles, outdoor and sports toys, building sets (such as LEGO), arts and crafts, and dolls (notably Barbie). I guess it’s easy to see why these categories were top choices. Families were stuck at home with lots of hours to fill and screen-fatigue quickly set in. We’ve all spent way too much online this year, don’t you agree?

This year the concept of “diversifying your toy box” is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. And, as The Toy Coach, toy companies have been reaching out to me asking what they can do to rise to the occasion and diversify their product lines.

On December 16th, 2020 at 1 PM EST time, I joined Kit and Scott on NBC’s Access Daily with a holiday toy segment featuring toys from companies that are centered around inclusion.

Not only do these toys promote diverse play, thinking, and come from diverse entrepreneurs but they ALSO crush the four Toyetic Principles which are the rules to making products that kids love to play with.

If you already caught the segment, and you’re looking for links to BUY some of the amazing toy products, I covered then you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to share a summary of each toy covered and a link to you can shop, hopefully in time for the holidays.

We only have one earth, and we need to take care of it. You may feel that there is little you can do, as someone in the toy industry, but there are actually many ways we can help the cause by making sure our toys are more sustainable than those that came before. Here are some ways you can make more eco-friendly toys.