Episode #9: Top Toy Companies That You Should Know
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There's nothing more important to the success of your product pitch than really knowing the company that you're pitching to! Showing a great inventor item to the wrong company is almost as bad as not showing it to anyone at all. If your toy invention does not fit the target demographic of your potential manufacturing partner, you run the risk of losing their interest altogether. So for today's episode, The Toy Coach dives into a conversation about 6 top toy companies in the industry. We dive into the stories and toys of Hasbro, Mattel, MGA, Spinmaster, Goliath Games, and Funko. You'll get a mini-history lesson on each company, learn their most popular games, and most importantly learn about their history working with inventors.
what you’ll learn from this episode
#1 Learn about the top toy companies in the industry today. Who they are, where they came from, and what makes them so great.
#2 Gain an understanding of which of these top companies have a positive history of working with inventors, and how you can start submitting your ideas today!
#3 Realize what you don’t know about your dream licensee, which is the company that you might partner with to manufacture your toy. Take the time to research and find out what makes them stand up in a pitch meeting and say “oh yeah, that’s a great idea we neeeeed that.”
Did You Know?
In 1926 Hasbro was known as the Hassenfeld Brothers.
A Mattel executive got the idea for Barbie, from her kids!
MGA’s Bratz doll line was the first doll line to ever have more sales than Barbie.
Spinmaster was founded by 3 college friends with just 10,000 in startup funds!
Goliath Games’ Doggie Doo was an inventor product that took Toy of the Year with it’s debut in Europe!
Funko has had over 13,000 products, and over 1000 licenses
Learn even more facts about these 6 major toy companies when you listen to this episode. We’ll also let you know which 4 companies support and love working with inventors the MOST. Ready to learn more? Pop on your earbuds and listen in!
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This episode is brought to you by thetoycoach.com
Inventor Submission Links:
Hasbro - spark.hasbro.com/
Mattel - www.mymattelideas.com/
Goliath - goliathgames.wufoo.com/forms/r1kcu1t509x2io0/SpinMaster's
Interview with Chitag.com - www.chitag.com/single-post/2019/10/22/Spin-Master-East-Unveiled-Meet-the-Team
Hasbro's Interview with Inc.com - https: www.inc.com/stephen-key/how-hasbro-finds-its-next-great-ideas.html
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Azhelle (00:00): You are listening to making it in the toy industry. Episode number nine, Intro/Outtro + Jingle (00:06): Welcome to making it in the toy industry podcast for inventors, entrepreneurs like you and now your host Azhelle Wade. Azhelle (00:17): 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 the toy coach.com. Now make sure you sign up for the toy coach insider's newsletter to get new episodes emailed to you week by week. For today's episode, I'm going to get into full on teacher mode and teach you guys all about the top toy companies that you should know. I have met too many inventors with great toy and game ideas who are simply going after the wrong manufacturing partner. Pitching a great idea to the wrong partner is the same as pitching it to a brick wall. The only upside is the practice you're getting on delivering the pitch itself. So today we're going to focus our attention on learning about six top toy and game companies that you should know. Azhelle (01:13): Some of these companies love inventors, which you'll see is pretty evident by their history of highly successful inventor toys and games. And some of these companies are just known for innovating their categories, introducing new forms of play, new packaging formats, and inspiring whole industry trends. So for today, I want you to take away three things. Number one, I want you to learn about the top toy companies in the industry today, who they are, where they came from, and what makes them so great. Number two, I want you to gain an understanding of which companies have a positive history of working with inventors. And then I'll arm you with enough information so you can submit your toy ideas directly to them if they have that option available. Number three, I want you to have a light bulb moment, and I don't mean an idea, but I want you to realize what you don't know. Azhelle (02:15): And what I'm thinking you may not know is your potential licensee, which is the company that you might partner with to manufactured your toy, which is the company that you might partner with to manufacture your toy. You need to know these guys inside and out so that you can understand what makes them stand up in a pitch meeting and say, Oh yeah, that's a great idea and we need that. With all that said, let's get started. First company up to talk about is Hasbro. Hasbro is one of the most successful toy companies today. In 1926 they were known as the Hassenfeld brothers and started by making hat liners and pencil box covers out of fabric remnants. Eventually they expanded into pencil boxes and all school supplies. And then in world war two started into toys with air raid kits and medical play sets. So Hassenfeld didn't well hitting on opportunities as they came, but finally they had their first big toy hit with the iconic mr potato head in 1952 now that toy actually became the very first TV advertised toy and their hits just didn't stop there. Azhelle (03:33): In 1963 the company now known as Hasbro, released their next hit GI Joe action figures. And then in 1967 they released another classic toy light bright, which is still around today. So for a long time, Hasbro strengths were in boy properties, but with releases like my little pony and littlest pet shop, Hasbro proved that they could hold their own in the girl aisle. Now over the years, Hasbro's acquired some of the most popular toy lines including Furby, Nerf Play-Doh, easy bake oven game products like Scrabble, battleship, candy, land and monopoly. So today, Hasbro is primarily known in the industry as a leader in licensed action figures and family games. Okay, so let's talk about how Hasbro feels about inventors. Hasbro is one of the big toy companies that truly values inventor ideas. They attend and support Chicago toy and game week every year. And they even have an entire website where you can submit your ideas. Azhelle (04:48): I will definitely link to that site in the show notes, but just so you know, it's spark.hasbro.com in an interview on ink.com Brian Chapman, who is the president and head of global design and development at Hasbro said quote, we look all around the world to find inventors who can bring us ideas and we solicit ideas from our consumers and quote. So what you can gather from this information is that Hasbro is looking to partner with inventors like you. You know from their history in toys that they're open to all categories with a specific track record in making boys toys and family games. Absolute runaway hits based on what Chapman said about soliciting ideas from their consumers. I would implore you to do a dive into review sites like amazon.com maybe target.com and read what customers are saying about Hasbro's existing products and reading. Some of these consumer comments are going to give you hints on how to improve your toy ideas or change your toy pitches so that they're directed at solving a problem that Hasbro currently has with their consumers. Azhelle (06:14): Hasbro is likely already aware of these comments, but if you come in with a solution, they are going to listen. Now, the next toy company that we want to talk about is Mattel. Mattel started out selling picture frames and furniture for dollhouses in 1945 their first successful toy was the Uka doodle and adorable playable ukulele with a music box inside. But we cannot talk about Mattel without talking about the doll that they are known across the globe for. And that is the creation of Barbie in 1959 now, Barbie is one of the most popular and recognizable toy lines of all time and it all started in 1959 when Ruth handler, a Mattel executive wanted to create something other than a baby doll for her kids because her kids liked to pretend their dolls were doing adult things like having jobs and playing mom. So the doll was obviously a huge success at this point. Azhelle (07:22):Barbie is one of the most recognizable cultural Toy icons. She has won fashion awards Toty awards, and Barbie even has a whole media empire of movies and TV shows. Now it's Mattel established themselves as the leader of the girls' aisle with brands like Barbie Polly pocket and later when they acquired American girl, but they are also known for a breakout hit in the boys' aisle and that's hot wheels. This brand of die cast cars teeters between toy and collectible. Even today, Mattel continues to make efforts to break out of the norm, starting with the introduction of plus sized Barbies to the 2019 release of Createable world, which is a genderless line of fashion dolls that promotes label free self-expression. The dolls bodies are not suggestive of any particular gender and even more impressive to me, the packaging is teal and yellow, which is a far cry from the industry norm of primarily pink boxes in the fashion doll category. Azhelle (08:37): This change invites boys and girls alike to enjoy a play pattern that was traditionally reserved for the girls fashion doll category. Okay. Okay. So how does Mattel feel about inventors? You're thinking Azhelle, I have this great doll and I Mattel would love it. So I want to know how do they feel about inventors? Well, I'm happy to report that. Much like Hasbro. Mattel loves inventors. They too have a standalone site called my Mattel ideas.com where you can submit your products directly, but they also attend and support Chicago toy and game week to meet inventors like you. So if your product matches the recent mission statement of Mattel, maybe you're a girl focused inventor and you have an idea with this out of the box twist, then I would suggest focusing your pitch efforts specifically on Mattel. The next company we're going to talk about is MGA. Azhelle (09:39): Now not many people know this but MGA was founded in 1979 and it actually stands for micro games America entertainment because they used to in fact sell small games like Nintendo handheld games, but now with an abbreviated name and a new brand identity, MGA is known for creating ground breaking popular products and have gone head to head in competition with Mattel. Now they are a newer company, you know in relation to Hasbro and Mattel, but they have some seriously well known and award winning products like LOL, surprise. MGA created Bratz dolls in 2001 they were totally different from other fashion dolls available with sassy outfits based on current trends, big heads and really outrageous stylish makeup. And in 2005 Bratz was the first doll line ever to have more sales than Barbie. After arguments and court fighting over the IP of Bratz with Mattel, MGA decided to focus their attention on new brands first Lalaloopsy and eventually LOL surprise. Azhelle (10:55): And that effort was not wasted in 2016 and 2017 LOL. Surprise was the number one toy for the year until November. MGA latched onto popular trends like texting, acronyms, unboxing surprises, mix-match fashion mini dolls, and just rolled them all up into one big blowout hit. And if you don't know, MGA was recently awarded toy of the year in 2019 so let's talk about it. How does MGA feel about inventors? Honestly, MJ is not known for their work with inventors. They tend to keep their projects very tight lipped within their company. However, if you are an inventor looking to make it in the industry, especially in the girls' market, you should definitely study. And take notes from what MGA creates when they launch and how they market it. So the next company we're going to talk about is spin master. Spin master was founded in 1994 by three college friends who had a funny idea for earth buddies, which was a pantyhose filled with grass seeds and soil. Azhelle (12:14): If you watered it, grass would grow. It would look like hair similar to a chia pet. They started with just $10,000 of startup money and they're now a major player in the toy biz. Now most people in the industry better remember spin getting their start with Tech Deck. It was a series of mini adventure sports gear for your fingers. They had skateboards and BMX bikes and Ramps. So you could do all these like fun finger jumps. Now spin master is known as one of the new companies that really focuses on innovation. In 2016 spin master launched Hatchimals and they blew up retail buyers couldn't keep them on the shelves. Hatchimals are these cute little creatures reminiscent of the Furby play pattern that can like learn and communicate with you. Now the main difference between Hatchimals and Furby is that these characters actually hatch out of an egg in real time.
Azhelle (13:15): Once you start up the toy, a mechanism magically starts to reveal the toy inside the egg. Spin master is also really heavy and entertainment toy properties, some of which are IPS they developed in house and that they own. Now some of their entertainment based toy lines are Papa troll, PJ masks, angry birds, and teenage mutant Ninja turtles. So if you're an inventor with a mechanism that could work for one of these licenses, you might consider updating the illustration of that toy that houses your mechanism to fit one of these properties as part of your pitch. So you must be wondering, how does one of the most innovative new toy companies feel about inventors? Well, spin loves inventors, and I say this not just because of research, but because of what friends of min have told me. During an interview with chitag.com, Dougal Grimes stated that the company's openness to new ideas is what sets them apart from others. Azhelle (14:21): Dougal continues to say quote, we have cultivated an amazing community of more than 200 inventors around the world and we pride ourselves on being very collaborative with these brilliant and talented people and quote and my friend, you should be a part of that amazing community. Spin master attends events like Chicago toy and game week to meet with inventors and hear new ideas but also works with representatives to review and select inventor submissions. The next toy company we're going to talk about is Goliath games. Now Goliath games was founded in 1980 in the Netherlands with a North American division located in Plano, Texas. It's always been a family owned business and continues to be so until this day you may know some of their iconic products like Pop The Pig Doggie Doo and Gooey Louie, but they also manufacture puzzles, crafts, and activity toys. So in 2014 Goliath bought Pressman toys and acquired JAX in 2017 that's J A X, not Jack's Pacific. Azhelle (15:33): And Goliath has a number of other acquisitions that span from the U S to France and even Australia. So Goliath is well known for their kid focused family games such as kids know best a trivia game with separate sets of questions for kids and parents to keep everyone in the family engaged. And an inventor item called Doggie Doo. That's right. Doggie Doo was a game brought to Goliath by inventor Bruce Lund, who first intended to make a game that taught kids how to take care of their dog when Doggie Doo hit shelves in Europe in 2010 it was a smash hit taking top toy of the year. And the game has since been redesigned. The pieces made rounder. The box illustration made funnier, but the inventor mechanism remains the same. So how does Goliath feel about inventors? Well, Goliath games has a history of being very open to working with inventors. Azhelle (16:33): In fact, if you go to the Goliath website right now and you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, click on the link that says inventor relations. From there you can fill out a form to describe and submit your own toy or game concept. You're welcome toy people. I've got you. But don't worry if you're not ready to submit your idea just yet. Just know that Goliath is another company who meets with inventors during Chicago twin game week and are even key sponsors for the event. Now I just want to toss in a tip here. I want you to take a look at the types of games that do really well for this company. You're going to notice that you see a lot of them are mechanism based, really simple mechanisms, but this is fantastic news for inventors like you. Make sure you're branding your mechanisms to fit their family fun style and you'll increase your chances of a successful pitch meeting. Azhelle (17:31): And the last toy company that we are going to talk about today is Funko. Funko was started in 1998 by a toy collector who couldn't find the toys that he really wanted. So he decided to make them himself, starting with bobble heads of popular figures like Austin Powers, characters that Grinch and Tony the tiger. But now Funko has a popular line of adorable pop vinyl figures, most of which are based around pop culture, characters and icons. Well, most toy companies have a few super popular lines of toys. Funko has had over 13,000 products and over 1000 licenses for pop culture figures. They are experts at coming up with an idea, creating it with a quick turnaround and discontinuing it if it's no longer selling. Now Funko also does special releases for products called chase. Variants. Collectors go crazy over the variations that the company produces at unlimited quantity. Azhelle (18:39): Some of the variations are just a change of color or material. Well, others are more noticeable, but the variations can sell for a lot more than the toys original price. Funko is also different in the way that they have products that are targeted both towards kids and adults towards people who want to play with the toys or just collect them. So you might be wondering, how does go feel about inventors? Well, Funko does not currently formally accept inventor submissions. They do have a relatively new games division since their acquisition of Forrest-Pruzan Creative in 2019 Forrest-Pruzan was actually an inventor group that licensed games and products to a ton of toy companies like Spin Master, Ravensburger, Mattel, Wonderforge and so many more. So with that acquisition, Funko really has their own builtin inventor studio and likely won't be looking for inventor submissions anytime soon. Azhelle (19:42): But if you are an inventor and you have an idea for a collectible, you have got to be studying what Funko is doing. They have perfected the art of collectibles and you can learn a lot from watching their product release strategy, the packaging design that they do, their themes and the variants they choose to release year after year. Okay, toy people. So those are the six top toy companies that I wanted to talk to you about today. Remember, as an inventor, it is very important that you study the field that you are playing in. Well, I do want you thinking outside of the box and being creative and coming up with your own way to do dolls and action figures and collectibles. I also want to make sure, I also want to make sure that your inventions are rooted in the realities of today's toy market and meeting the needs of either your end consumers or the toy companies you're pitching to. Azhelle (20:42): You must understand who the big players are, what their price points are, how big their market is, and how they communicate with that market to know what makes them so successful. Nothing will end a pitch meeting faster than the moment a company realizes that you don't understand their target demographic. Okay, so really quick, let's recap on the things that I told you in the beginning that I wanted you to learn and hopefully you've learned today. One, you've learned about some top toy companies in the industry today, who they are, where they came from, and what makes them so great. Two, you learned which toy companies have a history of working with inventors and how you can pitch to them. Three, you've hopefully realized if you need to dig deeper into researching and understanding the target demographic of the companies you plan to pitch to. Do you need to revise your product concept a bit to fit their needs? Azhelle (21:43): Well, with most of us home right now, it might be the perfect time to revisit your product ideas and make sure that they're designed to pitch to the companies that you're going after. I want to thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I know you have so many options of podcasts that you can listen to, so it means the world to me that you chose this one. I would love it if you would subscribe to this podcast if you haven't already, and leave us a review on iTunes. Honestly, waking up to a new review alert really puts a huge smile on my face and reenergizes me for the week ahead. So please leave a review if you haven't already. Now next week I have a super special episode for you filled with every ton of actionable information. I really can't wait to share that episode with you and I don't want to give too much away, but all I have to say is get your pitch presentations, email ready, inventors. So until next week, I hope you are able to work from home. That your are able to spend some time with your family that you all stay safe and healthy. So until we meet again next week, I'll see you later. Toy people. Intro/Outtro + Jingle (23:03): Thanks for listening to making it in the toy industry podcast with Azhelle Wade. Head over to the toy coach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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