Episode #41: What Keeps Kids’ Attention? with Silly Sparkles The Clown
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Toy creators today are in an ongoing battle for kids’ attention. So, I thought, what better way to find inspiration for new toy ideas than to connect with children’s entertainers? And it just so happens that a friend of mine Regina Martinez is also known as Silly Sparkles the clown. As Silly Sparkles the clown, Regina utilizes interactive balloon play, comedy, and magic to entertain and engage with kids. Regina comes on the show today and shares with us the latest trends she’s noticing with kids since COVID-19, from the kinds of characters they like to a surprising change in their attention span.
If you’re curious about what keeps kids’ attention these days, then this episode is for you! This conversation with Silly Sparkles is bound to inspire some fresh toy ideas. If you learn anything from Regina, I hope that it’s to let kids’ lead your design process a bit more. They’ll tell you what they want to play with, all you have to do is listen. Ok toy people, let's do this! Pop your earbuds in and take a listen.
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Azhelle
You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, Episode Number 41.
Intro/Outro + Jingle
Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, a podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. And now your host Azhelle Wade.
Azhelle
Hey there toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome to a very special Halloween episode of Making It in The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. Today I am joined by my dear friend Regina Martinez, who actually is an interactive balloon artist known as Silly Sparkles the clown. As Silly Sparkles Regina specializes in the interactive experience of twisting balloons for children's entertainment, which is just so cool. Instead of just handing over a finished creation, Silly Sparkles designed an interactive balloon play process that encourages creation, exploration and deconstruction play. So I asked Regina, one simple question when we first met. And that question was what grabs kids attention in balloon art? And her response to that simple question. got so many ideas for toys flowing in my mind that I decided I just have to have her come on the show. So many listeners, please let's give a warm welcome to Regina Martinez also known as Silly Sparkles the clown Welcome to the show, Regina.
Regina
Hello. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Azhelle
Oh, really happy to have you here. Excuse me if I call you Silly Sparkles throughout some of the questions.
Regina
It's totally okay. I go by both using some friends call you just sparkles. Right? You know I my real name is Regina. But my stage name, I guess you could call it is Silly Sparkle. So a lot of my friends have actually forgotten my real name. And they just call me Sparkle.
Azhelle
How? How did you even get started out in being a clown in children's entertainment? Like what came first?
Regina
Yeah, well, hey, you know, I always tell people, you got to be careful about who you meet. Because sometimes you meet someone you know, Wow, my life is never going to be the same. And so for me, that person was Miss Jelly Bean. Her real name is Jana. But I was called Jelly Bean. That's her stage name. She She approached me one time we knew each other. I knew her back in high school and she's like, Oh, sweetie, you're so artistic. You should do like, you know, like, like balloons and basepair with me at parties.
Azhelle
Voice Over artists also. Okay.
Regina
Okay, this Jelly Bean. If you're listening to this, I love you. But that is how you sound
Azhelle
definitely tagging Miss Jelly Bean when I post this for sure.
Regina
You have to anyways, but hold on. Hold on. Okay, before I tell you what I told her. Okay, I want to clear the air. I want to address an elephant in the room. Okay, because I know a portion of your audience when they heard you introduce me as a clown. Yes. They froze up.
Azhelle
Oh, like afraid?
Regina
Yes. Somebody in your audience problem. Oh, no, no, no, I don't do clowns. Yes. So I want to challenge you. If that was you, I want you to listen with an open mind and find one thing you can apply to connecting with your fan base or your audience. And so I actually found out you know, I was actually kind of scared of clowns too back then. Really? I was like, I mean, Nananana No, that's not my thing. But here's the thing. I tried it once I dressed up as a fairy princess, and I started making balloons for kids. I was so horrible. But
Azhelle
wait, how long ago was this? What year did you meet Miss Jelly Bean?
Regina
Oh, gosh. Oh, I'm gonna age myself.
Azhelle
You look fabulous. age is just a number. Yeah.
Regina
I started in high school.
Azhelle
No, you didn't.
Regina
Yeah, this was late. And I took a detour and got my college degree. But I
Azhelle
I took a detour from being a clown and got some education but like I really just needed to be a clown. It's like
Regina
it wouldn't let me go. I kept going back to an office job was not for me. Yeah. But ya know, I eventually became Silly Sparkles and carrying on seventeen years later, still loving that.
Azhelle
So wait, Okay, wow. 17 Okay, hold on. Let's back it up a little bit. Not that I'm not I guess I'm not researching this because I intend to be a clown. But I just I'm curious. So how long were you doing children's entertainment as things like a princess and things like that before you decided to explore the clown route.
Regina
Um, I very quickly switched I am not a princess. I am goofy I am clumsy. And when I found out you can make a pretty good living off of being yourself being goofy and clumsy and silly like kids connect with that. And once I realized I can make a living with it I dropped the princess things so fast.
Azhelle
That's not for me.
Regina
It was not Yeah. A completely different route and I had to design my own luck and my own you know, aesthetic.
Azhelle
Describe your aesthetic. Describe it. What do you look like as a clown?
Regina
It's very think of cotton candy. That's, like super bright, fun neon colors. That is my look. My My degree is actually in graphic design, which has nothing to do with kids entertainment, except for well, like the design aspect, the color palette. And so I'm obsessed with looks and color palettes. But honestly, my look is not designed by me. I like to say it's actually designed by the kids.
Azhelle
Ooh. How did that happen?
Regina
By accident, I started paying attention to what kids are saying about how I looked, oh, first started as a clown kid said, You scare me. And that just broke my heart. It was like no way the beginning when I looked ridiculous with ugly, crazy color clothes like, you don't you start in an industry, you just want to copy what everyone else is doing.
Azhelle
You go to the classic or something or like the traditional,
Regina
right, I went classic and ugly face paint, which my audience did not connect with that. So I dropped that pretty fast. And I started listening to the kids and they were like, Ah, you have sparkles. I love your sparkles. I'm gonna go with this. And I started listening to what really sparked kids imagination, their excitement. So I designed my costume around the sparkles I designed. Even my magic powers, they're now called sparkle powers. So it's been a process that was heavily influenced by kids reactions.
Azhelle
Okay, you've got to give me some pictures to put in the show notes. Because I know people are imagined they need to see this but sounds silly. Yes, perfect. So how many years you said 17 years? You've been clowning around? Yes. How many years? Have you been Silly Sparkles as you are today?
Regina
Probably after I graduated from college, it was oh nine fall of oh nine. And I just wasn't wasn't into the whole office thing. You know, I, you know, I really wanted to continue my creative side. I used to just be generic sparkles. But then I came up with Silly Sparkles. And so that birthed my character back in 2010.
Azhelle
Oh, and Okay, what kind of events do you do?
Regina
I do all kinds of events. So if you're having like a library summer reading program, you'll probably want to call me my puppet Magic Show. If you're having a birthday, I do a lot of 30 year old birthday parties, believe it or not, I don't know.
Azhelle
What is this? This puppet magic show entail?
Regina
The Puppet magic show is basically the premise is I have sparkle powers and you guys have sparkle powers to. And so we just go exploring our sparkle powers together and ridiculous silly things happen. I have a lot of running gags it's all built around my silly character like I, I hate bananas. And so every time you know, bananas are funny, but when kids have the context of my character, and they know I hate bananas, they will okay go their heads off. Every time a banana appears.
Azhelle
I have to say, I feel like when I first met you, I saw your picture. And I was like, because we met on Facebook. And I saw your picture. And I was like, for some reason. I feel like this is my girl. And they started talking about your bright colors and your clown costume. And now you hate bananas and I hate bananas this. This smell makes me nauseous. And I hate it. I hate it so much. So yeah.
Regina
Oh, my goodness. Yes. You and I I knew
Azhelle
there's something there. There's something there. So wait, now I want to get into your sparkle magic. Does this have something to do with that zoom video you showed me?
Regina
Yes. Okay. So I also entertain audiences over screens. Okay, so I do zoom puppet and magic shows for like graduations like special events and birthday parties. But lately, I've been noticing something's missing. When you're in zoom. You can feel the energy of that other person. Yes. You can exchange a lot, but there's still something missing. Yes. So I realized what was missing was a physical object. In my case, it's my version of toys which is balloons. Yeah. I missed the kid having part of my show. Their hands. So I introduced this magic routine where we make this silly balloon cupcake grow. And the kid like helps me make it grow. And then I tell the kid in the screen and like, what did you just do? And the kids like, What are you talking about? I see it in your screen. I'm like, No, no, no look behind you. And the kids will look behind them. And there is their parent standing with the big, ginormous, like, a gas cupcake. And the kid is just like going ballistic. Because what you see on your screen doesn't always connect with the physical world. So it was that that missing bridge?
Azhelle
That it's genius. It's genius. You know? What is it? Airbnb is doing these like virtual experiences, I feel like you need to be a virtual experience on Airbnb or something like that. That video I didn't even understand what was going on. I felt like a child it was I put kind of wizardry is this when I saw what is happening is great. Okay, let me go back. You brought me off track because I the magic. But you talked about the balloons. Let's get into your balloon art. Because actually the very first question that I asked you about what, what really engages kids? I thought that that question would spark something that my listeners could use as inspiration for toys, and you did not disappoint. Like Regina responded with this, this email that I think she thought was simple, but it had a bunch of bullet points that just sparked a bunch of ideas to me. So that's what we're going to talk about now. So when it comes to balloon art, tell us what do you find catches kids attention the most?
Regina
Okay, this is a really good question. Because when you email me a million things came to my mind. But first of all, I want to give an overarching principle. Okay, the number one rule, I always ask myself, does this connect with the kid? Okay, obviously, one of the top things that connects with kids are their favorite characters. So their favorite YouTube character, video game character, some icon like mermaids are really big right now. Something that captures their attention that they're familiar with, and that they get excited over with. So that's pretty much like the low hanging fruit. Kids also love things. The things that capture their attention are things that have surprises are interactions. So for example, I'll tell the kid Oh, yeah, I see you're dressed up as you know, Darth Vader. Do you want a lightsaber? And it'll be like, yeah, okay, so number one, something catches their attention that they're into. But number two, since I'm an interactive balloon artists, I want to give them something that surprises them that they're not expecting. So I just did this at an event last night. I make a lightsaber. But the balloon thanks to the magic of balloon science, when you wave it back really fast. It makes a really loud obnoxious lightsaber noise. It is magic.
Azhelle
Cute. Yeah. And I have to say many listeners, students that ties directly into the toyetic principles, I have four triatic principles, and one of them is surprise, conflict. Kids love surprise or conflict arising and their toys and their games or their balloon art.
Regina
Well, let me give you another example of surprises. Yeah, so I'm not actually a big fan of like princesses and stuff. I mean, that's obviously why I chose not to be one. Right? But I'll make it if a kid asks for one. But there's this one balloon artist named Christopher Lyle. He made a princess but she poops. Oh my gosh. She's a princess balloon. But you squeezer and a little Hershey's Kiss comes out it?
Azhelle
No, he didn't.
Regina
Oh, he did. And I started doing that. And kids went nuts for it. Because I don't tell them I just tell them squeeze. They're like she pooped!
Azhelle
oh my god. That's amazing. Is there another one?
Regina
Yeah. So actually going on that theme. Like I get tired of the same request over and over and over again. Kids always ask for the same Okay, unicorn, princess, mermaid, lightsaber, you know, right. So I was like, how can I turn this on its head and encourage a little more imagination. Okay, okay. So
Azhelle
I'm in I'm involved I love
Regina
I came up with I love it. I came up with a hybrid menu for my blooney animals. Oh, yeah, look, what that means is on the top half has all the different heads I make like a panda head. I'm about to add a Santa's head could be like a, you know, any kind of animal. And then on the bottom, it has all of the bodies so could have like a mermaid tail can have a superhero body, or it could have like a giraffe body and then the kids have to go and select Which head and which body they want. And I just test out a new idea. I included the Santa hat on my board and kids were cracking up they started creating. Or they started requesting Santa Merman.
Azhelle
Oh my god,
Regina
Santa reindeer. Oh my gosh. Um, some other weird ones were the panda corn. So the unicorn body with a panda head. Panda head
Azhelle
A panda head. I was like a panta? It's a panda and a Santa and a unicorn. Okay, that's next. That sounds so fun.
Regina
So yeah, it gets the kids out of their preset notions of what a mermaid should look like mermaids don't have to be Ariel is so tired of making Ariel mermaid can look like iron and mermaid.
Azhelle
Right? So is the idea of interactive balloon art different, like do a lot of clowns do interactive balloon art.
Regina
There's actually two schools of thought. So there's a term in our industry called the navel gazer. And what that means is someone who creates balloons, and they simply gaze at their navel, they look at their stomach are their creation the whole time. They don't look up. They don't interact with the audience. They just create. They're like, okay, here you go. No interaction, and I decided that does not fit me. That is not a very good expression of who I am. I want to play right. That is the whole thing. I just want to play with my audience and connect with them. Yeah. And so I came up with a better way to describe that I'd say it. I'm not just a balloon artist I'm an interactive balloon artist.
Azhelle
I love it. And then the ideas that you put together to do this like menu, where did that come from? Like, I know, you said you wanted to do something different. But what even what what happened? How did you get that idea specifically?
Regina
That was inspired by my medium? You know how whenever you're playing with your medium that you know, so well, I started noticing, hey, I use the same body for this design this design. And I started looking at balloons as building blocks. Okay, so I realized I could put these building blocks together and so many interchangeable ways. And that's really what sparked the idea was like, why not create a menu?
Azhelle
I love it. It's such a good idea. I know you have a couple more. So go on. I don't want it there. Okay, let's remind people what we were what we were on track. We were talking about all of the different things in balloon art that catches kids attention. Regina's got a long list. Let's get back to it.
Regina
Right. Okay, so the next thing that really captures kid's attention, this is something that took me years to discover or come to terms with but not every child wants to play with the balloon like I intend them to. There's a group of children that loves to destroy the balloons. They absolutely they live for it. They love that thrill of smashing that balloon or are they love pretending like it's like I like a little missile and like makes a little explosion. They love pretending that something unexpected happens and they just love destroying balloons. I don't know why. They just like the noise.
Azhelle
That's awesome. So the deconstruction Okay, okay. And did that also inspire you to do these like two part balloons so you had something that was easy to destroy?
Regina
Yes. If I know a kid is gonna destroy my balloon. I'll give him a snake body, which is one balloon for the body.
Azhelle
How can you tell like, do you? Is there something that they do in their personality that like tells you Oh, this kid's this kid's gonna destroy this balloon?
Regina
Oh, yeah. Whenever? Yes.
Azhelle
100%.
Regina
And it's not just you know, you might be thinking just the boys, but sometimes it's the girls too. It's whenever they are wildly curious and excited. Read what you can spot them. Yeah, the kids who are very, very curious about you. The kids are just hyperactive. Like they need that stimulation. They need something to happen.
Azhelle
Ooh, that's so interesting.
Regina
I can spot them a mile away. I know if they come I'm going to be making my Texas Boomer balloon for them because they're gonna love with that. The Texas Boomer is just this big, fat, giant balloon that's just just designed to pop.And it makes like this fart sound as that pops.
Azhelle
That's cool. Did you did you saw all these different kinds of balloons? like did you design them? Or is there like a balloon Bible for clowns that you learn from?
Regina
Yeah, so we have a very open community I love like, I love crediting some my designs with the people who have inspired them like the poop and Princess. There are a lot of industry experts and creators who are constantly coming up with quality ideas that are allowed to you know build off of me. You don't want to copy someone. Exactly. But you can be inspired by their designs.
Azhelle
Oh, this is so good. I love it. I love it so much. Okay. And next there is one more I think on your list process of creating
Regina
Process of creating kits love it when they can be involved in the decisions and the creation of the balloon. So sometimes they like it when you start with something blank. And then you can kind of create it together. Like here's a figure, let's choose the colors of the hair. Let's choose the body parts. That kind of goes along with the hybrid, but a little more customization, but they also love the silly surprises that happen when you're creating. Like, what? I'll have kids. I wish I could show you this is a lot easier to show you.
Azhelle
I mean, if you have balloons, I'm seeing you right, we're on video. Unfortunately for you listeners, I get to see what's going down. So what I'm here,
Regina
I don't make balloons. Thanks downstairs, I can grab and show you later. If I making a butterfly. I only want one little puff of air at the end of the balloon. And kids don't know what's balloon science that I can push that air magically it just the balloon magically inflates. But I let the kid do that. I tell them I want you to say bibbidi bobbidi boo, scared the balloon and something silly is gonna happen. So they'll go Pipi boppity boo. And then the puff of air the balloon will magically inflate at the end and the kid will go Why? I did that. I'm like, Yes, you did that.
Azhelle
Fun. You I feel like you're inspiring a lot of future balloon artists.
Regina
Right? Hopefully you can apply some of these elements of surprise to your own toy creation. I don't know for sure with your fans. But if you ever want to get into balloons as like a creative, you know, and a creative outlet, like let me know I will help you out.
Azhelle
I love that. Honestly, I know I feel like you're probably inspiring these kids. But kids are probably like I wouldn't be Regina or sparkles the clown when I grow up.
Regina
I know the parents are like no, I always tell the kids first you got to go to college, make your parents happy, then you can do whatever you want.
Azhelle
Really, that's just the parents hoping they change their mind while they're in college. That's what Right, exactly. Okay, so you're not just a balloon artists, right? You're also a clown, which means you're essentially your children's performer. So aside from just balloon art, what over your career have you discovered really catches kids attention just as a performer when you're performing a show?
Regina
Yeah, definitely. Okay, lately. I've noticed a shift in kids over the last five years, and even during coronavirus, there's this weird, subtle shift. kids used to not have much of an attention span, but I swear their attention span has grown really, I don't know if it's because they're not as oversaturated with entertainment. But I swear their creativity has grown something changed in these kids during pandemic across the board. But anyways, like kids also they love things that are absurd. They love weird things. And they love unexpected things. Like if I use magic words like poker face ice cream, like they will just tears after. Yeah, so I'm always looking for what connects the audience to my character. Because sometimes it's very unexpected, what they connect with, like, even if I debut a new show, which I'm about to debut my Halloween show next week. for Halloween, I you know, I don't know what the kids are going to connect with. I have a pretty good educated idea. And I've done a lot of research. Whenever you put something together. It's really fascinating to see what kids respond to what parts that they love, what parts do they not really care for.
Azhelle
Right? And in the toy industry. Content actually really drives a lot of our decisions for what we produce like influencers TV shows, movies. Do you reference pop culture in your performances?
Regina
I do. Blippi right now is really big with my two and threes audience Oh, yeah, I
Azhelle
met Blippi by the way. Oh, jealous mutt. Yeah, no. Picture. Hold on. I pull it up.
Regina
This is so exciting. My three year old would be so jealous. He thinks I ppi. Yeah, so um, I know I'll be much more of a success in my shows. If I can reference things that kids are really into like, certain groups of kids are really into Jojo Siwa
Azhelle
I love it. I just showed her a picture of mean Blippi
Regina
Oh, I'm jealous. I want to meet Blippi
Azhelle
Yeah, my boyfriend like tracked him down after I got a picture cuz he was like I gotta get a picture to it was at New York Toy Fair.
Regina
Okay, you YouTubers have so much power over kids like, um, I have an entertainer friend Brett Bullock and he gets asked if he can dress up as Blippi whenever he performs for kids parties. So similar so there are Blippi character requests in the entertainment world.
Azhelle
That's crazy. Wow. Okay, sorry. So let's get back to you said you do use pop culture but how do you use it in your performances?
Regina
But I can use it on zoom a lot easier so I can use it on my zoom backgrounds. I'll be like what shows you see why doing and my background? Oh, supposed to take me to the library not take me to judge us see what concert. Even I do use toys and I show I make toys appear and disappear and I do silly things with them. I make toys bigger. So if I can. I use my kids a lot. And this my kids asked for a lot of toys off of YouTube. That's where they see. That's where they get most inspiring. They're like Mommy, Mommy, I have to have this question. mallow I saw in a YouTube video. It inspired me I was like, Okay, I guess I got to start using squish mallos my magic show.
Azhelle
Right?
Regina
And I tried it and kids kids went bananas. They weren't preserved.
Azhelle
Can you tell us what you do with it? Like, what's the magic? What do you do?
Regina
So I'll make us question while we're talking like the little five inch I do not have enough room on my car to bring like that big giant 20 inch. Okay, you know the child. Got it. I'll bring like the little five inch I'll be like, what's it doing in my bag? I'll tell the kids Okay, use your sparkle powers to make my squish model disappear. Everyone say? Go squish small go. Did you just say grow don't say grow do not make by squish. malo grow. And then there will be tears crush mallos and the kids will realize that power over me. And they'll keep on yelling growl squish my low growl. About so
Azhelle
cute. That's adorable. I love that. I love that. I love it.
Regina
Yeah, so any pop connection, any pop culture reference you can make, you can always find a way to spin it And make it interactive with the kids.
Azhelle
Do you find it hard to stay on top of trends? So that you're ready with the next squish mellow? Or you know things like that?
Regina
No, no, not for me. Because I've got three kids. You'll probably hear them in the background. They're at age eight, six and three. So I have no choice but to know the latest trends latest toys like in my friends, kids, they'll they'll tell me about it. And birthday parties like kids will will talk about their favorite toys and their favorite shows favorite YouTube channels. I can't help but notice,
Azhelle
has it gotten harder though in in COVID and quarantine because they're not going to school as much right? Or they're not seeing their friends. So how so? Is it just all online where all these trends are evolving from?
Regina
I used to get a lot of common request for like unicorns and mermaids. But since COVID, it seems like kids are they're watching more YouTube videos and shows that are more obscure. It's like they're they're branching off more. They're not watching so many mainstream shows. It's like, I want to see, you know, the latest Blippi show or whatever. So it definitely seems like there's a little shift of what kids are interested in. It's more smaller creators seems like this, my loving daughters are getting a larger audience.
Azhelle
And you said that kids actually have a longer attention span. Now, since the pandemic, we don't know if it's maybe they're not they're not being overstimulated anymore so they can focus when they are being simulated. But in your experience, what loses their attention the fastest, like what have you done in your act that you're just like, that was a total mess. No one is paying attention. You're never doing that again.
Regina
Yeah. Kids get really tired of things they've seen before. Like, if I bring out the magic coloring book, if you're a seven or eight year old boy, you have seen it you have seen it a million times. Okay, if I bring out the magic coloring book, like I guarantee you I'm gonna lose like a third of my audience because they're gonna be like, I know how you did it.
Azhelle
What is the magic coloring book because I Are you talking about like the Aqua coloring books.
Regina
So the magic coloring book is a coloring book that whenever you first open it, it's all blank pages. And then you do you know you say the magic word, whatever. You open it again and it has drawings. You tell the kids Oh, I think we need to add some color. So then the kids add color. And then you open again and all the colors are magically filled in. It's been referred to as one of the oldest magic tricks. Like literally like 2000 years ago, like, we're using this.
Azhelle
The kids know it already.
Regina
They know it because it's one of the most easiest tricks to and cheapest tricks to buy and use. Okay, so it's like a typical generic starter magic kit prop.
Azhelle
Okay.
Regina
So, yeah, as long as you don't bore the kids, but that, for example, if you were to use that same old tried and true trick, but like, set it on fire, okay. There's a couple of magicians that do that. It's not for real. It's just like the flashfire the magician, okay, okay,
Azhelle
okay. Okay. Okay. Um,
Regina
if you put a new spin on something that kids have seen before, they love it. If you give them something they're not expecting. That's when you draw them back in.
Azhelle
That goes back to conflict and surprise.
Regina
Exactly.Yeah. Right. And it's so funny to me how that is true for my industry, as well as yours.
Azhelle
Yeah, I'm glad I'm so glad this all relates. Now, you're I feel like you're just this I didn't realize that clowns do so much. So you're also a comedy ventriloquist? What does that mean?
Regina
Yeah, so um, I do comedy magic shows. I'm kind of giving you a couple examples. So it's like a comedian. Yeah, except I use puppets. So it's like, you have a little friend to like bounce things off of and you have a friend who can get away with saying things that you can't get away with. The for example, the puppet will be addressing the audience. Like, Oh, you're so pretty. Oh, yeah. So handsome. And I'm sure you have a lovely personality. I can't take credit for that line, though. I'm curious a Hendricks.
Azhelle
Oh, my God. That's so cute.
Regina
So there's, there's a lot you can do within the industry.
Azhelle
Okay. I mean, we covered everything. I love this conversation. It was so fun. So to close out the question, I want to ask you, what you would like to see more of in the toy industry. So I want to kind of know what you as a clown think is missing. But at the same time, now that I'm understanding how you work and how you do your job. I actually want to know if you think there's something that toy industry could be providing clowns that would make your jobs easier, like products that you'd want to buy?
Regina
Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. Okay, well answer your first question. What do I think the industry is missing for kids? For kids? Yeah, I'm gonna give a shout out to one of my favorite independent toy makers. His name is Joshua Hibbard with pickman vinyls. And he creates these really cool toys. That kind of like what what he wish he had when he was growing up. He's got like a cool following. I was I was talking with him about like this question like, Where do you think, what do you think the toy industry is missing? And his answer surprised me because it was almost exactly what I thought too. And he, he says he sees a lot of brands, making assumptions about their audience and not really listening to their audience or their fan base. And he sees a lot of brands failing in this regard. So I thought about that. And I was like, You know what, that's kind of what I wish I saw in the toy industry. He was actually one of the first toy creators to come up with the child vinyl character to actually one of the he was one of the first toy directors, creators to actually sell it. I think he was started taking pre orders November and he had it shipped out like a month later. So he is really on top of things, right. But anyways, going along with that line of how certain toy brands fail to listen to their audience, they assume that they didn't do the work to listen before they created. I would love to see more connections with the audiences as toys are creating brands I would love to see. For example, I'm really tired of making Elsa and mermaids because unfortunately, a lot of little girls they think all mermaids are white and have red hair. And I would love to be able to point out well Do you want a mermaid like this icon like a mermaid who looks different? Yeah, like well, where are those mermaid
Azhelle
mermaid with an afro would that be like yes,
Regina
like where's that character like, Is there a huge I literally googled,
Azhelle
are the mermaids with the afro goodness and make something like One needs to make that might be my Halloween costume. That's so awesome. Okay, yes, I agree. I agree we really need to just listen, listen to the audience. And honestly, this is module one in my course, you know, because we were actually accountability partners and building our course. But, uh, yeah, so for me, module one, it was all about research is all about figuring out what the market has, what your customers actually want. And then trying to figure out how you can find a line like a convergence point of those two, two lines of research. Exactly. And then Okay, now, tell us what you think the toy industry could do for clowns? Because I as you were talking, I was like thinking, I got ideas, things I could sell you class. Good idea.
Regina
Absolutely, there are, there is so much creativity in my industry. But a lot of people just don't have a pathway forward. If they want to produce content or produce a magic trick. It's very, it's a very tough learning curve for them to figure out how do I actually make my idea become a reality? Like, how do I find manufacturers? Like how do I actually make this a real magic prop? How do I go from you know, making something together with tape and foam and cardboard in my garage to making it something real? like making it something quality functional? Yeah. Is there a lot of magic there? A lot of magic DIY is the lots of tutorials that teach you how to make things. But you make and it's so flimsy. And it's like, Why haven't you manufactured your brilliant idea?
Azhelle
Yeah, no, that's so I didn't I wasn't even going there. So that's no thank you. That's it. It was not even thinking like that. That's great. How many magic tricks are there available to clowns? Like well-known magic tricks? Is there like a number like there's only like 50 magic tricks really out there right now or 500?
Regina
There's a lot better. A lot of them are, are kind of old school. Like Like magic boxes with like, Chinese characters on the side. And just sometimes there's a little cringe factor. So a lot of old fashioned things. So I would love to see more. There are some brands and companies who do this well, but obviously there's always room for more.
Azhelle
I think it's so cool that this is your whole job.
Regina
Yes, it is. So, I have to pinch myself when I realized I made my living from twisting latex. Like how crazy is that? It's so obscure, but I love it. And I can make a pretty good living off of it.
Azhelle
Awesome. Oh, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Virginia. I wanted to tell you have you seen the squeaky the balloon dog? Is that the link you sent me? I don't know if I sent you this link. So there is a balloon robot balloon dog. Moose Toys created it. I think you might find it hilarious. No way. Yeah, like it then they made it not Yes. It's bright red. They made it look like someone just made a balloon dog like an old school like traditional really shouldn't be just balloon dog. But he's plastic. And he actually reacts like a real dog. No, like, you can like pat him. Yeah, like a robot dog. So you're like, pet him and feed him and like say you've been bad. And he'll like react. It's adorable. I love it. You have to check it out. And that every when I saw it actually is up for all these awards. And then and we'd already had our interview scheduled, but I just thought how fitting. So
Regina
that is so cool. I love it. So my industry actually influence the toy industry. Yeah,
Azhelle
I love that.Yeah,
Regina
I want to go buy it like right now.
Azhelle
I'll send you the link. Okay. So thank you so much for coming on the show. This was amazing. I got a lot of value. I'm sure my listeners did two very inspirational episode. Thank you for sharing everything about your incredible industry. I don't even know what they'll say oh, let us know where we can find you. Where can we connect with you?
Regina
Oh, you can check me out. You can just look up just literally Google Silly Sparkles. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, all the things.
Azhelle
Perfect. Okay, we will do. Thank you so much again for coming on the show. Take care of Regina.
Regina
Okay, thank you so much for having me.
Azhelle
Okay, toy people there you have it. my interview with Regina Martinez. Silly Sparkles the clown I hope you enjoyed listening to this interview as much as I enjoyed recording it with Regina. We had a lot of fun. So to summarize the findings in this episode, because I really think there were a lot of great takeaways. So what I want to summarize at the end for you are what catches kids attention the most in balloon art. And I want to summarize this specifically because I think it's really applicable to toys. So there are six things that catch kids attention in balloon art. So let's go over them. Number one, their favorite characters. Going back to our Twitter principles, characters are always a great way to connect with kids. Number two hybrid balloon animals. If you look at Toys successful toys like Anna moodles, you'll see this in toys that already exists today. Kids love when they have the chance to choose the parts and pieces that make up the final toy that they'll play with. Number three, deconstruction, as Regina said, there are certain kids that just love to take those balloons apart. So we got to think how we can incorporate that into the products that we create for kids. Number four, the process of creating they love to be involved in the process of making balloons. So maybe we have to think in line with our DIY products that we're creating. How can we make it a process that the kids feel they're a part of, maybe not leading entirely like traditional DIY kids, but maybe a bigger project that they're a part of? Number Five surprises again, going back to our toyetic principles. surprises, kids love it when the end product surprises them, like the balloon does a silly trick or makes the silly sound. These are applicable to toy products directly. If you're not sure what I'm talking about with toyetic principles, then I want you to head over to episode two of this podcast and take a listen. And finally, number six interactions, kids love balloons and have special interactions. And this kind of loops in with surprises. If you're thinking about the examples that Regina gave us of the pooping Princess, or the lightsaber balloon that actually makes like Sabre noises when you move the balloon around due to balloon science, not my specialty, but Regina talked about it in perfect detail during our conversation. So even though we're not balloon artist toy people, there is a lot of inspiration that you can draw from this conversation that I had with Regina today. Now if you want to learn more about Regina, or miss Jelly Bean or her good friend, Joshua, all of the people that we talked about, in this episode, I want you to head over to thetoycoach.com forward slash 41 to grab all of the links. And to wrap up this episode, I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for joining me here each and every week to listen and learn about the toy industry and find toy inspiration with me and my wonderful guests. If you love this podcast, I want to please ask you to leave us a review. I get an email notification whenever new reviews come in and it puts a huge smile on my face when I see how much of an impact this show and the episodes I work so hard to put together are having on you and your toy career. So until next week, I'll see you later toy people.
Intro/Outro + Jingle
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