Bilingual toys big hit with nation’s littlest consumers

It’s a small world after all

“I made a big mistake by not teaching my kids Spanish,” said Heitmann, 37, recently at the Burbank, Calif., store. “I’m not going to make the same mistake with my niece.”
Spanish-English bilingual toys have become especially popular in the last few years, thanks in part to Fisher-Price’s wildly successful “Dora the Explorer” product line, based on the Nickelodeon cartoon about Dora Marquez, a 7-year-old bilingual Hispanic girl.
For the first time, Hispanic people – the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the country at 42.7 million – will flex more spending power than any other minority group in the United States, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

Hispanic disposable income will swell to $863.1 billion this year, up 8.1 percent from 2006, the Center estimates.


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Grandparents Market

I recently wrote an article, soon to be published, about the Grandparents market. I am interested in this demographic because of what I found in an article in the Houston Chronicle by David Kaplan entitled, "Toy sellers know who has the money: baby boomers." This story reported on the results of an AARP study on how grandparents spend their money. According to the study:" Grandparents spend an average of $500 a year on each grandchild, collectively $30 billion per year…."

Here is some additional information in the article that will not be found in my column:

70 percent: Of U.S. wealth is controlled by people over 50, according to a consultant at Age Wave.
10 million: The increase in the number of grandparents over the next four years.
$500: Amount that grandparents spend per grandchild per year.
$30 billion: Collective amount grandparents spend on grandchildren annually.
25 percent: Of toy sales are from purchases by grandparents.

How to Judge a Gift By Its Package

Bill Goodwin is president and CEO of Goodwin Design Group. His experience spans nearly 20 years, and his clients — including Binney & Smith, Campbell’s Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Disney, General Mills, Hasbro, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart — represent some of the world’s leading brands.

He recently spoke at the Youth Marketing Mega-Event 2006 held Mar. 27 to 29 in Huntington Beach, Calif. TDmonthly Magazine caught up with Goodwin to ask him a few questions about the significant role packaging plays in selling toys.

“Packaging is an important part of a product's success,” noted Kim Kutska, vice president of e-commers at GrowingTreeToys in State College, Pa. “For example, International Playthings repackaged the Egg & Spoon Race game so that it now shows all of the contents in blister packaging. As a result, we have sold many more than we did before, since it is a cute item that looks more appealing in this packaging.”

Goodwin explained that great packaging comes from clearly being able to communicate the benefit of a product. “A well-trained buyer is going to look at something and say, ‘I don’t understand what it is — I’m not getting the benefit.’”

Through promotions, package changes or brand evolutions, a company can easily keep its product’s story fresh, thereby maintaining an emotional relationship with the end user, Goodwin continued. Relying on structure (such as the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle), color (such as that of a pack of Crayola pens) and visual autonomy (no need for lengthy text), companies can guarantee their products stand out. In addition, the line between fantasy and reality is crucial, he noted.

“Kids interpret somewhat literally,” Goodwin said. “In the fantasy form, you can only take it so far before it creates a situation where you have an out-of-box user experience, and the kid’s disappointed, because it’s not what they thought it was; or God-forbid it’s bought by a parent, and it’s not what they thought it was. You won’t get them back, so the product depiction is essential.”

Goodwin noted that in package design, the toy industry could benefit from following the examples of other product categories. He offered the following tips:

“Define what the brand represents, and stick to it. Use the strategy — what the communication on the package is, what the benefit of the product is — as the defining parameters for everything you do in the design and creative process. It’s a product for kids, so why not ask kids what they like? They do that a lot in product development, but they don’t do it in packaging. The truth is that everybody who buys the product will look at the package. Why are we putting so little into it?”

Goodwin suggested that manufacturers just starting out model themselves after other successful companies. Unique ideas, he added, are key.

“Don’t even bother unless you’ve got something that’s better and has a genuine better benefit to people, and you can articulate it, and you’re willing to invest in branding and packaging in a way that will allow that to come across,” he said. “This is a battle for the consumer’s mind — but in this category, as in many others, first it’s a battle for the retail space.”

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The Secrets of Great Package Design

Getting Started: What’s Out There Now?

“A strong marketing plan, price and competition are the three parameters all packaging concepts are based on before any design work is done,” noted Dennis Claussen, senior director of packaging for JAKKS Pacific.

Similarly, at Mattel, “Brand look, product features, cost and the competitive set,” are the top-line considerations, according to Simon Waldron, the marketing director for Hot Wheels.

It’s All in the Name

So where to begin? The answer likely depends on the size of your company. For Small Marvel, a start-up that manufactures three to four products a year, it’s “The name. It’s the most important thing about the packaging,” Craig Zucker, head of product development, told TDmonthly. “It’s the thing you’re going to remember the most.”

A simple descriptive name may fare better than something clever. Said Claussen, “Packaging structure and function supersede the name’s importance in most cases. The majority of the names created [by JAKKS] are more descriptive, speaking to the toy’s function rather than its originality.”

This thinking is seconded by Waldron: “The simpler the name the better.” Therefore, a motorcycle that does a flip might be better named, say, Flipout, than GyroGrinder.

Make the Package Work Harder

Steve Varner, president of Bleeding Edge collectible dolls, said the best package is one that showcases the product well, ensuring that “it can be seen and positioned well, so that it will be intriguing when people walk by it.”

Interactivity is also compelling, and having a “try-me” built into the product often costs nothing.

Claussen also pointed to a trend toward integrating the package with the product. For toys with no other advertising support, “keeping the toy’s only source of advertising attached to the item through its entire life cycle” makes sense.

Plan for Growth

Smaller manufacturers report that their packaging decisions are highly collaborative because of the close-knit nature of small companies. But what happens when you grow? And your design team is now in another building … or overseas? “Blueprinting” your design can aid communication, experts told TDmonthly.
At a minimum this needs to entail:

* A rank order of the features
* The “magic moment” — the active feature that marketing wants to replicate
* The age recommendation
* The expected look and feel


Your company’s packaging requirements will change as your company evolves. Large or small, smart companies know the value of good packaging. It can be the difference between a great product that dies on-shelf and a great product that sells.

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Don't fret: Toy guitars let kids rock out

Forget iZ and iDog, critters that rocked to the beat of MP3 players a couple of years ago. Now kids want to rock out themselves, or so manufacturers are betting.

"Just putting music in a toy isn't good enough. There has to be a legitimate play opportunity," says Marc Rosenberg of Zizzle, which is launching a High School Musical-branded guitar, keyboard and drum set ($7.99 each).



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Can toys cash in?

Toys can take advantage of what is expected to be a bumper Christmas on the High Street, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The BRC says consumers will spend more than £11 billion on Christmas presents over the next five weeks, with the figures ten per cent up on 2005. Goods to the collective value of £33 billion will be bought in December, an increase of six per cent compared to last year.

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For G.I. Joe creator, the real action is in the Bible

Levine's latest line of figurines - Almighty Heroes - includes accessorized and poseable versions of Moses, Noah, David and Samson. As head of Shakopee, Minn.-based Family Values LLC, Levine says good vs. evil continues to be the most vexing issue facing humanity. He's convinced that his new toys will once again persuade America's youth to tip the balance and save the world - if only in the sandbox. The figures retail from $12.99 to $24.99.

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