Newsletters « The Toy Book

Archive for the ‘Newsletters’ Category

This post was written by Jackie Breyer

Neil Friedman Leaving Mattel

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Mattel, Inc. has announced that Neil Friedman, president of Mattel brands, is leaving and its president of international will take the new role of COO. Friedman will leave in March. Bryan Stockton, president of international, will become COO, effective immediately. Stockton has been head of Mattel’s international division since 2003. He joined the company in 2000 as executive vice president of business planning and development.

Tags: leaving, Mattel, Neil Friedman
Posted in News, Newsletters, People | 1 Comment »

This post was written by Jackie Breyer

Webisodes for Lalaloopsy

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

MGA Entertainment has announced that its Lalaloopsy doll line, which was a huge hit over the holidays, will have its own webisodes. The webisodes will air on the Lalaloopsy website, YouTube, and other social media outlets. In October 2011, Lalaloopsy will premiere on Nickelodeon, and Lionsgate will distribute a DVD.
Additionally, the company announced that it has signed on a raft of new licensees, which will extend the brand into many categories of consumer products, including video games, apparel, publishing, back-to-school, social expressions, and costumes. Future plans include additions to the toy line, filmed and live entertainment, and an immersive website for kids.
Lalaloopsy are collectible, magical dolls that came to life when their very last stitch was sewn. Each comes with its own pet and background story based on the fabrics used to make their clothing.

Tags: Lalaloopsy, licensing, webisodes
Posted in 3-5, Licenses, New Products, News, Newsletters | 1 Comment »

This post was written by Jackie Breyer

NPD Analyst: Retailers Scrambling to Recover Lost Sales

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst of The NPD Group, initially expected that the holiday 2010 season would “be remembered as a good year, not a great one.”
“To be great,” said Cohen right before Christmas, “the consumer would have to be in a frenzy and retailers would still be stocked with plenty of product to go around.” According to Cohen, retailers practiced the theory that it is better to sell out than to have leftovers.
On Monday, Cohen revised his outlook saying: “Holiday 2010 just went from a truly Merry Christmas for retailers to a lost weekend with retailers scrambling to recover lost sales.” Cohen called the post-Christmas weekend “brutal,” citing an already shortened post-holiday shopping weekend due to the holiday falling on a Saturday and the Sunday snowstorm in the Midwest and Northeast.
“All-in-all, retailers will lose about 0.5 [percent] of sales with the loss of this big post-Christmas day. And by the time they make it up, the sales will fall out of the range of the ‘holiday numbers’,” Cohen said. “Consumers will now have to wait longer to use those gift cards and make their returns. This is an important part of the sales in that consumers tend to spend approximately an additional 16 percent above the face value of gift cards and returns.”

Tags: Holiday, NPD, retail sales
Posted in Financial, News, Newsletters, holiday season | 1 Comment »

This post was written by Jackie Breyer

Wild Creations to Display Real T-Rex Skeleton at Toy Fair!

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

In a true demonstration of just how wild they really are, science company Wild Creations is having Stan, an actual, real T-Rex skeleton shipped over from Italy, where he is on display in a museum (as dinosaurs usually are). They will be assembling Stan in their booth for all to see. In addition to checking out all of their cool science toys and kits, visitors are invited to visit Booth 5367 to get their photo taken with Stan. Wild Creations will print it so it can be taken home as a souvenir of Toy Fair, to show their store staff or family members that they actually met a real dinosaur.

Unearthed in South Dakota, Stan was hatched in the late Cretaceous period. It is estimated that he roamed the western plains sometime between 65 and 80 million years ago.

Stan

Tags: T-Rex, Toy Fair, Wild Creations
Posted in News, Newsletters | 1 Comment »

This post was written by Jackie Breyer

Survey: More Holiday Shoppers Prefer to Buy in Store Than Online

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

According to the third wave of StrategyOne’s Annual Holiday Shopping Index, more people, 59 percent, prefer to do their holiday shopping at brick-and-mortar stores and retail outlets, compared to the 41 percent of consumers who prefer to do their holiday shopping online. Women preferred stores over online at a higher percentage (62 percent) than men (56 percent).

The Clicks vs. Bricks holiday survey conducted by StrategyOne asked 1,072 Americans, between November 29-December 1, whether they thought the best deals were found online or in retail stores, where they preferred to shop, and more.
When asked which is the easiest way to do holiday shopping, 74 percent stated online compared to 26 percent who said at stores and retail outlets. The answers were more evenly split when asked about where the best holiday deals are found; 52 percent said online and 48 percent said at stores and retail outlets.
More people (54 percent) thought online shopping was the best way to ensure that they will stick to their holiday budget, and most (87 percent) felt that stores and retail outlets were the best shopping destinations to get into the holiday spirit.
The StrategyOne survey also found that U.S. consumers are disappointed by the amount of bargains in stores this holiday season; 68 percent said there weren’t enough low prices, and 45 percent experienced sticker shock with prices that were generally higher than they expected.

Posted in News, Newsletters | 1 Comment »

This post was written by Elizabeth A. Reid