COMMENTARY: Keeping It Fresh for Kids Sends Them Running to the Store

So many toys and video games are introduced each year. Many of them succeed at selling in and selling through, others flop, but manufacturers who have the wherewithal to get involved with their customers have the opportunity to draw in more customers, and to get their currently satisfied customers talking about their purchase and even send them running back to buy more.

disney-infinity-figurines-300x229One company that I’ve recently noticed to be doing an excellent job at this is Disney Interactive, with its Disney Infinity lineup. Disney Infinity, in case you’re somehow unaware, is a video game with a physical toy component. The toys are figures of favorite Disney characters. When a gamer owns a character’s figure, they can transport that character into their game, unlocking new worlds and ways to play.

Kids love collecting, so they are going to want to collect all the figures, and at $13.99 for one figure or $30.99 for a three pack, it’s not unreasonable for gift givers to purchase them as a birthday or holiday gift. What’s brilliant, however, is letting kids have some ownership. The tagline “Play in Their Worlds or Create Your Own” might sound a bit intimidating to the average adult. “Create my own world? I don’t know anything about video game coding!” To a kid, it sounds like magic, and it kind of is. Kids can easily create their own world—called a Toy Box—and then show their friends, who can bring over their own figures and they can play together in this newly created Toy Box. Even more amazing, they can share their new Toy Box with players all over the world. A bit heady for a kid, no?

Fantastic, but here’s the really brilliant part. Disney Interactive issues challenges to players to create their own Toy Boxes with a certain theme, for example, the recent Contraption Challenge, where players were tasked to create “crazy, unique and exciting contraptions that perform simple tasks.” The top five submissions were showcased on a Disney Infinity Toy Box Top Five Countdown webisode and will no doubt be downloaded by thousands of kids around the world. Now that’s exciting.

Each Thursday a new challenge is issued, so gamers are continuously being engaged and made to feel like part of a community. Parents are happy because their child is not only making their purchase worthwhile by continuing to play with it, but they are being creative while doing so. That in turn, yields more sales. Because when kids then ask for more figures to enhance their game play experience, parents are more likely to buy.

Check back regularly for more toy industry commentary from Jackie. Views expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Toy Book as a whole. We hope that you will share your comments and feedback below. Until next time!

 

About the author

Jackie Breyer

Jackie Breyer

Jackie Breyer is the vice president of Adventure Media & Events, and group publisher of The Toy Book, The Toy Insider, and The Pop Insider. She has been reporting on retail and toy industry trends for more than 20 years. Jackie has been featured in the Netflix series The Toys That Made Us, The History Channel’s The Toys That Built America, and Nat Geo’s The ’80s Top 10: Toys, as well as The TODAY show, CNBC's Power Lunch, NBC News, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and more. Jackie is the 2012 recipient of the Wonder Woman in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment Award in the field of Journalism & Social Media. A true ’80s kid, Jackie is a fan of Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Super Mario, Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Archie Comics. Her first Cabbage Patch Kid was named Cecily Aretha. She still has her charm necklace, and her Garbage Pail Kid card collection is bigger than yours. Jackie has successfully trained her kids Lena and Henry to be Mario Kart experts. You can follow her on social media @jackiebreyer and connect with her on LinkedIn.

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