Hexbug.TonyNormanThe Toy Book (TTB): How do you use 3-D printing in your R&D? Do you plan to incorporate 3-D printing into your consumer offerings in the future?

Tony Norman (TN): We have three commercial-grade 3-D printers at Hexbug headquarters that run pretty much continuously. Design is iterative, and our 3-D printers enable us to engage in rapid prototyping. This rapid prototyping allows us to get real working samples out to focus groups quickly and frequently, so as to gather feedback and make the necessary changes prior to starting production. This highly accelerated production process significantly reduces our time to market and sets us apart from other toy companies.

TTB: In what new ways are you using social media to correspond directly with consumers?

TN: Social media is an incredibly useful platform that allows us to engage in a two-way conversation with our customers on a much deeper level than we could ever do before. Through social media, we are better able to understand exactly who our customers are and how they are talking about our brands, which enables us to deliver more valuable content to them. Across all social media (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook), we host contests and giveaways and take opinion polls to engage with consumers in a fun, social manner. It’s our goal to provoke consumers to speak about our product through the use of content, so that we can best learn from their insights.

TTB: Which toy categories do you expect to expand in 2015? Which do you expect to contract?

TN: Retailers are establishing a dedicated space for the robotics construction category. We are committed to being the major player in this space with our booming VEX Robotics line. It’s going to be another big year for STEM.

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Guest Auther

Guest Auther

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