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Wooden Pallets Foil the Russia’s PLANS IN UKRAINE We reported last year that there was a wooden pallet shortage. Well, we in the toy industry were not the only ones affected. It appears that the Russian army was as well. Here is how Bloomberg News describes it: Most people don’t think much about wooden pallets—and that might be true even of people waging large-scale … [Read more...] about Disruption Report #52: Wooden Pallets Foil the Russians, Mattel Doubles Down in Mexico, and the Party May Be Ending for Ocean Freight Companies

I originally published this article in Playthings Magazine. A publication that is long gone and sorely missed. I chanced upon it today, and it struck me as being as relevant as it was when I originally wrote it. Some of you were still in middle school when it came out so I thought you would enjoy reading it. I was about six years old when I first saw the television ad that … [Read more...] about Marketing to Children Is a Good Thing

On Wednesday, April 6, we released the results of The Toy Fair Survey (for your convenience, we have pasted the responses at the end of this article). We ran the survey because we wanted to take the toy industry’s temperature. How do they feel about their two major institutions, Toy Fair and The Toy Association? And on the practical side, how has the change in Toy Fair dates … [Read more...] about The Toy Fair Survey and What It Says About the State of the Toy Industry

Global industry players from the toy, baby product, and licensing sectors can now tune in digitally on ‘E-connect 360’ to access a series of online exhibition services ahead of the physical fairs in early May. To complement the in-person event, the returning virtual platform facilitates industry communication and knowledge sharing, presenting children-related sectors with a … [Read more...] about ‘E-connect 360’ now launched for global sourcing ahead of rescheduled Toy & Edu China, Baby & Stroller China and Licensing China (Ad)

Interior of the Play Lab at The Strong, Rochester, New York. This month we opened our new maker space, Play Lab. It’s a bright, busy place, filled with equipment for assembling, building, crafting, cutting, designing, fashioning, gluing, hammering, programing, soldering, and weaving. Our public programming team and guest services staff will hold facilitated sessions where … [Read more...] about Making Space for Play

Reuben Klamer was a great citizen of the global toy community and a formidable inventor who died last year at the age of 99. He was my friend as he was to those who had the fortune to know him. Here is a recent clip from Jeopardy with Reuben as the question. Fast forward to the 17:23 minute mark. … [Read more...] about The Ultimate Posthumous Reward – Being a Jeopardy Question

I am pleased to release the results of the Toy Fair Survey. Four hundred and four people responded. This is the biggest response we have received for any of our surveys. Thank you to all of you who took the time to answer the questions. We decided to survey the toy industry about The Toy Association’s decision to move Toy Fair from February to the Fall because it was a … [Read more...] about The Results of the Toy Fair Survey

Article by Spilsbury. Do you remember that one toy you were obsessed with growing up? Maybe you were a Hot Wheels kid, or maybe you loved cooking brownies in your Easy Bake Oven.  Thoughts of our beloved childhood toys got the team at Spilsbury feeling nostalgic. The toy and game company wanted to know how much those retro toys are worth now and what the most popular … [Read more...] about The Most Popular Retro Toy In Every State

Click here to listen to this episode Richard and Chris talk to Andrew Yanofsky and Syndey Wiseman of WowWee, both second generation toy people. More than just a legacy, however, these dynamic professionals are at the forefront of product development, research, consumer knowledge and leveraging new media platforms to develop enthusiastic communities of consumers. Their great … [Read more...] about Next Gen Genius: Yanofsky & Wiseman of WowWee

The National Retail Federation and Kantar have collaborated on evaluating the world’s top retailers based on their operational excellence. The result was “Top 50 Global Retailers 2022.” I love tearing these lists apart and seeing what I can discover. For example, none of the American grocery chains made the list. That is surprising in a list in with twelve grocers listed, … [Read more...] about Who Are the World’s Top 50 Retailers?