Sunday, August 28, 2016

Getting Larry Some Gold

Robert Laura wrote an article in Forbes about the "gold watch" as a gratuitous symbol of 30 or 40 years employment with the same employer. He noted the time piece gift tradition originated "in the 1940s with Pepsi Company when gold was $34 an ounce versus today's market price hovering around $1350." Laura also pointed out that in those bygone days, people stayed with a company "three or four decades as opposed to current employment longevity which averages a mere four to five years.

One profession where the gold watch standard should remain in vogue is the professional toy and game inventing business. A surprising number of the legendary inventors certainly meet the criterion of sustained dedication to their job of creating new playthings. One example is Larry Jones, founder and driving force behind Westlake Village, CA based Cal R&D Center. Jones is nearing five decades in the business since he opened a studio in the 70s using his industrial design talents to license new toys to industry marketers.


Says Jones, "I founded the Center on the premise that kid's toys should challenge their curiosity as they provide entertainment while creating smiles and laughter. I liked the idea that my working with toys was all about play which meant to create them, we could play 99 percent of the time. At Cal R&D, I have followed the words of Mark Twain who once said, "in all of his vast experience, he had never seen one shred of evidence anywhere that supports the notion that life is serious." " I've woven that thinking of not always being serious into my business of inventing new playthings."


The state of California has always been a hotbed for toy invention and Cal R&D has been a key stop for knowledgeable toy marketers in search of the next mega-hit. That relationship between Cal R&D and toy industry marketers has resulted in an avalanche of new playthings. Jones estimates that he has licensed some 350 products and been granted well over 80 patents. Among his successes were Cricket, the Animated Doll, Micronauts, which lived in the world of action figures, Data Race mini-auto racers, Microvision, the first interchangeable game cartridge system for hand held games , and Bucky the Wonder Horse, a long time favorite of preschoolers.

Jones remains actively searching for the next fad toy whether the result of his own "out of the box" thinking or in partnership with other inventors. He has adjusted to the many changes in the industry over his five decades in toys, games, and start-ups. He has also branched out into other industries that are welcoming to inventors and has found success particularly with confection marketers. Jones offers much advice in three books he has published on the topic of invention. His quick tip to inventors hoping to find success today is..."Everyday you wake up, you may get advice that is different! But the simple truth is that you must be very active and learn all you can about the industry and its people. Keep learning! The more you learn, the more times you will hit the target's bulls-eye with your ideas."



In an industry that touts "product is king", independent inventors have long been kingmakers as they originated all those new products. Those toiling using the strengths of their creativity for three, four, and in Jones' case nearly five decades deserve a little gold be it a watch or some other special trinket. Perhaps the Toy Industry Association should reinstitute the old tradition of the Pepsi Company and recognize the longevity of a special group of toy inventors. The industry would have been a much less dynamic business without them.


Slow News Day in Western Massachusetts

Newspapers today have the difficult job finding "all the news fit to print" to fill their pages for readers who like home delivery. Now with the advent of digital news, they have the added need to fill the screens of their subscribers who like delivery on electronic gadgetry.

The need for news by MassLive, the Springfield Republicans digital feed got me a slot about, The Toy and Game Inventor' Handbook and my former career with Milton Bradley and Hasbro Games. I loved the headline reference grounding me as a "former Longmeadow resident", the idyllic suburban community which is home to many Springfield area doctors, lawyers, Mass Mutual execs, and one or two Cartimundi managers (current owners of the former Milton Bradley manufacturing facility in East Longmeadow, MA). Longmeadow was a wonderful place to live while I worked at MB, Hasbro Games, and wrote the Handbook.

http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/toy_and_game_inventors_handboo.html#incart_river_index

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Play for the Millenials

In the mid-1980s, there was a category of extremely popular games that enjoyed brisk annual sales. Those games were recognized in the industry by several different names; party games, social interaction games, conversation in a box, or most fittingly, adult games. This boxed entertainment targeted baby boomers over the age of fifteen with game play intended for social gatherings of adult friends. Contents, theme, and play structure were aimed at adult interests. One of the most popular games of that era was Scruples.

No other inventor capitalized on the popularity of this category more than Brian Hersch. His LA based studio seemed to originate hit after hit after hit including Outburst, Taboo, Oodles, SongBurst, ScrutinEyes, Mad Chatter, Malarky, and others. Hersch and Company was the creative drive behind Platinum editions of Taboo, Outburst, and Scattergories in the 90s.

Says Hersch, "Our adult party creations were lubrication for rusty social skills. Some games were filled with edgy, often naughty fun for baby boomers. I got several reports where trade buyers asked the marketers to make some tweaks in content before placing big orders. Any new game had to get through a buyer before it could reach end consumers so on occasion the final edit was done by a very unlikely source!"

Whether because of buying choice saturation or the re-emergence of rust to baby boomers' social skills, the adult category seemed to plateau. But enter the millennial players today whose game interests have changed dramatically as evidenced by the recent popularity of Cards Against Humanity. Brian Hersch, always the "marketing-meister",  has observed the emergence of this new demand for liberal game content. He is launching a very adult content based variant of Outburst on Kickstarter, called Midnight Outburst. Game geeks may see some of the same physical game components as original Outburst, but the content is giving the millennials the type of edgy play they want in social adult games.

Hersch concludes, "This generation is discovering just how well a game can facilitate social interaction. Millennials do not have the past sensitivities to language and content, and they certainly want content free of the meddling edits by conservative trade game buyers!"






Friday, August 5, 2016

Our Handbook Makes Forbes "Best"!


This blog post contains some unexpected and exciting news about The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook. Richard C.Levy and I always hoped that the Handbook, when originally released by Penguin/Random House as a How-To or Self-Help book, would be acclaimed as a compendium of topics important to novice inventors with dreams of creating breakout toys and to anyone active in the toy industry. Now available on Amazon in it's 3rd edition as an e-book, our hopes have been confirmed by an unexpected source. The Handbook has been selected as #2 on Forbes List of Best Books recommended by 2016 Shark Tank Entrepreneurs.




Forbes List link: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45hljgh/the-toy-and-game-invento/#7bf1a48a6194


Forbes asked those Shark Tank entrepreneurs to recommend some good reads about business and the key takeaways. An example of strong support for the Handbook came from Mark and Lisa Burginger, founders of Qubits Toy, IncThe Buringer's said, "Two toy industry veterans offer an authoritative guide to toy and game licensing, providing everything an inventor needs to know about bringing a concept to market. This book is chock-full of real world examples. inspires by example and teaches you to trust yourself and your instincts. One of many important tips is to remain a kid at heart and never give up and never grow up."


Those of you that have downloaded the Handbook already, thanks. If you have an idea for the next hot toy or game, this book is a blueprint for that possible leap to the market.. Or if you're just looking for a good book to read, the Handbook contains some fascinating and charming history of the toys and games that were a part of all our lives.