FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Out of Disruption Comes Opportunity for the Toy Marketplace
The Toy Association’s New Report Uncovers Key Opportunities for Toy Manufacturers and Retailers to Attract the Evolving Toy Consumer
New York, NY | December 11, 2018 – Could a toy grow with a child, providing engagement, education, and most of all fun as he or she develops? Or could the next generation of brick-and-mortar toy stores actually be mobile trucks bringing toys and interactive play experiences close to where children live? These and other examples reflect areas of opportunity for toy companies and toy retailers in the coming years, according to The Toy Association’s new report, “Toy Manufacturing and Retail Solutions – the Future.”
Companies face new realities from shifting consumer preferences and technological advances that are redefining the nature of a toy and how children play. Retailers are being forced to adjust to consumer demand for interactive shopping experiences, where low price alone is not enough to draw and keep customers, given the advent of the omnichannel shopper. The Toy Association engaged ProdigyWorks and its exclusive network of creative thinkers and industry experts to deliver fresh ideas as to how the industry can capitalize on the changing marketplace and appeal to new and existing consumers.
“As the next era of toy retail distribution is defined, one thing is clear – sticking to the way business was done in the past is a sure path to failure in the future. Toy companies and retailers must break with conventional approaches and respond to evolving consumer behaviors,” said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Toy Association. “Our most-recent thought leadership work with ProdigyWorks suggests to our members new ways for toymakers to create ground-breaking and engaging playthings that appeal to children and enthusiasts of all ages and new avenues for retailers to capture these customers.”
Selected from more than 200 ideas by ProdigyWork’s futurists, the new report identifies 12 key opportunities, centered around five themes: “A Toy Diaspora,” “Everybody Plays,” “Experiences,” “Speaking to Consumer Values,” and “Looking Beyond the Thing: Service Opportunities.” In the coming weeks, The Toy Association will launch a new series, called “New Pathways to Success in the Industry,” that will take a deep-dive into each of these themes and the opportunities within them. The series will be featured in the Association’s weekly e-newsletter, Toy News Tuesday, and on social media.
“By tapping into a diverse mix of prodigies from around the world, we were able to uncover rich consumer insights for The Toy Association and identify hundreds of concepts to success in the toy marketplace of the future for both manufacturers and retailers,” according to Ted Curtin, chief innovation officer of ProdigyWorks.
The new report complements a first phase completed in early 2018 in which The Toy Association commissioned ProdigyWorks to determine how the toy industry will look over the next decade and to explore transformational ideas about toys and play. At the time, ProdigyWorks concluded that the toy industry has significant an opportunity to redefine toys and play for the next generation and shared its findings in “The Future Toy Consumer and Toy Retail Ecosystem, Part I & Part II.” A third report exploring STEM/STEAM opportunities in toys and play will be available in the coming months.
The full reports are available free to Toy Association members at ToyAssociation.org/Reports.
About The Toy Association www.toyassociation.org / www.thegeniusofplay.org / www.playsafe.org
Founded in 1916, The Toy Association™, Inc. is the not-for-profit trade association representing all businesses involved in creating and delivering toys and youth entertainment products for kids of all ages. The Toy Association leads the health and growth of the U.S. toy industry, which has an annual U.S. economic impact of $110.9 billion, and its 950+ members drive the annual $27 billion U.S. domestic toy market. The Toy Association serves as the industry’s voice on the developmental benefits of play, and promotes play’s positive impact on childhood development to consumers and media. The organization has a long history of leadership in toy safety, having helped develop the first comprehensive toy safety standard more than 40 years ago, and remains committed to working with medical experts, government, consumers, and industry on ongoing programs to ensure safe and fun play.
As a global leader, The Toy Association produces the world-renowned North American International Toy Fair and Fall Toy Preview; advocates on behalf of members around the world; sustains the Canadian Toy Association; acts as secretariat for the International Council of Toy Industries and International Toy Industry CEO Roundtable; and chairs the committee that reviews and revises America’s widely emulated ASTM F963 toy safety standard.
About ProdigyWorks prodigyworks.com
ProdigyWorks pioneered high-IQ brainstorming over 12 years ago, working with The Mensa Society across the U.S. and in 20 global markets. Today, ProdigyWorks partners with leading companies to accelerate new product development and innovation initiatives. ProdigyWorks’ unique approach to driving innovation comes from our exclusive global network of high-IQ thinkers, creative geniuses, and a vast array of industry experts. ProdigyWorks combines the perfect mix of diverse minds to successfully tackle new product development, product & process innovation, brand extension opportunities as well as product naming initiatives for some of the world’s biggest companies and best-loved brands. Clients include: P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, Bayer Health Care, Kraft Foods, HP, General Mills, Unilever, KPMG, Chase, Nestle and others.