LA Fall Preview (which seems the best moniker to go with for now) has continued this week. I may not have been able to be there in person, but I have certainly been there in spirit. Bless those people who have said they have missed me, and a huge thank you to everyone who has shared their experience of the trip with me.
Overall, the event appears to have been a major success (and of course it is still going on – some people from the UK have only arrived over the past few days). One person told me: “LA has honestly blown me away. More biz done than at any other show.” And you can’t say fairer than that. The time, resources and expense are always worth it if you get the right results, and it seems that retailers and distributors are there in sufficient force and the right frame of mind to make decisions.
There are, inevitably, a few minor caveats – Toy Association president Greg Ahearn emailed me to say: “As expected, there were great successes but, more importantly, great learning that came from the 2024 version of LA Previews.” Whether those learnings involve the location of the Toy Association building – several miles away from Spaces and 1960, which may not seem far on the map, but think of those companies out at Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong and how that impacts packed diaries – or the $1,400 cost to hire a table for the week isn’t clear. But the Toy Association team are very smart people, and I would expect them to figure everything out quickly.
If you’re looking for a yardstick, several people have spoken about having 50-60 productive meetings across 10 days or so – although some have had to stay considerably longer (up to 19 days for some British visitors). That’s something that I hope can be addressed moving forward, albeit not everyone’s interests are necessarily aligned on this point. However, a three-week trip doesn’t feel ideal, especially when most retailers seem to want to be there for around seven days. It’s just which seven days, and whether different territories really need to be segmented into different weeks. Hopefully the relevant people can get round a table, egos can be put to one side and a sensible compromise found. Because there seems little doubt that LA is now a very firm fixture on the calendar for an increasing number of people from the global toy community.
For those like me who couldn’t make it out, there has been plenty going on back here in the UK as the countdown to Christmas continues. Argos launched its list of Top Toys for Christmas, perhaps unsurprisingly heavily predicated around the large toy companies and brands, while DreamToys has not only confirmed its date, but also announced a few key changes for this year, including the involvement of ‘celebrity mums’ Alex Jones and Giovanna Fletcher to help spread the word to their social media followers.
Read the rest here.
