This has been a very strange week for me. Under normal circumstances, I would have been travelling to either Harrogate for the Toymaster Show, or Las Vegas for Licensing Expo. Unfortunately, due to my health situation, I was forced to sit at home this year and hear all about the events from people on the ground.
I have certainly seen and heard lots of positive reports of both shows. Despite some people suggesting post-Covid that trade shows were becoming surplus to requirements, I’m pleased to say that they couldn’t have been more wrong. Trade shows are in rude health, and the fanciful notion that they can be replaced by virtual events can now be comfortably dismissed.
Toys and licensing are very close-knit communities, and relationships matter – as does getting up close and personal with the product. Plus, these events are great fun – there was always something of the ‘killjoy spirit’ about people who just wanted everything to be conducted over a zoom call. If that’s for you, it’s absolutely fine – but for many others, the opportunity to get together is invaluable.
I’m told that turnout in Harrogate was very good, with a healthy mix of Toymaster members and non-member specialist retailers. This has been the case for a while now, and I think it was a masterstroke by the Toymaster team to open up the show to all specialist toy retailers. Exhibitors get to see double the number of visitors, Toymaster potentially acquires a few new members and the whole event becomes unmissable – everyone’s a winner.
As ever, the evening events looked enormous fun, and awards were handed out on both Tuesday and Wednesday. On the first night, Golden Teddy Awards were presented to Jason Mahy of Aladdin’s Cave, Guernsey and Allen Murray of One For Fun by BTHA Director General Roland Earl, resplendent in a wonderful Stetson, as if he was off to a Taylor Swift concert in Leeds shortly afterwards. On the Wednesday evening, the inaugural Sales Agent / Rep of the Year award was presented to David Livingston; the BTHA presented a Special Recognition Award to Hasbro’s Gerry Heeley and Toymaster gave awards to Banaghans and Asmodee, which was crowned Supplier of the Year. Congratulations and doubles all round!
The Toy World team had a very successful and enjoyable show. It was our new owner Simon’s first Toymaster event, and talking to him as he made his way back home yesterday, he admitted: “The positivity was remarkable. Bearing in mind I used to go to farming events where positivity is basically illegal, it was very refreshing!”
Meanwhile, over in Vegas, Licensing Expo attracted a healthy attendance from across the global licensing community, including plenty of Brits. The good news (for us at least) is that next year’s Licensing Expo moves back a week in the calendar (25th-27th May), which means it won’t clash with Toymaster for the first time in quite a few years. Huzzah. I don’t know if that is a temporary or permanent move, and I appreciate that the number of people who have to choose between Toymaster and Licensing Expo is relatively small in the grand scheme of things, but I am sure we won’t be the only ones relieved that we can potentially be involved with both events.
Gossip has been relatively thin on the ground from both events thus far, save for one frankly preposterous rumour from Harrogate which I am not going to dignify by repeating it (although it did give the individual in question a good laugh). I sometimes wonder how these ridiculous rumours start, but having spent a few years in the toy market, I have heard my fair share of absolute whoppers over the years – and this was right up there with the most comical.
Away from the shows, the biggest news of the week has been the announcement that Michael Hick will be joining Sanjay Luthra in El Segundo, as he takes on the role of Senior Vice President, US Commercial for Mattel. Michael has done a tremendous job in EMEA in recent years, and it is great to see a Brit being appointed to such a senior position in the US team – hearty congrats from all of us at Toy World.
My comments about Joybuy in last week’s Blog drew plenty of interesting feedback. Suppliers are unsurprisingly concerned, and it seems that Lego is far from being the only toy company hit by crazy pricing.
Read the rest here.
