It seems to be the season of speculation – there are lots of ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ attached to many of the stories doing the rounds this week, so as ever, I’ll do my best to sort the fact from the fiction and shine a spotlight on potential developments which won’t be covered by official press releases just yet.
One announcement which is (finally) in the public domain is the confirmation of dates for next year’s Spring and Autumn LA trips. The Fall Preview event will still officially stretch over two weeks, from 13th–24th September, although if it follows this year’s pattern, I am guessing that the first week will be the one when most US and European visitors attend. The second week appears to be heavily predicated around South American visitors and a representative of the Burton tourist board. The big change comes with the Spring event, which has been moved back from early April to May 17th–21st. It would appear that April has now been deemed by the majority to be ‘too early’ – something I have felt for a while (it was taking place around six weeks after the New York Toy Fair, which seemed to represent a very tight turnaround for the development of new ranges).
Apparently it was not entirely straightforward to find a suitable date in May – whatever date was suggested, someone said it didn’t work for them. So, ultimately, accepting that you can’t please all the people all the time, the week of 17th–21st was chosen. I understand that part of the rationale was to avoid clashing with Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, while also taking into consideration the likelihood that people coming to LA would not want to fly home for a week and then fly back out to Las Vegas (or indeed stay around for an extra week).
The good news is that announcing the dates early offers a clarity that hasn’t been there in the past. The great shame is that this now means the Spring LA trip clashes directly with the Toymaster May Show. I have to assume that the majority of people involved in the discussions weren’t necessarily aware of the Toymaster show – I appreciate that the May Show is a local event and LA has a global audience (with a heavy US bias). Nevertheless, many senior execs at UK toy suppliers have always liked to attend the Toymaster show, and they will now have a difficult decision to make. I guess the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy will be heavily employed, although it will inevitably mean that some people will miss out, which is a pity. Conversely, it could be argued that as the LA Spring event is likely to remain more focused than the September trip, so this might yet sway some people towards sticking with Harrogate.
Over in the licensing world, the Skydance set-up is taking shape, and with two ex-Mattel execs – Ynon Kriez and Josh Silverman – ensconced in prominent positions, the prospects for a sequel to the Barbie movie look a little brighter. No firm news yet, but I suspect conversations are taking place to move towards greenlighting the project.
Retail continues to be a mixed bag.
Read the rest here.
