1998 Ad

Discount Store News, Feb 9, 1998 by Laura Liebeck

NEW YORK -- This could be the year of the interactive toy.

And it won't be just Barney and Elmo making a racket on store shelves. Microsoft and Tyco Preschool will be joined by a host of companies, big and small, in the field of interactive toys. Included are Ohio Art, Mattel, Equity Toys, Play-By-Play, Tiger Electronics and Scholastic.

Even virtual pets have found a voice, adding to the cacophony of sound at retail. (See story on page 74). But even if a toy doesn't interact with a child, many more of them than ever before are talking or singing as a means of purely entertaining their user. This is particularly true in plush, which appeals to the very young child and to girls. These talking/singing toys got plenty of attention during Christmas as girls turned to plush rather than to dolls, where there was a dearth of innovative new product.

Stimulating the market are new applications of technology. Computer chips are no longer rigid but flexible, permitting toy manufacturers to apply new uses to familiar product. For example, Ohio Art is introducing Bull Frogg at Toy Fair using new Bend Sensor technology that acts like a central nervous system inside the toy. Irwin Toy is due to debut the same technology for its Puppy So Real entry.

The Bend Sensor, which also is being added to General Motors cars, permits numerous responses in assorted locations in the toy. In the case of Bull Frogg, the toy has more than 100 different voice responses through its seven body sensors. The toy can also tell whether it is being touched hard or softly and whether someone is speaking to it in a loud or soft voice.

Other manufacturers are utilizing different technological opportunities in their toys. Tyco Preschool, in addition to the latest in the Tickle Me line, Toss & Tickle Me Elmo, is introducing Play & Learn Big Bird, an interactive toy that enables parents to personalize and customize interactive play between their child and the toy.

Equity Toys has installed an internal body clock and computer chip in Babe, the pig star of the movie by the same name, which allows the toy to interact with its user with conversation and activities appropriate for a certain time of the day.

Play-By-Play has incorporated voice-infrared technology popularized in its Talkin' Tots dolls into its Penny & Patches toy introduction for this year. The Penny & Patches duo consists of a girl doll and her dog, which responds to commands.

New technology or applications open up the possibility of still more uses and greater sound quality in the coming years. This technology, when applied creatively, can make a winner of a toy at retail and set the industry on a new path.

New licenses may be a bit thin this year as there are fewer blockbuster family movies on the horizon. However, there are four films due out this year that buyers anticipate could do well and produce a solid following for the accompanying licensed merchandise. These films include "Godzilla," "A Bug's Story," "Small Soldiers" and "Lost In Space." In addition to merchandise lines developed around these new movies are the evergreen licenses of Disney, Sesame Street, Looney Tunes and Winnie the Pooh, whose popularity with kids and parents shows no signs of waning. Also remaining popular are Rugrats, Star Wars, Star Trek, NASCAR, Barbie, Barney, Arthur and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

In addition to interactive toys, other possible toy trends this year include space, Olympic toys, environment-oriented toys that stress the importance of protection of the Earth's resources and endangered animals, and professional sports licenses. A possible stimulant to the space theme will likely come from outside of movies and toys in the form of former Senator John Glenn, D-Ohio, who will reprise his first career as an astronaut with a new excursion into space later this year.

Despite the potential of the upcoming stable of new movies, the new technology applications and the potential of assorted other trends, retailers are cautious going into 1998 after a good but not great 1997.

Barbie didn't do as well in 1997 as some retailers had hoped, nor did the revival of "The Little Mermaid" or Singing Tots. The re-release of the "Star Wars" trilogy sparked interest in 1997 that won't be available this year. And for the first time in memory, Barbie's annual holiday doll wasn't a runaway hit. While several retailers said the doll sold well, it didn't sell through. The basic Barbie business was mixed, with some retailers such as Kay-Bee reporting an outstanding season and others like Hills and Fedco noting the doll's performance was good. Toys "R" Us didn't mention the doll at all in its Christmas review.

Among the many products that performed well during Christmas 1997 were virtual pets, plush, bean bag toys, boys playsets, action figures and die cast cars. The big winner, it seems, was Sing & Snore Ernie by Tyco Preschool, which had many parents and grandparents scrambling to find the doll as the holiday neared. Other winners, several buyers told DSN, included the various laser games, Magna Doodle School Bus, Hug & Wiggle Pooh, Gemmy's Talking Christmas Tree, Talking Bubba, Microsoft Actimates Barney, NASCAR licensed product, Starting Lineup and Casey Cartwheel.