Business World

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 30, 1998

"People often ask me, `Did you ever get in trouble at the office for something you'd put in a cartoon?' Yes, I did," Adams confided to the audience, who'd won tickets by answering ads in newspapers and on the Internet. Adams then showed a cartoon in which his prototype office worker, Dilbert, receives a memo. "If we are to remain competitive, you must proactively improve quality on all actionable items," reads Dilbert, who says the memo makes him "tingly all over." The memo actually came from a vice president at Adams' ex-employer Pacific Bell, who wasn't pleased at his appearance in the strip. "I thought I disguised it," said Adams. "I added the word `items.'"

Although Adams often gives speeches to corporations, he seemed ill at ease at the start of the night. As audience members filed in, he stood at the front of the stage, briefcase in hand, seemingly uncertain of where to wait. But Adams quickly began to enjoy himself on stage, leaving most spectators as pleasantly surprised as New Yorker Larry Hymson. "I tend to think he's Dilbert. I didn't think he could communicate that well," said Hymson.

Adams' show, to be repeated Oct. 5 in Los Angeles, reflects his deep commitment to keeping in touch with the office workers who inspire his strip, especially now that he works from home after quitting Pacific Bell in 1995. Long ago, Adams began putting his e- mail address on the strip, now published in 1,900 newspapers in 57 countries. Today, he gets more than 350 e-mails a day -- many crammed with anecdotes he uses in his cartoons and books.

New toy rage

NEW YORK (AP) -- Blue definitely has a clue. The animated puppy star of Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues won kids over with her top-rated television show, and now little Blue is also making a big splash in toy stores around the nation. With three months to go until Christmas, many retailers already report sellouts of the Blue's Clues line and some have even put limits on how many items customers can buy.

"We've had people asking for Blue's Clues toys for over a year," said David Niggli, executive vice president of merchandising at FAO Schwarz. "Now, we have them and they're already best sellers."

Kids can't get enough of Blue's Clues. The show, which airs weekdays, revolves around the story of an animated girl puppy, Blue, and her friend, Steve, the show's live-action host. In each episode, preschoolers are challenged to collect clues and figure out a puzzle. The same show is repeated every day for a week, allowing children to pick up new clues each time they watch. The animated series, shown on Nickelodeon, is the No. 1 preschool program on television today, topping Barney, Arthur and Sesame Street, according to Nielsen Media Research.

While the show first aired two years ago, Blue's Clues merchandise just hit stores this summer. In fact, at last February's annual toy trade fair for manufacturers and retailers, Blue's Clues barely had a presence and wasn't touted as the "hot" license of the year. But since hitting stores, demand for anything tied to Blue's Clues has topped expectations. At FAO Schwarz, more than 7,000 people showed up on June 14 when the first Blue's Clues merchandise was unveiled at its New York store. It was the most successful product launch in the toy store's 136-year history. Today, there's a Blue's Clues section near the entry of every FAO Schwarz.