About the Author

Chris Byrne is a 30-plus-year veteran of the toy industry and is considered one of the leading experts on the business in the United States. In addition to his consultancy, Byrne Communications, Inc., he is a partner in aNb Media and content director for TTPM (TimetoPlayMag.com). During his career, he has held a variety of positions with toy companies covering marketing, media, operations, product development, and creative. In 1988, he formed New York–based Byrne Communications. He is a researcher, analyst, and consultant who has worked with a variety of Fortune 100 companies tracking kid trends, product development, and strategic marketing campaigns. In addition to marketing development, Byrne has created and implemented programs to facilitate creative thinking, brainstorming, and employee training. He speaks regularly at conferences and for companies on the power of play in fostering innovation.

Byrne Communications has consulted to a wide variety of toy and entertainment companies, crafting and implementing research studies, marketing plans, product development strategies, personnel training, and more, helping them to effectively understand markets and consumer behavior. Byrne Communications has helped in the development of successful product lines—hard goods and soft goods, promotional items, and so forth—for new and established IP. Byrne Communications has also developed strategic marketing programs in the financial, food, consumer packaged goods, and beverage industries.

Byrne is widely published on the topic of toys, marketing, and family life, and in addition to his work with Time to Play he is editor-at-large for the trade publications Toys & Family Entertainment and Royalties. He is also a contributing blogger for The Huffington Post. His book Toy Time was published by the Three Rivers imprint of Random House in 2013, and Serious Fun: An Introduction to the U.S. Toy Industry was published by Business Experts Press in early 2014.

In addition, Byrne is widely quoted in the media and appears regularly on local and national television commenting on toys, demonstrating new products and business, and business practices. He has appeared on Live! With Kelly & Michael, Oprah, Soap Talk, Today, Good Morning America, The CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, FOX News, CBS This Morning, Good Day New York, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, The Motley Fool, National Public Radio, and Bloomberg Television and Radio, and on countless other national and local market business and consumer programs around the country and internationally.