The toy industry’s greatest natural resource is the outside, independent inventor, who is responsible for its greatest successes. In an era of intense global competition, the inventor becomes even more important to the health of the industry.
Following are some products that came from outside, although they never would have made it to market and hit pay dirt were it not for the dedicated and talented pros inside the toy companies. The combination of the outsiders and insiders makes it work.
Notable Quotables
Inventor product needs to have at least five out of the following six P’s:
Product: originality; improved adaptation
Packaging: exciting/impactful point of purchase
Production: safe; foolproof
Promotion: consumer awareness
Price: you can’t fool the customers
Patents: protection from competition
—Fred Kroll, inventor, Hungry, Hungry Hippos
Battling Tops Big Wheel Boggle Cabbage Patch Kids Candyland Clue Connect Four Etch-a-Sketch Frisbee Furby Game of Life G.I. Joe Giga Pets Monopoly Mr. Machine Mr. Potato Head Nerf Othello Play Doh Pokémon Risk Rubik’s Cube Scrabble Shelby Super Soaker Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tickle Me Elmo Trivial Pursuit Twister Uno Upwords Water Babies Yomega
Fast Facts
Toy Industry Association publishes the Toy Inventor/Designer Guide. For a copy, write to Toy Industry Association, Communication Department, 1115 Broadway, Suite 400, New York, NY 10010, attention: Toy Inventor/Designer Guide; or download a PDF at www.toyassociation.org.
To see a complete list of toy companies, go to www.toyassociation.org and click on Members. Each name in the alphabetical list takes you to another page with links to corporate websites.