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| R&D: Secret Life of Toys |
| Author: ODETTE WILLIAMSON Post Date: 2008-07-08 |
Odette Williamson speaks to Alasdair Dewar, director of research and development, at Character Options to find out more about the research and development side of the toy industry.
The research and development area of the toy industry is one that does not often get highlighted, although without this area retailers’ shelves would sit empty. Toy ‘n’ Playthings spoke to Alasdair Dewar of Character Options to get an insight into the often unmentioned area of the toy industry.
The toy industry is changing. Over the past decade children have had an increasingly wide choice of things to play with. Traditional toys now sit by side with computer consoles, DVD players and computers with internet access on a child’s wish list for Father Christmas. The technology used in everyday toys has also come on in leaps and bounds. The progress in the technology that is used in both the product and the manufacturing process has allowed toy developers to create product that would have been unthinkable until recently. “With technology we tend to find that what goes around comes around. The biggest change for us has been cost. The cost of chips and processors has come down significantly and now means that we are able to consider incorporating technology that we wouldn’t have been able to two or three years ago. Things like the Voice Control Dalek are now a cost effective product and much more reliable than it would have been years ago,” comments Alasdair.
With the improvement in technology comes expectation and it falls to the staff of R&D departments to meet the demand. Alasdair explains: “The toy industry is very cyclical and technology plays a big part in what’s created. The standards of technology and processes like injection moulding have been driven up and there is a huge drive for detailing, accuracy and quality in both the product and the packaging. All toys have to fight for space on the shelves now.” He continues, “Highly detailed and accurate figures are what are expected now. 99 per cent of the toys that we develop are licensed, and licensors are very protective of their brands so it’s important that we get things right. ” he also explains that as a result of this the approvals process now takes a lot longer but this can have the added benefit of cementing very strong partnerships between licensee and licensor.
Alasdair believes that one way to stay ahead of the competition is to make sure that the products are as detailed and character/licence accurate as possible. With the increase in strong TV licenses over the past few years it’s increasingly important for toy companies to create accurate product that children will be able to recognize from their shows. Alasdair explains: ”We tend to start with the character. If say it’s a pre-school character we will keep to the strengths of the character or characters and think about the interactivity. As I mentioned the industry is fairly cyclical and it’s usually the case that there is an existing product that has made a strong impact on the market and may be something we could easily update and add features to. We will also look at products we have made on another brand say but for a similar age group.”
One topic that is often talked about in the industry is the concept of children getting older younger. Alasdair does not believe that this is the case. “I don’t think that children are getting older younger. I think children grasp things a lot faster than adults do and people can be shocked at what kids can do. I do think if we had the kind of technology available when we were younger we would have behaved in exactly the same way. ” He goes on to explain how it is possible to maintain children’s interest in toys. “I think it’s very important to make toys as entertaining as possible. Toys and games always have to be relevant, especially when they are licensed product. Kids like repetitive sequences and love to emulate what they have seen on the screen. It’s important and so when we develop toys such as action figures we try and make them as accurate and articulated as possible because this simply reinforces their play value.”
With so many products in competition with each other price is paying an increasingly important role in the success of toys. The toy market covers a wide range of price points from pocket money toys to complex robots and flying machines. “I think the perception of the price of toys has changed over the years. There seems to be less resistance with the consumer to more expensive product as long as there is a lot of play value and reward from it-as long as it’s not a five-minute wonder. There used to be a ceiling on what people would spend on toys. With the advent of video gaming and the cost of portable technology, parents are now prepared to spend more on keeping their children entertained, ” says Alasdair.
The cost of the technology that is incorporated into toys is not the only factor that affects the final price of a product. With rising manufacturing costs in the Far East, it’s the R&D staff who have the task of keeping the cost of the final product down. “It’s not a secret that factory costs have gone up over the past year so we are now striving to make cost effective toys and not pass the costs onto the consumer. All toy developing is expensive, which makes it important to get things right. We do have financial restraints and we do develop to a price point. In general there has been an eight per cent rise in China and we can’t simply pass these costs onto the consumer.”
When the new RoHS and WEEE directives came into force this year it was unclear as to how much of an affect they would have on the toy industry. The new directives don’t seem to have caused much of a problem for Alasdair’s team, as he explains: “The RoHS and WEEE directives haven’t affected us too much. I don’t think that consumers have switched on to the new directive but as an industry we have. One of my problems with it is the aesthetic impact it has on the toy because of the legal information stamp the toy has to have on it now. You spend so much time making sure that a toy is as detailed and accurate as possible and then you get a call from a factory in China asking you where they should put the recycling stamp?”
It looks as though 2008 will be an interesting year for toy manufacturing. “We might see an overall reduction in quality with smaller product and less features and or accessories, or we could see companies passing some of the costs onto the consumer or see the alternative route which is adding extra value features to make product more desirable and justify the cost increases we all face?” comment Alasdair.
Character Options has had many desirable products over the past year, most notably its range of Doctor Who product, which retailers say has been flying off their shelves. Alasdair explains why he was so pleased to be part of the team responsible for the success: ”I am a huge Doctor Who fan so it was a dream come true when Character got the licence, the workload is extreme now though. The products that I most enjoyed working on have to be the action figure ranges for both Doctor Who and Primeval. In 2005 we had six or seven figures and last year that output went up to 60. I’ve been told but can’t swear to its accuracy, that we’ve developed more action figures in one year than Hasbro did at the peak of Star Wars mania. Everyone involved has done a magnificent job with the range from the outside sculpting company that I use, to the BBC and our creative, marketing and sales teams. The Doctor Who range was made up of high quality product that paid great attention to detail. If you don’t care about what you’re designing it will show and if you spend more money and effort on developing something it does show. ”
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