Online Toy Shopping Painful in Canada

Yesterday, I set out to buy gifts for my niece and nephew.  I spent almost two painful hours in front of my computer and was appalled by how awful it is to buy toys online in Canada.  With poor selection, high shipping charges, and broken websites, the whole experience was miserable.

My niece and nephew live in Whistler, British Columbia, which is a small city and considered "rural" (meaning "expensive") by many delivery services, including Canada Post.

I was looking for an Activity Toy for my niece and a Toolbox for my nephew.

Toys "R" Us
I started at toysrus.ca, looking for Lite Brite, a Hasbro classic that I had as a child.  They had refills but did not have the basic toy available.  Eventually, I selected another activity toy and a Toolbox, only to learn that shipping on a $14.99 Toolbox was $22.52.

toysrus.ca

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Chapters/Indigo
Frustrated, I went to chapters.ca (aka Indigo).  Using the advanced search tool on their website, I searched for an "Activity Toy" for "6-8 Year Old Kids".  While my years in the toy industry make me more knowledgeable and pickier about product categories than the average consumer, it was disheartening to see items like "Baby's First Blocks", Beyblade, and Nerf Supersoaker are listed as "Activity Toys" for "6-8 Year Old Kids".

chapters.indigo.ca

click to enlarge

I browsed through dozens of pages, eventually finding an Activity Toy suitable for my niece and a Toolbox for my nephew.  Shipping from Chapters/Indigo was free because my order was over $25.00, and I did a Google search for coupons to get an additional $5.00 discount.

While the experience was painful, I was satisfied with my purchase.

Walmart and Amazon
As I started this blog post, I thought to check out walmart.ca.  They do sell toys online and appear to have reasonable shipping charges, though I didn't complete an order to be sure.  It's unfortunate that amazon.ca doesn't carry toys, as amazon.com is a great place for US consumers to buy toys.

Hopefully, Canadian online retailers will get their act together to enhance the toy buying experience for consumers.  For the first time in many years, I even paid retail for toys, but reminisce fondly about having easy access to "the employee store".

And I hope the kids like the toys!

Commercials: AdAge's Best. My Best.

This week, Adweek published its list of the top ten commercials of 2011.  There were many that I had never seen before, and I really enjoyed this one, for Snickers Peanut Butter Squared:



Thinking about excellent commercials, I have been inspired to post some of my commercials on my Purple Husky YouTube page.  I thrive on the process of developing creative for advertising, and have worked with many talented people to create great commercials.  With dozens of ads under my belt, my favorite is still this commercial for the Spectracolor drawing pad, an activity toy that was a little ahead of its time.  The commercial achieved its objective and sold a lot of toys.

Don't Worry, It's Smartstrand

I love this ad!

click to enlarge

Dog Directed TV Advertising

With dozens of toy commercials under my belt, I've learned a lot about kid-directed TV advertising.  The idea of advertising products directly to kids, who then nag their parents to buy them, has been around almost as long as TV itself.

Now I've seen something completely different.  Nestlé's Purina brand has aired a commercial for its Beneful dog food that's they believe is the first TV commercial designed especially for dogs.

The commercial aired this year in Germany and Austria.  According to Nestlé, the commercial uses a different sounds to capture the attention of dogs.

The first is a 'squeak' which is similar to the sound dog's toys make.  Both dogs and people can hear this.  The next sound is a high frequency tone, similar to a dog whistle, which humans can barely hear.  And the third sound is a soft, high-pitched 'ping' which can be heard by dogs and people. 

From a marketing point of view, Nestlé is doing a great job reinforcing the position of the Purina Beneful brand as one which understands the unique relationship between owners and their dogs.

Unfriendly and Gross Websites

I'm glad nobody has reviewed the websites that I have worked on my with clients as "Mostly Gross, Unfriendly, Not Worth a Return Visit".  On the other hand, Torontoist took a look at local restaurant websites, and their take is pretty accurate.

“Shut it down!”
Gordon Ramsay usually reserves his famous catchphrase for the chefs who foul up dinner service on Hell’s Kitchen, but we’d like to propose another fitting application. After spending a few sanity-testing days evaluating Toronto’s ego-driven, Flash-laden restaurant websites, borrowing his words seems like a good way to slap some sense into this city’s restaurateurs.

While I'm always glad to provide constructive criticism, I do aim for delivery that's a little softer than Torontoist.  Read the full article here.

Safe Toys - Easier When You Own the Lab

Beyond my work in marketing, licensing,and product development in toys for kids, I have spent a great deal of time working on toys for dogs during the last few years.  This ad, which I found in a consumer publication for dog owners, raised a perplexing question.

How could it be cost effective for a specialty pet toy company to put all their items through the rigorous testing that's required of children's toys?  Smaller toy companies often struggle to cost effectively test their products for small parts, heavy metals, and phtalates, and the tests are required by many governments as well as large retailers.

After doing a little digging on Google and LinkedIn, I learned that the owners of the pet toy company are in the product testing business.  Unlike Mattel, a toy manufacturing company that tests its own toys, this seems to be the case of a toy testing company that's gone into manufacturing, a great  way to vertically integrate and grow a business.

For Safe Made Pet Products, it's a clever and unique position in a crowded marketplace.  In the pet toy business, just like in kids' toys, product is king, and while I've only seen Safe Made's toys on their website, they do appear to be pretty good products.

Who Cares About Facts?

I do!

Apparently, a lot of people don't.

Earlier today, I wrote about Marketing Magazine's Survey that drew conclusions that inflated the popularity of mobile banking apps.

Seth Godin says it best in his blog:

The facts

A statement of fact is insufficient and often not even necessary to persuade someone of your point of view.

[I was going to end the post just like that, but then I realized that I was merely telling you a fact, one that might not resonate. Here's the riff:

Politicians, non-profits and most of all, amateur marketers believe that all they need to do to win the day is to recite a fact. You're playing Monopoly and you say, "I'll trade you Illinois for Connecticut." The other person refuses, which is absurd. I mean, Illinois costs WAY more than Connecticut. It's a fact. There's no room for discussion here. You are right and they are wrong.

But they still have the property you want, and you lose. Because all you had was a fact.

On the other hand, the story wins the day every time. When the youngest son, losing the game, offers to trade his mom Baltic for Boardwalk, she says yes in a heartbeat. Because it feels right, not because it is right.

Your position on just about everything, including, yes, your salary, your stock options, your credit card debt and your mortgage are almost certainly based on the story you tell yourself, not some universal fact from the universal fact database.

Not just you, everyone.

Work with that.]

 According to our local media in Toronto, disputes over facts are also coloring  [City Councillor] Doug & [Mayor] Rob Ford's controversial waterfront shopping mall, monorail, and ferris wheel plans.

          Spacing Toronto:  It ain't about the monorail or Ferris Wheel
     
As for me, I'll stick with the facts.  As a marketer, have always believed that within the truth lie sufficiently compelling facts to effectively communicate a marketing message.

Mobile Banking Apps -- Do We Care Yet?

Last year, I questioned the appeal of mobile banking apps for smartphones amid all the hoopla that CIBC generated for their app launch, the first mobile banking app from a major Canadian financial institution.

Like many marketers, my work in the last year has taken me to the world of mobile apps.  Much of my work and learning has revolved around how kids, especially preschoolers, use mobile apps, but I do stay on top of trends among grownups too.  Like many people, I become a proud first time owner of an iPhone, though I have not downloaded any banking apps.

This summer, Marketing Magazine blared the headline "CANADIANS RAPIDLY ADOPTING MOBILE BANKING".

A new study from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group(SRG) has found that Canadians are increasingly doing their banking on the go, and suggests that paying by plastic – whether debit or credit card – is destined to become obsolete.

The 2011 “Mobile Money & Banking Report” found that more than a third (38%) of all Canadian smartphone users currently use a banking app, including more than half (54%) of all iPhone users.

According to the report, the number of Canadians using a mobile banking app has shot up from zero just 14 months ago to more than 2.5 million today. The TD Canada Trust app is the most popular with Canadians, followed by CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and BMO.

I was ready to retract my initial skepticism, but then saw that the study to which Marketing Magazine refers surveyed only 419 people, making me question its statistical validity.

Based on a survey of 419 smartphone users 18+, the study found that 63% of banking app users are “very satisfied” with the mobile banking product and an additional 33% are “somewhat satisfied.”

 Meanwhile, The Financial Post's Jonathan Chevreau reported last week that "while two thirds of us prefer online banking to pay bills...only 8% [of Canadians] use mobile banking."  The Financial Post's Environics survey was based on a more meaningful sample size of 1,000.

I have no doubt that it won't be long before smartphone owners (including me) are using our phones to pay for items at retail, and that credit card and debit card use will decline as a result.  But paying for stuff with your phone isn't the same as "doing your banking" with your smartphone, just as paying for stuff with credit or debit cards isn't the same as "doing your banking" with credit or debit cards.  Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but when I identify and promote a trend, I like it to be backed up with solid facts.

Wrebbit's Paul Gallant Will Be Missed

I had the privilege of workly closely with Puzz3D inventor and Wrebbit founder Paul Gallant during my time as Director of Marketing at Irwin Toy and later worked with Paul on Puzz3D distribution opportunities as part of my consulting work here at Purple Husky.  He was one of the most inspiring people I have met in the industry, and I am sorry to hear of his passing earlier this week.

Obituary is here at Toys & Games Magazine.

Friday Fun: OK Go! and The Muppets

If not for viral videos, I would never have heard of "OK Go".  On the other hand, I've known about the Muppets since my childhood.  I really liked this video that features both OK Go and The Muppets.  Enjoy!

Faster Tabbed Browsing -- Web Wednesday

Lifehacker is a great source for tips about computers, mobile phones, and even household hints.  For years, I have been opening multiple tabs whenever I browse the web, whether in Google Chrome (my preferred browser), Firefox, or Internet Explorer.

Learning to open new tabs with a single click have enhanced my browsing experience tremendously, so I'm sharing Lifehacker's Shortcut of Day about tabbed browsing here:

Sometimes you're browsing along the web and you want to open a page but not bother to look at it right this second. You could right-click the link and choose "Open Link in New Tab," but this little keyboard shortcut can save you the trouble. All you have to do is hold down the Control key (on Windows) or Command (on Mac) and click the link you want to open. This will open a tab in the background and you won't have to deal with it right away. You can also do this with bookmarks and bookmark folders that are sitting in your toolbar. Some browsers will even save you a step and allow you to middle click (this generally refers to pushing scroll wheel on your mouse) to perform this action. Either way, it's a handy trick when browsing the web.

Unfortunately, Legal

My new Microsoft brand keyboard comes with a 60 page booklet. The entire booklet has been created to protect Microsoft from lawsuits in the event the keyboard malfunctions.

The keyboard cost $14.99 (+ 40¢ government electronics recycling fee).

The booklet, complete with "Terms and Conditions" doesn't explain the features of the keyboard, but I guess they're self-explanatory.

Working with some of the world's largest and most successful toy companies, we always had to concern ourselves with the ramifications of product malfunctions. Instead of creating a 60 page manual for a simple product, though, we tended to focus on making products that were genuinely safe and worked properly.

Just saying.

Knowing the Difference

After a summer break from sharing news and thoughts here on Playful Disposition, I'm back!  As I wrote when I first started this blog at the beginning of last year,  I'm not big on self-promotion.  Rather than spontaneously posting things as I come across them, I'm more inclined to think them through and add some value through comments that I hope are clever, insightful, or contextual.

On the other hand, I've always been confident with my spelling and grammar, so I'll begin the season by sharing this.  Enjoy!

source:  Will Rolls

Hot Wheels Stunt Impresses

Kudos to Mattel for pulling off an amazing stunt as part of a successfully repositioned Hot Wheels brand. On Sunday, May 29, as part of "IZOD Presents Hot Wheels Fearless at the 500™," Team Hot Wheels™ Yellow Driver Tanner Foust successfully landed a ramp-to-ramp distance jump of 332 feet. Foust, a three-time X Games gold medalist and professional stunt driver smashed the previous world record by an impressive 31 feet at the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500.

"Fans witnessed not only a record-breaking jump today, but also an incredible childhood fantasy come to life which engaged multiple generations," said Simon Waldron, vice president of marketing for Hot Wheels®. "Hot Wheels has a deep and rich history in racing that spans over 40 years and there was no better global stage than the Indy 500 to create this once-in-a-lifetime experience."

AdWeek talks here about the marketing behind the move and shows the very cool commercial:

I remember a time when Hot Wheels was struggling as the #2 mini vehicle brand in the US and the #3 brand in Canada. I was proud to play a small part in the repositioning of the brand that led to its eventual return to the top spot.

In Kids' TV, I'm a "Whole Foods Gardener"

Josh Selig's "Planet Preschool" blog in Kidscreen Magazine provides an interesting look at the types of people working in kids' media and provides an entertaining and enlightening quiz to let us figure out how we fit into the picture. He looks at the conflicts between achievement of creative excellence and commercial success through L&M (Licensing & Merchandising).

Using gardening analogies, Josh identifies three types of people: the principled "Community Gardener", the balanced "Whole Foods Gardener", and the "Scorched Earth Gardener", who he describes as an excellent business person who is unburdened by conscience.

While Josh is reluctant to state where he fits into the picture, I'm happy to say that, as I expected, I am a "Whole Foods Gardener." Despite the tensions he highlights, I've found that an approach that recognizes creative excellence and still has the ability to exploit commercial opportunities is plausible and desirable. As a licensor and as a licensee, I've always welcomed the challenge of staying true to the characters and storyline on which I'm working while still figuring out how to make money.

Welcome to the Neighbourhood, Target

Target's imminent move to Canada has been getting a lot of publicity after years of speculation that they would be moving north. Today, they announced their first 105 locations. Located in all ten provinces, two of the stores are close to my house and I look forward to shopping there. As a marketer, I'm even more excited about Target's arrival in Canada. Having developed merchandising programs for Target's US stores with several toy and stationery companies, I'm looking forward to working with my Canadian clients to help them understand how Target works and help them grow their sales.

In today's Financial Post, Target Canada President Tony Fisher talked a little about what we can expect.

Somebody Lives in My Office

I recently stumbled upon a website called Toronto Standard that did a nice feature on the toy industry in Toronto. I'm fortunate to have worked with all the Toronto companies mentioned in the article, including Irwin Toy, whose old building is now called The Toy Factory Lofts. I wonder who lives in my third floor office.

If you'd like to know more about Toronto's thriving toy industry, read the pleasant and informative article here.

Cow Maintenance Charges

The New York Times' Frugal Traveler recently wrote about the fees and surcharges that are typical of airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. I've always felt that some industries get away with deceptive tactics while other industries, like the toy industry where I have worked for many years, behave far more ethically despite the criticism we receive.

The Frugal Traveler sums it up best by pointing out that

The confusion begins on the rental car Web sites, where most companies start out giving you a base rate that is rendered utterly useless by a random assortment of “concession fees” and “facilities charges” and “bus cost recovery fees” (not to mention taxes). It’s as if the price tag on a carton of milk covered the liquid alone, with refrigeration cost, cow maintenance charges and expiration-date ink-recuperation fees added at check-out. (emphasis mine)

Read the full article here.

How to Eat Breakfast Cereal

I think it's great to come up with distinct positioning for any product, but sometimes it can be a little out there. Does your breakfast cereal "meal replacement" come with directions for use?

The product is delicious, by the way.

Sophie the Giraffe - Slow but Steady Penetration of Retail Channels

When I wrote about Sophie the Giraffe (or Sophie la Girafe) in June, I knew that the toy was popular in North America, but this Slate article elaborates with even more information. If there's anything you want to know about Sophie, it's covered in the Slate article.

The giraffe's online popularity ensures it won't go extinct any time soon. Just as an article's presence on the New York Times' most-read list ensures that still more people will read it, Sophie's Amazon ranking is self-perpetuating—since everyone's drawn to the No. 1 product, items at the top of online lists tend to stay at the top. The giraffe is also easier to find than ever in the offline world. Along with the boutiques that made her famous, you can now get Sophie at megastores like Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids.

The article provides an interesting look at the growth of Sophie's popularity and its expansion in traditional and non-traditional toy channels.

Green Beans vs. Garbanzos

Here's a follow up to a post I wrote last fall about Walmart's private label packaging for their Great Value house brand, suggesting that Walmart ought to give a little more thought to how they approach packaging for their Great Value brand before someone makes their morning pancakes with furniture polish. This photo exemplified the issue.

It turns out that Walmart agrees, as newmarketbuilders' Carol Spieckerman writes:

Walmart’s new quest for color isn’t just about store shelf navigation—they’re now thinking about how products look in shoppers’ pantry shelves. It stands to reason that if you’re buying more Great Value than ever, telling your green beans from your garbanzos would become problematic as the sea of white stacked up on your shelves!

Toy Tuesday: Thunderbirds are Go!

This intro to the 1960s TV series Thunderbirds brings back fond memories from my childhood as well as my career in the toy industry.

I stumbled upon this article from io9.com, and it looks like Thunderbirds are coming back.

A fansite for Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson (titled Fanderson) is reporting that on the BBC Radio 5Live show creator Anderson confirmed that he has finalized a deal to make new Thunderbirds series.

All Anderson could say about the project is this, "I don't want to sound conceited, but because I'm going to make it... I'm confident that it will be a smash hit!" Which is understandable, since he has signed a confidentiality agreement with the BBC. BUT - the big question still hasn't been answered. Will there be puppets? And will the world embrace puppet theater once again? The people making the Muppet movie are certainly banking on the world's nostalgia for puppets, but Thunderbirds had a very different look. Our guess is the whole thing will be CG, which would be sad, hopefully it won't go that route.

Thunderbirds follows an International Rescue team who traveled the world in their various boats, submaries, spaceships, and planes righting the wrongs and saving the day. They were like team James Bond for kids.

In the mid 1990s at Tyco Toys, we had great success with Thunderbirds toys under the Matchbox brand in the UK and Canada, though we didn't get much traction in the US. Ten years later, Thunderbirds toys were back in Canada when I was working as Marketing Director at Irwin Toy. With (desperately needed) new entertainment coming, let's hope those working on the new Thunderbirds capitalize on all the cool technology that will bring the brand amazing special effects and lots of media formats.

Could whatever new bells and whistles are brought by today's technology be cooler than the original "Supermarionation"?

To a new generation of kids, "Thunderbirds are Go!"

Loblaws Marketing - Smart or Sleazy?

Loblaws' new approach to promoting their baked good as being made with grains is either brilliant or ridiculous, depending on your point of view. We all know that all baked goods are made with grains. Careful choice of words in their flyer copy has Loblaws' new "Go with the Grains" slogan supported by the claim that their products contain "wholesome grains," potentially confusing consumers with truly beneficial whole grains.

For many years I've been an admirer or Loblaws' approach to marketing, particularly with their no name and Presidents Choice house brands. Now, however, I'm a little suspicious of their claims, and their credibility is diminished in my eyes.

What do you think?

Toy Tuesday: Do we need a "movement" to get kids to play?

A recent headline in the New York Times reading "The Movement to Restore Children's Play Gains Momentum" piqued my curiosity and raises some interesting questions. Having spent two decades creating entertainment and "low tech" toys for kids, I was a little taken aback by the article, which states:

For several years, studies and statistics have been mounting that suggest the culture of play in the United States is vanishing. Children spend far too much time in front of a screen, educators and parents lament — 7 hours 38 minutes a day on average, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year. And only one in five children live within walking distance (a half-mile) of a park or playground, according to a 2010 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control, making them even less inclined to frolic outdoors.

Behind the numbers is adult behavior as well as children’s: Parents furiously tapping on their BlackBerrys in the living room, too stressed by work demands to tolerate noisy games in the background.

I was particularly surprised to learn that some elementary schools don't have recess because of safety concerns.

The article outlines many initiatives in both the US and Canada to promote imaginative play and to "teach children to play". While I applaud these programs, it's a little disconcerting that they're necessary at all. My experience in the toy industry says that kids will happily partake in "imaginative play" as long as the industry continues to do a good job of providing imaginatiave toys. I've always believed that parents are responsible for deciding how/when/with whom their children should play, and I suppose that these initiatives support parents who are otherwise unable to make it happen.

Toy Tuesday: GENERATIONS

It's been almost a year since I started this "Playful Disposition" blog, and on average, have posted about one item every week. I've focused on things that I think are interesting, or areas where I have a strong point of view. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Looking back, I'm struck by how our experiences give perspective to everything we do. These days, I'm often coming across people working in the industry (toys and kids' entertainment) who played with the toys that I developed, and realize that I have spent a whole generation in the industry.

The industry has changed dramatically since I first started, with most of the changes in the industry (and society) driven by technological advances. I'm looking forward to whatever the next generation is working on for 2011 and beyond.

Happy New Year!