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.

Marketing Monday: 20 Best Logos

Developing an effective logo is always challenging. The first step is a good brief to the designer. The brief should identify the target audience and should include communication objectives based on positioning for the brand, product, company, or service that the logo will represent. If positioning isn't well defined, it will be very difficult to create a great logo. Another important factor is choosing the right designer, who will need to consider how the logo will be used (large or small, print, online, broadcast, etc.). All these criteria are key factors to success in logo development.

I recently stumbled upon creativefan.com by Eric Shafer, who featured what he called the 20 best logos of 2009. These examples of logos he selected quickly and emphatically communicate the essence of the companies and products they represent:



The other logos he selected are here.

In a similar vein, I worked on a logo for Tyco Toys' Matchbox Action System, where our goal was to communicate that we had a complete system of connectable track for Matchbox vehicles and playsets:With coherent positioning, a good brief, and a little creativity, it's possible to design a compelling logo that meets your business objectives.