Tech toys were the rage at this year’s Toy Fair. Child-targeted media players and communications products were popular with several companies. All Toy Fair photos courtesy of American International Toy Fair.

This year’s American International Toy Fair, held February 20-23 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center and the Toy Center showrooms in New York, featured conservative product lines from companies both large and small. The toy business continues to face sales declines -- retail sales of traditional toys fell 3% to $20.1 billion in 2004, according to NPD Group figures released during Toy Fair -- and toy companies, in general, seemed to be opting for the tried and true.

Focus on Technology
Product categories that showed strong sales gains in 2004, the NPD Group said, were preschool electronic learning aids and youth-focused electronics. The plethora of tech toys at Toy Fair suggested this trend will continue. Several companies offered child-targeted media players and communications products, for example. Mattel’s Fisher-Price division released a new version of its handheld Pixter product that allows children to create their own movies from short clips of shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. Mattel exhibited several media and communications items, including the Vcam digital video camera; the Juice Box personal media player, which can handle videogames, cartoons, videos, music and still pictures; and a cell phone for girls, marketed under the Barbie My Scene brand.

Hasbro introduced the ION Educational Gaming System, an electronic learning/handheld gaming device with software featuring animated properties such as Bob the Builder and Blue’s Clues, and showed its ChatNow two-way communicator and VideoNow and VideoNow Jr. personal video players. Sesame Street and several Nickelodeon properties are the latest additions to VideoNow Jr.’s software line. Meanwhile, Emerson Radio launched a line of Nickelodeon-branded audio and home entertainment products, including portable CD and TV/DVD players.

“It’s all about having your content when you want it,” said Jamie Cygielman, senior vp, consumer products, at HIT Entertainment. HIT’s properties are licensed to several toy companies for electronic media products, including Hasbro for VideoNow Jr., LeapFrog for LeapPad electronic books, and Vtech for the Vsmile. “We want our content wherever the kids are,” Cygielman said.

Many of the licensed intros this year were tied to films, such as Fox’s Robots (left) and DreamWorks’ Madagascar.™&©2005 20th Century Fox. All rights reserved. Photo courtesy of Mattel (left) and ©2005 Hasbro, I

In addition to media products, a growing number of companies market traditional toys with a wide variety of electronic features. These include infrared communication between toys (e.g., action figures that can talk to each other), sound effects (Hasbro’s Star Wars lightsabers and Mattel’s “Roboots,” part of its licensed Robots line), touch-sensitive motion in plush toys (Toy Biz’s Curious George dolls), and virtual environments (Mattel’s Pixel Chix and Bandai’s Tamagotchi Connection version 2).

Licensing and Co-Branding
Licensing activity for the highest-profile new properties was concentrated at the big toy companies exhibiting at the showrooms. With the exception of a few ongoing licenses such as Fox’s The Simpsons, Disney’s standard characters, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, licensed products were few and far between at most of the booths at Javits, where more small to mid-sized companies exhibit.