Playing At Business - toy & game business podcast with Steve Reece

In this episode, board games business expert Steve Reece of www.KidsBrandInsight.com runs through the steps in completing a commercial launch of a board game (also includes a card game or other cardboard based Games). 

If you are wondering what you need to do next after you came up with the idea of a Game and made a Gameplay mechanic, then this episode is for you.

Over the last decade and a half or so, we have advised 200+ Toy startups and Game startups. There have been a number of recurring Tips and bits of advice we have given. This podcast covers those Top Ten Tips for startups in this whacky world of Toys & Games.

This is a definite must listen for new entrants to the business of Play!

This episode reviews the Toy Biz trade show event in Delhi.

This time round more than 400 exhibitors were at the show.

Host Steve Reece runs through his experience at the event, and discusses the many opportunities for Toy & Game companies in India.

This is the question we get most often.

There are a number of key trade shows in the Toy business, and historically there has been a commom complaint that we have too many of these shows and that the schedule is inefficient. The pandemic gave us a good opportunity to consider our show schedules and to reassess what makes most sense for our businesses.

In this episode we run through the main shows and talk about how to decide which shows to participate in.

In this latest episode host Steve Reece shares 10 Key Success Factors for Board Games based on decades working with and on some of the most iconic Games of all times, including Hasbro's stable of Family Games such as Monopoly. Clue/do, Risk, Game of Life and many more.  Unusually Steve also acknowledges working on the worst selling board game of all time, as well as the best.

If you are in the business of Games this is a must listen episode.

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Another Spielwarenmesse Toyfair in Nuremberg has been and gone. This episode reviews this years show, and based on conversations at the show and market data released at this time gives an analytical outlook on the key drivers and trends of the European Toy market for 2024.

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2020 and 2021 were unexpectedly boom years for the Toy business overall as locked down families invested out of season in play activities for their homebound children. 2022 and 2023 were significantly worse years for the Toy trade. The question now is what happens in 2024? Host Steve Reece talks through the factors affecting Toy market performance in 2024 in this latest episode. 

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In this episode we take a look at how choosing the right products to launch is the fundamental success factor for Toy & Games companies. Host Steve Reece uses an example of when he turned down a now famous & massively successful product as an example of how sometimes turning away good products is necessary in order to focus on what will work best for your company and the business model and market positioning of your company.

For more analysis & insights into the global Toy market, check out our Linked In newsletter which has 5000+ subscribers (including readers from all major Toy companies):

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/toy-industry-journal-6910540635838013441/

Many companies in the Toy business grow via acquisition. Company owners often want to sell up and retire or move onto other pastures. In this episode we take a look at some of the biggest Toy acquisitions of all time, we look at why and how Toy Cos are bought and sold and we discuss the details of the process of buying or selling.

Maybe you have a Toy business you want to buy or sell, or maybe you just want to understand how company sales work in the world of Toys, either way this episode will have something for you.

For more Toy business analysis, check out our Linked In newsletter here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/toy-industry-journal-6910540635838013441/

In this latest episode host Steve Reece talks to Kate Scott & Declan Fahy, the Founders of Holo Toyz. Their company aims to inspire creativity and imagination via augmented reality technology.

Kate stated "At our core, we believe that children should be able to experiment, play and learn through emerging technologies in a kid-safe environment away from the open web, whilst not losing touch with the physical world."

We discuss this proposition, and the path from starting the business, through raising funding to achieving distribution for HoloToyz products. 

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in or actively pursuing a start up in the Toy business, as well as international distributors looking for new products and new stories to latch onto.