BIG NEWS! The Power Kid Podcast is now a part of the Adventure Media and Events Podcast Network Family! For 2 years it has been my great pleasure to interview my friends in the industry and to meet many amazing new friends along the way - and it just keeps getting better! Tune in for James Zahn's Toy Report the Pop Insider Podcast and much more coming soon. Subscribe to the new feed now!

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It is my honor this week to interview Daniel Delapa the CMO at Creative Kids. Creative Kids was founded in 1997 and quickly took the arts and craft category by storm. Since then their line has expanded into 12 categories with distribution in 70 countries!   Daniel and I discuss his experience growing up in the industry. He shares with us what sets Creative Kids apart by being a "brand incubator”. We discuss how they stay closely connect to their customers by listening and acting based on their feedback. I ask him what retailers expect from him to ensure a mutually beneficial and growing relationship.   www.creativekids.com
  As always thank you for listening

My guest today Mike Gagnon is a best selling author and graphic novelist who works as a freelance writer, illustrator and colorist for publishers like Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, Jack Lake Productions and many more. He began working professionally in comics at the age of 17. He has taught art, design and writing at several animation schools and develops his own comics and media. Currently he is a writer on the creative development and promotion team for the Marvel Create Your Own Comics app!   Join our conversation today as we discuss his origin in the comics business (it involves Silly Putty!). I ask his how he keeps his stories fresh when writing for characters that have decades of backstory. We discuss his experience writing for the Marvel Handbook which tells the story of individual Marvel characters. We end with a conversation about the shift of putting the content into the hands of the consumer and Mike shares his experience of working on Marvels Create Your Own Comic app.

My guest this week Kenn Morton has won the Industrial Design Excellence Gold Award, Business Week Product of the Year Award, and participated in many others during his 31 years with Fisher-Price. He has a tremendous passion for children and parents in need and has worked with a collaboration between Save the Children, Mattel and the Ministry of Education in Indonesia to create teaching play kits.   In this episode we dive into the unique design challenges that the children’s market presents - from yo-yos to car seats! I ask him how design practices have changed throughout his years in the industry. We discuss how to balance education and fun in a learning toy which leads into a very powerful discussion about Kenn’s work with children in Indonesia.   Enjoy this insightful episode and thank you for listening!

It is such a joy to have Stefanie Eskander on the show today! She has been drawing, illustrating and designing toys for over 35 years! Her resume includes Hasbro, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Spin Master and she was the Design Manager at Toys R Us. She has a passion for girls and preschool product and has been instrumental in developing brands like Cabbage Patch, Sky Dancers, Polly Pocket and Jem and the Holograms. She is here today to share her experience and talk about her new book Toy Stories: The Secret Life of a Toy Designer.   Her book is a fantastic overview of her career and the history of the wonderful brands she has been a part of!   Buy it here: https://stefanieeskanderdesign.com/toy-stories

What does it take to connect with kids today? Listen in as Tanya Visano and I discuss this question and more! Tanya is the VP of International Strategy and Partnership Development and the Head of Canada and Mexico Consumer Products for Viacom. She has been been at the forefront of many new kids properties including Paw Patrol, Dora, JoJo Siwa and Ryan’s Mystery Playdate.   We discuss the shift we are seeing from content creation to a content discovery model. She shares 3 key insights in developing great kids content. I ask her specifically about the Canadian and Mexican market and how kids respond to content uniquely in those countries. Along the way we touch on the fresh changes to both Dora and Blue’s Clues!   Thank you for tuning in and enjoy!

So great this week to catch back up with my friend Billy Langsworthy and have a chat. Billy is a vigorous supporter of the toy design and invention community. He co-founded Mojo Nation to accelerate talent, opportunity and ideas for all levels of inventors.   Tune in today--- to learn all about what Mojo Nation offers including Play Innovation Summit, Licensed Design Challenges, Mojo Nations Summer Party, Play Creators Festival, Mojo Student Conference, and Brands Untapped. Billy unpacks each fantastic opportunity for us.   “The best idea is to have lots of ideas.”  
  Find out more here: mojo-nation.com   Thank you for the recent 5-star reviews!  

Thank you for the great feedback on part one of my conversation with founder and CEO of 360KID Scott Traylor! In part two of our discussion Scott shares his development process called the 7 D’s. I ask him about the particulars regarding the development of children’s app and how this has changed in their short history. We discuss the rise and fall of virtual worlds like NeoPets, Webkins, and Club Penguin. Finally I ask him to peer into the future and tell us what he sees in the future for toys and tech.

Follow along and download a copy of Scott’s excellent breakdown of the 2019 Toy Fair tech toys that caught his eye:   http://www.360kid.com/blog/2019/03/tech-toys-2019/   Thank you always for subscribing and listening!

My guest today is Scott Traylor the founder and CEO of 360KID. His company combines detailed child research with the latest technology trends to create successful interactive products for kids. In his career he has earned almost 60 awards and he and his team were nominated for 3 Emmy’s ands winning a collective Emmy with Sesame Workshop.

  In part one of this two part episode we dive deep into tech in toys and discuss early and classic "battery and button" toys. He shares with us his experience with Sesame Workshop and how their child research continues to keep them relevant. I ask him about the challenges of creating educational content based around a mega-brand like Pokemon. He also tells us about his Emmy nominations and win and what made those projects stand out.   http://360kid.com/   Join us next week for a future-looking discussion about tech and toys!   Thank you for tuning in!

Bill Paxton has spent his life in toy invention. From Bates to Lund and Co. to Big Monster he has been a staple in the toy inventor community. Bill has just completed a biography about the enigmatic and secretive King of Toys Marvin Glass! His Book, “A World Without Reality: Inside Marvin Glass’s Toy Vault”, is truly fantastic! When this 600 page book arrived on my desk it blew my mind! It took Bill almost 10 years to research and write this amazing book and I am so glad to have him on the show to talk about it today!

We discuss Bill’s origin and history in the toy biz. We discuss why Marvin Glass was worthy of a biography and his indelible mark on the industry. Bill lays out the historical factors that went into creating the first toy invention studio. Marvin Glass was notoriously secretive and we discuss the challenges Bill had to overcome to unearth the stories and fact for the book. Finally Bill discusses how Marvin leveraged early television to market home run products.
  If you are a fan of toy history and great biographies you will not want to miss this book! Pre-Order now at: https://marvinglassbook.com/   Thank you for subscribing and sharing the show!