Total Licensing Winter 2007 - (Page 84)

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NC: “Of course, the licensing industry is so closely linked to the toy industry now that we are seeing increasing numbers of visitors attending year on year, and this growing trend is also mirrored in the types of products we are seeing on stands.” TL: Now that Toy Fair has been at Excel for a few years, do you see this as its ideal home or are there any plans to move the show? NC: “We have carried out research with our visitors and exhibitors and the majority are extremely happy with ExCeL. Toy Fair was one of the first exhibitions to move to the Docklands venue and we are now seeing a rise in its popularity with shows such as the Motor Show and Boat Show exhibiting there. The venue space is ideal for Toy Fair with an open hall, and no pillars or balcony space to separate our exhibitors or visitors. It also has the capacity to accommodate our other Toy Fair events such as the National Toy Council and Play Research Network meetings. With the Olympics scheduled to use ExCeL in 2012 the venue and surrounding areas can only get better.” TL: Do you see the show as being very much a British event or is there potential for international growth? NC: “We attract visitors from over 50 countries and many international exhibitors too, such as Creative Toys from Israel, Famosa from Spain and Clementoni from Italy. Although the show is positioned as a UK trade show we aim to attract UK based and international exhibitors and visitors alike. Over the past few years there has been a small upturn in the number of overseas visitors, helped by the direct link to Europe from London City Airport. By 2012 there will also be a direct link by DLR to Stratford and the Eurotunnel”. TL: From exhibitor bookings, do you see any specific growth in any sectors, eg preschool, electronic, etc? NC: “Not particularly, but this is partly due to the fact that we attract so many visitors from so many different sectors. Toy Fair tends to reflect the general trend in toys, so if pre-school is a strong growth area in general terms, you will find pre-school as a strong sector within the fair, and so on”. TL: The retail landscape has changed in recent years. Has this made any marked changes in your visitor profiles or levels? NC: “We have noticed many more online retailers attending the show such as Mail Order Express and Amazon. We have also seen a marked increase in fun, adult orientated websites attending such as firebox.com. This is a great change because so many of our exhibitors create products that are suitable for so many age groups.” TL: As a final question, how do you expect Toy Fair to develop over coming years? Are there sectors that you see emerging now that may become key to the show in the future? NC: “Some people mention their concerns with children growing up quicker than ever, however, the toy industry keeps pace with this by offering a range of innovative and exciting toys and products to attract consumers from 0-100 years old. Examples of this are the new sectors we’ve seen develop such as tweens and adult collectibles. We have also seen an increase in adult games such as the Bedlam Cube.” The Toy Fair, London Natasha Crookes, Event Manager TL: How has Toy Fair changed in your opinion over recent years? NC: “There have been many changes over the years, starting with the fact Toy Fair has been sold out every year since 2003. The Greenhouse Area has also expanded and become a very popular part of the show. We’ve seen a rise in the number of licensing visitors and this continues to grow year on year. And we’ve moved to ExCeL, which is an exciting and cutting edge venue. All of these have combined to help Toy Fair evolve into what we believe is a fresh, modern and exciting show.” TL: What do you see as the main challenges for UK toy manufacturers today? NC: “The main issue for toy manufacturers is the challenging retail environment we are seeing on the UK High Street. However, this isn’t just a toy industry challenge, it is a wide spread concern for all manufacturers. There is also, of course, the issue of ensuring toys are competing in all age ranges as new interests vie for children’s attention.” Natasha Crookes, Event Manager, Toy Fair, UK 84  Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://www.firebox.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Total Licensing Winter 2007

Total Licensing Winter 2007

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