What makes a Toy Craze, and do Toy Wholesalers want one?

The clever people at Design Method Lab have cleverly put together the 9 components of a toy craze.

They liken it to an outbreak and detail 9 steps that comprise the essentials behind a toy being adopted as a craze. I like the analagy but don't always agree with their analysis. What do you think?

• Play factor – Ultimately however much you spend on marketing its kids who decide what becomes a craze and what will languish on a shelf and without play value there is no chance. Having said that it does not have to be interactive or particularly clever, just be enough to capture imaginations.
• Range - children love to collect so it is not enough just to have one popular toy. There must be others to compare and collect. I think this is a key point for the majority of crazes as it is generally not one toy but a very wide range which become a craze
• Limited edition and distribution - I know they are very clever but I don’t agree with this point. I more believe that a craze causes scarcity but no one outside the toy industry believes that it is anything more than a cunning ploy to whip parents up in to a frenzy
• Size – the smaller the better because then kids can buy their own rather than having to wait for a special occasion or gift
• Price point - as a general rule £3 - £6 is the current sweet spot. Which pretty much backs up the size point (so perhaps that’s just 8 points then? Because if a product was huge bbut cheap it would be just as popular)
• Accessories - having collectable add ons definitely adds to the craze
• Online Component - Design Method Lab believe that the online component is almost as important as the actual toy. But isn’t this chicken and egg? Doesn’t the website increase the hype rather than add to the appeal of the toy? Having said that Club Penguin was an online game which became a toy craze so definitely open to debate
• Update on an older toy craze - there is nothing more guaranteed to make a toy craze successful than parents getting the appeal. Anyone remember Thunderbird Island? There is no doubt that part of its success was the fact that parents totally got the appeal
• Positive message - uummmm. Another one where we would have to agree to disagree. I can’t think of a toy craze which has been underpinned by a positive message – what about you?

The thing which I think that Method Design Lab have right is the comparision to an outbreak. It doesn't matter about planning or marketing spend, toy crazes appear out of nowhere and spead virally. As a toy wholesaler I would love to think that by ensuring that our toys include all of the 9 points above we could could create a craze but I don't think it works like that.

I also think that particualrly as a fairtrade toy wholesaler the management of the supply would be a nightmare. We cannot just turn on production like a multi national company or factory. Pebble toys, the organic Peruvian toys and cotton toys from Sri Lanka are all hand made. The people who make them have to be trained to make them as its a skilled job. So perhaps we are happier just building on success with design and quality - more like the Elves and the Shoemaker than RocketMan! 

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