Free Toys? Repacking Returns? Common Myths about working in the Toy Industry

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Growing up as an action figure collector and being a little obsessive compulsive about my collection had led me to have a lot of thoughts about what working in the toy industry would be like and how it functions. And when I was lucky enough to actually be tapped to go work in the toy industry, one of the more interesting experiences I had seeing, you know, if you will, how the sausage is made, to pardon the expression, was, well, it was shocking to me in a lot of different ways and a lot of ways that I wasn't expecting. Of course, I understood how toys get made. I understood that they get made in factories overseas and then shipped and, you know, things like that. But even looking at message boards and the way toys are talked about online, there's a lot of, I guess you could call it myths and assumptions that people make about the toy industry and about how it functions and more so about what it's like actually working in the toy industry. So I put together a little top 10 list of the top 10 things that toy fans online tend to have misconceptions about what it's like working in the toy industry or toy industry myths about, you know, the actual business. So let's jump in. All right, number 10, toy companies are warehouses. This one came up a ton when I was working at Mattel in particular. I would get requests all the time. Can you send me samples? You know, can you grab this toy for me? I'd like to review this old toy. Well, yeah, it doesn't work like that. The companies don't aren't, you know, answering letters from Santa Claus, and they don't just have free samples around. They don't have the space to store them. They're just like any other business. They have cubicles, and they have copy machines, and they have offices. There's not piles and piles of toys sitting around or waiting to get shipped. That's all done overseas. Yeah, there's some toys on people's desks, and sometimes there are actual product on people's desks, especially the designers. Most people are just paper pushers. The people who actually design the toys, of course, usually have pieces of toys or molds and, you know, things that are not quite finished or reference material. The idea that there's just piles of toys sitting around that can be easily shipped out. That's just, yeah, it's not true. Toy companies are not warehouses set up to do this. They're businesses like any other. All right, number nine. Toy companies do not take product that is defective or returned and then repack it again and ship it out. I see this one all the time online. People saying, oh, you know, if I return a toy or if it's damaged, it must make it back to the toy manufacturer who then puts it back in the master cartons and sends it out again. Maybe they fix it up first. Well, this is not true, and there's a logical reason for this. Part of it is from number 10 about toy companies not being warehouses and having pick and pack facilities, but it's more so all of this is done overseas. So if a toy is broken or damaged or returned for a reason, in order to get it back to a retailer, they'd first have to fly it back to China and then ship it back to the U.S. And the cost of doing that is ridiculous, and it's way more than the toy is worth. So no, toys that get returned don't get then returned to the toy company and reshipped out. That just logistically could not happen and does not happen. All right, number eight on the myths of working in the toy industry. Toys are designed and made for kids. Yeah, shocking, right? You'd think all toys would be made for kids. They're the end user, right? At the end of the day, the toy is going to wind up in the hand of a child. Well, really, with this one, you have to think about the chain of custody of how the toy is actually going to get to that end user. Yes, it's absolutely true that the toy has to function for a child, has to pass safety tests, and does have to appeal to a child because they're the one asking for it. And they are absolutely the majority of end users for toys. I mean, obviously, there's other people that are end users. I'm one of them, you're one of them, we're adult collectors. And that's, I'm not taking that off the table, but the majority, 80% plus of toy sales are intended for children. But that's not who the toy company is making it for. Between the child and the toy company, first, there's the gift giver, the person who's giving the gift to the child. And then there's the retailer, the person who's selling the toy to the gift giver, who's then giving it to the child. So these large companies that have toy departments or sell toys, these are the customers for toy companies. The toy companies, the manufacturers, the Hasbro, the Jax, the Mattel, the Spin Master, they design and make toys for the needs of retailers. And retailers get a lot of input on when they want it, how they want it, and what it should look like, way more than say kids. And that's everything from character selection to colors to the way the packaging is done, mandated based on the size of the retailer shelves. So the number one customer for a toy company is a retailer. That's who they're designing for. Number seven, people who work in toy companies are huge fans of toys. They collect toys, they love all of the IP, the geeky IP that we all love, the sci-fi and the comic books. And yeah, I really thought going into it that I was going to meet so many people that were like myself, this is not me, this is just a Google image I found, uh, you know, who love toys. And it's true that everyone I've worked with does have a favorite toy, but that's usually regulated as something from their childhood. They'll say, oh yeah, I remember playing with hula hoops, or I remember playing with Hot Wheels or Barbies. 99% of the people working in a toy company toys are consumer products just like anything else. And they apply to them research and marketing tactics, because their goal at the end of the day is not about creating a toy that they're going to be passionate about as a fan themselves, or that they're going to judge, if you will, the happiness of the end user, the kid or the gift giver. It's all about sales. Their goal is to sell the most product. And that's it. They have sales goals. And that's what they try to hit. All right. Number six myths of working in the toy industry. There is very high employee turnover. And by employee turnover, I'm not just talking about the usual. Obviously there are people that get laid off from companies all the time. This is in any fortune 500 company, any large business. And there's always going to be people that are recruited away from companies or that get promoted beyond their current job to upper management or even promoted into another company. What I'm talking about is the number of lateral moves. I wasn't expecting this. And I was a little surprised at how much this is done. People within toy companies, internal, I guess, lateral moves happen so much that it actually affects the way product is done. For example, brand managers, which is what I was, tend to get moved around every two years, which is smaller than the design cycle of three years. So what that means is if a brand manager is getting swapped out every two years, the first thing they have to do is they have to clean up their previous brand manager's mess. Maybe a product isn't selling. Maybe, you know, there's something wrong with it. But then they reinvent everything and they take all of the ideas that were already going forward and say, yeah, no, I'm going to do it my way and put my signature on it. And things that were in development get dropped very quickly when a new brand manager comes along because they want to do it and make it their own and feel like they had an influence on this toy. Because even though they may not be collectors, toys are cool and people want to feel like, oh, I made a toy. Oh, and then it's time for them to move on and move to a different brand. And the cycle starts all over again. And I was really surprised how often this happens. The fact that I stayed on a brand for 10 years was the anomaly. All right. Number five myths of toy making and working at toy companies is going to Comic-Con. I used to go to Comic-Con on my own. I've been going for, gosh, almost 30 years now. Well, before it became the, uh, you know, the thing of how hard it is to get tickets. Now, this is not an important show at all to the toy industry. The important show is Dallas Toy Fair, when all of the sales are made. New York Toy Fair is just a PR show at this point. It used to be the important show, but now it's Dallas. Dallas is when all of the decisions are made. Comic-Con is usually handled by the interns. Uh, you know, when I first got there, I was surprised in toy industry to find out that all of this work for Comic-Con was just handed over to the summer's interns and said, Hey, just go with it, do something. We all look forward to Comic-Con with bated breath to see the latest product, to see the glass cases. And this is a highlight of our year. But when working in the toy industry, Comic-Con is basically seen, not as a waste of time, but it's not exactly a high priority and just getting through it being done is basically the goal. Number four in myths about actually working in the toy industry is that everybody gets free toys. You get a toy. I get a toy. We all get toys. I assume that, you know, everybody had access to toys, especially, you know, when you're welcomed into a company and you go through orientation and everyone is usually handed at whatever company it is. You're given like the standard kit that has the company mug and the company, uh, you know, calendar and pen and all of that, you know, the chotch. Well, when I joined Mattel, I got a license plate frame that said, my other car is a Hot Wheels. Everyone got this. And that was it. That was our free gift. Joining the company, uh, getting free product that doesn't and didn't really happen. Koi companies are not, you know, chocolate rivers and candy lands and Wonka factories. Usually the product that I got was broken or early samples that were somehow defective that, you know, had to be reviewed. I would usually get samples of product that, you know, the paint wasn't quite right or the articulation didn't quite work. It was an early sample that needed to be reviewed. The only final product I was ever really given was the holiday Barbies. Everyone got a holiday Barbie and that's why my daughter has a ridiculous amount of high-end Barbie dresses for her dolls. But yeah, if I didn't have a subscription for Maddie Collector, I wasn't getting any of those figures either because, uh, yeah, there's no free toys when you work in the toy industry. All right, number three: myths about working in the toy industry and how the businesses actually work. Companies are always looking for loopholes. I see this online all the time is people talking about how can a company find a way to make a toy if maybe it doesn't fall totally under their copyright or their IP. There's got to be a way to do it, right? If, you know, the figure just appeared, you know, slightly different. A great example is Karg from the 1987 He-Man movie. Fans really wanted a figure. We didn't have rights to it. And I would get emails all the time saying, "Oh, but, you know, he appeared in this comic book. Can't you just make him from the comic book?" And it doesn't work like that. Companies, toy companies, companies that own IP are not looking actively for loopholes and ways to kind of manipulate the system, if you will. Or an example from the other side on Hasbro is the Tonica sisters, which for whole other reasons can't be made just because one of them appeared on a wanted poster in Clone Wars does not open a loophole. Companies are not actively looking for loopholes because they have problems themselves with people copying them and ignoring their copyrights like these knockoff Hot Wheels here. So if they're going to, you know, expect other people to respect their IP, they have to respect others. No toy company is looking for a loophole and a way to, you know, do something around, you know, copyrights. All right. Number two myths of toy companies is the importance of international. Well, actually, the importance of international is huge. It's about 50% of all toy sales. And I'm not talking about issues with international about getting things like exclusives that are for retailers in the U.S. that can't make it overseas. And I totally get as collectors. That's a whole frustrating thing. That's an entirely different issue altogether. But international actually is a much bigger problem in the industry in the sense that toy companies deal with a lot of different brands. And a lot of the brands they deal with, they own. Some of them they license. So, you know, DC is licensed by Mattel versus Fisher Price is owned by them. And priority is absolutely given to brands that toy companies own, toys that are their own intellectual property. And this becomes an issue in the toy industry because licensed brands tend to not get promoted as much overseas. And studios that own these brands, well, this becomes an issue because a lot of times they're expecting their toys to be pushed overseas. And this has been the reason why a lot of companies, when they ignore licensed brands overseas and they don't have their sales force pushing them as opposed to their own homegrown brands. And it's not just Mattel. I mean, this is many, many toy companies. Well, this is why toy companies often lose licenses, because they're not doing enough to push them overseas and are prioritizing their own brands. And again, this is with all toy companies, not any one specific company. All right. Number one, toy companies are actually really great companies to work for. I mean, yeah, they may not be filled with toy collectors and they may not be giving free toys and samples away to everyone, but there are a lot of advantages to working in the toy industry. For one, I mean, I've personally been flown all around the world, Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Arkansas. I mean, trips I never thought I'd be able to take. And there are things like really cool company events like picnics and outings, and they really do support employees. Some companies I've worked for like Loot Crate supply free lunch. Others like Mattel give you half day Fridays. And I think the best part is I found that toy companies really do listen to their employees and the ideas they have. I found this at multiple employers. As an example, when I worked at Jack specific, I'm sorry, excuse me, Jada, the manager there, the owner really listened to me with my pitch about nano figures. Or at Mattel, management really listened about my idea of selling toys online and creating Maddie collector. At a lot of companies, upper management wouldn't just listen to these ideas. Not to mention the fact that I've gotten to meet some amazing people and some heroes of mine personally because I've worked in the industry. And, you know, when management knows that you're a big fan, they actually work to say, Hey, you know, we've got Adam West coming in, how would you like to play Robin on stage with him at a company event? And just the fact that that opportunity was available and was given to me is a huge reason why toy companies are so much fun to work for. So if you are looking for a job and looking for an industry, toy companies are great. They're not going to be filled with collectors and they're not going to just give you free samples all the time. But the experience is amazing and there's nothing like it. I'm so blessed for what I've gotten to do. And I think every company that I've gotten to work for, for those opportunities. I hope this video helped clarify some common misconceptions about what the industry is actually like. They really are a business like anyone else. Please share this video with others. It helps tell YouTube to keep sharing it. Thanks for watching and I'll see you guys next time on Spectra Creative as we continue to look at the toy industry, pop culture and everything else.