What is more, the journey from womb to web is getting shorter. Most children experience a character in digital form before physical play.
It looks like market leaders are responding to this trend. Standalone toys lack scale and versatility. Franchises that span multiple platforms—from cartoons to video games to films to physical toys—are a better bet. Hasbro caught the eye with their recent purchase of a 70% stake in the mobile gaming company, Backflip Studios, for $112 million. On August 7th the company announced a partnership with Ubisoft, a video game developer, aimed at bringing board games to the screen. The future, as Adrienne Appell of America’s Toy Industry Association says, is in “transmedia storytelling”. Hasbro’s strategy implies that a multi-platform model is now a prerequisite for success.
Manufacturers must become cleverer at creating high-value, multimedia properties. Toy brands will prosper as entertainment brands. Fostering links with mobile platforms is the first step; commanding attention with compelling content and characters is the next. For the collectors of the future, it will not so much be the toys themselves but the stories they tell that captivate.
