GITrekker wrote:
And Mysterious Stranger, regarding the list you cited, I would mention that Sgt. Savage came along right after twelve successful years of the Real American Hero, and it's little wonder that it was as poorly received as it was.
The Sgt. Savage line is always a sore spot for me, because a) it killed any chances of selling them the CCG that I developed, and b) it showed how completely out of touch Hasbro had become. In an age of power rangers, they trotted out WWII which is something that kids neither knew or cared about. The square blocky art that they used on the packaging did not appeal to kids at all. And all of this they may have been able to force feed down our throats with enough media and advertising support, which they did not bother to do.
So to prevent this again, here are 10 simple rules for rebooting a toy line.
1. Traditional media (TV or Movie), web media, print media. Every channel. Every single time.
2. Look at what people are buying, not at what you want to sell.
3. Partner with relevant star power if you can. (like you did with Sgt. Slaughter) This is the era of collaboration and brand leveraging.
4. Understand your market, who are you actually trying to sell to? (not just the retailer purchasing agents you are going to sell to)
5. Plan and get funding in 5 year blocks, but get ready to pull the plug after year 2. Rebranding can take some time to establish.
6. Have a goal and target for the brand change, rather than change for change sake. Don't be cynical.
7. Don't go all in for the reboot - keep selling anything that's successful and compete on shelf space with yourself. It creates the motivation to get it right, and gives you a baseline with which to determine success.
8. Design packaging that is even more compelling than the toy itself. (sigma six did this well)
9. Be mindful of every targeted price point. Every single kid in America should be able to buy in irrespective if their parents collect food stamps, or are the 1%.
10. Don't adapt others ideas, but always use their successful technology and aesthetics. (or don't be the "snow queen" to their "frozen".)