Generation yo-yo

MARKETING: Old favourites - tops, yo-yos and the like - are back in fashion. In a new avatar, of course.

Never discard old clothes, they say, for at some point in the future, they will be back in vogue. Well, it appears that the same can now be said of toys as a number of playthings of the previous generation are being modified, and re-released, for the amusement of the present.

Parents are, understandably, nostalgic about the toys they played with "" yo-yos, for example "" but why should kids swap a Lara Croft video-game for a yo-yo or even a swanky spinning top?

Jiggy George, executive director, Cartoon Network Enterprises (India and South Asia), says that the resurgence of old toys is all about marketing and pricing. "Children love to collect toys and if the price is affordable, then the brand can reap maximum benefits."

His theory sounds simple, but the new spinning tops or yo-yos that are enticing children are far more evolved than their earlier, simpler versions. George adds, "Children have an insatiable appetite for novelty and are hard-wired for innovation."

Pogo Toys, launched last year, is hoping to strike gold with its latest offering "" the Blazing Yoyo -priced at Rs 149-649, as against the earlier Beyblade range, which was tagged at Rs 299-399.

"We lost millions to the grey market thanks to the mass availability of fake Beyblades," George says. "By keeping the price as low as Rs 149, we hope to make Blazing Yoyos more popular than Beyblades." Pogo Toys claims to have sold over a million Beyblades and nearly 50,000 units of Pogo Wheels.

The organised toy market in India is around Rs 250 crore, and although the grey market has hit players like Mattel, Funskool and Pogo Toys, these companies have found a sound footing thanks to the "affordable price" tag on their products.

According to industry executives, barring educational games like Scrabble and toys for infants and pre-schoolers, parents have always perceived toys as wasteful expenditure.

Pogo Toys, which hopes to double its current retailer network of 1,000 outlets to 2,000 in the next two months, claims it is growing at 50 per cent a year and that it contributes upto 10 per cent in revenues to Turner International.

"Going forward, the company is betting on its forthcoming launches in the sub-Rs 200 category, which is where the volumes come from in our business," says George. The company will be launching five new toys later this year.

Toy manufacturers seem to be in a rush to launch toys, accessories and other merchandise based on popular television programmes, like Pokemon, Beyblade series and now the Blazing Teens.

For instance, when Cartoon Network premiered the Beyblades series in India in 2005, a show where people trained Beyblades (an evolved version of tops) to fight against each other, it was a runaway hit with the children. Along with the television series, toy sales boomed.

Although computer games have made a huge impact on the toy market, with this trend of revamping old favourites and pricing them right, traditional toys could well give PlayStations and Xboxes a run for their money.