Novelty and plush products have an important place within the amusement industry and can often influence whether a child will choose to play on a machine or not. Here, Helen Fletcher discovers the importance of the 'right' product and licences and how the sector has changed to meet customer demands

PLUSH and novelty products can be found in every corner of the coin-op amusement sector and provide a reliable source of income for many operators. Whether they are placed inside a crane or vending machine of some kind, or displayed at a redemption counter, they are considered the perfect prize for many reasons including: price-point, desirability, collectability and durability.

According to Steve Beverley of PMS International, based in the UK, different pocket money craze items also come and go every year. They don’t last long but tend to generate huge sales while they are ‘hot’ and companies need to be very quick to react and capitalise on it.

Plush and novelty merchandise appeals to players of all ages from the age of three or four to teenagers to adults even, depending on the product - one manufacturer has even tested its novelty products in some student locations and the results look promising. The main changes for the sector have been the quality of the products available and the increased interest, from licensees, in the sector.

“The biggest change I have seen in my time in this business is that operators will pay a premium for a better product,” said Beverley. “When I started out operators were only interested in value and getting the biggest toy possible for their money; design and quality were secondary factors so this has been a really positive change. The quality of product has improved for two reasons, mainly because the customer (player) expects it and also because of European CE regulations, meaning the products have to be to a certain standard or they are not allowed into the market.”

Quality is a must

The quality of the product has improved as the market has grown in Europe,” said Heather McLean of TYE. “This is largely due to consumers demanding more for their money – especially in the UK as well as worries over safety and quality assurance issues with children.

“There have also been many changes to the laws regarding children, product and marketing, so we have to adapt to ensure that we are not seen to be taking advantage or giving poor value for money on child focused items.”

The other major change for the sector is that the licensing industry has also really woken up to the amusement market in the past six years or so. According to Beverley, before that only a handful of licensing companies were even aware of the size of this industry and they are often surprised by the volume it does.

Licensed products have a huge role to play in the success of a novelty or plush product and almost all manufacturers and distributors in this sector have a handful of licences in their portfolios.

But what makes a good licence? According to McLean licences such as Disney, Pokémon and Thomas the Tank Engine are key properties for children and span a wide age range. “The play value of these licences and the long established history also reassures parents that the product is likely to have good safety standards and be high quality and value for money.”

TYE and its parent companies Yujin and Tomy Europe have a long history of working with licensors. It signs all licences through the correct channels to ensure its products are of the highest quality and in keeping with the overall brand image of the property. And according to Ian Eason of Instance Automatics Disney products seem to be A1.

“This is probably down to their advertising worldwide and their instantly recognisable brands. Kids want the new ‘in thing’ nowadays - not a scruffy teddy,” he said. Without doubt it is these recognisable brands that pull in the players as will any product related to a popular children’s television show such as Dora the Explorer, Littlest Pet Shop and Spongebob Squarepants and, according to David Merle, export manager for Eurogift, the more they appear on television, the more the appeal.

“Kids tend to look for products with licences, technology and mobile phone novelties,” said Merle. However, television programmes are not the only media that will attract the young players. According to Beverley, PMS International has had great success with its range of Nintendo characters since the emergence of the Wii and DS consoles and it has been a constant battle to keep up with demand.

“At the end of the day every penny spent in a crane is impulsive spend so we must offer characters that are part of people’s everyday lives and a product that is good enough to drive that impulse,” he said.

For Alan Smith of Sega Prize Europe “movie driven licences, which have less of a life but still perform well, are also popular when it comes to plush items - such as Kung Fu Panda - this will be a strong item,” he said.

The appeal of plush and novelty product as a prize is clear and although it would initially seem that licensed products are the more popular, leaving no room for generic products, according to Beverley this is not quite the case. “Children are becoming more and more brand conscious from a younger age,” he said. “A knock-on effect of the licensing trend, that benefits everyone, is a vastly improved generic offering as a generic item has to be really very good to even compete in today’s market.”

Novel idea

Although the most obvious place to find novelty products is in the machines mentioned earlier, there are a few companies out there that have taken the novelty product and incorporated it into a machine that could be considered quite boring and functional and turned it into an novel entertainment machine - the photobooth. Josep Tarres of Digital Centre told InterGame he believes that by adding novelty elements to some of the machines, it keeps them fresh and up-to-date.

“The market is moving faster every day and the products should move fast too,” he said. “People like using the photo booths to create novel and entertaining images and you have to keep the designs up-to-date as well, to keep them interested.

“Novelty is very important to the coin-op industry,” he continued. “Young children and teenagers are our target audience and they appreciate the product the most, but slowly but surely adults are beginning to appreciate the fun behind novelty images as well.”

To keep up with the customer demand when it comes to novelty images, DigitalCentre now updates its machines via the internet and will also introduce limited edition themes to coincide with seasonal holidays and celebrations - such as Halloween and Christmas.

There is no doubt that licences will continue to play an important role in the success of the plush and novelty sector. Not only will they bring in the crowds, whether it be a licence of the moment or a classic licence, but they will also continue to force generic products to be bigger and better than ever before.

However, the other area which will be forced to continue to improve will be the safety and quality of the products. According to McLean, consumer awareness for product safety is always increasing and this will continue to be a major factor in developing novelty items for the future.

“With the novelty market now well established across Europe consumers will expect this choice and quality to improve on an ongoing basis and we will have to react in order to keep their interest and reassure them that we are striving for the best experience possible.”

And for Smith, “companies involved in the future plush and novelty market will need to deliver a better play experience for consumers and raise the perceived opportunity to win ratio.”

Beverley added to this, saying: “There is no doubt that people have become far more budget conscious and thus over the next couple of years, as both operators and consumers adapt to the economic climate, our job is to keep bettering our product range and offering items that represent value as well as that must-have factor.”