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The wraps are off Fisher-Price's latest incarnation of Sesame Street’s superstar with the preschool set: Elmo....
The new Elmo T.M.X. plush character has been packaged in a “Top Secret” attaché case-like box due to months of unprecedented secrecy and buzz in the toy biz that this year’s hottest holiday toy was in the offing. Clever, unique and eye-catching.
The major toy retailers have added to the excitement and anticipation by alerting customers of the toy’s imminent appearance. Retail orders were written for the red, fuzzy, ticklish creature, sight-unseen, and shelf space designated.
After all, Elmo does have a history of sales success, and the stores wisely took pre-orders from customers to ensure they would be able to get them—as a result, an unprecedented number of pre-orders were taken. At $39.99 a pop, Elmo ought to be the king of the toy aisles once again!
The new Elmo debuted on Tuesday, September 19th on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program, while customers began to line up at Toys “R" Us, Wal-Mart and KB Toys to quickly procure him for their children.
Elmo Tickle Me Extreme (also designated “X” to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the original Tickle Me stuffed doll) employs great new technology. Whereas the original Tickle Me Elmo laughed uproariously when his tummy was pushed, the new Elmo T.M.X.’s infectious laughing jags have him falling down into a sitting position, slapping his knee, falling backward onto his back, kicking his feet, rolling around on his tummy and standing back up!
He even has three ticklish spots and three different laugh and motion sequences which will delight any child, and probably make their parents laugh until they’ve heard it for the umpteenth time, and want to pull their hair out!
I’ve been involved in developing brand identities and package design in the toy business for over 20 years, and this latest unveiling fascinates me. Fisher-Price and parent company Mattel did a masterful job of building suspense and buzz in a way that is rarely seen in the toy industry. And it involved more than secrecy. The little “leaks” that came out only built suspense. Toy industry trade papers and pundits ruminated about what the new Elmo might be like. Toy retailers fanned the flames with customers and got them all excited about the latest, top secret version of Elmo.
I expect this new wave of Elmomania will make the toy the hottest seller of the holiday season, and I also suspect Elmo will sell out well before the holidays. All of this hype only adds to the new toy’s desirability, doesn’t it?
This makes me wonder why marketers don’t try to generate grassroots excitement for potentially hot products more often. . . just by creating a little mystery, a date for an unveiling, a little press and buzz at retail, for example.
Obviously, not every product is going to be an Elmo T.M.X. But:
* How many products could be stars, if they didn’t suffer from lackluster rollouts and half-hearted marketing efforts?
* How many products would be embraced by the customer right out of the chute if we just added some joy, or some fun into the marketing mix?
* Why shouldn’t we have more Elmos?
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Comments
I'm back! Been on the road a week and missing my daily blogs. I'm grazing like crazy trying to catch up.
As always, great post Ted. I, too, wonder why we don't see more effort placed on grassroots marketing. The strategy is a natural, especially in retail. When I mention it to clients, their eyes sometimes glaze over, as if they can't imagine such a thing.
Well, let's keep on keepin' on and working to make grassroots marketing a common feature in our mix.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 10.03.06
Great blog!
I have often wondered the same thing. I think people just don't know how to generate a grassroots buzz. OR they're afraid of it? Anyway, if you haven't checked these guys out, you should: http://www.eurorscg.com/
How do you generate a grassroots buzz pray tell?
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 10.03.06
Hi Lewis and Tammy,
Thanks for the nice comments. Grassroots buzz happens when product or service companies work to create a sense of excitement or suspense at the community level. In the case of Elmo T.M.X.the toy company got the retail community excited about the unveiling of the brand new Elmo doll. The retailers, in turn, got the customers excited about it. Pretty soon, everybody was waiting with bated breath for the wraps to come off the hottest new toy in the universe. On September 19th, the toy stores couldn't load their shelves with the new Elmos fast enough--everybody was clamoring for theirs and snapping them up as fast as they could. That points to the end result of conducting a successful grassroots marketing effort.
Posted by: Ted Mininni | 10.03.06
Great post, Ted. Do any other products come to mind that have tapped into the grassroots buzz....other than the previous Elmo, I mean? (Or other toys are Christmastime.) Just curious.
Posted by: Ann Handley | 10.03.06
Hi Ted, I guess I didn't mean my question so literally. I was just thinking perhaps it is not done more often because of a potential backfire like the product doesn't live up to the hype...Verizon's Chocolate perhaps. Thank you for the explanation! :-) I guess I meant: How do you start one and remain on top of it so it doesn't blow up in your face? I'm not expressing myself very well today... I've been under the weather...
Disney starts promoting their DVD movie releases sometimes as much as a year in advance.
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 10.03.06
Hi Ann,
To answer your question: yes there are. In fact, in my firm's research on marketing to various kids' demographic groups, there are great examples of companies that have set up buzz marketing efforts. Particularly on college campuses. The thinking is that campuses have their own unique cultures, thus marketers are literally hiring kids to create grassroots buzz for them to a captive audience.
Daily Fix readers might find this Boston Globe article on the subject very enlightening! http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/10/24/building_a_buzz_on_campus
Posted by: Ted Mininni | 10.04.06