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In this episode of PLAYING AT BUSINESS we interview world renowned and highly experienced board games creator Richard Heayes. Richard talks us through his journey in the business, and about how he came to create one of (maybe THE) biggest and best selling board games brand extensions of all time. Richard's insights and sparky creative mind shine through in this interview. A must listen for involved in creating new board games.

China is the world's second biggest toy market, with significant growth prospects ahead. In this episode we discuss the opportunities in the Chinese toy market with Jacqueline Vong of Playology International Inc, a leading Consultancy with expert insights to the domestic toy market in China. We also discuss content strategies, both in China and in North America. 

In Episode 14 of our Playing At Business podcast we give an overview of international toy markets at a topline level, and discuss why a bespoke approach to each country is likely to yield the best results. We discuss some of the Do's & Don't's of export sales for toys & games covering major markets including the USA, China, UK, France, Germany and others.

Interview with Emile Kalis, co-founder of Identity Games. The company was founded in The Netherlands in the 1990s, and has since established international reach with numerous great games achieving sales success across multiple markets. In this podcast Emile talks us through his journey in the board games business, and shares key insights he learnt along the way. A fascinating listen for anyone interested in the board games business.

Playing At Business - a leading toy and game business podcast In this episode we interview Marc Fayad of Splash Toys, talking about their latest product launch: Sneak'Artz We also talk about the toy business in general and Marc's experience in the toy business. We discuss toy marketing, distribution across export markets and find out more about Splash Toys

The action figure and fashion doll categories have seen a lot of change in the past decade or more, with a huge degree of success for many toy companies in this space. This episode of the Playing At Business podcast takes a look at the changes and what they mean for the global toy industry. For more on us/our toy business consultancy, go to www.KidsBrandInsight.com 

The global toy industry has become reliant on China's toy manufacturing sector to provide production capacity, as well as development and production expertise. In recent years though China has seemingly shifted away from low end labour heavy manufacturing towards higher end, higher tech production categories. The past few years have seen significant cost increases for many toy companies and as such many have begun to consider where else they could get their toys manufactured. In this episode of the podcast we look at the future of toy manufacturing and review the potential alternatives to China... For more on us/our business, just go to www.KidsBrandInsight.com  

Playing At Business podcast episode 9 looks at the board games category, and why it is a timeless success, why the future is bright and at key trends in the board game category.

This episode looks at consumer research testing in the toy industry, why we don't tend to do enough of it, the benefits of more research testing for the toy business and key learnings from host Steve Reece based on his conducting over 1,200 focus groups with kids on toys. For more on us, please go to: www.KidsBrandInsight.com 

Over time, the same toy themes have repeatedly re-emerged time and time again...but why is this? Does this mean we shold not be trying to push the boundaries and create new toys? In Episode 7 of the Playing At Business podcast, host Steve Reece discusses how & why some themes just keep on working time after time. For more on the podcast: www.PlayingAtBusiness.com  For more on our toy business consultancy: www.KidsBrandInsight.com     

In this latest episode of the Playing At Business podcast, host Steve Reece looks at the close relationship between movies and toys. With a bit of history, some analysis and some future gazing, this episode acts as an introduction to the topic of movie related toys. For more on Steve's day job as a leading toy industry consultant, please visit: www.KidsBrandInsight.com 

Retail has always been a tough environment, but it has never been harder. Online retail is finally reaching critical mass to the point it now represents an immediate existential threat to physical retailers.  This episode of Playing At Business looks at how physical retailers can compete and even thrive in this crazily competitive market place today.

In Episode 4 of the Playing At Business podcast, host Steve Reece takes a look at why Play-Doh (and also Coca-Cola) are such strong brands.

Monopoly is widely regarded as THE board game all children must play as they are growing up, but more than that Monopoly is an inspiring & instructive story for business people in several ways. Listen in for more... For more on us/other episodes of the Podcast, go to: http://www.PlayingAtBusiness.com

In this episode of the Playing At Business Podcast, host Steve Reece analyses what businesses can learn from the meteoric rise of Lego as a business and as a brand. Often seen as a best practise example of brand management, the Lego company has gone from strength to strength in recent years. This podcast looks at some of the reasons for that success and the key lessons business people can learn from that. For more episodes go to: http:www.PlayingAtBusiness.com