Sales of tabletop games and puzzles in the U.S. grew 14.4% in 2021 versus 2020, according to NPD Group research conducted for the Toy Industry Association. That was on top of a 32.5% increase during the peak lockdown year of 2020. While sales are unlikely to maintain these lofty growth rates in 2022, marketers and […]
Tag Archives | NASA
Eyes on the Sky
Interest in space-themed merchandise remains strong, thanks to a number of factors. In the past year, the inaugural commercial flights of the for-profit space tourism firms Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic, along with frequent news about the International Space Station, have attracted attention. Since early 2020, there has been a pandemic-fueled increase in enthusiasm […]
Ready for Lift-Off
As is the case for many hobbies, participation in stargazing, a particularly calming pastime for many, has spiked during the pandemic, and the rising interest in the stars has resulted in record sales of telescopes, according to retailers and suppliers. This is good news for both the licensors recently signing deals in the space and […]
A Full-Court Press for Chinese Sportswear Firms
China continues to get back to business after the Covid-19 outbreak, which peaked in that country from mid-January through early to mid-March. As a result, the leading Chinese sportswear and footwear companies are still hopeful they can come out of a terrible first half with positive numbers for the year as a whole. Anta, the […]
Space Age
Saturday is the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. In the days and weeks leading up to the milestone, licensors, retailers, and licensees have been announcing space-themed content, promotions, and products, especially in the realms of entertainment, toys, and fashion. The initiatives, most of which incorporate […]
Continuing Education
Alliances between owners of licensed properties and providers of educational curriculum can take many forms. They involve a diverse roster of property types and can target the whole spectrum of age groups, as these recent deals attest: Sesame Workshop licensed McGraw-Hill Education to use its Sesame Street characters in a free version of MHE’s Wonders […]