Insight
Melissa Bernstein: Consumers desire nostalgic toys updated with modern flair
“People actually still want Things that are nostalgic and make them remember their past, but they don't want them dusty and like they found them in some old attic. They want them, you know, injected with pizzazz and brought to today.”
Disclosure
Melissa Bernstein: Small independent stores were the only way to launch products
“Well, by this time, we had expanded beyond New England, but definitely the small independent stores. We were firmly convinced that that was the only way we could really get our products out there.”
Disclosure
Melissa & Doug intentionally avoids hit-driven fads to build evergreen products
“I mean, and we don't have, you know, we're not a hit-driven company. We joke that we have a lot of singles and doubles. We don't really want home runs because we don't want it here today gone tomorrow. We're an evergreen company. We want our toys to be around …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Melissa & Doug still manufactures half of its toy products from wood
“50% of what we make is still wood and then Other materials. We use a lot of metal. We use canvas but mostly not plastic.”
Disclosure
Melissa Bernstein keeps 500 failed toy prototypes behind her desk
“Behind my desk I have about, I can't even fit them anymore, maybe 500 toys that were all my very favorite toys that failed in a big way, some of them entire categories, because every day I want to remind myself when I come to work and come to my desk that the …”
Insight
Consumers want nostalgic toys injected with pizzazz and modern appeal
“People actually still want things that are nostalgic and make them remember their past, but they don't want them dusty and like they found them in some old attic. They want them, you know, injected with pizzazz and brought to today.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Melissa Bernstein: Toy manufacturers historically relied on reps rather than selling directly
“As a manufacturer, you never went directly into a store. You actually had middle people called manufacturers reps who represented your product into the smaller stores.”
Disclosure
Founders bootstrapped Melissa & Doug for three years eating ramen and hot dogs
“We wanted to be self-funded, and we lived incredibly frugally for at least three years. We ate ramen noodles, which we ate for a dollar, and turkey hot dogs on a hot plate, because it was about 50 cents a meal, and we lived with our parents for a few years unt…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Melissa & Doug sold out 1,000 Puzzle World sets at Toy Fair
“We had, I believe we had a thousand assortments, and we literally, by the third day of Toy Fair, we sold out.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Toy manufacturers traditionally avoided selling directly to retail stores
“And by the way, this was another thing that was completely against what was happening in the industry, because as a manufacturer, you never went directly into a store. You actually had middle people called manufacturers reps who represented your product into t…”
Disclosure
Tactile children's books inspired Melissa & Doug's original Fuzzy Puzzle line
“And we brainstormed having a puzzle that had animals and that the hide of each animal was a piece of plush that had the texture of that animal and the look, and came up with this idea for what we called a fuzzy puzzle.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Melissa & Doug was bootstrapped by reinvesting all early revenue into inventory
“We wanted to be self-funded, and we lived incredibly frugally. For at least three years, we ate ramen noodles, which were eight for a dollar, and turkey hot dogs on a hot plate, because it was about 50 cents a meal, and we lived with our parents for a few year…”
Disclosure
Melissa & Doug still manufactures 50 percent of its products from wood
“I mean, 50% of what we make is still wood. And then Other materials, we use a lot of metal, we use canvas but mostly not plastic.”
