For some time toy designers have been lamenting the
dumbing down of toy design so they can be sold in the mass market stores. Mass
market sellers aim for the widest customer base possible, and unfortunately
they tend to do it by aiming low. No long explanations, complicated instructions
or complex outcomes are allowed for their toys, and celebrity and entertainment
licenses reign supreme. But while toys for big box are fading into little more
than licensed product lacking any real play quality, the smart companies are realizing
they are part of a gigantic “Play Industry” which includes much more than toys
– video, apps, interactive electronics, 2D and 3D craft, even social. They are
not looking for just 24 or 48 inches of shelf space anymore, because what used
to be of primary importance has been replaced by the need to find different
revenue models in a disrupted business. They now are in a fierce competition to
capture some of the kid’s attention,
and need to construct and operate from a bigger “platform”.
Similar changes have come to the advertising game. People
have long hated wasting their precious time on commercials, so digital
disruption has hit hard as DVRs allow people to skip the ads, and to make
matters worse the new entertainment and social mediums don’t mesh with traditional
advertising methods. Ad agencies are faced with the prospect (necessity
actually) of blowing up their traditional business methods and building a new multi-faceted
platform from which they can engage people in multiple ways to successfully get
their attention. Scary work.
Both of these are prime examples of what our new
“connection economy” is doing to industries closely related to ours, and it
shouldn’t be much of a leap for you to see how it affects you as an artist. I think
the concept of working from a broader “platform” can be a useful one. Look at
your business as a big picture, all of your creative and marketing efforts in
total – how do they relate and support each other, and more importantly how do
they relate and support building connections with your customers? Try putting
together a structure chart. Identify what supports your platform and consider
eliminating anything that doesn’t help build it. Leave some room for experimentation,
float some balloons and pay attention to what works and why, because it
changes.
I believe you need to think and act like a start-up
business regardless of how long you have been in the industry. History is no
longer a predictor of the future and the new mantra is “he who gets there first
wins”. Stay in front of it.
