Intelliplay Australia has been appointed assistant distributor to the highly successful card game called The Art of Conversation for the Australian Market.

The Art of Conversation for CHILDREN is the perfect way for children to become great communicators, learn about other people and better understand themselves.

Perfect for many occasions, the informative 16 page communication booklet provides guidelines and many variations on TAOC, including a solo version. The 104 cards provide 200 conversation topics, carefully created and tested to promote and stimulate communication, plus 4 blank cards for children to personalise. TAOC, is fun for everyone and is also a highly effective therapeutic and educational resource for families, therapists, counselors, teachers, speech pathologists, language teachers, coaches, church leaders and more.

Official Site: www.taoc.com.au

Melbourne based Educational Toys Distributor Intelliplay, has announced that it has taken over the Australian distribution of the brick building toy Junior Tradesman. Intelliplay takes over the distribution from Sydney based Skansen Gifts in what Intelliplay’s director Marco Ferlaino best describes “We are giving the Junior Tradesman brand renewed focus whilst complementing our portfolio of products perfectly”.

The Junior Tradesman creative building toy was first introduced into Australian 2 years ago and has an established network of over 380 stockists that will be contacted by Intelliplay individually.

Further information on Junior Tradesman  is at www.juniortradesman.com of visit the intelliplay website at www.intelliplay.com.au for further details.

A new innovative buying concept has been developed and released by Intelliplay called “Cost Per Play” that will change the way you shop for toys.

The concept is simple, take the cost of the toy and divide it by how many hours the toy is actually played with and the result is the Cost Per Play figure. The more meaningful and educational the toy, the lower the cost per play which means you are getting value for money from your purchase e.g. The toy is played with hours on end.

The meaninglessness of modern toys have extremely high Cost Per Play Values as they are only played with once, your $ 20.00 Action Figure played for 1 hour will cost you $20.00 per hour, played with 2 hours is $ 10.00 per hour and so forth. Parents will be surprised that most high cost toys are never played with for extended periods and the return on investment is never realised.

The next time you are in the market for Educational Toys, think of the Cost Per Play concept and whether you can actually get the money back for that new flashy toy you just purchased.

DAY 4

So What’s New?

Other than you having an answer to the famous elevator pitch theory, do you have an answer to the “What’s New?” question if asked by a buyer at a major trade fair.

Word on the street today was that buyers where dumping the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre in preference to the Show Grounds. To those that don’t know, the Show Grounds is the proving grounds for many years for upstart distributors before you are given a highly sort after booth at the MECC.

The exodus from the MECC was that in tough economic times the larger of the incumbent distributors of any given category where perceived to be predictable with the same ranges as last year. Retailers wanting to look for really new innovative items came to the Show Grounds to look for new products they could not find at the MECC from hungry and eager to do business new exhibitors.

DAY 3

Many businesses know and probably live by the 80/20 rule and have so for some time, today i saw a different side of that rule that makes this rule only apply and workable in good economic times. 

What if 20% of your existing customers don’t order?

Those businesses that have always left the doors open and are open minded to continued new growth will do well in the coming months.

DAY 2

What is refreshing and immediately apparent attending the Gift Fair as opposed to the Toy Fair is that nobody assumes they know everything.

Unlike the Toy Fair whereby buyers come with predetermined opinions, theories and whatever they perceive as Good Toys from TV, Gift fair buyers cannot make this assumption because around every corner is the next business opportunity that could just make you a heap of money in the coming difficult monthes ahead.

It’s refreshing as first time exhibitor at the Gift Fair to be surrounded by this great enthusiastic environment.

DAY 1

Hunting season has officially started at the Australian Gift Fair 2008, over 800 exhibitors and tens of thousands of buyers buzzing around all looking for that elusive winner product. All distributors are after their share of the bounty with Christmas orders being laid down, it’s competitive, nervous and exciting and reminds me how much i enjoy the game where you win and lose in the same minute.

This fair is the all important make or break fair for most distributors. The last 6 months of retail slump and lean ordering cycles has now left them no excuse but to begin buying and stocking up setting aside any nervous buying decisions for the easy sell Christmas period.

Located at booth E4320, Intelliplay offers a specific range of Educational Toys that allows the specialist and independent toy stores to compete with the major retailers.

Visit the Intelliplay Educational Toys Website

NEWS FLASH – The Eitech Australian shipment has arrived !

Just in time for the Gift Fair and filling orders from the Australian Toy Fair, the first shipment of new eitech stock has arrived and will be dispatched immediately to dealers already with secured orders.

The remaining eitech stock although limited until the next re-order mid August, will be on a first come first served basis. All existing dealers and potential new dealers are encouraged to secure orders ready for the Fathers Day and Christmas periods.

Click for a full list of eitech Construction Toys

It’s hard to imagine that some Toy Companies can still be around since 1924, still family owned with production facilities still mostly based in it’s home town and claim they have invented the Worlds Best and longest lasting Soccer Game.

Welcome to TIPP-KICK, a German based manufacturer of the Quirky Miniature Soccer Game from the Black Forest Town of Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany.

TIPP-KICK is a Miniature Soccer Game played with metallic teams that kick the ball with a press of the button on their heads. The internal mechanism although simplistic is typical German Engineering that connects with the leg lifting it up in a kicking action, this in turn kicks the ball.

Full details on where to buy TIPP-KICK in Australia are available at the Intelliplay Website.

Visit the Official TIPP-KICK website
Visit the Australian TIPP-KICK website

LaQ – pronounced “La-Kew” is a Made in Japan plastic Construction Toy utilising 7 different parts in 10 colors that click together to make realistic good looking models.

The inspiring thing about LaQ is that it can build virtually any design including the impossible to build sphere shapes which even LEGO cannot match. Although touted as “Japanese LEGO”, LaQ is much more than just a plastic Construction Toy due to it’s quirky SNAP sound as the pieces are connected and disconnected.

LaQ will be available in limited quantities from 1st September 2008 in Australia from Intelliplay.

Get More Information on LaQ