Pogo adds ‘Blazing Yo Yo’ in its collection of merchandise toys

With the success achieved with Beyblade in 2005 and Pogo Wheels in 2006, Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), the global licensing and merchandising division of Cartoon Network, has launched a new range of toy called ‘Blazing Yo Yo’ for Pogo. Jiggy George, Executive Director, Cartoon Network Enterprises, India & South Asia, spoke to exchange4media on the new toy launch and its other marketing initiatives.

On the idea behind creating ‘Blazing Yo Yo’, George said, “We started off with Pogo Wheels. It’s been a great success and despite being priced at a range of Rs 399 and 1,149, it’s already hit 16,000 units of sales -- kids are still trying to figure out when the next phase of Pogo Wheels will happen. While that was happening, we thought about how to continue with the trends and set it going, as we had already started with the concept of Beyblade for Cartoon Network. The answer for that is the toy that we are launching for Pogo called Blazing Yo Yo.”

Speaking on the concept of the toy, he added, “The Yo Yo’s have been around for a while, but the basic Yo Yo’s are the simple elastic ones. The toy we have launched will be completely different, which will have 28 different types of Yo Yo’s. The whole concept for this Yo Yo is based on wire-based technologies that include ‘Ball Bearing Yo Yo’s’, ‘Cross Dear Yo Yo’ and ‘Trans Axe Yo Yo’.”

The product will be reinforced by a new show launched on Pogo called ‘Blazing Teens’. The show will emphasise on Yo Yo’s, where the characters will be seen using the product. The show will go on air from June 11 this year, every Monday to Saturday in the 4.00 pm time slot. The TG will be children in the age group of six-12.

George informed that the product would start with a low range of price from Rs 149 onwards, making it accessible to people across the country. He said, “On the distribution front, we are already opening with 1,000 counters which in the next two months is targetted to be around 3,000. These 1,000 counters are across 26 cites in the country. The count is 25 per cent higher, in terms of distribution than Beyblade. So we are trying to do our best to make it a mass phenomenon.”

CNE has planned a multi-pronged campaign for this product’s marketing. George explained, “We have a campaign for television which is already on-air. One of these campaigns will showcase the Yo Yo’s, while the three other commercials are on the basic intermediate or advance tricks that can be done with the toy.”

Addition to this, every pack also has a sales promotion, which will be a scratch-and-win contest. All the Lilliput stores and the Baskin Robin parlours in the country will be selling Yo Yo’s. This activity kickstarted on May 20. On a retail level, there are plans to have road shows in 11 cities, which will have Yo Yo masters around the world come down and show the different tricks that can be done with these toys.

Speaking more on the Beyblade experience, said, “If you look at Beyblade, it has been a great success, but tops have always been there for a long time. So what we did was to capture the imagination of the modern kid through modernising the toy, but essentially it is a traditional toy. So in the same way, Yo Yo’s have been a phenomenon around the world but it has never taken off in India because kids today cannot capture the imagination unless they can do something besides taking it out.”

He added, “So we just realised instinctively on few counts that if it’s such a big phenomenon traditionally and if you give it a spin to make it an art form, it would work. Secondly, on a price point and the distribution wise, it would be competitive.”

As for the expectations, George quipped, “The future is bright! We did a million plus unit on Beyblade and that’s been the biggest phenomenon, so when we look at competition, we just look at ourselves. So we are looking at that figure.”