When was the Little Tikes Company founded?
The Little Tikes™ Company was founded in 1969 and is still headquartered in Hudson, OH. Discover The Little Tikes™ Company's Story. Founder, Tom Murdough, introduces The Little Tikes™ Company to the toy industry. First Little Tikes™ Catalog launched to retailers all across the US in color.
What kind of toy is Little Tikes?
Little Tikes. Little Tikes is an American -based manufacturer of children's toys, with headquarters and manufacturing located in Hudson, Ohio. The company also has other manufacturing and distribution facilities in Asia and Europe. Little Tikes' products are mostly low-tech molded plastic toys aimed primarily at infants and young children,...
Is Little Tikes owned by Rubbermaid?
Little Tikes. The company was established by Tom G. Murdough Jr. in November 10, 1969 in Aurora, Ohio. The company was acquired by Rubbermaid in 1984. Murdough signed an employment agreement with Rubbermaid under which he would stay with the new parent company for a five-year period as president and general manager.
What happened to Little Tikes™?
During a period of decline for the toy industry as a whole, Little Tikes™ sales increased by 28 percent to $23.1 million, which was followed by an astounding 73 percent rise to $42.9 million in 1983. It was clear that Little Tikes™ toys were more than just a passing fad. Poppy Penguin introduced as "A handy toy toter that’s also a friend."
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How did Murdough help to market toys?
Large discount stores like Kmart tended to "cherry-pick" the hottest items out of a given manufacturer's line and then sell them at or under cost in order to draw parents in. Small retailers were then faced with lowering their prices in order to compete. As their profit margins shrunk to unmanageable levels, they then put pressure on manufacturers to further lower wholesale costs. Murdough avoided this pattern by simply declining to distribute through large discount stores. "Murdough had a good understanding of how not to go to market. He was very careful not to flood the market with merchandise," said one retailing executive in a 1989 Business Week article. Murdough carefully nurtured his relationship with the small toy retailers. By discouraging deep discounting of its most popular toys, Little Tikes kept profit margins high for all its retailers. In exchange, the company insisted that retailers stock the full range of the Little Tikes line.
Why was Murdough important to Little Tikes?
This was important because Little Tikes relied almost exclusively on word-of-mouth to promote its large, and often pricey, plastic play equipment. Murdough was convinced that advertising to kids was not only morally questionable but was also not good business sense. Little Tikes toys were almost exclusively designed for pre-schoolers, an age when pressure to conform to fads is at a minimum. The pre-school market had always shown much more brand loyalty than other segments of the toy industry. Parents tended to choose toys they felt would be durable and safe for the younger child, and they relied on a manufacturer's reputation to ensure this kind of quality.
What was the success of Little Tikes?
The Little Tikes product marketing approach was an overwhelming success. As the baby-boom generation began to have kids of their own, the pre-school toy industry boomed. Little Tikes' image as a sort of parents' toy club encouraged word-of-mouth advertising, and sales soared. The company quickly outgrew the old barn that had served as its headquarters and manufacturing plant and in the mid-1970s moved its operations to a much larger plant in Macedonia, Ohio. Within the next decade, Little Tikes would also open manufacturing plants in Ireland and Canada and begin distribution of its toys outside the United States. By the end of the 1970s, Little Tikes' sales had grown to about $15 million and its product line had expanded to include ride-on toys. In 1979, the company introduced its first major hit toy, the Cozy Coupe ride-in car. This red and yellow foot-powered vehicle was enclosed, unlike the time-honored tricycle, and seemed to give kids a sense of security about venturing forth in the world. By the early 1990s, the Cozy Coupe was the best-selling car in North America, beating both Ford's Taurus and Honda's Accord, which prompted Ford's marketing director to quip that they'd "have to give those kids a good trade-in on a Taurus."
What is rotational molding?
Little Tikes pioneered the use of rotational molding, an industrial process for molding plastic that had formerly been used mainly to produce large products like agricultural tanks and chemical containers. Rotational molding could produce larger, more durable products than the traditional blow molding that had been widely used in the toy industry. By allowing for a large variety of shapes with large surface areas, fewer parts were needed to create each large toy. Fewer parts meant not only less assembly time on the factory floor but also a more durable final product. In addition, the new process permitted the production of a variety of colors at the same time, adding versatility to the production process.
Where are Little Tikes toys made?
To this end, Little Tikes manufacturing and distribution centers were built in Luxembourg and Korea to serve the European and Asian markets. In spite of increased foreign manufacturing, about 80 percent of Little Tikes toys sold in the United States were still manufactured in North America.
When did Murdough resign from Rubbermaid?
By the fall of 1989 , it became clear that Murdough and parent Rubbermaid's positions on marketing could not be reconciled, and Murdough resigned his position with the company. "It turns out we never needed Rubbermaid's money," said a frustrated Murdough in a 1993 Forbes article. "I was spending all my time just keeping them [Rubbermaid executives] out of my hair." Rubbermaid chairman Stanley C. Gault, however, insisted that the dispute was not so much about retail relationships as Murdough's management style. Gault told the Wall Street Journal after the resignation that Murdough "is unable to work for a boss, regardless of the autonomy he has. He won't take criticism."
When did Little Tikes start advertising?
2002: Little Tikes launches its first national television advertising campaign.
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