Wow! Stuff is set to launch an array of new Real FX toys in the Robotic/Interactive Playmates class, part of the Youth Electronics Supercategory, promoted as “toys aimed at kids but also adored by adults.” The move comes on the back of the success of the company’s "Jurassic World" Real FX Baby Blue, a best-seller at retailers in the U.K., France and the U.S. and within weeks of launch, a winner of multiple awards for innovation.

“We’ve always been driven by innovation, and that’s how most brands originate and become leaders, often by creating the category itself,” says Richard North, chief executive officer, Wow! Stuff. “It’s actually been difficult to pigeonhole the category that Real FX plays in. Perhaps it’s even the first brand in a new developing category of realistic/feels alive toys, but for now it appears Robotic/Interactive Playmates is where it sits.  

“Our original Real FX item was an AI (artificial intelligence) race car set that sold over $45 million at wholesale in its first year, followed by the ‘Harry Potter’ Invisibility Cloak. Our positioning for these products has been ‘As realistic as it can be outside of the real thing.’ For example, as a toy and in the hands of a 7-year-old, Real FX Baby Blue must feel like the most realistic dinosaur in 65 million years.”  

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To signify and authenticate a Real FX toy, the packaging will wear the black-and-silver or purple-and-silver brand insignia along with a distinctive holographic emblem.  

According to NPD, Wow! Stuff has doubled its sales in the last 12 months, rising more than 50%. “We feel the timing is just right for a new, fresh innovative entrant into a category that is growing strongly across global markets,” says North. “The positioning of Real FX is very distinctive and unique with a mission to ‘Look Real, Feel Real, Sound Real,’ something the scientists and developers at Wow! Stuff pride themselves on.  

“It also important to us that older kids and adults appreciate the realism in a Real FX product and approve. With the older age groups engaging it helps that they also lend themselves (Real FX toys) to use and performance across social media platforms. Above all else we want a Real FX toy to be the one you remember the most, evoking the most special memories well into your adulthood.” 

"Jurassic World" Real FX Baby Blue is in the running for the soon-to-be-announced TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Consumer Award and has recently won the Made for Mums Editor’s Choice Award, The Independent Toy Awards, Influencers Choice at the BlogOn awards and The MOJO Play Creator Design Award. 

Related:Bulldog Signs Wow! Stuff for Odo

Read an exclusive interview with Richard North in License Global’s Leading Licensees report, here.