Million-dollar dream baby
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Tuesday, 24 September, 2002 - 22:00
PRODUCING a toy for mass consumption in the US is much like producing a CD single – being signed to a major label can make the difference between success and failure.
In many ways that’s the story told by Mandurah resident Victor Pracas in 1990 with his hit-doll, Baby Born.
More than a decade on, Baby Born still features as one of Australia’s top selling toys. It has made $21 million dollars in royalties (at about $3 million in royalties a year) and has brought a handful of original local investors a 10-fold return on their original investment each year.
Mr Pracas is now involved in a new project based on hitting a higher frequency of home runs.
In a venture with major shareholder TechStart Australia and
400 local investors, Oi! Toys is hoping to become a regular
feature in the top-selling toy charts.
Mr Pracas has been in the toy industry for more than 15 years, seeking investment in 2001 to turn his many dreams into reality.
And what a dream run Baby Born has had. Mr Pracas came up with the idea for the doll on his way back to Mandurah from a toy exhibition in the US, later selling the concept to German toy manufacturer Zamf Creation.
“I never thought it would be this popular. Baby Born is like a Barbie; it’s not a fad that comes and goes,” he said.
The decision to team up with TechStart Australia and other investors to create Oi! Toys was made to have a higher success rate when turning concepts into actual product.
“We come up with the idea, design it, build a prototype and then put a patent on it. Then we go to the toy shows and negotiate the project with companies like Mattel and Hasbro,” Mr Pracas said.
“These companies rely on companies like Oi! Toys. Most concepts come from individual inventors.”
He said there were more than 30 designs ready to hit the toy market in the coming years.
While TechStart Australia and other investors in Oi! Toys may have missed out on the revenue generated by Baby Born, as opposed to royalties, Oi! Toys managing director Craig Suttar said they hoped to replicate its success on a much bigger scale.
“At TechStart we saw it as a good opportunity to invest in. He sold one of the best products in the world and he has many more ideas and designs,” Mr Suttar said.
“We don’t have commercial rights over Baby Born but we do have the first option to produce any of Victor’s new ideas; we’re certainly open to other inventors to come in and promote their toys.”
He said the company was aiming to become a bigger player in the toy industry and foreshadowed opening offices in America and Sydney.
“Working from WA is a cost benefit. A lot of development and manufacturing is done in Hong Kong and China and we are in the same time domain,” Mr Suttar said.
“We would like to have a corporate office in America because over 50 per cent of the world’s toys are sold there.
“There is also a large and expanding merchandising industry. In May we will consider opening an office in Sydney to be close to the film industry. For us it is about working with the animators and getting early access to merchandising opportunities.”
He said the company had many designs ready to take to the toy companies and hoped that, in the basket of goodies, would be the gem (or several gems) that would propel Oi! Toys into the top-selling charts.
“We have licensed all of our ride-on toys,” Mr Suttar said.
“The child kneels on or sits on it and drives the vehicle and the second is a novel skateboard.
“It’s early days at the moment, we’re not cash-flow positive yet. This is more about having a portfolio of toys that could hit the market earlier or later and take off. We hope that within 18 months we will be making money.
“We want to grow to be a fully fledged company like Mattel or Hasbro.
“Mattel grew on the back of Barbie; it takes one toy to grow exponentially.”
He said a project in the making incorporating meteorite dust was being looked at with keen interest from US retail giant Wal-Mart and it could be another of Mr Pracas’s hit toys.
“The doll has meteorite dust in it and is called Cosmic Baby. There is early interest from Wal-Mart in the US, which has 50 per cent of the US toy retail market,” Mr Suttar said.
“If we make it there we have a number one single.”
In many ways that’s the story told by Mandurah resident Victor Pracas in 1990 with his hit-doll, Baby Born.
More than a decade on, Baby Born still features as one of Australia’s top selling toys. It has made $21 million dollars in royalties (at about $3 million in royalties a year) and has brought a handful of original local investors a 10-fold return on their original investment each year.
Mr Pracas is now involved in a new project based on hitting a higher frequency of home runs.
In a venture with major shareholder TechStart Australia and
400 local investors, Oi! Toys is hoping to become a regular
feature in the top-selling toy charts.
Mr Pracas has been in the toy industry for more than 15 years, seeking investment in 2001 to turn his many dreams into reality.
And what a dream run Baby Born has had. Mr Pracas came up with the idea for the doll on his way back to Mandurah from a toy exhibition in the US, later selling the concept to German toy manufacturer Zamf Creation.
“I never thought it would be this popular. Baby Born is like a Barbie; it’s not a fad that comes and goes,” he said.
The decision to team up with TechStart Australia and other investors to create Oi! Toys was made to have a higher success rate when turning concepts into actual product.
“We come up with the idea, design it, build a prototype and then put a patent on it. Then we go to the toy shows and negotiate the project with companies like Mattel and Hasbro,” Mr Pracas said.
“These companies rely on companies like Oi! Toys. Most concepts come from individual inventors.”
He said there were more than 30 designs ready to hit the toy market in the coming years.
While TechStart Australia and other investors in Oi! Toys may have missed out on the revenue generated by Baby Born, as opposed to royalties, Oi! Toys managing director Craig Suttar said they hoped to replicate its success on a much bigger scale.
“At TechStart we saw it as a good opportunity to invest in. He sold one of the best products in the world and he has many more ideas and designs,” Mr Suttar said.
“We don’t have commercial rights over Baby Born but we do have the first option to produce any of Victor’s new ideas; we’re certainly open to other inventors to come in and promote their toys.”
He said the company was aiming to become a bigger player in the toy industry and foreshadowed opening offices in America and Sydney.
“Working from WA is a cost benefit. A lot of development and manufacturing is done in Hong Kong and China and we are in the same time domain,” Mr Suttar said.
“We would like to have a corporate office in America because over 50 per cent of the world’s toys are sold there.
“There is also a large and expanding merchandising industry. In May we will consider opening an office in Sydney to be close to the film industry. For us it is about working with the animators and getting early access to merchandising opportunities.”
He said the company had many designs ready to take to the toy companies and hoped that, in the basket of goodies, would be the gem (or several gems) that would propel Oi! Toys into the top-selling charts.
“We have licensed all of our ride-on toys,” Mr Suttar said.
“The child kneels on or sits on it and drives the vehicle and the second is a novel skateboard.
“It’s early days at the moment, we’re not cash-flow positive yet. This is more about having a portfolio of toys that could hit the market earlier or later and take off. We hope that within 18 months we will be making money.
“We want to grow to be a fully fledged company like Mattel or Hasbro.
“Mattel grew on the back of Barbie; it takes one toy to grow exponentially.”
He said a project in the making incorporating meteorite dust was being looked at with keen interest from US retail giant Wal-Mart and it could be another of Mr Pracas’s hit toys.
“The doll has meteorite dust in it and is called Cosmic Baby. There is early interest from Wal-Mart in the US, which has 50 per cent of the US toy retail market,” Mr Suttar said.
“If we make it there we have a number one single.”