THE FUTURE FOR JAKKS TOYS? FIXING BAD DOGGY BREATH.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer MALIBU - Jakks Pacific JAKKS Pacific, Inc. NASDAQ: JAKK is is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products and is based in Malibu, California. Its product categories include action figures, art activity kits, stationery, writing instruments, performance Inc. tackled wrestling figures and played with dolls, but it announced a new, daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin venture Monday: conquering dogs' stinking stinking having an intrinsic fetid smell. stinking elder sambucuspubens. stinking hellebore helleborusfoetidus. stinking iris irisfoetidissima. breath. Jakks' pet products division, JPI JPI Justice Policy Institute JPI Java Platform Interface JPI Japan Petroleum Institute JPI Joint Packaging Instrumentation JPI Jinnah Polytechnic Institute (Karachi, Pakistan) JPI Joint Packaging Instruction , will manufacture "White Bites," doggy treats that both cleanse canine canines and freshen fresh·en v. fresh·ened, fresh·en·ing, fresh·ens v.intr. 1. To become fresh, as in vigor or appearance: freshened up after the day's work. 2. their breath. Though Jakks is a toy-industry powerhouse, with annual sales near $800 million, it sees the lucrative pet-care business as a major growth opportunity. Jeremy Padawer, Jakks' vice president of brand development, estimates the market for pet oral care will hit half a billion dollars this year. That's an irresistible target for an executive, but Padawer has another reason to push the company into the breath business. "My very bizarre dog has very bad breath because he's a street dog," Padawer said. "He's like a vacuum cleaner, so when I walk him around, he sucks up just about everything he can get his mouth around. So I was very aware that there was a market out there." A co-worker confirmed that Padawer's Bigs, was "a real stinker." And Sean McGowan, managing director of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of investment bank Harris Nesbitt, said Jakks has bought into a very big industry. It picked up JPI last summer, and though its annual sales in the $10 million range make it a very small part of Jakks' overall business, McGowan said it could provide much-needed growth as the toy industry struggles to grow its annual revenue. He pointed to the success of Greenies, the breath freshener manufactured by Jakks' chief rival, S&M NuTec. With Greenies in an unwanted spotlight lately with several lawsuits from pet owners saying their dogs could not digest the products, Jakks is heavily pushing the angle that White Bites are safe and digestible digestible having the quality of being able to be digested. digestible energy the proportion of the potential energy in a feed which is in fact digested. digestible protein see digestible protein. . "Greenies is absolute 'dognip,' like crack cocaine for dogs," McGowan said. "They're tapping into a heavily addicted market there. This is far afield for them, but it's not a huge part of their business. And if it works, toy companies need all the revenue they can get." brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3738 |
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