WHAM-O'S SECOND CHAPTER; TOY MAKER RETURNS WITH COMMITMENT TO ZANY PLAYTHINGS.Byline: Michael White There are multiple public figures named Michael White or Mike White, including:
Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Like most baby boomers See generation X. , Bret Hadley recalls with fondness the zany Wham-O toys of his youth like the Hula Hoop Hula Hoop Noun trademark a plastic hoop swung round the body by wiggling the hips , Frisbee and Super Ball. If all goes well, those trips down memory lane will reflect Hadley's future as well as his past. As president of the new incarnation of Wham-O Inc., he's trying to hook a new generation of youngsters on those classic toys, plus a few new ones. ``We are really bringing that whole brand and fun, crazy aspect of it back,'' said Hadley, 38, a former Mattel Inc. executive. Whether the new Wham-O can lure kids to trade in their video and computer games for plastic hoops and discs will be tested this summer with the company's first major publicity campaign. Over the Memorial Day weekend, Wham-O launched the Wham-O Invasion, a 50-day, coast-to-coast tour of U.S. cities, to tout its products. The company began airing television ads featuring the Hula Hoop and a Frisbee that flies farther. The Super Ball, Monster Magnet Monster Magnet is an American rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar), Tom Diello (drums), and Tim Cronin (vocals and bass). and other toys will be reintroduced later in the year, Hadley said. Summer is the No. 2 season for toys, but accounts for only 10 percent of all sales nationally. But summer is Wham-O's bread-and-butter time, in part because there's not a lot of competition since other companies concentrate on the Christmas season, said Christopher Byrne Christopher Michael Byrne (1886 – 5 September, 1957) was an Irish TD and Senator whose career in the Oireachtas came in two distinct periods separated by a decade's gap and a change of party. , a product analyst with the toy industry newsletter Playthings Watch. Byrne said classic toys usually enjoy more than one resurgence. ``There's always a market for these kinds of classic toys,'' he said. ``The challenge is really getting consumer awareness and really understanding that these toys are out there. I think they've got a decent shot.'' Wham-O's revival started in November 1997 when a group of San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden investors bought the line from Mattel, where the Wham-O brand had languished while the company focused on Barbie, Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco. and other top lines Addicts speak of top lines to prevent approaching doing something which may trigger a slip, relapse or loss of sobriety. As addicts work with sponsors to help them understand their addiction and the behaviors which trigger their addiction or actions which endanger their . Hadley, who as a former Mattel executive oversaw the Wham-O line, signed on in December. This summer's tour will celebrate the founding of the original Wham-O 50 years ago and the 40th anniversary of the company's introduction of the Hula Hoop and Frisbee. The company got its start in 1948 in a garage in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. suburb of San Gabriel. Two recent college graduates, Rich Kneer and A.K. ``Bud'' Melin, quit their jobs to market a slingshot (networking, business, tool, product, protocol) Slingshot - CSK Software's real time financial server for the Internet. Slingshot allows the delivery of real time market data across the Internet and private intranets quickly, cheaply and securely. they originally developed to hurl meat into the air while training their pet falcons and hawks. Looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a catchy name for their company, Melin and Kneer considered Sling-O, but then decided on Wham-O. ``It was exclamatory. It just seemed to be the right thing,'' said Kneer, now 72 and living in nearby Arcadia. Melin, also 72, lives in Irvine. The Hula Hoop was introduced in 1958 based on a bamboo exercise hoop used in gym classes in Australian elementary schools. It only took a few months for sales to reach 25 million and after two years, the number surpassed 100 million. ``No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop,'' author Richard Johnson wrote in his book ``American Fads.'' ``The hoop . . . remains the standard against which all national crazes are measured.'' The Frisbee was originally called the Pluto Platter, but Melin and Kneer changed the name after seeing New England college students throwing pie tins. As they tossed the discs, the students would shout ``Frisbee,'' taken from the Frisbee Baking Co. in Bridgeport, Conn. Melin and Kneer also introduced a roster of other hit toys that included the Monster Magnet, Super Ball and Silly String. Not every idea worked. During a tour of Africa, Kneer learned of small fish that hatch during the rainy season from eggs that lie dormant in dry lake beds. His plan to market Instant Fish flopped when he couldn't get the eggs to hatch reliably in the United States. The duo sold Wham-O in 1983 to Kransco Group Inc., which sold the line to Mattel in 1994. None of the sale prices have been disclosed. The spirit of creative fun was the key to Wham-O's success, and must be revived if the new company is to succeed, Kneer said. ``We had 35 years of fun,'' he said. ``Maybe it's not the greatest corporate strategy in the world of mergers and Wall Street business. But for the development of fun products, you've got to have fun. You've got to know what it is.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Bret Hadley, president of Torrance-based Wham-O, holds the firm's signature Hula Hoop as marketing director Matt Lopez looks on. Luis Sinco/Associated Press |
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