Driving GI Joe toy sells.

[Flint Faireborn]

Do they not make GI Joe toy commercials any more?

When I was a kid that always opened up my eyes to new toys I felt I couldn't live with out...

I watch shows on the hub and animated show Saturday mornings on cartoon network. I haven't see ads for Joes anytime recently.

Curious about other's thoughts on this.

-FF

(Sorry about the subject line I know about the incorrect spelling)

[pghoff]

You'd be hard pressed to find a commercial for any action figure line these days.

[Flint Faireborn]

Why is that? Last one I can recall was for "rescue bots" and that wasn't like the good old days of toy ads.

[Havok]

Not sure why we don't see Joe commercials, but I do see occasional Transformers commercials. But, if I were to take a guess I would say decrease in sales, increase in marketing cost, declining value of dollar, and rising manufacturing costs.

[GI C]

Heck I haven't seen any tv advertising for Transformers Prime.

[Iok]

Keep in mind when you saw these ads there were probably, what, a dozen TV channels and they'd be shown in a programming block that made it pretty easy to target you know.

Now we have hundreds of channels - including, what? a dozen kid-specific channels - plus kids who simply won't watch commercials and will flick over to another show as soon as they start.

[cobracobra]

Keep in mind when you saw these ads there were probably, what, a dozen TV channels and they'd be shown in a programming block that made it pretty easy to target you know.

Now we have hundreds of channels - including, what? a dozen kid-specific channels - plus kids who simply won't watch commercials and will flick over to another show as soon as they start.

This is very true. They should make them exclusively for the HUB. If kids are watching that channel and they own it.... Just sayin'

[jjazwick]

It has become more of an ethics thing now. That is why we do not see it practiced as much as we had seen in the 80's and 90's. Boy do I miss those GI Joe and Transformers commercials on weekday afternoons.

The Ethics of Advertising Aimed at Children (http://brandconsultant.hubpages.com/hub/advertisingtochildren)

Jazz

[mutantx]

I've seen this: TRANSFORMERS PRIME Figures TV Commercial - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV2e4W3-gd0)
but I have not seen any GI Joe toy commercials recently.
I also haven't seen any Marvel Universe commercials or DC or Batman or Star Wars toy commericals

[mutantx]

Just found this one too G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Toys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOpVvtdFTkI)

[sbartek1974]

It has become more of an ethics thing now. That is why we do not see it practiced as much as we had seen in the 80's and 90's. Boy do I miss those GI Joe and Transformers commercials on weekday afternoons.

The Ethics of Advertising Aimed at Children (http://brandconsultant.hubpages.com/hub/advertisingtochildren)

Jazz

Isn't the writer of this article basically advertising his thoughts to get to buy into what he thinks is going on? Plus, it sounds like he just wants things to go back to the 60s and 70s where kids were playing marbles and stuff like that. The Joe commericals that were in abundance in the 80s and 90s did not affect my decision in being an Engineer for one of the major pushers of plastics...uh, wait a second...

.

[Flint Faireborn]

Just found this one too G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Toys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOpVvtdFTkI)

They need this kind of stuff running on the hub for retaliation a month or two prior to the movie release date.

[Ford]

They could probably show the commercials during stuff like "Community" or "The Big Bang Theory" and reach more of their target audience than with a kids show.

[Steevy Maximus]

It is a combination of factors as to why Joe doesn't advertise, including:

Splintered Market:
The "kid cartoon block" present on widely available networks (like Fox or NBC) have been dead for almost a decade. Kid cartoons just haven't been the same since the death of Fox Kids. Today, you have multiple TV channels aimed specifically at kids (specifically, Cartoon Network and Disney) and ad costs are so high, you really can't do a solid ad campaign because your market is just too spread out.

Ad costs:
A marketing campaign cost a LOT of money, so anymore, the only toys that get significant ad time are the established mega-brands, like Hot Wheels, Star Wars, or even Nerf.
Transformers is a triple digit brand, Joe couldn't even break $100 million in toy revenue with a big budget Hollywood movie to support it, so it is doubtful merely toy ads will contribute much to the brand's performance.

Decline of the market:
I've been watching action figures going on ten years, and an undeniable trend has been a general weakening of the segment. Kids just aren't getting as much or as many action figures as they used to (likely because a lot of that money is being directed to games and portable electronics).
You can see it in the smaller "scope" of lines (The Largest Transformers item this year is only $30. GI Joe's largest item was the delta vehicles at $20-25. Even TMNT's much publicized sewer playset is left MIA due to lack of retailer interest). You can see it in smaller sections, with less space given to lines that, ten years ago, would be a major performer. Even a cartoon doesn't guarantee mass support like you would have seen ten years ago (see the massive flop of Redakai)

Ads and cartoons don't guarantee a hit, and increasingly, neither do big budget live action films. As is, I think some lines (like GI Joe or DC Universe) ride more on nostalgia than anything else to stay on retail shelves.

[80sKid]

They could probably show the commercials during stuff like "Community" or "The Big Bang Theory" and reach more of their target audience than with a kids show.

Well I watch both of those and I spend a lot of money on GI Joe but... I come here every day, as I am sure many of you all do to, so I don't need TV to inform me of new Joe product, that's what we have Gyre for. I still think they need to advertise directly to kids.

[sbartek1974]

Kids just aren't getting as much or as many action figures as they used to (likely because a lot of that money is being directed to games and portable electronics).

Ads and cartoons don't guarantee a hit, and increasingly, neither do big budget live action films. As is, I think some lines (like GI Joe or DC Universe) ride more on nostalgia than anything else to stay on retail shelves.

Then we need some GI Joe video games for XBOX360, Nintendo DS, PS3, etc. Hell, it would be nice to maybe have a GI Joe game app to download onto our Iphones, Ipods, and Androids.

[sbartek1974]

Well I watch both of those and I spend a lot of money on GI Joe but... I come here every day, as I am sure many of you all do to, so I don't need TV to inform me of new Joe product.

I think that's mainly because we still have the 80s and 90s commercials fresh in our memory banks.

Like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCADDlgOhz0

[fireflyguy]

Just found this one too G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Toys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOpVvtdFTkI)


Where the heck did this come from? I've never seen this before.

[jmw326]

I was a little confused by the title. Then I read what the post was about. For future reference it should probably say Driving GI Joe Toy SALES not sells.

Anyway. They just don't do to commercials anymore. They leave it up to cartoons and movies to drive the sales these days.

[Flint Faireborn]

Well I watch both of those and I spend a lot of money on GI Joe but... I come here every day, as I am sure many of you all do to, so I don't need TV to inform me of new Joe product, that's what we have Gyre for. I still think they need to advertise directly to kids.

^this

[Steevy Maximus]

Where the heck did this come from? I've never seen this before.
Hasbro DID produce ads for their big movie lines, they were hosted on Hasbro's website.
But even that ad shows a significant issue in making such an add:
Due to the fluidity of the market, your ad may only be good for a few weeks until the next round of figures and vehicles hit the market. Even in that Transformers ad, the figures featured are the show guys who will see shipment over several assortments.

Then we need some GI Joe video games for XBOX360, Nintendo DS, PS3, etc. Hell, it would be nice to maybe have a GI Joe game app to download onto our Iphones, Ipods, and Androids.

Transformers: War for Cybertron was pretty successful as a game property (we're getting a sequel with expanded toy support), but did not appear to have any significant impact on toy sales (in fact, some of the WfC figures were slow movers compared to their casemates).
Again, the lack of significant toy lines for games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Tom Clancy series, or anything from Rockstar points to games as NOT being a driver of toy sales (Halo is the exception, not the rule). There just isn't that much overlap between the collector and gamer markets.

A game would benefit the brand, but if there is little interest beyond collectors, why would a company commit the money to Joe games?

[musashi3000gt]

I dunno wtf the majority of you guys are talking about but if you watch cartoon network and dont flip the channel during commercials, you will see commercials for every toy out there.....except GI Joe obviously. But yeah I watch Adventure Time and Regular Show with my son and we see toy commercials for Power Rangers, Ben Ten, Thundercats, WWE, Monsuno, Adventure Time (yes they have toys), Transformers Prime, those stupid hamster toys....cant remember thier name ect..

There are hundreds of toy commercials airing these days.

[Flint Faireborn]

I was a little confused by the title. Then I read what the post was about. For future reference it should probably say Driving GI Joe Toy SALES not sells.

Anyway. They just don't do to commercials anymore. They leave it up to cartoons and movies to drive the sales these days.

^sorry I blame beer.

[CVdelgado]

plus kids who simply won't watch commercials and will flick over to another show as soon as they start.

smart kids...

[Viper6]

what toy adds do you ever see? i cant recall the last one ive seen aside from like nerf n shit.

[crock master]

thats because they are all online game commercials now. like check out the family guy game, or adventure time game or adventures of gumball game.

[musashi3000gt]

what toy adds do you ever see? i cant recall the last one ive seen aside from like nerf n shit.

I just saw these four right now durring one commercial break!

http://youtu.be/ml38lsDxNiY

http://youtu.be/BnjTsqRojiA

http://youtu.be/ZBHupUIUg14

http://youtu.be/5-qKa2IN2Po

[sbartek1974]

I just saw these four right now durring one commercial break!

KRE-O BATTLESHIP TV Commercial - YouTube (http://youtu.be/5-qKa2IN2Po)

Wait a second! Battleship does poorly and they get Legos? And a commercial???

[pghoff]

Well the toys were made long before the movie underperformed.

[VideoViper]

History lesson:
Due to broadcast regulations (There were a lot of them back then) The cartoons were basically 30 minute toy commercials that fullfilled an "educational" requirment that the broadcast networks had to provide X # of hours of educational/comunity programming.

During Gi Joe you never saw a GI Joe toy commerical, (You did see Transformers toys & GI Joe COMIC commericals. Which techically were another company (Marvel) advertising their product. & Vice vera for Transformers with Joe commericals. That's why TF & Joe were the only time (at least I can remember) when Marvel actually ran commericals for their comics.

Even today on non-broadcast (sat/cable networks) You can not advertise a GI Joe toy during a GI Joe show. Even if you could the HUB would not want to jeopardize their kid friendly status, which would impact which companies carry that channel.

[Robowang]

A lot of people get confused when they don't see the toy commercials they would expect to see, but they don't realize that those commercials don't air during the adult programming they presumably watch. If you watch kids channels, you'll see commercials for this stuff.

Also, an ass moment for me - it's "sale," not "sell." "Sale" is a noun. "I'm having a sale or my toys are for sale." Sell is a verb - "I will sell my toys." That drives me crazy and I don't even understand where it came from. Never saw that mistake anywhere in my life until I came to Hisstank.

[Flint Faireborn]

Also, an ass moment for me - it's "sale," not "sell." "Sale" is a noun. "I'm having a sale or my toys are for sale." Sell is a verb - "I will sell my toys." That drives me crazy and I don't even understand where it came from. Never saw that mistake anywhere in my life until I came to Hisstank.

^wow... Just an error on my part. Hope you didn't lose sleep over it.

[Robowang]

No, I just see that like twice a day on Hisstank, so I finally had to say something. Nothing against you.

[Havok]

It has become more of an ethics thing now. That is why we do not see it practiced as much as we had seen in the 80's and 90's. Boy do I miss those GI Joe and Transformers commercials on weekday afternoons.

The Ethics of Advertising Aimed at Children (http://brandconsultant.hubpages.com/hub/advertisingtochildren)

Jazz


You know I read the first part of that article and it reminds me of what is wrong with people's beliefs these days. It's not advertising that is making children materialistic, it's bad parenting. If you teach your children the value of a dollar and hard work, there wouldn't be the problem in that article.

And just because I child wants something from an ad like a toy, doesn't mean you have to buy it for them.

[1982]

Maybe they're counting on Storm Shadow's Hammer pants for sales. CAN'T TOUCH THIS!!! It's a nice figure, but Hammer pants?