There were several factors that created an opportunity for Bob Reiss and his “TV Guide” Game. One of the main factors was the general characteristics of the toy industry in general. Due to the short lifespan of most products in the toy industry, it is easier for new toys or games to infiltrate the market. A second factor was the success that had been found by Trivial Pursuit. As a result of Trivial Pursuit being so popular, many people were interested in the idea of trivia games in general and that opened up a window for new games of a similar genre. Another factor which led to the partnership with TV Guide was the ease of licensing within the toy industry. The partnership with TV Guide set up a massive opportunity for the game …show more content…
Trivial Pursuit and trivia games, in general, could have just been a fad that passed before the “TV Guide” Game was even ready to hit the shelves. Another risk was that many toy retailers only accepted delivery of new products when they were needed. This means that if the game was initially not selling as well as planned, many retailers would not need to order more product and a lot of the games created could have been stuck in inventory. Along with this, the timeline for the TV Guide game to be developed was relatively short as it needed to be completed before the American Toy Fair in February in order to be featured in stores during the high selling Christmas season. TV guide …show more content…
First of all, he decided to create this game at a time when trivia games were booming thanks to the success of Trivial Pursuit. This success trickled down causing consumers to search for fun trivia games for the entire family. Though his initial idea was to make a game that was simply an addition to the original Trivial Pursuit, he made a smart decision in creating a game board of his own allowing him to sell it at a higher price and also disconnecting it from relying on the sales of Trivial Pursuit. Reiss also made a smart decision in partnering with TV Guide because it helped consumers connect his game to a name that they already know and support. Furthermore, the partnership with TV Guide allowed him to reach a wider audience at a very minimal cost and helped him to attract the attention of retailers by giving them exposure through TV Guide as well. In addition, Reiss made use of his prior connections to find a quality partner in Kaplan who assisted in finding suppliers and manufacturers that suited the games needs. Using Heller Factoring to credit check, guarantee payment, collect money, and more also simplified all financing operations. Finally, the decision to use a two tiered strategy and target two different retail channels (high end and mass market) allowed the game to reach multiple types of consumers and gain maximum exposure in the market. This also allowed him to price his game