Toy companies take buyers back in time by reviving favorites

Hey, everybody, wish Mr. Potato Head a happy birthday. He's 50, you know. Of course, he's only half as old as the teddy bear, who hit the century mark this year.

You can raise a toast to both of them with a big smiling pitcher of Kool-Aid, the sweet summer drink that made its debut 75 years ago. For a party game, everyone can play Trivial Pursuit, which just turned 20 itself.

And when the celebration is over, the party-goers can all pile into their Matchbox cars, which share a golden birthday with Mr. Potato Head, and drive off until 2003, when the next round of high-profile anniversaries begins.

Rarely a month passes in today's world that doesn't include the commemoration of some longtime pop-cultural phenomenon. There's no better way to generate a new buzz about an old product than to celebrate its birthday.

"It's a different way of repackaging the same old stuff. That's the way the market works," said Brad Prager, a University of Missouri professor.

The companies and their marketers have figured that out.

"They've really created their own industry out of these anniversaries," said Pat Katzmann, an Oakland-based author and pop-culture authority.

Steven Style, who runs his own marketing agency in New York City, put together a campaign to highlight the 85th anniversary of Lincoln Logs in 2001.

"Milestone campaigns of these beloved brands with nostalgia value generate a lot of exposure in the press," said Style, who viewed the anniversary as an opportunity to knock the dust off a classic toy with stagnant sales. He helped do that by organizing a Guinness World Record for the largest Lincoln Log structure (12,000 pieces) that year in Rochester, N.Y.

"We decided it was a great time to work on the revitalization of the brand. Parents who were brought up on Lincoln Logs were having kids of their own and looking to share a piece of their childhood," Style said.

Prager agrees that's a large part of the appeal, especially for parents who want their kids to experience some of the same products they loved while growing up.

"It's a regression to the security of childhood. We imagine that as a time that was clearer," he said.

Mike Safran, who owns Safran's Antiques in Columbia, S.C., deals in many pop-culture collectibles, knows exactly what marketers are looking to do.

"They want to find that soft spot in the hearts of people and take them back in time," Safran said. "People are looking for something that takes them back to a simpler time. It's a feel-good kind of thing." Roger Baxter, a marketing executive with The Richards Group in Dallas, cites Kool-Aid as the perfect symbol of that.

Barbie is another one. She famously celebrated her 40th birthday in 1999 to great hoopla. And in 2003, everyone should start bracing for the 40th big one of the Easy Bake Oven and the 35th anniversary of Hot Wheels. A year later, it'll be No. 40 for G.I. Joe, too.

Richard Hanley, a professor in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, noted that anniversaries have long served as a hook for marketing campaigns.

"In the incestuous logic of pop culture and marketing, the anniversaries in and of themselves are significant only in that they are anniversaries. There is really no underlying significance," Hanley said. "Does the public care? If the cultural totem selected has some personal significance, sure. The Easy-Bake Oven, for instance, was wildly popular in the suburban tract developments of the 1960s. The 40th anniversary will tap into the nostalgic yearnings for that time among baby boomers." Hanley also cites media types -- many of them sentimental baby boomers -- as willing accomplices in the process.

"The press serves as the interior of the circle, validating the anniversary of something simply because it will cover it. And the press always needs stuff to cover, particularly in its feature sections, and this provides a tidy, harmless subject to cover, one that readers will read with that tinge of nostalgia," he said.

(He's right. Journalists are suckers for this stuff. What of it?) But marketers should be certain their products resonate with the public before unveiling an anniversary campaign that nobody's interested in celebrating.

"If they don't, the anniversary will be much more important to the marketer than the consumer," Baxter said. "If it's not relevant to people's lives occurring today, then you can forget it. Consumers are so fluent with the way the media works and the way advertising and marketing works that they'll see through it if it's a stretch. They'll decide if it's a big anniversary or just another year." Richard Chesley of Columbia, S.C., is one such consumer. He remembers hearing about the 100th anniversary of Tootsie Rolls in 1996.

"I thought it was really interesting, but it didn't make me buy any more Tootsie Rolls," he said.

Mark Morris, public-relations director for Hasbro toys and games, which has brands like Trivial Pursuit, Easy-Bake Oven and G.I. Joe, says the both the anniversaries and the products need to be significant.

"People like to see a game or toy that has stayed around this long. It's a real credibility mark," Morris said. "It definitely signals to consumers that this is a pretty good product." Katzmann believes the campaigns work as long as people don't feel manipulated.

"I get annoyed when consumers are treated like they're stupid," she said. "People are able to distinguish between the advertiser's motive and how they really feel about the product. Most people realize that somebody is going to make money off this, but they'll still pause a minute to think, 'I liked Kool-Aid in the '60s.' It will spark memories."

And let's face it, this is all about memories. Remember the classic "Seinfeld" episode where Jerry excitedly discovered his girlfriend had a treasure trove of great old toys in her apartment and his ensuing disappointment when she refused to let him play with them? That forced him to ply her with wine and turkey to make her fall asleep so he could then play with the original G.I. Joe and Mattel electronic football game.

But while guys like Chesley collect G.I. Joes, he's not overly worked up about the soldier's upcoming 40th birthday. It just makes him feel old.

"G.I. Joe is an American icon and hero, but (the anniversary) only makes me realize how far removed I am from my childhood," he said.

Katzmann calls the ad campaigns more important for people who deal in the older versions of the products than those marketing the newer versions.

"The anniversaries give a real boost to the serious collectors," she said. "They're the ones who care more about these products than anybody else." Safran, who deals in many collectibles at his store, agrees. He believes the market for pop-cultural items usually runs in a 20- to 25-year cycle.

"It takes that long for the cycle to kick in and for the product to be rediscovered for the newer masses," Safran said. "It also takes that long for people to have the discretionary income to go back and buy a piece of their past."

These days it's pretty easy to find some piece of your past on eBay. Or you can buy the current version of it during an anniversary campaign. You probably won't have to wait long for the next one.

After all, it appears everything comes back at some point. "I hate to see it," Safran said, "but even the Ninja Turtles will be back." That's right, their 20th birthday arrives in 2004. You know, we might have learned that from a Trivial Pursuit question.