Background
The story of how a slow-selling, expensive doll become the must-have item of Christmas 1996, is a fascinating look at how the media can inspire a consumer-buying frenzy.
Tickle Me Elmo - a fuzzy red doll patterned after a Sesame Street muppet - went from languishing on store shelves to creating department store stampedes and making millions for its manufacturer Tyco Toys - all because a shrewd promotion involving talk show host Rosie O'Donnell and a little luck.
It all started in July 1996, when the marketing team sent a Tickle Me Elmo doll to the one-year old son of a U.S. talk show host and comedian Rosie O'Donnell and another 200 to the show's producer. Nothing happened until October when O'Donnell decided to pull an old Groucho Marx gag on her unsuspecting guests. Every time a guest said the word "wall," she threw a Tickle Me Elmo into the audience.
Because O'Donnell's core audience is at-home moms with preschool-age children, the stunt proved to be a marketer's dream-come-true. Retail sales of the doll jumped and they received a second boost in November when Today show co-host Bryant Gumbel held an Elmo doll on his lap throughout most of the show.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Tickle Me Elmo dolls were in such scarce supply that ads cropped up in newspapers asking for as much as $2000 per doll.
"Tickle Me Elmo is a study in mob mentality," says Stephen Sandberg, a U.S. toy buyer. "People today are looking for Elmo without even knowing what it looks like".
Activities and Ideas
- Devise a marketing strategy for a new toy that will involve arousing media attention. List some imaginative ways that you can think of to get exposure for your toy.
- Investigate other frenzied toy-buying fads and find out how those trends got started.
