The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wham-O looks to reinvent its toys for the digital age
Maker of Frisbee, Super Ball, Hula Hoop to modernize.
Life was once an easy summer breeze for Wham-O. The Southern California toy outfit, founded in a South Pasadena garage shortly after World War II, churned out Frisbees like pancakes and Super Balls like gumballs.
Its Boogie Board (devised in 1971 by Orange County-bred Bahai surfer Tom Morey) stood sentinel in suburban garages. Only squares didn’t own a Hula Hoop (introduced in 1957; 100 million units sold within three years).
In Wham-O’s television ads, its iconic starburst logo dropped into living rooms like a Super Ball off a thirdstory balcony.
Times sure have changed. Of the many entertain- ment-centric outfits disrupted by the digital era, few have been upended like Wham-O. Its toys, once symbols of an endless summer, are now relics of a bygone season. Even the notion of a firm devoted to plastic playthings feels like an anach- ronism. Why kick around a beanbag when there’s FIFA Mobile Soccer?
Wham-O has had a rough time financially, too. Sales fell sharply from their peak, but were still hovering around $80 million as of 2005, according to public docu- ments and company statements. Since then they’ve slipped further, to less than a quarter of that as of 2015.
But a new set of executives isn’t convinced the company is doomed. Since they took over at the start of last year, they’ve come up with a num- ber of new ideas and, like Super Elastic Bubble Plas- tic (introduced, toxically, in 1970), set out to put some air in them.
“We think there’s a way to make our products the new cool,” said Wham-O President Todd Richards. “Being outside can be the new iPhone.”
Richards is in his groundfloor workspace at Wham-O headquarters in Carson, an office in a series of low-slung industrial-looking buildings tucked off a main road outside Los Angeles.
Around his desk lie various distractions — or are they research? A miniature basketball hoop. A water balloon “aqua bow.” Balls, discs and an assortment of
flying objects. Richards turns to them when he needs a break from thinking about how to modernize his com- pany, or as inspiration for the same.
Like, for example, the YouTube channel the company has created, in which users can do things like upload videos of their creative (if hardly safety-first) uses of the Slip ‘N Slide.
“Officially the box says under 12,” he said wryly of the watery backyard imple- ment. “Not everyone abides (A by staff staffersThe tweaking theirof thein Richards Grandpa’ssecondtheir that.”for sameof group’score, designsaboutthe sits productsway office oversees21st afterin basement.30 as mission:Hongand century. employees.of thoseall, functionabout market-an Kong.)many area toys But50At to Richardsbe audience.Wham-OAt repositionedCoachella maintainssent out thisfor they ambas-a year, new can sadors.handed(first licensedout The Hackyby emissariesWham-OSacks in be 1983; present legallyfor Phish requiredto per- to form)goers and about talked how to to concert- master the mini-sphere. The idea was to update the toy’s image from 1990s jam-band staple to 2017 hip-hop accoutrement.
“A lot of young people would love our products if they got the chance to know what they are. But they’ve never had the opportunity,” said Olyvia Pronin, the com- pany’s director of marketing. “We’re trying to show them going whatto whereverthey’re missingthey are.” by Or to whatever they’re on. Wham-O is developing a Fris- bee app that will essentially allow the disc to be “thrown” from one mobile device to another - all the gratification of backhanding a low slider to your buddy without any of that that running-into-trees messiness. “You’re sitting in a meet- ing and you say ‘Hey Paul, catch this,’” Richards said, miming a wrist-flick swipe across an imaginary screen. “And Paul is at the other end of conference room and he looks up and ‘catches it’ just in time.” After being run as a family business for nearly 35 years — the company was founded in 1948 by USC alums Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin, who capitalized on what were then cutting-edge chemical and industrial advances - Wham-O in the last few decades has endured a revolving door of owners, including Mattel, not to mention a series of retail woes. Richards took over as president when the faltering Wham-O was sold to his privately held Carson-based InterSport and Hong Kongbased Stallion Sport for an undisclosed — but certainly bargain-basement — sum at the end of 2015. The seller was Cornerstone Overseas Investments, which had owned Wham-O for about 10 years and watched as sales cratered. Richards believes he’s finally hit upon a winning formula. Soft-spoken but physically imposing — he’s a dirt-bike aficionado who commutes to work on his motorcycle — the execu- tive was a vice president of sales for Wham-O in the early
2000s. After leaving the firm, he watched with some con- sternation as Wham-O under Cornerstone tried to compete using more generic products like beach sand pails.
Richards had little hope he could do anything about that until Stallion’s chief,
Joseph Lin, approached him several years ago with word that Wham-O was available.
The two parties soon had put together financing and closed the deal. (Lin, WhamO’s CEO, declined to be inter- viewed for this article.)
With eBay and other enti- ties driving a huge nostal- gia industry — the com- panyretailthe Wham-O— sition Wham-Oand energy.a rethink startup Richards marketjust site, underhas howHe needed huntingwas environmentshoulda made quicklyfor Wham-Othe store well-situatedthat some beliefthe you slingshotcreated vintageon acqui-be doesnew that theto in business.offices employeesley some The giant feel much-neededcompany’smightlikeof a a space Silicon engage Carson wheretoy- Val- in based stressfulcase,ful jobs. the relaxationtoys jobs. are Only fromthe in stress- theirthis a in numberBut Wham-O’sfor all of of hurdlesway.its ambition, stand grippedWith consolidationthe toy business havingfor years,dent producerrunning an of indepen- low-tech toys isn’t simple. The number of retailers has dwindled and shelf space is at a premium. Online sales, mean- while, can be tricky for a company that depends on consumers holding its products in their hands.
And while the specific style and name of Wham-O toys are copyrighted, their basic idea can be — and often is — imitated by competitors, who can take advantage of modern efficiency tools like inexpensive foreign labor and manufacturing costs.
Not to mention the challenge of competition from new fads the company isn’t behind (e.g., the Fidget Spinner).
Ultimately, though, any digital-age Wham-O revival may come down to an old-fashioned question: Do people enjoy its physical products? Executives certainly think they will. “Look at this,” Richards said, as he picked up Super Balls of varying weights and colors and began bouncing them. “Come on. You’re going to tell me anything on a screen is as fun as this?”