Playmobil, icons of three generations: their bosses are children!

Horst Brandstätter

It was in 1971, at the start of the oil crisis, and the price of plastic flambé.The family business was on the verge of bankruptcy, because it had linked its destiny to this material since in 1952 the young Horst, a turner-footage of training, had convinced its uncles, then at the head of the company, ofUse plastic to diversify products.This is how one of their great successes, the Hula Hoop hoop, had invaded playgrounds in the late 1950s.

Difficult first steps

Hans Beck, to whom this miniaturization mission falls, is a handyman-born, from a large family.""""""""He had observed his brothers and sisters a lot to play with their frozen lead soldiers, who could not move his hands or his face, says Stéphane Drilhon, brand marketing director in France.He then had the idea of creating a character holding in the hand of a child, and articulated so that he is the master of the game.""""""""

Geobra filed his first patent in 1972 and presented the first three playmobil two years later at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair: a knight, a worker and an Indian.In general indifference!No one believes in these little men in minimalist expression, except a Dutch wholesale who is ordering.The continuation will prove him right: almost 4.000 models have emerged since and the brand has flowed 60 million boxes and 100 million characters worldwide each year.

The first figurines, made handcrafted, are rudimentary: seven elements only.And all wear the famous bowl cup that made honey from caricaturists and humorists.Over the years, the collection is enriched and the characters become more complex: there are up to 374 different haircuts, 839 faces, 68 beards...and 25.000 accessories.No longer throw!

From the end of the 1970s, machines replaced workers for manufacturing.Playmobil develops steel injection mussels, set to the nearest micron thanks to robotics, with a thinner margin than a hair.Failed Made in Europe, while all other toy manufacturers relocate in Asia, Playmobil set up in Malta, in 1976, then in Spain and in the Czech Republic.

>> Découvrez l'usine de Zirndorf où sont fabriqués les Playmobil depuis 1974.

The development of a new range can extend over two or three years.Before sketching a character or a decor, designers indeed engage in a real investigation.Thus, to design the series on the theme of Egypt, released in 2007, they consulted Egyptologists.The hieroglyphs decorating the playmobil temples are the exact copy of the originals.Ditto for the universe of firefighters: so that the truck and all its paraphernalia seem more true than life, nothing better than spending time in immersion in a barracks!

Successful witnesses

If Playmobil has resisted the wear of time, it is because it transcends generations.From the top of their 7.5 centimeters, the figurines are delighted with children, but also of adults, especially collectors, gathered, since 2006, in an association, generations PlayMo. Un passionné a même réalisé un pari fou : un château de Versailles en Playmobil, sur 30 mètres carrés ! """"""""Les parents transmettent leurs figurines à leurs enfants et Playmobil touche aujourd'hui la troisième génération, constate Franck Mathais, directeur marketing de l'enseigne de jouets La Grande Récré.The brand has invented its own story, taken from the collective imagination: knights, dragons...""""""""

This craze of grown -ups exceeds the company a little, which has always claimed to be concerned only with the expectations of children. """"""""Si nous avions écouté les adultes, nous n'en serions pas là"""""""", estimait Horst Brandstätter. C'est pourquoi, avant de définir les thèmes de leurs futures collections, les équipes de design et de R&D continuent d'éplucher des milliers de dessins d'enfants, histoire de croiser leurs propres idées avec l'imaginaire des bambins.Besides, do you know why figurines have no nose?Because a little child never draws on his first characters, of course!

>> Playmobil n'est pas le seul jouet à avoir son fan club, découvrez la convention des collectionneurs de Barbie.

Signs of breath

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Forty years of cloudless success have validated the merits of the Playmobil recipe.In 2013, the German brand still displayed growth of 15% and turnover of 53 million euros.Twice more than in 2006!But, for two years, the model has started to run out of steam. Pour la première fois, Lego lui a ravi le leadership en France : """"""""La marque danoise progresse de 20% par an, quand Playmobil perd un peu de terrain"""""""", observe un distributeur de jouets.No doubt because the icon of the 1970s remained too centered on Western Europe, while Lego has long left to conquer China or Russia.But also and above all because Playmobil refused to enter the dance of marketing and derivative products, which have become the rule on the toy market. """"""""Ils sont en train de remettre en question cette politique, estime Frédérique Tutt, analyste chez NPD, et de s'aligner sur leurs concurrents.""""""""

Relaunching by the cartoon

First signs of this turnaround, the packaging in sachets instead of the usual boxes.Princesses and knights find themselves in surveys sold at very low prices - from 2 euros or 2.50 euros - enough to arouse pulse purchases.And it works: the brand has sold 5 million since 2011.Another tip: ephemeral calendars (for Easter or the Advent period, at Christmas, for example), just to spread sales.Again, the formula works: these products broke sales records in France in 2014.

It remained to embark on the licenses, a strategy from which Lego draws now half of his income!For a year, Playmobil has started to derive profits in turn.Porsche aficionados now have their cult model, the Carrera, in miniature.Closer to children, Playmobil staged his characters in a TV series, Super 4. """"""""Regarder Super 4 chaque matin va donner envie de jouer"""""""", assure Stéphane Drilhon.The series inspired books from the Green Library and Sixteen Boxes were launched at the start of the school year.A test gallop before the big screen in three years.But will children like that, for once, we write the story in their place?

The genesis of a world toy star

1908georg Brandstätter takes up the family ironwork company.He will rename her Geobra, an acronym associating the first three letters of his first name and his surname.

1929NEURANCE OF HANS Beck, in Germany.Hired in 1958 as a carpenter and model maker by Geobra, it is he who will design the Playmobil figurine and launched it in 1974.

1952The grandson of the founder, Horst Brandstätter, diversifies Geobra's activity towards plastic toys, including the famous Hula Hoop hoop.

1974 The oil shock pushes to imagine a toy using little plastic.The first playmobil emerges a worker, a knight and an Indian.

1976 Playmobil feminize, then the pirates come into play.Horst Brandstätter chooses the island of Malta to set up its first factory.

1978 Creation of the pirate boat, which will become one of the brand's bestsellers.Sold at 16 million copies worldwide to date, it is in its seventh version.

1981 The smaller children's figurines (5.5 and 3.5 cm), enlarge the family.Thanks to the progress of technology, their hands are flesh in color and rotate.

2013playmobil invests 80 million euros in a new logistics center in Bavaria.On the toys side, small figurines can now change clothes.

2014 To respond to the Lego offensive and the immense success of his film, La Grande Aventure, Playmobil embarks on a television series, Super4.

The invaluable Treasury of Playmobil

Since the beginnings of the adventure, over forty years ago, no less than 14.000 injection molds were made by Playmobil.Each creation is indeed made up of dozens, even hundreds of pieces (592 for the princesses palace), each resulting from a specific mold.For 130 new products that come out each year, 1 need 1.000 different models.And sometimes more than two thousand hours of work to make the matrix of a firefighter helmet or a lion of the ark of Noé.The molds cost 8.000 to 180.000 euros room (for the most complex), it is a real treasure, valued at 250 million euros, that the firm has.A treasure kept well sheltered in Zirndorf, Bavaria, in an ultra -buyed warehouse.It is also to prevent its molds from being copied that the brand has always refused to have its figurines made in China, striving at all costs to keep your hand on production.Especially since some molds are already largely profitable.It often happens that the same room is used in very different models: a hat created in the 1980s can very well come to style a playmobil from 2015...

Photos: © DR

Pauline Darasse

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