The company also believes it has found the hot craze of the year with Spinnerooz.
PMS has enjoyed tremendous success with the Elves Behavin’ Badly range; last year saw the company sell over 2m Elves in the UK, with 42 national accounts stocking the ‘cheeky but fun’ range.
Speaking to Paul Beverley at the company’s huge showroom in Hong Kong last week, he professed himself to be delighted with the progress of the brand since its initial launch only four years ago: “We received great support from UK retailers last year. A few of those who didn’t come on board have already visited us this week and admitted that they missed out last year, so we anticipate even stronger sales this year. The social media campaign we ran featuring Louis Walsh was a huge success; he was an absolute natural, and it definitely helped to drive awareness. Social media has been key to the success of the brand; we’ve had thousands of customers sharing pictures of their Elves, it has become a genuine viral phenomenon. The memes which work best are cheeky, but fun; the PR campaign we ran tapped into that, and helped to spread the message to both kids and adults.”
PMS will be taking Elves Behavin’ Badly into the international market this year, while the range will also benefit from the introduction of 25 new items, including – for the first time – Elves that come with sounds. This year, Elfie will be able to giggle, burp, fart and belch, either by being squeezed or through being operated by remote control: according to Paul, “The parent can hide the remote controller and discreetly make the Elf burp or fart, so the child genuinely thinks the Elf has done it.” Following last year’s introduction a fleet of delivery vehicles which featured pictures of the Elves in full ‘misbehaving’ mode, the company will be also releasing a range of diecast lorries featuring Elf decals, which will mirror their real-life counterparts.
In addition to the Elves range, PMS has long been known for being at the forefront of the craze category, and Paul believes that he has already uncovered the first big craze of 2019 – Spinnerooz. Building on the success of the Spinner phenomenon from two years ago, this new range takes the basic spinner to a whole new level. With a spring on top and bottom, coupled with ball bearings which create a centrifugal gyro effect, the newly-enhanced features mean that the spinner is capable of being made to do far more tricks than its forerunner. Stocks are being shipped in right now, and Paul is confident that its increased capabilities compared to its predecessor will make Spinnerooz a big online hit, as there are far more tricks that can be shared.
Both the Elves Behavin’ Badly and Spinnerooz ranges will be featured on the PMS stands at Toy Fair in London, Nuremberg and Spring Fair.
