Wham-O, the Frisbee and Hula Hoop toy company founded by two USC grads, is 75 and embracing nostalgia while striving for relevance with a new generation — and dogs.
The Wham-O factory wasn’t run like a traditional business, said Chuck Knerr, Richard Knerr’s son. The place was part clubhouse, part serious science, and employees needed to stay alert, lest they get whacked by something flying across the aisles.
There’s still a taste of experimentation and the be-wary-of-flying-objects feel, particularly in the office of product development chief David Huang, which looks like a combination of a design studio and cluttered toy store. It’s Huang’s job to convince retailers that Wham-O has innovations on the way and isn’t just pushing its legacy stuff.
“Without water, you slide as easily as with a regular version, but with water it’s 30% more slippery,” Huang said, keeping mum on exactly how a water slide without water works. “We’re not going to stop selling our older Slip ’N Slides, but we have to offer alternatives to people that use less water.”
“Maybe we’ll be able to tap into that whole collectors group movement, the people who like to collect all of these different artists in sneaker collaborations,” marketing manager Jessica Wyner said. “It’s a chance to build a whole new audience with millennials.” Wham-O’s mixture of new with nostalgia “could be a really smart move in today’s climate,” said Laurie Schacht, chief executive of the Toy Book, the toy industry’s leading trade publication.“What we have seen since the pandemic really is adults getting back into play, playing with their kids and with their friends,” Schacht said.
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