How a Unique Token Reward System Reinvents Learning: An Insightful Interview with Karalyne Ley and Martha Moore

EP034_06-25-24_Karalyne Ley & Martha Moore

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Toy Business Unboxed, your gateway to the secrets of the toy industry. Here, Jason Hsieh, a toy entrepreneur and expert in the field. “Every product we develop is really inspired by some of the real life experience that we have with our son.” “60 percent of all toys last year were sold on Amazon.”

“Be passionate about it. Because it’s a road. It’s a journey.” “Like when you have an idea that you think is gonna somewhat change the world, make things better, I’d say go for it.“

Jason Hsieh: Hello, Welcome back to another episode of Toy Business Unboxed. I’m your host, Jason Hsieh. Today we have a special guest, actually a pair of special guests. Usually we don’t interview two people simultaneously, but today we are making an exception. Karalyne and Martha, they are the co founders of Bene World. Karalyne herself have an incredible journey from [00:01:00] co owning a Little Gym franchise to creating award winning educational toys that teach kids value like kindness, respect, and emphasis. We’ll dive into her transition from the fitness industry to toy development and the surprise that she faced in the industry as she approached on how to market this very niche toy product of hers and get ready for a very insightful and also very inspiring episode today. Thank you for both of you to be on the podcast today.

Karalyne Ley: Thank you.

Martha Moore: Thank you, Jason. 

Jason Hsieh: First of all, can you share with the audience what inspired you to create Bene world and all the different like Bene toys and products? 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah, absolutely. Working with kids my whole life and having three boys of my own, I always struggled to find some kind of good reward system to incentivize kids. I tried marbles in a jar, I tried these elaborate sticker charts. I even purchased templates online, these free printable templates. And I would print them out and [00:02:00] show them to the kids and I’d be so excited, and then it would last about a week. because it just wasn’t fun for them. It wasn’t appealing and they would forget about it and I would forget about it. So I started thinking about what would be more fun and appealing to have a token reward system in. And that is what led me to come up with the bear, the teddy bears. The universal fun stuffed animal. So I thought it would be great to make a bear that would have some kind of slot where you could put a token in and maybe have a zippered pouch or some kind of pouch where all those tokens could collect and basically be a marbles in a jar, but in a plushie, like a piggy bank. And so the original idea was to encourage kids to give back to their communities in some way, whether that was helping a neighbor or helping

Jason Hsieh: one of you have one of the product on hand that 

Karalyne Ley: We can go through all of that with you. But the original idea for the bear was just to be helpful [00:03:00] and do good deeds and so after Bene world was born Bene world toys, has a mission of benefiting the world through our toys. We have created this toys with a purpose line. But after the first Bene bear was introduced, we started getting a lot of feedback from parents saying we really like the kindness aspect of this toy, we like the helpfulness. And so that’s when we pivoted a little bit and decided to focus on teaching those character traits that you mentioned, like being kind and respectful and being empathetic and teaching kids. What do those words mean? My mother came on board is my business partner and we developed three more characters to serve as buddies to the Bene bear. So that’s how everything got started. We’ll show you the characters so you can see the Bene bear, the flagship product there. Bene bear obviously comes with the bear, comes with the storybook and then the 15 tokens. Bene bears focus 

Jason Hsieh: I like the new packaging, by the way. I see you guys [00:04:00] spend a lot of time redesigning the packaging.

Karalyne Ley: We wanted to make sure that people understood that it was a token reward system. It wasn’t just a plush and a story. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. I think that’s a tricky part because people don’t understand what it is. 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah. That’s really what sets it apart from every other plush or plush and storybook set out there. You can see Bene bear’s book. He’s got really great illustrations and it’s teaching kids in a fun way. What does the word benevolence mean? What does that mean to them? And how do we understand it? And how can we practice it? And teaches all about being respectful. Today, I listened to my teacher in school. So the idea is that when the child shows that trait demonstrates something that’s helpful or kind or empathetic, they earn the token and the token goes on the top of his head here. Now, when you get to the golden token, that’s something that we introduced, that lets you know that you’re getting close to those 15 tokens and you’re getting, this is basically the last token that is earned before you get [00:05:00] all of your tokens for reward. The tokens fit in the plushie and then there’s a zippered pouch where the tokens collect and you can pull them all out and you can reuse them and then of course trade them in for a reward. So that’s our Bene Bear, he’s got the additional focus of benevolence and I’ll let Martha show you some of the other ones too.

Martha Moore: Sure, Karalyne. Thanks. So our second one is Sparkle the rescue dog and Sparkle you can see is packaged similarly and I’ll just hold Sparkle up so that you can see it. See him better. He has a token slot as well. So you put the slogan right in the back of his neck, the tokens again. So collect in the pouch, the pouches right back here, and then you pull the tokens out when you’ve used all 15. He also has the golden token concept as well, because we feel like that gives children a little bit more of an idea about how they’re coming along [00:06:00] with the tokens in earning the tokens. So with Sparkle, we use Sparkle for Pets as our book, and Sparkle for Pets tells all about pet care, and what you can do to take care of your pet. And so the children are earning tokens for being kind, respectful, also showing other character traits like sharing and things like that. So sparkle the pets, reinforce pets. 

Jason Hsieh: One thing I want to add, I think a lot of the customer when we first selling the product, working with your company is they didn’t realize it’s a rescue dog. So we should talk a little bit about that. 

Martha Moore: It’s actually based on the sparkle that we have a picture of at the back of the book. Sparkle’s a rescue dog. He was adopted on the last night in his shelter before they were going to euthanize him. He was actually my husband and my pet. And he just passed away last year at the ripe old age of 16. And so he taught our whole family a lot about the love that rescue [00:07:00] animals can share with us as well as the things we can do for them. And with each sale of Sparkle, we donate to a shelter or a rescue. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. Thank you for doing that.

Karalyne Ley: You want me to show you the other ones too? 

Jason Hsieh: Sure. Go ahead. Go ahead. 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah. So Seawhee the turtle. Seawhee is a very bright, colorful turtle. You can see each have their own colored heart as well. Seawhee, his tokens fit right on the shell, on the back of the shell, and then has a zipper pouch on the bottom. But Seawhee focuses on teaching kids all about patience and sharing and teamwork. It’s a great storybook that goes along with it, but also talks about ocean conservation. So we’re trying to teach kids how to take care of the oceans and our beaches so that our sea turtles can thrive.

Martha Moore: And we have one more Jason and that is Haylo the horse our newest one. Haylo has a little friend named Hazel. She’s a miniature horse and he’s being bullied by [00:08:00] the big horses and so in our story, Haylo shares with her the kinds of things that Hazel can do when she’s being bullied by the big horses and we know that horses emotions and human emotions are very closely aligned. So it’s great for the children to be able to relate To the kinds of things that Haylo is sharing with hazel. So that’s one of our latest ones and we’re always working on designing what’s next is going to be some mini bennies. So you some little animals, and that will be soon 

Jason Hsieh: What surprised you the most about toy industry when you first began this journey of developing your own toy product? 

Karalyne Ley: The toy industry is really tight knit. These are people who know each other and they’ve been together a long time. They’ve been in this industry for a long time. So I think from the beginning we knew that making those connections was really important. Just even, getting valuable feedback from people who have been in the industry for [00:09:00] so long, but at the same time I feel like they’re very open to welcoming new companies, new products into their circles. It’s actually refreshing to see, especially in the specialty toy industry, because we feel like everyone we’ve talked to other manufacturers and small business owners are really willing to help each other out. And I think that’s something that’s unique about the toy industry. You’re not going to find that in every industry. 

Jason Hsieh: How do you initially determine that there’s a market for a toy focusing on teaching kids?

Karalyne Ley: Personally, I feel like the market has been there. There are other companies that have toys that focus on social and emotional learning, helping kids learn about being kind and respectful. I think the kindness movement has really ramped up in the last few years. Mindfulness now is a big deal. You see a lot of products that have these affirmation cards for kids, teach about self awareness and emotions. And I think that’s fabulous. I think it’s so needed in our country, especially after the effects of COVID that we’ve seen [00:10:00] lately. 

I think the thing that sets our products apart is that we’ve taken this token reward system and we’ve put it into a plushie, which is a little bit more interactive with the tokens. The plushy being that comfort toy and kids being able to constantly earn those tokens. We know kids learn by repetition. So basically earning those tokens and putting those tokens in really helps solidify that whole mind body connection, if you will. So I think it all goes hand in hand. For us, we want our kids and all kids, as many kids as possible to go out into the world and demonstrate these character traits that make us such good human beings. I know quite a few adults who could use the Bene buddies. Just to make it a habit so that they don’t even have to think about it, it just naturally happens. So that’s my take on it. 

Jason Hsieh: Can you walk us through the development process of your toy line. Toy with [00:11:00] Purpose? Because I think you need to change the traditional stuffed animal and come up with a unique design that you can put a token inside and take it out. Make sure everything is still look nicely together. Did you hire a designer to do that? 

Martha Moore: Sure, Jason, I can do that. When we’re ready to add a product to our line, we look at what consumers who are using our toys with a purpose have told us and are sharing with us. And we need to make sure that it’s something that complements what we have with our Bene Bear and our Sparkle the Rescue Dog and Seawhee the Turtle and Haylo. And An idea or an example of that would be with Seawhee the turtle. Seawhee reinforces the character traits, but each one of them has an additional focus and Seawhee has ocean conservation, so we can have a double focus with each of our toys and that’s important as well. Just like Karalyne said with Bene Bear, that big word, benevolence. What does that mean? Ocean conservation, how do we take care of the ocean and take [00:12:00] care of our sea life? So once we’ve determined what the product is going to be our next product, then we share our vision with our manufacturer and they create samples for us. And then we get the samples and we can refine what we want it to look like. The kinds of things that we want to consider, for example, the material, the kinds of things that go along with it. And then it goes to testing and after testing is approved, it’s ready for manufacturing. So before we know it, we’ve created not only the character or the toy with a purpose, but we have the book that goes along with it, we have the tokens and we’ve got a new Bene buddy. 

Jason Hsieh: Okay. Thank you for sharing that. And I think it’s important for the people that’s new to the industry to understand the process. It depends on the complexity of the toy that we’re developing obviously. 

Talking about marketing strategy, what strategy have you found that’s most effective in marketing your particular type of product so far? 

Karalyne Ley: That’s where you come in. [00:13:00] I think our biggest struggle honestly is the marketing. So just building the brand awareness, we’ve been told that we’re creating our own space within the industry, which is a challenge at the same time. So we’re always trying to find the right keywords for Google searches, getting our social media ads running more effectively, you guys helping us with the Amazon advertising and figuring out what will help the consumer understand the product and want to buy the product. Just really trying a mix of paid and unpaid advertising. We’ve used influencers as well. And I think, too, for us going to the trade shows really securing the sales reps who believe in the product, who are they understand it, they understand our mission. That’s really important to us too, so that we can get the products into the retail environment. And we try to use testimonials from [00:14:00] different demographics not just parents. We’ve got childhood therapists using these, we’ve got teachers, we’ve got grandparents, aunts, uncles all kinds of people who are using the product. But yes that’s our biggest challenge is to build the brand awareness. 

Jason Hsieh: Just like you mentioned, you’re almost creating a brand new subcategory of a type of product that it doesn’t have quite exist yet. So that’s always a challenge when you’re trying to create your own category.

What kind of feedback are you getting from the parents and educators so far that has been using your product line? 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah, Martha can speak to that probably. 

Martha Moore: Sure, I think we’re getting very positive comments. We’ve had childhood teachers tell us that it’s something that they take into their classroom and they can use it to reinforce whatever it is that they need to be sure is happening for following directions. For example, classroom manners. Those kinds of things. Things that really Karalyne and I had not even thought about have come to light from the [00:15:00] teachers and from obviously others who are using it as well. And that’s exciting because it’s a very versatile product. All of our animals are very versatile and can be used in so many different ways jason. So I think that’s what we hear. 

Jason Hsieh: I see and Karalyne, can you also share how your mom Martha, played a role in developing and creating Bene World? 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah, she loved the concept of Bene Bear right from the beginning and she wanted to be involved, and honestly as a child, I remember my parents, I feel like they did a great job in instilling these values in me and giving me these character traits. They were, great role models. We adopted many dogs. I feel like I knew this was something that could come from her heart as well. We had worked together in our family children’s business that we owned. You mentioned the little gym. We’d worked together for over 20 years, so we’re really used to working together. It made it a natural progression, but she brings different experience too. She [00:16:00] has experience in the corporate worlds. She even helped manage a partnership with Lego for the little gym years ago and we were both teachers. She actually had her own curriculum company where she would write curriculum for teachers would go around the country doing these workshop for teachers. So she has knowledge about certain aspects of the business that I just, I don’t have. And That’s been really great. I feel like we complement each other pretty well. And we do love traveling together. So we’re always up for a trip and going to the trade shows and meeting new people. We’re pretty friendly. It’s been a good transition for both of us, I think. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah, it’s definitely interesting dynamic because you met Annie, which is my sister, which is also working in my business. Family business always have a different dynamic and also trying to create a culture around it. 

I guess my next question is, you mentioned about you both being a teacher for many years. How did your experience as a teacher influence the design [00:17:00] and the educational aspect of the toy that you currently are developing?

Martha Moore: Having been a teacher, both Karalyne and I had a lot of different products that we used through the years. And sometimes when I was using things that had been made, Jason, I realized that they weren’t as effective in the teaching process as they could have been. It’s always easy to say, Oh, I wish it were, or I wish it had this or it had that, but that was truly the situation. So we’ve tried to try to take those things into consideration with the Bene Buddies. So we make them as customer friendly and as teacher friendly, as a parent friendly as possible. One thing that we thought with the teaching situation is that it needs to be fun. For example, Karalyne mentioned the different behavior modifications charts that she had used with her children and how one was just like the other one and just like the other one, but these are different. The Bene Buddies are different. And so in the teaching process, the teachers can use them and tell us that kids have a lot of fun. They [00:18:00] get excited about it. And I think that’s an important aspect of it too. 

Jason Hsieh: As you two know, my main passion is helping kids with neurodivergence and with special needs. And I know your product can be also be used in therapeutic setting. Can you share how the product is currently being utilized in those kind of a therapy setting? It could be occupational therapy or other type of therapy right now. 

Karalyne Ley: Yeah. Yeah. No, we can share what we’ve heard. I think the biggest thing to know, to recognize is that especially for kids who need that sensory input having the comfort toy, like I mentioned, having that plush is huge for them. Having the tokens as being something tangible that kids can use and manipulate and practice even hand eye coordination putting them in the plushies and taking them out, even just working on the zipper pouch. One of the awards that we won was the Autism Live Social Skills Builder Award for preschoolers. And that was our [00:19:00] Sparkle the Rescue Dog and Seawhee the Turtle because they recognized it really gives kids who are on the spectrum a chance to participate in the a, BA the Applied Behavioral 

Jason Hsieh: Analysis yes. 

Karalyne Ley: Because the therapist gives the child a goal to work toward, and in this case it would, be some kind of behavior modification that they’re working on. And when the child accomplishes that goal and shows that behavior or that skill, or that character trait or that habit, whatever they’re working on, then obviously they get to earn that reward and all of those tokens. There are some adults that could use these for sure. 

Jason Hsieh: I do need some behavior modification sometimes myself. 

Karalyne Ley: That’s from a couple of speech therapist like, oh, this is saved my therapy sessions you know. It’s fun to being used in different w 

Martha Moore: think another thing, Jaso Automatically helps with [00:20:00] the conversation to get the conversation started when the therapist and the child are meeting. And so that’s a big plus in being able to move from step one to step two and accomplish what the therapist is trying to accomplish with the child. And the child feels good about it, feels good about the therapy session. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah, Because you have many different uses. Plus you have a book. So that’s where the education value can really come in. This is not just playing with the plush, but you’re also teaching one of the value at the same time, reading the book. I think that’s one thing that’s make it very unique compared to other product on the market.

So as well, wrapping up today’s interview. Usually the final question I ask every single guest is this, if you had to just share one piece of advice with someone that’s getting started in the toy industry, what would that be? 

Karalyne Ley: I think I would say if you, have an idea for a toy or a product that you feel like will benefit the world in some way, make a difference, something that kids can use and really get a lot of joy out of it. I feel like you should do your [00:21:00] research, but also follow your gut. Don’t be intimidated by the larger companies out there. Everybody’s got to start somewhere. And for us, I feel like to know that something we created is being used and enjoyed by different kids and adults. It, it takes time to build brand awareness, know that going in, but also just keep at it and just be proud of what you have created. 

Martha Moore: And don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Hopefully they won’t be ones that are real costly, but you will make those mistakes. And so you can look at them as a way to springboard, a strengthening of your business acumen so that you minimize the opportunity to have those mistakes recur. I think to consult and surround yourself with knowledgeable people in the industry is super important and take the advice that they give you that makes sense for you. That will help you, I think become profitable as soon as possible.

Jason Hsieh: Thank you for sharing that wisdom with the listener. So where can the listener and the audience find you? 

Karalyne Ley: They can find us at [00:22:00] benebeargiving.com. They can email us at info@benebeargiving.com or give us a call at our home office. 

Jason Hsieh: Thank you both of you for being on the podcast today and sharing the background story and all the wonderful product that you have designed. Are you launching any more product this year beside the horse? 

Martha Moore: We are working on it. 

Jason Hsieh: They’re working on more. Okay.

Martha Moore: We’re working on situational cards, Jason. That will be what would a child choose to do in certain situations. And we’re also working on the mini bennies. So these will be small cards and they’ll focus on friendship. So we’ll have three mini bennies that focus on friendship. We hope to have them out by the first of the year. We never want to overpromise, but it could be. We’re excited about this as well. 

Jason Hsieh: That would be very excited and a wonderful addition to the existing product line, for sure. Thank you so much. so much. 

Martha Moore: Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Outro: You’ve been listening to Toy Business Unboxed, hosted by Jason Hsieh. Thank you for joining us and [00:23:00] exploring the fascinating world of toys and the ingenuity behind them.

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