Welcome to another episode of the Toy Business Unboxed Podcast. Jason Hsieh talks with Marc Fetscherin, owner and CEO of Bones Is Back and a professor of marketing at Rollins College, about building an award-winning seasonal toy brand as a solo founder. Marc walks through how a question from his daughters turned into Mr. Bones, a Halloween toy and book set designed to fix everything he felt was missing from Elf on the Shelf. Their conversation covers product development, Kickstarter strategy, retail expansion, and what it takes to grow a toy brand around a single season.
#203: he Professor Who Built a Halloween Icon – Toy Business Unboxed
Episode Highlight
- 00:42 Meet Marc and Mr. Bones
- 02:15 The idea behind Mr. Bones
- 04:11 Prototyping and product development
- 05:31 Market research shaped the design
- 08:17 Marc’s Kickstarter campaign strategy
- 14:21 Expanding into new retail channels
- 18:42 Instagram and TikTok social strategy
- 23:36 Why seasonality works for him
- 27:33 Kids driving real creativity
- 31:00 Advice for new toy entrepreneurs
A Bedtime Question That Started a Toy Brand
Marc Fetscherin never planned to enter the toy industry. He spent years as a McKinsey consultant and now teaches marketing at Rollins College, with a first company in the jewelry business decades earlier in his native Switzerland. The idea for Mr. Bones came from his two daughters, now 9 and 11, who loved Halloween and the Elf on the Shelf tradition and asked why their own skeleton decoration did not move at night the same way. Marc designed Mr. Bones with two hearts, one in the chest and a reverse heart on the nose, as a tribute to the daughters who inspired him.
Designing a Toy Built to Fix the Elf’s Flaws
Marc built Mr. Bones specifically around what he saw as the pain points of Elf on the Shelf. Unlike the elf, Mr. Bones can be touched and played with, and there is no nightly pressure to move him since he can simply have too much fun to relocate. The toy also glows in the dark, stands on one leg, and is designed to come apart, which added real engineering complexity to keep the joints sturdy without letting them get stuck. Every feature traces back to a specific complaint Marc heard about the elf tradition.
Research-Driven Product Development
As a marketing professor, Marc leaned on his own research background before building anything. He ran market research using tools like Qualtrics and Prolific to test whether people wanted a toy paired with a book and what price they would be willing to pay. He also surveyed people specifically about their frustrations with Elf on the Shelf, then systematically designed those frustrations out of Mr. Bones. From that research to being on store shelves took about ten months, working with the US-based product development firm Gembah to handle CAD design, toy design, packaging, and manufacturing.
Writing the Book Behind Bones Is Back
The toy comes with a companion book that Marc wrote himself, drawing on his academic writing background. His path into children’s literature actually started years earlier, in 2000, when he wrote his first children’s book to help his own daughters, then 4 and 6, understand that their family was not defined by marriage after his divorce. When his daughters later pitched the Mr. Bones idea, Marc already had a clear vision for the new book: short, rhyming, and colorful. He found an illustrator through a global design competition on DesignCrowd to bring that vision to life.
A Kickstarter Campaign Funded Within the Hour
Marc treated Kickstarter as a serious project rather than a quick fundraiser, warning that doing it well takes a couple hundred hours minimum. He built an email list of a few thousand people ahead of launch, largely through Instagram followers, and avoided ever buying a list. Because he understood how Kickstarter’s algorithm rewards projects that hit their goal almost immediately, Marc deliberately set his funding goal low, around three thousand dollars instead of a bigger number, which let the campaign fund within an hour and ultimately raise about eighteen thousand dollars. He also built exclusivity into the campaign with custom founder certificates, personalized with each backer’s name.
Expanding Into Retail Across the US and Canada
Last year served as Marc’s B2C pilot, a chance to sell directly to consumers and learn what worked before scaling further. This year is his B2B pilot, with Bones Is Back moving into Walmart and Amazon in the US and into Canada through a distributor named Vivere, a connection made at the New York Toy Fair. Along the way, Marc redesigned the packaging based on retail feedback, adding a sandwich insert to keep the toy’s joints from coming apart in shipping and moving brand and product information to the package’s side panel. He is also working with a rep group to pursue Halloween pop-up retailers like Spirit Halloween, though this year’s lineup was already locked a year in advance.
In-House Social Media and a Growing TikTok Strategy
Marc keeps Instagram in-house, partly because his fiancee is a micro-influencer who runs it, and partly because he wants full control over brand messaging and corporate communication, not just product sales. An influencer program activates every August for a three-month push, paying creators a commission. TikTok is newer for the brand this year, and Marc likes how tightly the platform integrates creators, samples, and affiliate commissions compared to Instagram, and he is now testing Amazon Warehousing and Distribution to help fulfill TikTok Shop orders. He believes toy companies waste real money on distribution and logistics that add no value for the end customer, so cutting shipping costs stays a constant focus.
Betting on Seasonality as a Long-Term Strategy
Looking ahead, Marc is doubling down on staying seasonal rather than chasing year-round sales. He points out that Halloween is the second biggest retail event in the US, and he would rather lead one segment than be average across many. Seasonality also gives him a predictable production and cash flow cycle, letting him run one larger production batch a year and use tools like Claude to help forecast demand and reduce the risk of overproducing or underproducing. He is also exploring next-generation retail channels, including talks with Target and continued growth on TikTok.
Advice for Newcomers in the Toy and Game Industry
Marc’s advice for new entrepreneurs is to expect that nobody gets it right the first time, an idea he ties to a widely cited, if debated, line often attributed to Einstein about never failing meaning you never tried. His approach is a controlled, sequential rollout: start small, gather feedback, and expand gradually, the same way his own Kickstarter went from a couple hundred backers to a few thousand and beyond. He warns against waiting for a perfect product that will never come, but also against scaling too fast before the fixes are in place. For Marc, steady, deliberate growth beats either extreme.
Conclusion
Marc Fetscherin’s path from McKinsey consultant and marketing professor to Halloween toy founder shows what happens when research discipline meets a genuinely personal idea. By designing Mr. Bones around the specific shortcomings of Elf on the Shelf, and building his launch strategy around real data instead of guesswork, he turned a bedtime question from his daughters into a national award winner. As Bones Is Back moves deeper into US and Canadian retail, Marc’s focus stays on smart, sequential growth rather than trying to do everything at once. It is a reminder that a seasonal brand, built well, can compete year-round.
Connect with Angelina Castro
If you’re interested in learning more about Women in Toys, Licensing and Entertainment or connecting with Angelina Castro you can reach out through the following channels:
- Website: Visit Bones is Back’s official website to get involved, stay updated on the latest news, and more.
- Instagram: Follow Bones is Back on Instagram for visual updates, announcements, and more.
- Facebook: Follow Bones is Back on Facebook for updates, discussions, and behind-the-scenes content.
- Linktree: Check out Bones is Back’s Linktree page for all links in one place, socials, content, and more.
Transcript
Jason Hsieh (00:42)
Welcome back to another episode of Toy Business Unboxed Podcast. I’m your host, Jason Hsieh. Today’s guest is Marc, the owner and CEO of Bones is Back. Marc is also a professor of marketing at Rowland College, a former McKinsey consultant, and a creator of the award-winning product Bones is Back that we’ll be discussing today. So he built the whole concept from scratch.
As a solo founder and have won multiple national awards in his first year, including Mom’s Choice Awards and multiple other awards. So in today’s call we just want to kind of dive into his journey, how to launch a seasonal toy brand from scratch. So thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
Marc Fetscherin (01:19)
Thank you for having me.
Jason Hsieh (01:20)
So
First, let’s talk about your background. Your background is definitely not toy, right? So, how do you got into the toy industry and what is the story behind that?
Marc Fetscherin (01:29)
Sure. Well, I guess everybody’s background is not toy until they go into the toy industry. So we share something in common.
Jason Hsieh (01:34)
Yeah, true. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (01:37)
So the background is that it’s like closing the loop, I would say it.
Jason Hsieh (01:40)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (01:40)
I’m from Switzerland and so I worked in Switzerland for McKinsey, as you mentioned, and actually run my first company about 30 years ago. It was
Jason Hsieh (01:48)
Wow, okay.
Marc Fetscherin (01:49)
In the jewelry business, so I had some kind of exposure.
And then in between then and about two years ago, I pursued more an academic career, but including still consulting and expert witness. So I never really left practice, but now I’m really coming full back around of running this small startup family toy business.
Jason Hsieh (02:10)
I see. Where did this idea of the… Do you have a product with you as well that maybe you can show the product? So where did the idea come from?
Marc Fetscherin (02:15)
Yes, so the idea, my girls. So
This is Mr. Bones. It’s
Jason Hsieh (02:20)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (02:21)
Book and toy set. He’s
Jason Hsieh (02:23)
Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (02:24)
Very cute. I have here to look at a better view. So the idea came. I have two daughters, they’re now 9 and 11 And about five
Jason Hsieh (02:33)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (02:34)
Years ago, so we love Halloween and we love the elf on the shelf. You know
Many people do the elf and there are many advantages, but also some stress points, which maybe we come back later, including nightly moves. But
Jason Hsieh (02:44)
Yes. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (02:46)
So my girls one October say, Well, why does our skeleton not move at night like the elf? And I said, Wow, that is brilliant. And so that’s how I
Jason Hsieh (02:53)
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (02:57)
Then first started to hide the skeleton and make pranks. It’s similar to the elf, but when
Jason Hsieh (03:01)
Yeah. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (03:04)
I created this tradition,
Then I wanted to do certain things which are different. And
Jason Hsieh (03:09)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (03:10)
One is, for example, you don’t have to move the skeleton bones at night because sometimes he had so much fun that he doesn’t move. So there’s no pressure for parents. And another big difference
Jason Hsieh (03:20)
Okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (03:22)
Is that you can touch him. The elf, which is the only toy you cannot really touch.
This bones is meant to be touched and played, and you know, we’re gonna talk about other things like comes apart. So that’s
The origin. So actually, my daughter’s and to finish, the answer is that’s why when I designed bones, he has two hearts. And those who those
Jason Hsieh (03:41)
I didn’t know that. Okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (03:42)
Who maybe follow it and see it visually. So there’s one heart in the chest,
Jason Hsieh (03:47)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (03:47)
And the nose is a reverse heart. So
Jason Hsieh (03:51)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (03:52)
This is really
Jason Hsieh (03:52)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (03:53)
To honor my two girls who gave the idea the birth of the idea of Mr. Bones.
Jason Hsieh (03:59)
I see, I see, I see. And I think the product itself very unique from concept to like the prototype. How long does it took you? And can you walk us through a little bit about your journey on prototyping this particular toy?
Marc Fetscherin (04:11)
Absolutely. Well, so I had to tap in obviously with experts. And
Jason Hsieh (04:15)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (04:16)
For that I worked with Gembah, which is
Jason Hsieh (04:18)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (04:19)
A specialized company in the United States for product development. So they helped me through,
Jason Hsieh (04:22)
Pad around the okay.
Marc Fetscherin (04:23)
You know, so it’s a one stop solution and they found expert CAD designers, toy designers, packaging designers. So
Jason Hsieh (04:29)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (04:31)
I didn’t all have to look myself, they looked around.
And they guided me through the entire process until testing,
Jason Hsieh (04:38)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (04:39)
Finding manufacturing, so forth. So it was actually rather short, at least for a startup, I would say. And given the complexity, it’s very complex to design toy which comes apart and so
Jason Hsieh (04:47)
Yeah, yeah. That’s a lot of moving pieces. Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (04:52)
The joints are sturdy enough to keep in place, but
Jason Hsieh (04:55)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (04:56)
Not too much, so they don’t get stuck.
Jason Hsieh (04:58)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (04:58)
And so the entire process took about I would say until we were in the store about ten months. And yes, I know, but
Jason Hsieh (05:07)
That’s extremely fast actually. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (05:11)
I was pushing for that.
Jason Hsieh (05:12)
I see, I see, I see. And also the other question I have is like as you are developing this product, like obviously you work with a team of experts on the product development, coming up with ideas. How much of like product research or have you done a lot of like user testing as well to kind of
Guide you through the process?
Marc Fetscherin (05:31)
Yes, and I think that’s the beauty of coming being a marketing professor. So I know market research, you know, I did that extensively. And
Jason Hsieh (05:37)
Yeah. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (05:40)
So what I did before I even did the toy, I did a market research analysis, you know, using tools
Jason Hsieh (05:45)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (05:45)
Like Qualtrics, Prolific, and others to gather consumer data of A.
Jason Hsieh (05:48)
I see. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (05:51)
Do people want a toy for this book? B,
Jason Hsieh (05:54)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (05:54)
You know, what should it be priced for?
Jason Hsieh (05:57)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (05:58)
And then once you know, I looked at that and the willingness to pay, and then I did a survey about the elf and what are the issues with the elf, what people like and dislike. And then
Jason Hsieh (06:06)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (06:08)
Systematically, every dislike, like you cannot touch, you have to move at night, and
Jason Hsieh (06:11)
Mm, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (06:16)
It’s only for Christians. So these are all the things where when I did the design of the product, I eliminated, right? Bones Halloween
Jason Hsieh (06:23)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (06:24)
Is for everybody, every religion and belief.
You can touch,
Jason Hsieh (06:26)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (06:27)
You actually must touch it.
Jason Hsieh (06:28)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (06:29)
He moves at night. And then another thing was also that he’s very flexible. So he stands on one leg, you see it there. I can show it here.
Jason Hsieh (06:35)
Okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (06:38)
In glows in the dark. So I really designed all the features by trying
Jason Hsieh (06:41)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (06:42)
To eliminate all the points which the elf falls short.
Jason Hsieh (06:47)
And also your product also comes with a book, right? So there’s a story element to the product as well.
Marc Fetscherin (06:51)
Yes,
So exactly. So there’s the book and that’s why it’s called Bones is Back, because in the book he has friends. And you know who his friends are. The elf. And others, so the book
Jason Hsieh (07:00)
Okay. Mm okay, okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (07:05)
Is where his friends is are the elf, the Easter
Jason Hsieh (07:08)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (07:09)
Bunny, and the fairy, tooth fairy. And so that’s why
Jason Hsieh (07:11)
I see. Okay. I see.
Marc Fetscherin (07:13)
It’s called Bones is Back, because Bones is back not just for Halloween.
Bones is back for Easter. Bones is back for Christmas. Bones is back for when you loose a teeth. So
Jason Hsieh (07:20)
Okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (07:24)
It is designed that it is, while it is still seasonal,
Jason Hsieh (07:27)
Thing. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (07:29)
You can use it year long. And
Jason Hsieh (07:31)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (07:32)
That’s why we have sales every day. Why obviously the peak is in October, but we have sales
Jason Hsieh (07:37)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (07:37)
Every day because people buy it for Christmas gift or birthday gift or just a general gift.
Jason Hsieh (07:41)
Mm.
Okay, that’s very clever on the angle and the marketing angle on making sure tidying the story. I think that’s where your expertise as a marketing professor for so many years really kind of bake into your overall marketing strategy. So
Marc Fetscherin (07:56)
I
Think that’s why my parents called me Marc from marketing, you know. I don’t know.
Jason Hsieh (07:59)
Mm-hmm. Marc for marketing.
I see, I see, I see. And I know you also launched it on Kickstarter as well for this product, if I remember correctly. Can you kind of walk us through your experience launching this particular product on Kickstarter? How did it go and what are some of the struggle and lessons learned that
You did with your campaign?
Marc Fetscherin (08:17)
Yes. So
Overall Kickstart is if you want to do a good job, it’s a lot of work. People just think
Jason Hsieh (08:23)
Yeah, it is.
Marc Fetscherin (08:25)
It’s this and this. It’s a project in itself, it’s a couple of hundred hours minimum. There’s
Jason Hsieh (08:27)
Yes. Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (08:30)
So much more than just the product and the video. You know, the key is how you get people excited about how you get people you know assigned for this project, promote this project, co-promote.
It’s a lot of work. Was it worth absolutely the main goal for us was actually PR or what we call social proof. I think Kickstarter enabled us to have a social proof. Like, is there actual demand? Are people really willing to buy it? you know, and these are obviously
Jason Hsieh (08:56)
Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (09:01)
The early, you know, the the innovators and early adopters who buy it.
Jason Hsieh (09:05)
I see.
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (09:06)
But it gives
You some kind of idea because if you are not successful in Kickstarter, it’s gonna be very hard later on when you hit the real market, to do that. One advantage
Jason Hsieh (09:12)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (09:15)
Of Kickstarter is it’s rather risk free in a sense. You know, if you don’t have the perfect product, they cannot really write a negative review. So it is
Jason Hsieh (09:24)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (09:24)
Somehow more safer environment. You still need to
Jason Hsieh (09:26)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (09:27)
Fulfill all the legal obligations, but it’s more, you know, the feedback because when you’re on Amazon,
And you sell
Jason Hsieh (09:32)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (09:33)
And it doesn’t perform, people write negative reviews which are impossible to get rid of.
Jason Hsieh (09:39)
I see, I see. Yeah, it’s definitely a lot of work on the Kickstarter side. And obviously for Kickstarter we work with a partner called Launchboom. That’s all they do every single day. It’s Kickstarter. So I know that’s a lot of time, sweat and tear that you need to put behind the campaign to make sure it is successful. What are some of the things that you notice in your own like Kickstarter journey that work well for your campaign?
Marc Fetscherin (10:03)
I mean, as I said, I think the key is the list, right? Who do you contact? Who how do you get the word out? How use
Jason Hsieh (10:06)
The less it’s after yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (10:10)
Out? And we had you need to have a couple of thousand people already somehow. And do not
Jason Hsieh (10:15)
Already, yes, list. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (10:16)
Buy the lists. They’re illegal, they give you trouble, you know, they are people promise you stuff like I would not recommend. So
Jason Hsieh (10:24)
Yes,
Yes, yes.
Marc Fetscherin (10:25)
The
Key is really genuine. We got the list through multiple sources. One was mostly was Instagram. You
Jason Hsieh (10:31)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (10:32)
Know, so we had already a couple of thousand people following us on Instagram, so it was easier to get those contacts, people
Jason Hsieh (10:38)
I think
Marc Fetscherin (10:39)
To sign up. Obviously a lot of friends and family, you know, who need to be there. And the key is real to in our goals it was very successful.
Jason Hsieh (10:47)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (10:48)
And we were funded within an hour.
And that’s also another thing you need to understand the algorithm of Kickstarter. That
Jason Hsieh (10:54)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (10:55)
You know basically is the day you launch, you should be sure you get the funding. Because
Jason Hsieh (10:58)
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (11:01)
Once you get the funding, the tool works that it might promote you further or might even make a Kickstarter prefer a project. So the algorithm
Jason Hsieh (11:09)
Yeah, but
Marc Fetscherin (11:10)
Are behind very important to understand that you know you reach a goal like within
Ideal the first few minutes.
Jason Hsieh (11:16)
Yeah, and also it kind of roll it. It become a flywheel because when people can see it, it’s funded under five minutes and
Marc Fetscherin (11:22)
Exactly.
Jason Hsieh (11:23)
It it helps with the conversion rate significantly as well. So
Marc Fetscherin (11:26)
One maybe
Piece of advice if people want to do Kickstarter is do not put your goal too high. If you put the goal too high, while this is your aim, the time
Jason Hsieh (11:33)
Yeah, that’s true. Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (11:38)
To reach that is actually against you. So let’s say if you want
Jason Hsieh (11:41)
Can see, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (11:42)
$20,000, don’t put 20, put like $3,000. Because then you’re funded quicker and then
Jason Hsieh (11:45)
Mm. Okay. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (11:49)
The algorithm kicks in. So I think many are too proud and say, but
That looks nothing, but at the end what matters is how many people buy and how much cash
Jason Hsieh (11:58)
End, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (11:59)
Do you really got?
Jason Hsieh (12:00)
What is the number you use for your campaign?
Marc Fetscherin (12:02)
So it was about similar to exactly what I just said. And
Jason Hsieh (12:05)
Three thousand. Okay. Okay. Okay. I see.
Marc Fetscherin (12:07)
At the end we got like I think $18,000, you know. It was okay. It’s a
Jason Hsieh (12:11)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (12:12)
Medium sized project. It’s very niche, but we didn’t want
Jason Hsieh (12:14)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (12:16)
To spend more advertising money because at the end the cash out right was just not justified. So
Jason Hsieh (12:22)
Yeah. Were you also running meta ads before the campaign, like a lot of other companies do, to kind of gain a pre launch list?
Marc Fetscherin (12:29)
So we did on Facebook and Instagram, we did, we promoted that. Yes. But I think the best is
Jason Hsieh (12:31)
Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, that’s a very common strategy.
Marc Fetscherin (12:36)
To gather the email list before.
Jason Hsieh (12:38)
Yes, very common strategy, yeah, in the industry for doing that.
Marc Fetscherin (12:41)
And that’s why it takes
Time because you should start six months ahead, six to nine months ahead by g generating that, it it takes time.
Jason Hsieh (12:49)
It takes time. And some
Of the strategy people kind of really stand by is having A reservation marketing funnel. Means people pay one
Marc Fetscherin (12:56)
Yes.
Jason Hsieh (12:57)
Dollar to reserve the product so when they go live, they will make sure they can get it. So that way you
Marc Fetscherin (13:00)
Correct. Correct.
Jason Hsieh (13:03)
Get it’s almost like a micro commitment that people will just pay one dollar for.
Marc Fetscherin (13:07)
No.
Jason Hsieh (13:07)
So it’s more a lot more likely for them to actually buy the product instead of just getting a random email that people don’t take action on. So
Marc Fetscherin (13:14)
Yeah,
Or actually even free sign up. As long as you have the email, right? What you want is the real email and then obviously the different packages you bundle with the Kickstarter, where you definitely need to do a lot of bundling, product bundling and give freebies to give them an incentive of that this offer is unique, so I cannot buy this on Amazon. Like we made,
Jason Hsieh (13:31)
Yes, yes, yeah. Yes, I
Marc Fetscherin (13:33)
For example, we made individual certificate. Like we say you are founding
Jason Hsieh (13:37)
Interesting.
Marc Fetscherin (13:38)
A beautifully illustrated certificate where say you are among the founding, this is a certification of founders finance. And we customize it with their name. So just something making them special. Right, doesn’t cost much to do. If it’s a
Jason Hsieh (13:45)
Interesting, okay, I like that mm angle. Make them special, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (13:54)
PDF, it’s nothing, costs time. But I think it gives them something where imagine Elf on the Shelf would have done this 20 years ago, and you would say, Hey, I’m one of the first 500 people funding Elf on the Shelf, right?
So the same is we wanna now create this exclusivity of
Jason Hsieh (14:06)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exclusivity.
Marc Fetscherin (14:11)
You’re part of something you know, you can never buy again.
Jason Hsieh (14:13)
Mm,
Yeah, that’s actually a brilliant strategy as part of the launch. Again, you want to make sure they feel special as well. So
Marc Fetscherin (14:21)
Exactly.
Jason Hsieh (14:21)
Next I wanna kind of transition a little bit about retail because both of me and you is attending Astra this weekend, which is a retail show.
Marc Fetscherin (14:30)
Right.
Jason Hsieh (14:30)
And I know you are already kind of looking into distributing in US through
Walmart, Amazon and other channels. How is it working so far for you? since your brand is still fairly new as far as you’re trying to expand on the retail side? What strategy has been working well for you? Anything you want to share? Do you use Rep Group? Do you use Faire? Or what is your strategy for brick and motor retail?
Marc Fetscherin (14:53)
Yep, the great question. So we launched last year, right? And last year was I would call it the pilot of B2C, business to consumer. So
Jason Hsieh (15:01)
Yeah. True.
Marc Fetscherin (15:03)
We just wanted to go, you know, a couple thousand selling to consumer, get feedback, understand what really works, what doesn’t work, right? It’s like a test market extensive one. That was last year. This year it’s basically pilot for B2B.
Jason Hsieh (15:16)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (15:17)
Where you know exactly we’re gonna have retailers because now from last year to this year we made significant improvement of the packaging
Jason Hsieh (15:24)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (15:25)
Of the product itself. We improved a few little tweaks, we improved
Jason Hsieh (15:28)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (15:29)
The case packaging strategy and shipping and all that stuff. We can go into that. So we made almost all along, like this package here is brand new. So for example, we have now a sandwich insert.
Right. Initially we didn’t
Jason Hsieh (15:42)
Okay. I see.
Marc Fetscherin (15:43)
Have a sandwich insert. So this protects,
Jason Hsieh (15:45)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (15:46)
So this way we know, the people who see the product, it doesn’t come apart because obviously bones is meant to come apart. If it’s throwing
Jason Hsieh (15:53)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (15:55)
In boxes from China, you know, in
Jason Hsieh (15:57)
Ha ha
Marc Fetscherin (15:58)
Shipping, and then to Amazon and so forth, it’s so much thrown that, yeah, it’s supposed to come, so sometimes it came apart. It doesn’t mean it’s broke. So this
Jason Hsieh (16:04)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (16:06)
Is one example where we shifted from a simple insert to a sandwich one.
Jason Hsieh (16:10)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (16:10)
You know, that’s one thing. Or on the package, just one other example is initially we had two sides like this, but
Jason Hsieh (16:18)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (16:19)
Then we were made aware that you know, because it’s a rather big package,
Jason Hsieh (16:23)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (16:24)
That you might have different information on the side. And so that’s why one side of the new package does have the brand name and some product images and the age.
Jason Hsieh (16:34)
Okay, okay,
Okay, okay, okay. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (16:35)
So again, you know,
Learning and improving. So I think that’s the biggest lesson learned. Whoever wants
Jason Hsieh (16:41)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (16:41)
To launch a new product, whether it’s an existing company or a new one, is nobody gets it right the first time. And
Jason Hsieh (16:45)
Yeah. Yeah, true.
Marc Fetscherin (16:48)
But if you scale too fast, you have a too big problem to fix. So right. So
Jason Hsieh (16:52)
Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (16:55)
While sequential scaling up allows you as you go to improve, you know,
Jason Hsieh (17:01)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (17:02)
Apple did this with the iPhone 1 and now what we’re iPhone 16, right? There were a lot of improvements over time. And so I think that’s something to you know remember and that’s why we I think now we’re ready. This product and the new packaging and the insert are now really ready, retail ready.
Jason Hsieh (17:19)
Hm, I see, I see. And is US still gonna be your main kind of marketplace you’ll be focusing on?
Marc Fetscherin (17:24)
So yes, obviously the US because it’s way bigger than Canada, right? It’s about 10 times more people.
Jason Hsieh (17:28)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (17:30)
But with Canada, the Walmart and the Canada deal came because there were people visiting us at the toy fair in New York.
Jason Hsieh (17:38)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (17:39)
And they both actually act as distributors. So
Jason Hsieh (17:42)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (17:42)
Actually the Canada people, Vivere, it’s called, we ship directly from China manufacturers.
To their warehouse in China and they do the rest. So I get two invoices.
Jason Hsieh (17:49)
Yeah. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (17:53)
You know, a first and a second payment, and that’s it. And they deal with the rest.
Jason Hsieh (17:58)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (17:58)
We support them. We have on Dropbox folder for the brand guide, including all
Jason Hsieh (18:04)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (18:04)
The documents, the CPCs, the sales documents, pictures, and so forth. So they have access to all the digital assets, the messaging,
We approved their Amazon listing, but this way we can handle much more volume with fewer clients, which is very nice to have.
Jason Hsieh (18:20)
I see, I see, I see, I see, I see. Yeah, and I think your team does a fairly good job on social media. Your Instagram is actually pretty active. Can you kinda talk about your overall social media marketing strategy right now? Is that all down in house? If so, what is your content strategy? Are you doing everything like filming it in house or do you work with a lot of influencers, so on and so forth?
Marc Fetscherin (18:42)
That’s a loaded question. But so
Jason Hsieh (18:44)
Yeah, I know.
Marc Fetscherin (18:45)
With Instagram I’m very lucky because my fiance is a micro influencer, so
Jason Hsieh (18:51)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (18:52)
So she was very used to that and she does it.
Jason Hsieh (18:54)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (18:55)
So that’s why we do it in the house for a couple of reasons. One is we have the internal competency of doing it
Jason Hsieh (19:01)
Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (19:03)
To control. We
Jason Hsieh (19:04)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (19:04)
Want to control the messaging because this is really more
Jason Hsieh (19:07)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (19:07)
One to many, while we do have influencer.
Posting their stuff. We really
Jason Hsieh (19:11)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (19:11)
Want to control you know the brand messaging. And
Jason Hsieh (19:14)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (19:14)
The third is communication, where while we also want to talk about the product, but we also want to talk about like this week the Astra or the awards or other things
Jason Hsieh (19:23)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (19:24)
Which have nothing to do really with sales, but it’s more corporate branding. And so
Jason Hsieh (19:28)
Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (19:29)
We use Instagram as more our messaging tool to use corporate
Communication also next to all the other things.
Jason Hsieh (19:35)
Okay. Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (19:37)
We do have an influencer program which gets activated in August for the three months where we know we invite influencers on Instagram and
Jason Hsieh (19:45)
See?
Marc Fetscherin (19:46)
You know they get paid them more commission. With TikTok, it’s a totally different thing. Actually
Jason Hsieh (19:48)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (19:51)
I like TikTok far more because you can search
Jason Hsieh (19:54)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (19:54)
For creators, the affiliates, it’s all integrated.
Jason Hsieh (19:57)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (19:58)
They get the sample shipped directly from TikTok. I love it. I don’t know why I don’t know why
Jason Hsieh (20:01)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (20:03)
Instagram doesn’t do the same. They could make so much money to have a you know,
Jason Hsieh (20:07)
Yeah, I know. They are a little bit behind
When it comes to e commerce and commerce on their platform compared to TikTok. Like TikTok now they also
Marc Fetscherin (20:14)
They they’re so behind it.
Jason Hsieh (20:16)
Have a fulfillment center too. It’s fulfilled by TikTok too. So yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (20:19)
Exactly. I mean,
You know, so I don’t understand why Instagram because everything needs to be done by third parties, yeah. The processing of the commission, the sales
Jason Hsieh (20:26)
Yes, for Instagram. Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (20:29)
Are done by your website, so they lose out of a lot of opportunities. I don’t understand why
Jason Hsieh (20:31)
Yes. Did, they do.
Marc Fetscherin (20:34)
They don’t copy and paste the idea of TikTok, which is really great. They do a good job.
Jason Hsieh (20:38)
Since
Zuckerberg was so busy with his other project he never really spent time on Instagram as much. Maybe.
Marc Fetscherin (20:44)
He could hire you, you know, and then you could implement it. I mean it’s really
Copy pasting the idea. It’s very similar to Amazon with TikTok seller account and the shop and but the influence part is the most valuable. I really like the way
Jason Hsieh (20:58)
I think for
The Instagram, well, from my perspective, the reason is they are making so money on the ads side that’s pure profit. I don’t think they have a lot of incentive to build out that channel and just collect on commission and all that. For them, they make a lot more money on pushing all the Instagram accounts to spend more money on ads instead of creating like a full
Marketing platform like TikTok is doing right now because TikTok ads, let’s just be honest here, not a lot of people do TikTok ads. But almost everyone run Facebook and Instagram ads. So it’s like different marketplace and they have all
Marc Fetscherin (21:30)
Yeah.
Jason Hsieh (21:30)
Their revenue, their shareholders just want them to generate more revenue from the ads. So that’s very little incentive for Instagram to spend millions or if not hundreds of millions dollar to build out what TikTok is trying to build out right now.
So I think that’s like
Marc Fetscherin (21:45)
Hmm.
Jason Hsieh (21:45)
A misaligned in corporate incentive on okay, what is actually making money right now, maybe they didn’t have the foresight to see that. So maybe in a few years they probably will regret on this decision, but we’ll see how the thing play out in a few years.
Marc Fetscherin (21:59)
But I mean, then you can say, you know, Amazon does a hybrid model, they do the advertising
And they do the fulfillment. So, you know, I think
Jason Hsieh (22:07)
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (22:09)
And they could outsource, right? IG could outsource, say, you know what, we do a strategic alliance with Amazon, you do all the fulfillment and we just collect the commission part and the sales part. At least we make we like one, two, three, 4% of commission, you know, sounds good
Jason Hsieh (22:20)
They could. I don’t know why they don’t, but they could. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (22:25)
To me.
Jason Hsieh (22:26)
Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I think yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (22:27)
You don’t need to build
Your own full infrastructure maybe. But anyway, come back to TikTok a lot. We like it. This year is
Jason Hsieh (22:31)
For sure, for sure, for sure. Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (22:34)
New, so we’re just starting this channel. There’s
Jason Hsieh (22:37)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (22:37)
Definitely a learning curve to be done.
Jason Hsieh (22:40)
Sure.
Marc Fetscherin (22:40)
You know, it’s also new fulfillment through TikTok now. And we try actually
Jason Hsieh (22:43)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (22:44)
Now AWD, so Amazon warehouse distribution to TikTok. So this is all new and you know,
Jason Hsieh (22:46)
Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (22:51)
There’s a lot of cost cutting potential where I think toy
Jason Hsieh (22:54)
Potential, yes. Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (22:56)
Companies spend a lot of money for distribution logistics, which
Jason Hsieh (23:01)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (23:01)
Is no real value added for the end consumer, and not
Jason Hsieh (23:04)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (23:05)
Really for the toy company. And I think that is where I’m very, very strategic in reducing the shipping costs. Because you
Jason Hsieh (23:13)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (23:15)
Know it’s a lot, it’s very expensive.
Jason Hsieh (23:17)
Yeah, it could be, especially for a product of your size. I have a book as well. It’s actually pretty big. Including the books and the toys together as a set. So like
Marc Fetscherin (23:25)
Correct. Yes.
Jason Hsieh (23:27)
Every, every cent you can spend, it really adds up when you’re selling in thousands of units.
Marc Fetscherin (23:32)
And
That’s why we’re working probably on a smaller package where the book is in the back. So this will
Jason Hsieh (23:37)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (23:37)
Help us cut costs. But at the moment we like the you know, the design, it’s very unique. And so
Jason Hsieh (23:43)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (23:43)
People, you know, really see, okay, it’s a book, you know, it’s a skeleton toy, and so that
Jason Hsieh (23:48)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (23:49)
Has its value too. I know Elf on the Shelf has the you know, the opening, but we wanna
Jason Hsieh (23:53)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (23:54)
Be different and you know, we don’t wanna copy all the
Many other book and toy sets which are designed differently. So
Jason Hsieh (24:00)
Yeah.
Okay. And next thing I want to kind of transition to talk about the book itself because I think you also spend a lot of time on the book and you won five different national awards just on the book itself. Can you kind of talk about your process, like on creating the book? Do you hire
Marc Fetscherin (24:14)
Yes.
Jason Hsieh (24:16)
Like a professional author or do you wrote it yourself or who actually wrote it? Oh okay, okay.
Marc Fetscherin (24:18)
No. No, no, I wrote it. So yeah, I think
It was seven awards book and five toy awards or so.
Jason Hsieh (24:26)
Okay, okay, okay.
Marc Fetscherin (24:27)
Well remember, I’m a professional writer in business writing. You know,
Jason Hsieh (24:31)
Okay, okay, okay.
Marc Fetscherin (24:33)
So I’m in the like 1% the best researcher in the world, but so I think I’m used to write professionally. And what happened
Jason Hsieh (24:39)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (24:40)
Is how I got into children’s literature was obviously through my children, but
Jason Hsieh (24:44)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (24:44)
In 2000, I went through divorce. And so
Jason Hsieh (24:48)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (24:49)
I thought, my god. So my my girls at that time were four and six. And I thought, how I gonna tell my girls that we’re gonna get divorced? And so, you know, there are many books out there, but no one
Jason Hsieh (24:59)
Yeah. Yeah, I I yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (25:04)
Is really good. Like they all use the word divorce and separation and
So that was my first children’s book is how
Jason Hsieh (25:12)
Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (25:12)
Do you tell children that you’re divorced? And the title
Jason Hsieh (25:16)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (25:17)
Was We Are Family But Not Married. And the
Jason Hsieh (25:19)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (25:20)
Reason the main message of that first children’s book was, you know, you don’t need to be married to be family, right? you’re not married to your mother, you know, you’re not married to your sibling, you’re not married to your cousin, but they’re all family. So
Jason Hsieh (25:28)
Yeah. Yeah. True.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (25:33)
You can
Still be family but not being married. And I talked to a lot of psychologists behind and family therapists. Anyway, that was my entry
Jason Hsieh (25:38)
Hmm. I see.
Marc Fetscherin (25:41)
To the children’s literature.
Jason Hsieh (25:43)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (25:43)
And then I enjoyed that and I got so much good feedback that when
Jason Hsieh (25:46)
I see. Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (25:48)
My girls came up with the idea, it was very, very clear the vision I had. I wanna
Jason Hsieh (25:53)
See.
Marc Fetscherin (25:53)
Have it short, I wanna have it rhyme, I wanna have it colorful,
Jason Hsieh (25:57)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (25:58)
You know, so it’s very simple. So this is one page, has just a few words, right?
Jason Hsieh (26:03)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (26:03)
So it comes. This is the elf page. So very
Jason Hsieh (26:06)
Uh-huh.
Marc Fetscherin (26:07)
Similar, very colorful. So the writing was clear, and then I needed a designer. I’m not a designer. So
Jason Hsieh (26:13)
Yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (26:14)
Yeah, no, I wish, but no. And so
Jason Hsieh (26:16)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (26:17)
I went to design crowd, did a global competition.
Finding a designer, they sent
Jason Hsieh (26:20)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (26:22)
Some sketches and so that’s how then he visualized my vision and the words
Jason Hsieh (26:27)
I see.
Marc Fetscherin (26:28)
Into the book.
Jason Hsieh (26:28)
I see. I see. And is your daughter still part of the business? does both of them actually work help with you on a daily operation right now? Not yet. Yeah. I see. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (26:35)
I mean they’re 9 and 11, but they do help they do help packing. I explained them the packing, I show them some social media posts or family posting. They
Sometimes do some pictures and give me. I mean they’re kids are the best engine for creativity.
Jason Hsieh (26:53)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (26:53)
And that’s why Bones is Back. You know we said on the package here, it says a kit powered tradition. And the reason
Jason Hsieh (27:01)
Okay, okay, okay.
Marc Fetscherin (27:03)
Is
True magic happens when kids are in charge, not when parents are in charge. And the same
Jason Hsieh (27:07)
Ha ha
Marc Fetscherin (27:09)
Is with creativity, and that’s why
Jason Hsieh (27:10)
True.
Marc Fetscherin (27:11)
It’s like a paradigm shift to the elf on the shelf where the parents do the pranks and they’re great. I mean, I
Jason Hsieh (27:17)
Mm.
Marc Fetscherin (27:17)
Follow all those websites on Facebook and I mean fantastic fun ideas. But I think true creativity really comes when kids do something totally unexpected, which we all know, those who have kids, you know, they
Jason Hsieh (27:29)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (27:29)
Do unexpected stuff.
Jason Hsieh (27:30)
Yes, they do. I have three kids myself. They do.
Marc Fetscherin (27:33)
That
Jason Hsieh (27:33)
So yeah, yeah, yeah. The next question I want to kind of ask because your product is obviously highly seasonal and the toys and game product itself is already pretty seasonal for most of the toys and game products since usually we see a huge spike in Q4. But for you specifically, since it’s really centered around Halloween.
Is there anything that you do particularly for your company when it comes to the seasonality aspect of it as you are kind of planning and like doing the scaling and like the logistic behind it? So
Marc Fetscherin (28:04)
So I mean, you know, seasonality has advantages and disadvantages, so has non-seasonal products.
For me, the way my lifestyle works and the way I work, I think it’s actually an advantage. And
Jason Hsieh (28:18)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (28:18)
Here a couple of reasons. Number one, it allows me to have very specific dates I need to have a product launched. So I’m not like, is it in three months? I know every year there needs to be a new SKU.
Jason Hsieh (28:31)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (28:31)
You know,
I know exactly when to do it. The second biggest one probably is economy of scale. I can
Jason Hsieh (28:36)
Hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (28:36)
Run one production run at this moment, right? Which allows me lower production costs, low shipping costs. So I do one run. Now obviously there’s a challenge, is either you overproduce or underproduce. You know,
Jason Hsieh (28:48)
Yeah, it’s hard to forecast that. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (28:50)
Even when you deal with an annual product, you have the same issue. But you don’t have the account of your scale.
Jason Hsieh (28:55)
True. True.
Marc Fetscherin (28:57)
And I think that’s why we I mean I compare you know my company almost like a tech companies. We talked about a lot of technology and I’ll use Claude and AI tools. I mean, data
Jason Hsieh (29:07)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (29:08)
Helps me to minimize or mitigate and minimize those risks. So
Jason Hsieh (29:12)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (29:12)
I think it’s a lot of advantage you know, to deal with this
Jason Hsieh (29:16)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (29:16)
As is also in terms of financial needs and cash flow management. You know, I know exactly
Jason Hsieh (29:21)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (29:21)
I have a period.
I get paid and I don’t get paid, and then it’s more calm, and we can do the next Halloween. And I think the elf on the shelf, you know, has shown that you can be extremely successful. You know,
Jason Hsieh (29:33)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (29:34)
And what I want to be is I’m rather and remember Halloween is the second biggest retail event in the US. I’d rather be the
Jason Hsieh (29:41)
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, it is. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (29:44)
Top of mind and leader in one segment
Jason Hsieh (29:47)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (29:47)
Than an average in all segments.
Jason Hsieh (29:50)
Have you looked into partnering with those Halloween pop up store to feature your product in? I know a big one in US is called Spirit Halloween. There’s hundreds
Marc Fetscherin (29:58)
Yes.
Jason Hsieh (29:59)
Of those like pop up stores that pop up everywhere i like across the United States. So
Marc Fetscherin (30:04)
So we are in the process of working with a rep group who
Jason Hsieh (30:07)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (30:08)
Have cross contacted them.
Jason Hsieh (30:10)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (30:11)
And this year it’s already pretty Halloween is done, you know, they’re by a year ahead. But
Jason Hsieh (30:15)
Okay, okay. I see. Maybe next year.
Marc Fetscherin (30:18)
It’s okay. I mean if we you know we go in a new country, we go to Canada.
We go on a new channel, TikTok, we are on Walmart and we go into the
Jason Hsieh (30:22)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (30:26)
Retail, the Astra stores and other stores. And I think,
Jason Hsieh (30:29)
Yes.
Marc Fetscherin (30:29)
You know, again, you can only pressure an infrastructure of a company so much because you cannot do
Jason Hsieh (30:34)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (30:35)
Everything at the same time. But that’s essentially on the horizon where we have our retail strategy there, target is another big one, which you know, we’re in talks to,
Jason Hsieh (30:42)
Sure, sure. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (30:44)
But you know, that they always buy a a year ahead.
Jason Hsieh (30:47)
Go ahead, yeah, yeah, that’s correct. Okay, thank you so much for sharing that. So as we’re kind of wrapping up today’s interview here. If you have to just share one piece of advice with someone that’s getting started within the toys and game industry, what would that be?
Marc Fetscherin (31:00)
I think nobody gets everything right in the first place.
I don’t know if it’s Einstein quotes or not, I think they debated, but you know, I think they say if a person
Jason Hsieh (31:07)
Right.
Marc Fetscherin (31:09)
Who has never made a mistake, never tried hard enough or have never tried.
Jason Hsieh (31:13)
Yes, yeah, I heard that before.
Marc Fetscherin (31:15)
And I think many I could see where if you are a new entrepreneur, you might either wait so long and think now it’s perfect and it’s never perfect.
I think the true
Jason Hsieh (31:24)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (31:25)
Test comes in that. And I think now on the other hand, if you go too early, you know that’s a problem too. But I think by having a sequential,
Jason Hsieh (31:31)
Yeah. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (31:35)
Cautious, controlled rollout where you
Jason Hsieh (31:38)
No, yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (31:39)
Increase the exposure, like we did with
Jason Hsieh (31:42)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (31:42)
Kickstarter were a couple of hundred, first we were a couple of thousand, now it’s more. I think I have a controlled
Jason Hsieh (31:46)
Yes. Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (31:49)
Environment, get feedback and implement in the
Product improvement. I think that’s probably one of my you know, if I need to narrow it down to one advice, I think that’s one where, you know, I would advise people to do it.
Jason Hsieh (32:00)
I see. And I think I also will advise don’t over analyze and so much you don’t take any action. You still need to
Marc Fetscherin (32:06)
Exactly.
Jason Hsieh (32:06)
Take action and move forward, obviously. But thank you so much for sharing that. So for our audience that’s interested to learn more about you, your brand, where’s the best place for people to find online?
Marc Fetscherin (32:16)
So best is obviously on our website, which is
Jason Hsieh (32:18)
Mm-hmm.
Marc Fetscherin (32:19)
Bonesisback.com.
Jason Hsieh (32:21)
Okay.
Marc Fetscherin (32:22)
Very simple to remember, Bones is back, Bones is back for every season.
Jason Hsieh (32:26)
Yeah.
Marc Fetscherin (32:27)
Or you know, some people say I’ll be back, yeah. So that’s where you guys
Jason Hsieh (32:30)
I’ll be Terminator.
Marc Fetscherin (32:33)
Can find us and he will be back every October for sure.
Jason Hsieh (32:36)
Got it. Okay. Thank you so much for your time today to share your journey and your wisdom with our audience today.
Marc Fetscherin (32:42)
Thank you for having me again. It was great.
Jason Hsieh (32:44)
And for our audience, thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Toy Business Unboxed Podcast. I hope today’s conversation gives you some practical insight and fresh inspiration to for growing your own toy working brands. This podcast is sponsored
By Toy Launch, a leading marketing and growth partner for Toys and Game companies. At Toy Launch, we help brands scale on Amazon and beyond through full service account management, advertising, SEO, creative, catalog optimization, influencer marketing, and more. If you’re looking for a proven team that really understands the toys and game industry and e-commerce marketing, we are here to help. Feel free to find us on our website at toy-launch.com for more information to schedule a free consultation session with us and our team.
If you want to connect with other Toys and Game founders, join our brand new communities called Toys and Game Launchpad. You can find more information also on our homepage, which we’re launching, and also at toy-launch.com/group. Until next time, keep innovating, keep creating, keep bringing joys through toys. This is Jason Hsieh signing off on the Toy Business Unboxed podcast. We will see you in the next episode. Thank you so much, everyone. Have a good one. Bye.
Marc Fetscherin (33:51)
Bye. Thank you.
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