Autumn Fair at the NEC, Birmingham 2004
Early start for us this morning as today was the opening of the Autumn Fair. We were there so early in fact, that we followed the Ty Reps into the building! lol! As always, the first stop is hall 5, the toy and gift hall. Usually there is no need to check row and stand numbers for Ty, as the bright red heart balloon floats near the roof to guide us near the beanies. Today, however, there was no red heart balloon, and we felt a little lost, scouring the view for that famous heart (maybe Ty borrowed it for a Birthday party?). Instead of the large balloon, there were several small metallic heart balloons attached to the metal frames around the top of the stand. The main feature was a large cave opening covered in cobwebs, pebbles and the new Halloweenie beanies. Whispers and ghostly noises came from the cave, which added to the Halloween theme. Of course, the first thing to do was to see what was new. There were many rumours of UK or European exclusives, and as I had hoped, there was some truth to the rumours. The new beanies were UK exclusives - that is, three exclusives, exclusive to the UK as a whole like Rose, Daffodil and Thistle were, not to individual countries as England, Scotland and Wales were a few years ago. I love England, I love Scotland and I love Wales, are similar to the State bears released in the USA. These bears, however, follow the usual 'poem and birthday' tags, unlike the US 'I love' State bears which contain facts and figures about the place they are representing. Ty also followed the usual colours of white for England, blue for Scotland and red for Wales, which seems almost too predictable for Ty, despite these being the representing colours for the three countries. When I think about it, I think it is strange for Ty to make the Welsh bear exclusive available in the neighbouring countries and so on, but maybe Ty has learnt a marketing lesson from original England, Scotland and Wales bears, which were in fact exclusives to their country only? I also noticed that Footy had changed his strip. Still being a current Bopper and originally wearing the strip of David Beckham, the England number 7, this has now changed to a simple white strip bearing the English flag on the chest and the word 'England' on the back. Maybe since leaving his premiership team to play in Spain, the number 7 football strip is not as popular as it once was. Personally, I never liked the shirt bearing the number of a specific player as all England toys, games and t-shirts only bear the number 7. Although he still plays for his country, there seems to be less of an obsession with Beckham as there used to be, and maybe Ty is noticing this?
Although there were in fact new products on the Ty stand, there didn't seem to be the mad rush, and the scrambling to see what was new. Normally, the Ty stand would be packed and all reps would be busy talking to a customer. This morning, there were more reps than customers and they all seemed to have nothing to do. The stand was almost empty. The Autumn Fair is normally the quieter of the two, for both traders and exhibitors, with less companies exhibiting and less traders placing orders. The Spring Fair, is usually packed full of people and every company imaginable is there advertising every product imaginable. But to see the halls almost empty, was a shock. To give you some idea of the difference, the Spring Fair last February was spread over 18 halls, today's Autumn Fair was only 9 halls. We even overheard exhibitors pleading with themselves for people to get out of their beds and come! All over Hall 5, exhibitors seemed to be standing around, doing nothing due to the lack of people in the hall.
Yankee Candles had changed halls especially for this years Autumn Fair. Due to the smaller quantities of companies which exhibit in September, compared to February, a lot of the candles, house decorations and toiletries were in hall 5, where Toys would fill the hall for the Spring Fair. Yankee had an immaculate stand as usual - hundreds of jars of all sizes neatly lined up in order of colour and scents. For Christmas fragrances this year, the jars have changed their look. This year, they have shrunk in height but grown in diameter. They now also have three wicks in the wax which will look great when lit. Also new to the Yankee family, Deck Delights - scented candles for outdoor use.
Bean Bag Bears was as bright and bold as usual. The stand displayed what looked like every bear released in the UK, the Storybook Bears, plus the 4 brand new Cuddly Kids which were released at the start of September. The Cuddly kids are cute and full of beans - bigger versions of Funky, Sleepy, Leo and Fifi. Also saw the bears which are to be released soon including my favourite, Fairy Floss. Pinchy, an August release, is also adorable. The Storybook bears were also on display - including a new bear dressed as a wolf which was so different to anything I've seen before, but definitely cute! I can't wait to read the comic to match. There was also a picture of a giant Master Bear costume which will be visiting retailers soon. Hopefully, I will get a list of where this guy will be attending - he is cool!
Quarry Critters were not as exciting as I had hoped. At the Spring Fair, the display was impressive and full of new products, however this years Autumn Fair there didn't seem to be much in the way of new products. The products were as adorable as ever, and beautifully displayed on the shelves. I did notice a few bears now held signs saying 'I love you' or 'Happy Birthday' which I thought was very unusual compared to the other products and would be a great gift idea. I am looking forward to seeing what is new in February.
The best stand, as usual, is the home of the wonderful Depesche gang! Hall 3 is usually great fun because there are so much character merchandise, such as Diddl and Tatty Teddy, and today was no exception. The designers of Me To You didn't attend, but I wasn't too upset as I had the Depesche stand to look forward to. Probably one of the largest and most eye catching displays in Hall 3, even without a giant balloon like Ty's show signature, it is so easy to spot. I don't think we visited a stand in the entire NEC which was manned by as nice people as the Depesche UK team - even busy members of staff made time to say a quick hello before getting back to their work. We were given the grand tour of the new products by Owen and we had so much fun learning about the new lines and hearing about what is new with Depesche! The new lines were as cute as ever - the new Pimboli and Mimihopps autumn lines were gorgeous with their '60's style Autumn backgrounds, the new winter and autumn lines from Diddl are also super cute, following a blue snowflake design or red autumn leaves. The artificial snow was a great decoration to the 'snow fight' between team Diddlina and team Diddl at the edge of the stand. One of my favourites of the day, has to be the Galupy range, which is adorable! Why did Depesche wait so long to release Galupy as a plush?...This guy is going to be a huge hit with collectors!! He has heavy feet with long swaying legs, and that gorgeous face! He has fuzzy fur which makes him so fluffy, and his floppy legs and body will make him so fun to pose and hug - and there is a whole range of pencil cases, notebooks and wallets to match. Hopefully, Galupy will have a his own range permanently, like Diddl and Diddlina and we can see new Galupy introductions often. I also love the cheeky grin of the new 'open mouth' Diddl plush. I had seen photos on the internet of this guy and was not overly keen on Diddl in the photos. However, my mind was completely changed when I saw him in the fur. His grin is adorable, and he even has tiny teeth at the front of his mouth. He is a must to add to my Diddl collection. The smiling 'closed mouth' Diddl is also cute. He has a smiling mouth but not open, and is the first plush Diddl to feature a smile. The mouth certainly adds more character to Diddl, although I am not sure if I would like all Diddl plush to feature the mouth - Diddl is adorable with no expression (although there is not a Diddl I've met that I haven't liked lol!).
We also heard some BIG EXCLUSIVE NEWS from Depesche. Having succeeded in conquering Europe, Diddl will spring across to the States at the start of 2005, to conquer the USA too! Owen will take Diddl to Orange County in California to open a concept store (similar to the one in Nottingham) and I am sure our friends in the USA will love Diddl as much as we do here in Europe. Could Diddl be the next big thing? Will people go mad for Diddl like everyone once did with Ty? I am predicting good things for Depesche in the USA!!
Well, that was about it for this year....can't wait until the Spring Fair in February!
Photos from the Diddl stand...
This bag is gorgeous and would just about fit all of Peace's necessities for travelling...shame it's just a display item lol. It will look great as a small bag!
Wollywell is so happy that Diddlina is looking after him - his tear is no where in sight!
Gorgeous furry pencils cases. I love all the little extras like the apple decoration on the zip! The designers at Depesche think of everything!
Part of the winter set - the blue snowflake line. Perfect for Christmas!
Sooo soft! And my favourite decoration...artificial snow!
The red autumn leaf line for winter.
And here, Owen tries to get in the picture! lol This is more from the red autumn leaves range. I love the patchwork bag with the leaves sewn on the patches!
The cute smiling Diddl with the closed mouth - the first ever plush Diddl product to feature a mouth like this
And the cuter open mouth version. He is adorable! I love his teenie tiny teeth!
Part of the school programme - It's GALUPY!
And plush Galupy looks down on the product line dedicated to the best pony in Cheesecakeland!
A giant Pimboli dressed in his autumn clothes. I would love to see a giant Mimihopps too (shame my bedroom wouldn't fit one hehehe!)
Tiny snow globes perfect for Christmas gifts! These are full of glitter and little autumn leaves. I love the pattern on the boxes!
This Mimihopps is also a favourite of mine! She's so cute in her hat!
And here is Mimihopps wearing clothes of a different colour scheme. I love Pimboli's little outfit too. That coat is great - and the little buttons are adorable!
The autumn Mimihopps and Pimboli line.
Thanks to everyone at Depesche UK, especially Owen, who made us feel so welcome at the stand, and who were undoubtedly the hosts of the best stand at the NEC...AGAIN! Also great work to my friend Susi from Depesche in Germany who worked on setting the stand up - she did a great job!!
