PLAY DOH LINE FROM FUNSKOOL

The Play Doh line from Funskool is not a creation of yesterday or today, it has been around for over half a century now.  'Making hands happy' as a parent put it, the universally loved Play Doh however has been in India since 1998.  In this short time however, Play Doh has turned out to be a phenomenal success for Funskool.  Funskool had brought the mouldable dough, which is made using a special formula from Hasbro, USA, with whom they have a tie-up.

This success story, which has been keeping millions of children busy with their hands, owes its existence to Joe McVicker.  He created the soft modelling clay from wallpaper paste for his sister's pre-school students. The mouldable dough, which stayed soft and safe inside an airtight container, could be shaped into almost anything and went on to become the hugely popular Play Doh as it is known today.  Play Doh easily wins hands down over the other two versions available in the market - plasticin and clay.

As it became popular, more colours were added and various moulding sets and playing kits were introduced as part of the line.  The non-toxic, fun for all ages 'doh' kept kids quiet and fuelled imaginations, even as the kids painstakingly sculpted their Play Doh.

Cars, cookies, dolls, houses...you name it and the kids can make just about anything the imagination could conjure up.  And just to add more fun to the fun, the moulding sets kept coming to make the Play Doh line more complete.  Today, there are over sixteen product extensions in the Play Doh line including, 'ABC & 123', 'Animals','Fun Factory' and the latest arrival in town 'Fix Me Up Doc'.

In India, the 'Fun Factory', which is priced at Rs 185/- has been the most successful of the Play Doh line and has sold nearly two lakh pieces till October 2001.  The simple pump action pushes the pliable Play-Doh through specially shaped holes, extruding a lump of Play-Doh into stringy star-shaped, square-shaped and squiggly-shaped tubes.

The 'Fix Me Up Doc' kit priced at Rs 399/- helps children learn about being a surgeon and have fun doing it.  Various parts of the body can be made using an extruder syringe and a double-sided body part mould and placed inside the patient's tummy.  The patient's body can then be covered in 'doh' rolled out flat and can even be closed up with a stitch roller.

Stored in an airtight plastic container with a resealable top, Play Doh can potentially live forever. But a forgetful sleepover with Mr Air will harden it, and remember that the colours, once mixed together, can't be separated.

The product is being promoted through live demos at stores such as Crossword and Odyssey and also at leading educational institutions in Chennai.  The 'Play Doh' line is targetted at children aged three years and upward.  The price range of the line is pretty affordable too, from Rs 76/- to Rs 400/-. 

D Daniel Selvaraj, Marketing Manager, Funskool puts the market for the 'Play Doh' line at around Rs 3 crore every year in India. He added that plans are on the anvil to export the 'Play Doh' line, which is being manufactured in India to countries in Europe.

Anitha George, Product Manager, Funskool says that the pricing of the Play Doh line has been the most clinching factor for its huge sucess. "The starting price of the range at Rs 76/- means that the product is present not just in high end retail stores but also in the curio and gift shops and fancy stores. So the product is available to a far more wider section of the people and across all economic strata".

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