Part two of my Toy Fair adventure 10 years ago.
To recap, in part 1 we covered how I had made a deal with a local paper to provide a story for them in exchange for credentials to get in.
Now came the prep work. What, you thought that getting the press pass was it? I had a story to write.
So I started calling toy companies and setting up interviews. This took more time than you might think. I ended up with 5. Hasbro. Lego. McFarlane. Playmates. Toy Biz. Not a bad list, but you will notice that Mattel is missing. I really tried to get an appointment, but was never able to connect with the right person to get an interview set up.
The other problem, which I knew about in advance, was the way I was getting there. Public transit is great, but only if it runs when you need it. For the life of me, I cannot understand why there is no way to get from Providence, RI to NYC for early morning. The fast train gets you in for 10:30 AM. The bus, which runs 7 non stops to NYC, gets the first run of the day in at 11:30 AM. So I had to schedule all my appointments for the afternoon. Hey, I’m cheap. That’s why I’m taking the bus. I was also taking a vacation day from my current job to do this. No way was I going to pay for a hotel room. And the bus does not drop you off at Toy Fair, it drops you off at the Port Authority, a hub of NYC transit. So I had to research and understand the subway paths to get from the Port Authority to Toy Fair.
5 interviews. I afternoon. Could it be done?
Find out in part 3.
