Toy inventor Russell Hornsby is either a genius or a guy who spends way too much time thinking about hamsters.
On Monday, his Zhu Zhu Pets were named toy of the year at the 107th American International Toy Fair in New York City. They also won most innovative toy and best girl toy.
Hornsby’s 16-employee company, Cepia LLC, St. Louis, Mo., first tested the product in May, launched it in August, and somehow kept pace with the orders when it became the hottest-selling toy of the holiday season.
Along the way, Hornsby took enormous risks financing rapidly escalating production in China. And he had to counter false, yet potentially debilitating, online reports that his beloved product contained toxic metals.
And now he’s facing a bum rap that it is a girl toy.
At the Toy Fair, Hornsby is unveiling a line of meaner, more violent, animatronic rodents designed to appeal to boys.
“I wouldn’t say it’s violent,” Hornsby corrected me during an interview.
They shoot missiles at each other, I reminded him.
“They are shooting play missiles,” he laughed. “We leave the real missiles to the guys in Washington.”
Hornsby’s own press materials call them “Kung Zhu battle hamsters.” They access an amazing arsenal. And you tell me what a hamster named Sgt. Serge would be doing in a tank-like piece of armor with Gatling guns mounted on both sides.
Clearly, the top-selling Zhu Zhu Pets must defend the high ground they claimed last Christmas.
Selling for just $7.99 amid the worst recession in any child’s life, they became an overnight sensation. But like any hot new product, they could be knocked off by an Asian copycat, bought out by a Hasbro Inc. or a Mattel Inc., or left to the one-hit-wonder heap of American toy history like the Pet Rock.
To survive, they must evolve. So in addition to a new line of menacing, weapon-toting rodents, there will soon be “Zhu Zhu Rock Stars” and the “Zhu Zhu Wild Bunch,” which extends further into the animal kingdom with “Rocco” the raccoon and “Stinker” the skunk.
You know how Walt Disney said it all began with a mouse? Well for Hornsby it was a hamster.
“The Zhu Zhu Pet is what’s always been in front of you,” he said, revealing the thought process that led to its creation.
Hornsby said he was fascinated with a YouTube video called “Turbo Hamster,” featuring a live hamster that runs in its wheel until it is overcome and then hurled by centrifugal force. “It’s gotten over 19 million hits,” he said.
Then there is an old toy called the Weasel Ball, a motorized ball with a tail on it that seems to run around like it has a mind of its own. And then there is the popular hamster habitat called the Habitrail. Stick a Weasel Ball inside a Habitrail and you’ll have something resembling a Turbo Hamster.
Hornsby also observed that what people like most about anthropomorphized rodents, whether it is Mickey Mouse or Stuart Little, is that they are unpredictable and can fly planes, launch boats and drive cars.
“That’s what this is: A cute little rodent running around in a Habitrail and, bam, he jumps in a car, and then, bam he jumps in a boat,” he said. “He’s crazy. You don’t know what he is going to do next. He’s irreverent. The little guy spins around, laughs at you, then he runs off and does whatever he wants. Do you find that kind of excitement with a Barbie Doll? Do you find it with a Transformer?”
Hornsby, who grew up in Florida, said he once worked for Mattel and Walt Disney Co., and has been working on toys for decades. Now 57, he spends most of his time in China, keeping up with the production and continued development of his one big hit.
The real secret of his Zhu Zhu Pet is that it somehow tapped our collective unconsciousness about hamsters. Sales took off mostly on the word of parents raving about it in online social networks and blogs.
“They are the ones who created the buzz,” Hornsby said. “This wasn’t force-fed by a machine. It was born by the American populace.”
He says he has been humbled by the experience of finding such success in the worst of economic times.
“The ultimate judge of a product is the consumer,” Hornsby said. “Even when the buyers don’t want to buy something. Even when the economy is downtrodden and things are difficult. A good product will always make its way.”
Or blast its way like a Kung Zhu Ninja.
Al Lewis: 212-416-2617, al.lewis@dowjones.com or tellittoal.com
