Julian E. Barnes New York Times Service
Friday, March 2, 2001

TUCSON, Arizona, Tor Sirset, a 36-year-old Mattel marketing director dressed in a sweater vest with the gold seal of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, held a quivering broom in his hand as he looked across a darkened room filled with toy-store buyers.

"We need to talk about the ultimate in sporting equipment, the Quidditch player's dream, the Nimbus 2000," he shouted, displaying the toy version of Harry Potter's magical broom. Then Mr. Sirset tucked the curved handle between his legs and skipped around the stage to the beat of flying sounds made by the broom.

Such is the art of selling toys. This week, Mattel Inc. has gathered the world's largest toy retailers here for a private toy fair to show off its product line, particularly the secret stable of toys based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and the upcoming movie version of the book about the boy wizard and his school friends.

On display were fashion dolls with wizard robes, action figures with trolls to fight, an electronic dragon called Roarin' Snorin' Norbert and the make-believe Nimbus 2000.

The film, distributed by Warner Brothers, is scheduled to open in the United States on Nov. 16, and with 47 million copies of the four Harry Potter books in print, the potential audience for tie-in toys is huge.

But in addition to being enthusiastic about the prospect of Harry Potter toys, some retailers say they are feeling nervous. They are speaking from experience. Although Hasbro Inc. sold $500 million worth of Star Wars toys when the latest movie in the series came out in 1999, another $125 million worth of C3PO figurines and light sabers were left unsold on retailers' shelves after enthusiasm for the film died out.

Toy retailers worry that for Harry Potter, the hype could once again be bigger than the movie.

The Harry Potter books induced millions of children who did not much like to read to dive into an elaborate chapter book. But toy sellers worry that most of those readers are past the prime toy-buying age, and that many hardcore Harry fans will spurn dolls based on the movie.

Retailers also fear that the market will be overwhelmed with Harry Potter merchandise, making consumers sick of the 11-year-old wizard.

Mattel, which holds the main license for Harry Potter toys, is working to assure its clients that the company will avoid the mistakes of other toymakers. At the core of Mattel's strategy is a plan to limit exposure to the toys, sometimes by curtailing supply.

"We are going to tightly manage the property so the market isn't flooded," said Robert Eckert, the chief executive of Mattel. "There is a fine line between too much and too little."

Before its private show this week, Mattel eliminated about 25 percent of the Harry Potter toys it originally designed. Some toys were held back for next year and others, like a Harry Potter jewelry-making set, were jettisoned because they did not fit with the books.

The company also plans to limit production of the dozens of toys it has begun to manufacture. For example, Mattel will only make about 3,000 copies of an action figure displayed here this week: a clear plastic version of Harry Potter wrapped in an invisibility cloak. Mattel hopes children will make multiple trips to the toy store as they try to collect all the figurines.

With Harry's Levitating Challenge, Mattel designed a game where children must maneuver a foam ball through obstacles while it is suspended by jets of air. The game got the best response of any Harry Potter item the company tested with children and early reaction from retailers has been strong as well. But Mattel has opted to limit production of the $39 game.

"We want to keep supply tighter than demand," said Matt Bousquette, the president of the boys/entertainment division at Mattel.

Mattel is able to limit production because the company has not promised Warner Brothers the $500 million in sales that Hasbro promised George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. Instead, Mattel has guaranteed only about $50 million in toy sales for Harry Potter, and offered Warner Brothers a 15 percent royalty, 3 percent higher than standard, and stock options.

Still, Mattel executives worry that despite their best efforts to control the amount of Harry Potter products, the market could be overrun by competitors.

Although Warner Brothers' consumer products division recently gave the sole beverage and food license to the Coca-Cola Co., it has given several toymakers rights to Harry Potter toys.

Hasbro has the license for trading cards, electronic games and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, jelly beans with flavors - like dirt - that only a 5-year-old could love. Lego will make Hogwarts School construction sets, and Jakks Pacific will make activity kits.

Images courtesy of Dark Horizons