"It's a good thing I have a detachable head": That was one of the first sentences my five-year-old son learned to read. It came up in a LEGO ninja book that sits next to the LEGO Star Wars books on his shelf.
In the toy industry, LEGO is a content marketing juggernaut. With Star Wars licensing and its homegrown "Ninjago" franchise, LEGO has ninjas and Star Wars--two of my boy's three obsessions--all sewn up. The books, TV shows and movies it produces are like so many catalogs and advertisements for an endless selection of sets, action figures and accessories.
My kid's third obsession, a base it hasn't covered, is occupied by a small Acton Company. OYO Sports has licensing deals with leagues in all four major U.S. sports and Major League Soccer. Most important in my child's case is Major League Baseball, specifically the Boston Red Sox. OYO makes Lego-compatible figures of Dustin Pedroia and that's all this five-year-old really needs.
"A kid fan engagement platform that spans toys and games and digital and content."
With 162 games to play in the Major League Baseball regular season, OYO doesn't lack for content to spur that obsession between spring and fall. Now the company is going after a content marketing play that will last year-round.
"At this point we're in concept stage," CEO Scott Healy told me. "We view the potential for the business as not just about being a physical toy co., but being more of a kid fan engagement platform that spans toys and games and digital and content."
That probably means something in what's called toys-to-life, Healy said, a genre of video games that involves a real-world component using toys or other game pieces. Skylanders is the most successful and best-known example: In the past four years since launching the series, video game maker Activision has sold $3 billion worth of games and merchandise. LEGO has a play in this area, too: LEGO Dimensions licenses IP from Warner Bros.
OYO is much smaller, but it's set up to enter by a strategic investor that led their latest venture capital round: Mandalay Sports Media is behind ESPN 30 for 30 and a long list of movies you've probably seen. Its chairman, Peter Guber, previously ran Sony Pictures and is an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Golden State Warriors. Healy declined to talk revenue, but he confirmed OYO has taken in $15 million in venture capital and is not cash-flow positive yet.
The content, whether games or video, is designed to sell a new range of products: OYO started in single figures and is just getting into buildable sets--like a hockey rink it rolled out earlier this year, complete with a Zamboni.
For now, OYO is producing videos at a rate of about one a week, like a Vine they released Wednesday of toy figures acting out Tom Brady's sneak-play reception vs. the Eagles, Healy said. It's new territory for him: Healy was formerly an executive at Care.com, before he was named to take founder Tom Skripps' place as CEO in October. (Skripps remains on the board.)
OYO's fledgling content efforts are unlike LEGO's in that they are timely. (LEGO movies, I'm here to tell you, are timeless. Meant to be watched again and again. And again.) So, for example, a video of Derek Jeter's top 10 plays, timed to his retirement. Nobody in my family is going to be watching much of that one. Better might be this, an earlier effort (much better).
"It started organically, but it's become a more concerted part of our strategy to drive social media and awareness," Healy said. "We are still a young co. without huge resources. How do we create content and seed content that builds awareness about OYO?"
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story referred to Mandalay Media. It is in fact Mandalay Sports Media (MSM) that is the lead investor in OYO Sports. MSM is affiliated with Mandalay Entertainment Group, but "Mandalay Media" is an unrelated entity. Peter Guber is chairman of MSM, but not CEO.
