Planet Money · Friday, July 31, 2026
Zach, a representative from toy company RMS, explains their strategy for creating viral toys involves tweaking existing trends and maintaining agile production schedules. This approach allows them to quickly adapt to market demand, a key factor in their success with products like 'poppers' and squishy dumplings.
“The first, to make a hit toy, you don't have to be some kind of wild inventor or creative genius. You just have to be someone who can figure out how to tweak an existing toy in a way that makes it trendy.”
“I call it innovation with a small eye. It doesn't need to be the next big thing. It just needs to do something to turn the dial a little bit.”
“We work out our production schedules by week. So let's just say factory A can produce 100,000 in a week. That means that we will officially give that factory a nod the week before we're supposed to go into production.”