Q.1. What factors created the opportunity for Bob Reiss and the TV Guide Game? 1. Demand for “Trivia” products were on the upswing, and had yet to reach the U.S. 2. Success of Trivial Pursuit in Canada was crucial

3. Reiss’s experience in the logistics and lead time concerns of manufacturing in the toy industry 4. Reiss’s personal connections: •

Kaplan (Equity)

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Helen Factoring (Billing & s Receivables)

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Swiss Colony (production and shipping)

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Suppliers for books, boards and boxes

Q.2. What risks and obstacles had to be overcome to pursue the opportunity successfully? 1. Advertising (Did not possess the Advertising budget of larger companies, i.e. Parker Bros.) 2. Public’s interest in Trivia Games declining (Over saturation can/will occur rapidly) 3. Manufacturing with little lead time 4. Cash Flow 5. Sales 6. Competition (mainly Trivial Pursuit) How did Bob Reiss accomplish this? 1. Advertising Strategy 2. Offering incentive(5% ad allowance) to dept. stores for placing ad in print 3. Free media publicity 4. Ensured product would be available for sale before “fad” of Toy/Game had occurred 5. Utilized personal experience and intelligence to create an efficient product design (booklet, instead of cards) 6.

Business Partner Kaplan

7.

Sales Strategy

8. Price Point was set significantly lower than Trivial Pursuit 9. Targeted major Dept. Stores and mass merchandisers, yet distinguished them (different sales reps for each) 10. Competitive Strategy 11. Different concept (dealing with TV trivia, rather than general trivia of Trivial Pursuit) 12. Lower Price Point 13. Unique relationship with TV Guide, which provided significant credibility and exposure Q.4. As a result of this success what should Reiss do now?

1. Due to customers’ losing interest in these games, Reiss should go for the new game he has been planning called ‘WHOOZIT’ 2. This new game will have a lot of visual appeal since it will be showing photographs of famous people 3. He already had a royalty deal with Bettman Archives for the photographs 4. Some big retailers were giving up the ‘Trivial Pursuit’ because of heavy discounting 5. The Christmas of 1984 had been disappointing too showing the declining consumer interest 6. He perceived a reason for this to be the level of difficulty of the questions 7. So to fight this out ‘WHOOZIT’ would be ideal as it would have simpler questions and would be fun too