Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104140057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: COLUMBUS, IND. LENGTH: Medium
Now, 62 years after Donald F. Duncan Sr. brought it back from the Philippines, the yo-yo is enjoying a comeback.
Gone forever are the legions of Filipino men who each spring appeared in schoolyards and playgrounds, outside corner candy stores and in front of movie theaters to promote Duncan Toy Co.'s yo-yo with dazzling skill.
In their place, the Duncan company, which sells 85 percent of the yo-yos used in this country, has turned to advertising on cable television channels that cater to a young audience.
And in an age of high-technology toys like Nintendo, the advertising has persuaded millions of children to ask for a yo-yo.
As recently as 1985, fewer than 500,000 yo-yos were sold. Last year, roughly 12 million were sold, most of them made at the Duncan factory here. (The company's slogan is, "If it's not a Duncan, it's not a yo-yo").
Not just the basic yo-yo is in demand. Earlier this year, Thomas Kuhn, a dentist from San Francisco, began marketing a yo-yo with halves made of aircraft aluminum and a special axle that allows it to "sleep" - spin - for more than a minute.
Because it was priced at $85, Kuhn expected his yo-yo would appeal to only a few fanatics. Instead, calls poured in.
The man who rescued the yo-yo from extinction was Clyde Mortensen, a former marketing executive at Duncan who had been with the company in its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. Flambeau Corp., Duncan's parent, summoned him out of retirement in 1985 to revive moribund sales.
His challenge was to find a way to get Americans excited again about the yo-yo, one of the few remaining bargains in toys.
The typical Duncan retails for less than $2.75, and Mortensen knew such a low-priced item could not be promoted with something so expensive as the tour of roving professionals or advertising on the major television networks.
He turned to cable television, where some networks carry little but children's shows. Because the percentage of viewers watching a single cable station at any one time is relatively small, Duncan was able to buy 30-second spots for as little as $500 in smaller markets.
In February 1986, Duncan broadcast 700 30-second advertisements on five cable stations. Over the next four months it sold more yo-yos than in the preceding year.
In 1987, Duncan paid for 1,100 30-second commercials. That jumped to 1,400 in 1988 and to 2,000 last year. And yo-yo sales soared into the millions.
by CNB