By Rachel MacNeill
A local inventor is putting a homegrown board game on Ottawa shelves just in time for the Christmas season.
Kim Long has been working on her vocabulary game, Logos, for over 10 years. After three prototypes and taking out a mortgage on her home, she says she’s finally prepared to take the risk of putting it into production.
She describes her game as a step up from her all-time favourite. “I’m an absolute Scrabble nut,” she says. The game is played in long or short versions and is meant for players 13 and up. There are different categories of vocabulary challenges, including synonyms, antonyms and definitions.
“It’s a social game,” she says, which gets players talking and laughing.
The social aspect of the game will give her a marketing boost, says Mike Mulvey, associate professor of marketing at Ottawa University’s Telfer School of Management. “Things like this largely travel through word of mouth,” he says. “And when you’re first launching, product distribution is really key.”
Long says a big part of her marketing strategy is avoiding big-box stores and focusing on local businesses.
Logos will be on the shelves of at least eight local businesses this Christmas season, Long says.
This local sales strategy seems to be working. Margit Lauton, owner of Baskets and Bows on Bank Street, says the fact that the game inventor was from Ottawa was a factor in deciding to carry the game.
“I like to help out people who are doing something independent,” she says. Baskets and Bows will sell Logos solo and as part of a games basket.
A new product such as Logos is statistically unlikely to obtain commercial success, says Mulvey. But he cites Canadian success story Trivial Pursuit as an example of when innovation becomes a global hit. “Sometimes the homegrown aspect of the product can give it some initial traction,” he says. “But once you expand across the border, no one cares.”
Long says a big surprise in trying to get her game out into the local market has been the interest from seniors. “There’s a huge market out there for brain games,” she says. “Seniors want to keep their minds sharp.”
She has been visiting Ottawa seniors’ homes to introduce the game and so far has met with a positive response. Long intends to emphasize the seniors’ market, which is growing as baby boomers continue to age. “I see a tremendous market for that,” she says.
Long sees beyond the Ottawa seniors’ market as well. She has plans to develop or license a computerized version of the game. She says she also has contacts in Greece and the U.K. who are considering distributing the game to the European market. “I see a future for this,” she says. “I think the timing is right.”
Christmas is the perfect time to launch a new product, says Mulvey. “This is the time of year where people are looking for new ideas,” he says.
Long has 5,000 units made for the local market this Christmas season. To break even, she needs to sell 2,000. “I am completely confident in selling 2,000,” she says. “But if I sell them all I will just flip out.”