投資者為美國最大玩具生產商孩之寶近些年強勁銷售表現與股價漲勢興奮不已，耀眼業績的背后，其實是變形金剛和Nerf軟彈槍等授權品牌，以及公司旗下漫威傳奇和《星球大戰》系列熱門產品。

大家往往忽視了孩之寶旗下一個已有60年歷史的明星品牌——培樂多，孩之寶業績的另一大推手。

自1956年問世以來，黃色罐裝的培樂多橡皮泥已經售出30多億罐，其營業收入連續三年達到兩位數增長水平，去年增速高達32%。據研究機構NPD統計，該品牌還是美國市場藝術及工藝品類的銷售冠軍，在一些海外市場也表現優異。

“玩培樂多成了每個孩子成長必經的儀式。”培樂多主管市場營銷的副總裁格雷格·隆巴多接受《財富》采訪時如是說。

培樂多的魅力之所以經久不衰，部分源于兒童玩的時候很自由，如今這樣的玩具已經很難找了。培樂多的罐子擺在面前，無論孩童還是成人都不會受到任何束縛，盡情表達自我。培樂多也幫助孩之寶采取了一些創新舉措，幫助老品牌緊跟潮流。雖然父母和孩子一般都很喜歡培樂多特別的氣味，但僅憑懷舊是沒法幫數十年的老品牌吸引新一代小朋友的。因此，孩之寶一直站在創新前沿，尤其是過去五年。

品牌升級

培樂多近年的新舉措包括推出新品，例如名為Play-Doh Plus 的升級版本和藝術及工藝品系列品牌DohVinci。后者專門面向年齡稍大一點6到12歲的兒童，其中還加入了一種新材料，用玩具熱膠槍就可以造出裝飾性更強、壽命更長的模型。

2016年，培樂多將首次推出新的人物造型系列產品，玩具人物會置身于消防站和冰淇淋販售車等場景。孩之寶有針對性地調整了設計決策，增加產品對男孩和女孩的吸引力。大部分玩具人物，比如其中的消防員都沒有明顯的性別傾向，然后孩子們可以根據自由設計外形，例如加上頭發。這是孩之寶在玩具領域解決性別平等問題的又一次嘗試。近幾年，孩之寶還專門為女孩推出了性別中立的玩具烤箱Easy-Back Oven和Nerf玩具槍。

隆巴多認為：“培樂多應該屬于所有人。”

培樂多的產品通常面向3到6歲的兒童，主要吸引對角色扮演興趣日增的孩子。孩之寶推出這一系列的用意是要讓培樂多參與3-6歲孩子最喜愛的，以講故事為主的游戲。

隆巴多稱：“我們一直在想的就是，怎樣讓培樂多幫助孩子玩好講故事游戲。”以消防員玩具為例，目的就是鼓勵孩子用各種道具造出紅色的火場或者用來滅火的藍色水流。

When investors get giddy about Hasbro’s strong sales and share price growth in recent years, big licensed brands from Marvel and Star Wars, as well as company-owned hits like Transformers and Nerf, get most of the credit.

One 60-year-old star often gets overlooked. Play-Doh has molded itself into a strong sales driver.

Since the yellow-canned brand debuted in 1956, Play-Doh has sold more than 3 billion cans of the compound. The brand has reported double-digit revenue growth for three consecutive years, including a 32% increase in 2015. It is also the top selling property in the arts & crafts category tracked by research firm NPD, in the U.S. as well as a handful of markets abroad.

“It becomes a rite of passage for every kid to play with Play-Doh,” Greg Lombardo, vice president of marketing for the brand, told Fortune in an interview.

Part of the enduring appeal of Play-Doh is that it is a form of free play that can rarely be found in the toy aisle these days. Place containers of Play-Doh in front of any child or adult, and they can feel free to express themselves in any form without any restrictions. But it also has helped that Hasbro has invested some new innovations for the brand to keep it current. While parents and kids often lovingly espouse the compound’s unique and distinctive smell, nostalgia isn’t enough to keep a decades-old brand like Play-Doh relevant for kids today. So Hasbro has stayed on top of innovation, especially over the past five years.

Updates to the brand

In recent years, new iterations have included a new compound called Play-Doh Plus and arts & crafts line called DohVinci, which is meant for older kids between the ages of six and 12. DohVinci also incorporates a different material that is meant more for decorative, permanent creations that can be constructed using a toy glue gun.

In 2016, Play-Doh is unveiling a new figure-based line for the first time, sets of toys that include firehouses and ice cream trucks. Hasbro made a few key purposeful design decisions to make the sets appeal to both genders. Most characters in the set, like the firefighter, are gender neutral. Kids can assign their own character by adding hair, for example. That builds on Hasbro’s other efforts to address gender equally in the toy aisle, in recent years selling a gender-neutral Easy-Back Oven and Nerf guns meant for girls.

“Play-Doh should be for everyone,” says Lombardo.

Play-Doh, generally meant for kids between the ages of 3 to 6, fights for play time with kids that are growing increasingly interested in play sets and figures. The idea behind the sets that Hasbro is now selling for the brand is to tackle that type of narrative, story-driven play that is popular for that age group.

“We thought about what Play-Doh could bring to allow a kid to play to play out a story,” Lombardo said. The firefighter play set, for example, encourages kids to use the compound to make a red fire or a blue stream of water to fight the blaze.

除了開發產品，培樂多還在社交媒體上積極打造有趣的形象。培樂多經常參與一些熱門話題，如紐約地鐵的披薩鼠、裙子顏色是白金色還是藍黑色等等。孩之寶表示，會努力汲取新鮮的奇思妙想，培樂多這個老字號今后還要暢銷幾十年。（財富中文）

譯者：Pessy

校對：夏林

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Beyond product development, Play-Doh keeps it fun on social media. It has weighed in on trending topics like New York City’s Pizza Rat and the white/gold-blue/black dress controversy. That whimsy is another way Hasbro says it intends to keep Play-Doh on retail shelves for many decades to come.