BAYKO Sales and Marketing

I am indebted to Geof Lilleker for help with some of this information.

Like most other such product launches of the day, BAYKO's initial marketing strategy was to use the services of a third party, well known and respected in the trade...

...Plimpton worked through : -

Berwick's Toy Company Limited,

South Hunter Street,

Liverpool, 1,

Lancashire.

However, Fred Rogerson of Berwick's persuaded C.B. Plimpton [BAYKO's inventor] to bring the marketing in house...

...and so Fred joined Plimpton's, probably in 1938.

I don't know if there was a direct link, but Berwick's didn't attend the annual British Industry Fair in the following February...

...still, you can see their point.

Presumably it is also around this time that R.L. [Lester] Cooper was hired to service London and the home counties, as announced later, in the September, 1939 issue of 'Toy Trader', the leading publication for the U.K.'s toy trade.

He did this from : -

The split from Berwick's was announced formally [Left] to the trade in 'Games & Toys' in May, 1939.

In the same announcement Plimpton also asked for overseas agents - unfortunate timing to put it mildly!

This was followed in the June, 1939 edition, by a brief article...

Although BAYKO's sales and marketing activities were generally dormant during the war, trade awareness was maintained via monthly, 'classified advert style' reminders in 'Games & Toys'...

After the break for the war, Fred Rogerson returned to Plimpton's, in 1946, and so did Lester Cooper, who again became BAYKO's key man for London and the home counties.

Eventually, together with their 5 other sales reps, they serviced some 3,500 toy stores and other retail outlets...

...indeed, they achieved pretty well 100% coverage of U.K. toyshops as well as the toy departments of all the major U.K. department stores.

By the middle of the 1950's, Plimpton were selling more than 150,000 BAYKO sets a year, but were beginning to come under increasing pressure from LEGO and a wide range of other architectural toys.

At its peak, BAYKO's export market reached 35% of total production - served either directly from the U.K. or via local import agents...

Adverts, produced by C. Vernon & Sons of Rodney Street, Liverpool were common in the 1950's.

Plimpton used a number of different printers to produce their various types of documentation over the life of the product...

After the MECCANO takeover, marketing in the 1960's was handled by MECCANO's own people - though not always particularly efficiently if their first flier is anything to go on!

There is comparatively little other marketing information available, but, thanks to an item in 'Games and Toys', December, 1961, I think we can make some useful deductions...

MECCANO also supported BAYKO with two excellent initiatives in the 'MECCANO Magazine'.

These often featured BAYKO buildings, drawing children's minds to the wider play possibilities of BAYKO models beyond the construction.

Left, is an example from November, 1961...

These began 6 months before BAYKO's death, running from July 1963 to May 1964 - the last being a month or so after production had stopped! An example can be seen to the right.