Big E Toys Launches One-for-One Charitable Campaign
“Buy One, Give One” Stumblebum Campaign Will Benefit Toy Industry Foundation Charitable Efforts
PLYMOUTH, MN — April 13, 2010 — Buy One, Give One. The premise is simple. For every Stumblebum® charades game purchased at www.bigetoys.com through May 31, 2010, Big E Toys will give a Stumblebum game to a child in need.
“Philanthropy has always been important aspect of our organizational goals,” says Chip Engdahl, The Big E of Big E Toys. “It’s integral to our overall mission. Our Buy One, Give One campaign is simply an effort to do even more for children in need.”
The Buy One, Give One campaign from Big E Toys will benefit The Toy Bank of The Toy Industry Foundation (TIF). The TIF, in conjunction with its logistical partner Gifts In Kind International, operates The Toy Bank and distributes toys and games on an ongoing basis to children in need throughout the world. Big E Toys has been a proud supporter of The Toy Bank since its inception in 2003 and was recently named a Toy Industry Foundation Power Player because of our ongoing support of their programs.
The Big E Toys Buy One, Give One campaign is a true One-for-One campaign. Consumers don’t pay more for Stumblebum simply because Big E Toys is giving one away. “The Buy One, Give One campaign is a great opportunity for consumers to get a great game like Stumblebum for themselves, but also do some good in the process,” says Mr. Engdahl. “With the help of Stumblebum fans throughout the country, I think we can bring a little more fun and joy to kids in need.”
Buy One, Give One. It’s that simple.
About Stumblebum
Stumblebum is a charades game like you’ve never played before. Performers are given physical challenges like “stand on one leg” or “eyes closed” while they act out a short list of words. Get teammates to say the words and you score. If not, your opponent can steal. Designed for ages 8 to adult, each game takes less than half an hour to play and participants are up and playing in just a few minutes. It’s unbelievably simple and fun. Game includes 169 game cards, 2 game dice, a 30-second sand timer, card holder, and game instructions. It’s great for get-togethers of all kinds. “It’s so fun, you may actually fall down laughing!™”
About Big E Toys
Big E Toys is a small toy company specializing in board games. It was started by Chip Engdahl on the simple idea that life should be fun. Products include the games Stumblebum®, Coopetition®, and the card deck Chops®. Big E Toys strives to develop quality games that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of people. For more information, contact Big E Toys at 1.866.411.BIG.E (2443) or visit us at www.bigetoys.com.
About The Toy Industry Foundation
Through programs, partnerships, grantmaking, and public education, the Toy Industry Foundation (TIF) works year-round to provide the opportunity to dream, laugh, and learn to children around the world. Learn more at www.toyindustryfoundation.org. The Toy Bank (www.thetoybank.org) a partnership between TIF and Gifts In Kind International, is the first industry-wide program of its kind. Through The Toy Bank, the Foundation’s signature program, charities serving children receive new toys and manufacturers, retailers and distributors of toys are offered the opportunity to make a difference.
Media Contact:
Chip Engdahl
Big E Toys
612-481-6603
chip@bigetoys.com
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Wisdom of an FEI Conference Crowd
“…chasing the expert is a mistake, and a costly one at that. We should stop hunting and ask the crowd (which, of course, includes the geniuses as well as everyone else) instead. Chances are, it knows.”
- from The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
I’m looking forward to the upcoming 2010 FEI conference in Boston (May 3-5). The accumulated brainpower of the presenters as well as attendees is sure to be tremendous. I wonder what kind of collective wisdom will be in the crowd.
I recently finished reading James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds. Good stuff. Interesting. Thought provoking. James of course has one of the keynote presentations Tuesday morning May 4th at the FEI conference. His “Success Through Synergy” presentation is bound to be a good one.
There is much in the book The Wisdom of Crowds on which I could comment. It is a rich and entertaining text, and clearly well researched. Sprinkled throughout the book, Mr. Surowiecki provides an assortment of real-world examples to illuminate the potential wisdom of crowds. He illustrates his points using academia, a variety of industry examples, personal experience, and other enlightening anecdotes.
This isn’t meant to be a book review though, so I’ll stop short and simply say The Wisdom of Crowds was a good read.
In thinking about the upcoming FEI conference, I can’t help wonder whether the assembled crowd could potentially be wise.
According to Surowiecki, there are four conditions that characterize wise crowds:
Diversity of Opinion – the idea that each person has some private information, even if it’s just some sort of interpretation of known facts
Independence – a person’s opinion is not determined by the opinions of those around him or her
Decentralization – people are able to specialize and draw on what’s referred to as “local knowledge”
Aggregation – a mechanism exists to turn judgments into a collective decision
If a group satisfies these conditions, its judgments are likely to be accurate.
Given the eclectic nature of attendees – different industry and academic backgrounds, different age-groups, different geographies, etc. - at the FEI conference, I imagine the conference crowd could be pretty wise if given the opportunity to make some sort of collective decision. They’ll be a lot of smart people mingling about. But ironically, the individual brainpower of attendees isn’t inherently what would make the crowd wise. A true crowd includes “the geniuses as well as everyone else.” It’s the Diversity of Opinion, Independence, Decentralization, and mechanism for Aggregation that gives a crowd its wisdom.
Paradoxically, the only thing I can think that might diminish the potential overall wisdom of the crowd at FEI, is the fact that everyone assembled is there for the same reason. Might the homogenous nature of our pursuit of innovation skew our collective wisdom? Might we lack a diversity in mental mindset that shields us from potentially powerful breakthroughs?
Perhaps we should invite some people off the street to join us.
If you haven’t already signed-up to attend FEI2010, feel free to use promo code FEI2010CHIP to get a 20% discount.
- from The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
I’m looking forward to the upcoming 2010 FEI conference in Boston (May 3-5). The accumulated brainpower of the presenters as well as attendees is sure to be tremendous. I wonder what kind of collective wisdom will be in the crowd.
I recently finished reading James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds. Good stuff. Interesting. Thought provoking. James of course has one of the keynote presentations Tuesday morning May 4th at the FEI conference. His “Success Through Synergy” presentation is bound to be a good one.
There is much in the book The Wisdom of Crowds on which I could comment. It is a rich and entertaining text, and clearly well researched. Sprinkled throughout the book, Mr. Surowiecki provides an assortment of real-world examples to illuminate the potential wisdom of crowds. He illustrates his points using academia, a variety of industry examples, personal experience, and other enlightening anecdotes.
This isn’t meant to be a book review though, so I’ll stop short and simply say The Wisdom of Crowds was a good read.
In thinking about the upcoming FEI conference, I can’t help wonder whether the assembled crowd could potentially be wise.
According to Surowiecki, there are four conditions that characterize wise crowds:
Diversity of Opinion – the idea that each person has some private information, even if it’s just some sort of interpretation of known facts
Independence – a person’s opinion is not determined by the opinions of those around him or her
Decentralization – people are able to specialize and draw on what’s referred to as “local knowledge”
Aggregation – a mechanism exists to turn judgments into a collective decision
If a group satisfies these conditions, its judgments are likely to be accurate.
Given the eclectic nature of attendees – different industry and academic backgrounds, different age-groups, different geographies, etc. - at the FEI conference, I imagine the conference crowd could be pretty wise if given the opportunity to make some sort of collective decision. They’ll be a lot of smart people mingling about. But ironically, the individual brainpower of attendees isn’t inherently what would make the crowd wise. A true crowd includes “the geniuses as well as everyone else.” It’s the Diversity of Opinion, Independence, Decentralization, and mechanism for Aggregation that gives a crowd its wisdom.
Paradoxically, the only thing I can think that might diminish the potential overall wisdom of the crowd at FEI, is the fact that everyone assembled is there for the same reason. Might the homogenous nature of our pursuit of innovation skew our collective wisdom? Might we lack a diversity in mental mindset that shields us from potentially powerful breakthroughs?
Perhaps we should invite some people off the street to join us.
If you haven’t already signed-up to attend FEI2010, feel free to use promo code FEI2010CHIP to get a 20% discount.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Hopping Ideas
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." - John Steinbeck
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Great Achievement
"Great achievement has no roadmap."
Dr. Dalton Millgate (played by Hector Elizondo)
from The West Wing, Season 3, Episode 16: Dead Irish Writers
Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin
Original air date 3/27/02
Dr. Dalton Millgate (played by Hector Elizondo)
from The West Wing, Season 3, Episode 16: Dead Irish Writers
Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin
Original air date 3/27/02
Sunday, January 17, 2010
They Were The Ones Who Were Mad
"Hunter was a different animal. He seemed to gain strength from rakish marathons. I am certain he learned the secret of maintaining a drug-racked body from an old Indian in the Appalachian mountains. He learned the balance between living out on the edge of lunacy and apparently normal discourse with everyday events. Whatever reaction he adopted towards a situation, whether it was giving a hell-raiser speech from the interior balconies of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco or firing a Magnum .44 at random into the night in front of strangers, he would always convince those around him that they were the ones who were mad, irrational or just plain dumb and he was behaving as a decent law-abiding citizen."
- Ralph Steadman, from the book The Joke's Over: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson
- Ralph Steadman, from the book The Joke's Over: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson
Friday, January 8, 2010
One-for-One Epiphany
After much contemplation, last weekend it finally occurred to me how I'll be able to effectively reprint Stumblebum while simultaneously implementing the fundamental philanthropic vision of Big E Toys. The journey is now underway. One for One. I am in it.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Flash of Genius: A Movie Review (sort of)
“For three-quarters of a century, the auto industry presented a compelling vision of the future. First Ford, then GM did a great job of persuading people that they knew what they were going to want next. And through technical advances and marketing artifice they made people think that the future was coming. But in the 1970s, they lost that ability to conjure up any vision of the future. Their energy went into fighting regulations and lying about what they could and couldn’t do. They couldn’t sweep the harmful aspects of cars under the rug, and they started to appear grumpy and sad rather than happy.”
- Jamie Kitman, Columnist for Automobile magazine
I can’t honestly say the book Flash of Genius was better than the movie. I never read the book. Flash of Genius (the movie) does take its name from the book. Yet it’s worth noting the book itself is actually a collection of “invention” essays (by John Seabrook), only one of which focuses on automobile wiper revolutionary Bob Kearn’s long fight with Ford Motors. But enough about the book.
For those not familiar with the movie, here’s a quick overview. It’s based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) and his long battle with the U.S. automobile industry. Bob Kearns invents a device that would eventually be used in every car in the world – an intermittent windshield wiper. Thinking he’s struck gold, these thoughts are dashed after the auto giants (Ford in particular), who originally embraced Bob’s creation unceremoniously, shunned the man who invented it. Kearns however is determined to receive recognition for his invention. He refuses to compromise his dignity and decides to take on the auto giants. The ensuing legal battle takes upwards of three decades, and along the way Kearns’ obsession drives away some of those who he held most dear. In the end, as expected, Kearns prevails. “But at what personal price?” we are left to contemplate.
The movie is essentially a David vs. Goliath story. I found it mildly entertaining yet fairly predictable. As a viewer, you expect he’ll win the court battle (it’s a Hollywood movie for goodness sake). And these expectations are fulfilled. Yet along the way we’re given a glimpse at the personal toll tenacity can take. The story is both inspirational and cautionary.
At times while watching the movie I couldn’t help get more than a bit perturbed at the depicted actions of Ford Motor Company. The cynic in me can’t help wonder sardonically whether the current state of the U.S. auto industry might have been avoided had the big three spent more time developing innovations rather than trying to steal them. Being a small business operator, and someone whose professional existence is largely predicated on developing great ideas and insights, the thought of someone stealing, profiting, and taking credit for someone else’s creation was unsettling. To its credit, Ford did offer to compensate Kearns for the intermittent windshield wiper invention. Yet they weren’t willing to give him credit, and thus in the movie the monetary offer is largely viewed as legal payoff or hush money of sorts.
I’m not naïve enough to think such things don’t actually happen on a regular basis in business (or other aspects of life). And to be honest I don’t really care much if corporations steal from other corporations. This, for better or worse, can simply be written off as “competitive intelligence.” Even Steve Jobs, whom I’ve written about regularly and hold in fairly high esteem for his innovation throughout the years, is unashamed by his (or rather his company’s) appropriation of others’ great ideas. He has oft quoted Pablo Picasso’s now relatively famous (or perhaps infamous) saying “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” Here's an excerpt from the documentary film Triumph of the Nerds.
But I take issue when less than honorable actions become more personal and affect individuals. I’m sort of a sucker for the underdog. Is this a double standard? Probably. Fundamentally there really isn’t a difference. Stealing is stealing, right? But do I feel bad about having such a double standard? Probably about as much as the executives at Ford back in the day felt about stealing Bob Kearns’ idea. Which is to say, not really.
[this post originally appeared on the Front End of Innovation blog - 1/5/10)
- Jamie Kitman, Columnist for Automobile magazine
I can’t honestly say the book Flash of Genius was better than the movie. I never read the book. Flash of Genius (the movie) does take its name from the book. Yet it’s worth noting the book itself is actually a collection of “invention” essays (by John Seabrook), only one of which focuses on automobile wiper revolutionary Bob Kearn’s long fight with Ford Motors. But enough about the book.
For those not familiar with the movie, here’s a quick overview. It’s based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) and his long battle with the U.S. automobile industry. Bob Kearns invents a device that would eventually be used in every car in the world – an intermittent windshield wiper. Thinking he’s struck gold, these thoughts are dashed after the auto giants (Ford in particular), who originally embraced Bob’s creation unceremoniously, shunned the man who invented it. Kearns however is determined to receive recognition for his invention. He refuses to compromise his dignity and decides to take on the auto giants. The ensuing legal battle takes upwards of three decades, and along the way Kearns’ obsession drives away some of those who he held most dear. In the end, as expected, Kearns prevails. “But at what personal price?” we are left to contemplate.
The movie is essentially a David vs. Goliath story. I found it mildly entertaining yet fairly predictable. As a viewer, you expect he’ll win the court battle (it’s a Hollywood movie for goodness sake). And these expectations are fulfilled. Yet along the way we’re given a glimpse at the personal toll tenacity can take. The story is both inspirational and cautionary.
At times while watching the movie I couldn’t help get more than a bit perturbed at the depicted actions of Ford Motor Company. The cynic in me can’t help wonder sardonically whether the current state of the U.S. auto industry might have been avoided had the big three spent more time developing innovations rather than trying to steal them. Being a small business operator, and someone whose professional existence is largely predicated on developing great ideas and insights, the thought of someone stealing, profiting, and taking credit for someone else’s creation was unsettling. To its credit, Ford did offer to compensate Kearns for the intermittent windshield wiper invention. Yet they weren’t willing to give him credit, and thus in the movie the monetary offer is largely viewed as legal payoff or hush money of sorts.
I’m not naïve enough to think such things don’t actually happen on a regular basis in business (or other aspects of life). And to be honest I don’t really care much if corporations steal from other corporations. This, for better or worse, can simply be written off as “competitive intelligence.” Even Steve Jobs, whom I’ve written about regularly and hold in fairly high esteem for his innovation throughout the years, is unashamed by his (or rather his company’s) appropriation of others’ great ideas. He has oft quoted Pablo Picasso’s now relatively famous (or perhaps infamous) saying “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” Here's an excerpt from the documentary film Triumph of the Nerds.
But I take issue when less than honorable actions become more personal and affect individuals. I’m sort of a sucker for the underdog. Is this a double standard? Probably. Fundamentally there really isn’t a difference. Stealing is stealing, right? But do I feel bad about having such a double standard? Probably about as much as the executives at Ford back in the day felt about stealing Bob Kearns’ idea. Which is to say, not really.
[this post originally appeared on the Front End of Innovation blog - 1/5/10)
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