Richard Gottlieb is an internationally known expert, consultant,
speaker and commentator on the business of play. He is a visionary who
foresaw the convergence of entertainment and play (traditional toy,
video game, digital and children’s media) into one play industry. He
is highly valued for his ability to visualize how to survive and
thrive in the 21st century play economy. Richard is the CEO of
“Global Toy Experts,” a global consultancy and resource for
knowledge and guidance for competing in the 21st century play and
children’s media businesses. Richard, who holds an MBA in Global
Management, is also the Publisher of Global Toy News, the industry
resource for toy news, toy trends and analysis of the business of
play. In addition, Richard is the Founder of the World Congress of
Play, the only conference to bring all of the play industries together
in one place at one time. The Congress met in San Francisco in 2013
and 2014 with the 2015 conference scheduled for Conferences scheduled
for Verona, Italy. The conferences have featured speakers from the
Walt Disney Company, Hasbro, Mattel, Activision, Saban, Nickelodeon,
Six Flags, Sears, Toca Boca and other leading purveyors of play.
Richard is a recognized advocate for gender-neutral marketing and has
held influential “Girls and Toys” conferences in New York,
Nuremberg and Los Angeles. Richard has strong, global industry
contacts at the highest levels and is accordingly able to secure hard
to get appointments with industry leaders. Richard is frequently
interviewed by media worldwide, and has been called on by the BBC, ABC
News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Newsweek and other media
outlets. Richard is author of the book, “Ambassador to the Kingdom
of Wal-Mart.” Richard has spoken to toy industry conferences in the
United States, Brazil, Hong Kong, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Russia and
Denmark. In recognition of his prominence in the toy industry, Richard
was appointed a voting member of the National Toy Hall of Fame
committee.
