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What makes a brand unique and distinguishable?
Fehn has been working on finding the answer for 75 years. In its anniversary year, the company is convinced that it has found its own signature style. Ulrich Texter spoke to company director Arnold Fehn jr.
Progress is a snail, as we all know, but even snails leave their mark, and they don't even stop at regions where, when the country was still divided, mockers once said that news only became public when it was written in the history books. That is history. The brave new world of the internet has long since found its way to Rödental in Upper Franconia, where the leading specialist for baby toys, Fehn, is looking back on 75 years of company history this July. ‘Life’, says Arnold Fehn Jr, ‘actually used to stop in Coburg. You had to travel to Munich or Berlin to keep up to date and find out about trends in the industry.’
That too is history. Today, online is not only a blessing for consumers, but also for Fehn, which can not only present its products in this way, but also uses the internet specifically for market research. And the company in Rödental has mastered the relevant marketing buzzwords to promote itself; it presents itself as innovative and cosmopolitan; it researches the depths of the Internet, but remains down-to-earth despite all the progress. The company holds on to traditional values, presents itself as a family business, concentrates on what it knows inside out and knows that it operates in a conservative segment in which the degree of innovation tends to be incremental, as Arnold Fehn Jr. admits. ‘What makes us really special is that we are strongest in the product categories in which we operate and we think very carefully about which categories we can even connect to.’ There is a simple reason for the high degree of specialisation. In everything the Upper Franconians do, they say in Rödental, the focus is on quality and safety. By concentrating on core competences, the company has succeeded in giving its products its own signature. Keep it simple, reduction as an answer to the temptation to diversify in order to generate more growth. ‘We reinvent ourselves every year’, says Arnold Fehn jr, ‘and consistently push ahead with things like the Natur line, but we always remain recognisable. That is progress for us and we will continue to do so.’
Small beginnings
Fehn, once a ‘mixed goods manufacturer’ for toys, went through several metamorphoses in the 75 years until the company set the course under Arnold Fehn Jr. in the mid-1990s that resulted in today's success. ‘Nothing remains stable, things move on in rapid steps with completely new possibilities,’ says Arnold Fehn Sr. looking back on the company's eventful history. He took over the company from founder Arthur Fehn in 1974, until the third generation, Arnold Fehn Jr. in 1994 and Dr.-Ing. Achim Fehn in 2010, took over the reins of the business. Arnold Fehn Jr. ‘What we have been doing for 30 years is already stable,’ Arnold Fehn Jr. qualifies his father's dictum, ‘because we remain true to our philosophy.’ This includes not only developing and designing its own collections and those for customers, but also producing them in its two own production facilities in Sri Lanka.
Fehn originally produced porcelain heads and dolls made of papier-mâché, later adding mechanical toys, plush and fabric toys. Baby toys followed in the eighties. Arnold Fehn Sr. laid the foundations for today's brand with the decision to produce in Sri Lanka in 1982. ‘I didn't go to China’, he says, ‘because I was afraid that an article that wasn't protected would immediately be made by a competitor.’ Japan with its mechanical toys and Korea with its inexpensive plush, supported by rising wages and social security contributions, which made production in ‘Franconian China’ around Sonneberg increasingly difficult, finally drove Fehn to the Far East. While the majority made the pilgrimage to China, Arnold Fehn Sr. decided in favour of the island.
Restart of the brand
In Sri Lanka, production initially took place as FECO Lanka in rented premises. In 1995, when foreign companies were able to acquire land, Paradise Toys began to set up and produce near Colombo. The second momentous decision was also made in the mid-1990s, when the company began to focus exclusively on baby toys made of plush and fabric. Today, around 1,800 employees at two locations manufacture Fehn products as well as baby toys for retail groups. ‘In-house production is a very strong unique selling point’, says Arnold Fehn jr, ‘because we not only develop and design complete collections, but also produce all product lines ourselves.’
The main change since the mid-1990s has been the customer structure. Whereas 30 years ago, the market was characterised by department stores' groups, traditional catalogue retailers and specialist toy retailers, today it is dominated by online retailers. ‘Specialist retailers still play an important role,’ says Arnold Fehn jr. ‘They will continue to do so in the future, but they are organised differently today.’ To mark the 75th anniversary, a social media campaign is planned for the second half of the year. The celebrations will be modest and the focus will be on what characterises the brand. ‘We also have a very simple objective for 2024,’ says Arnold Fehn jr. ‘We want to be a little better every year than in previous years.’
