News

Mark, you’re the M in WMC; the William Mark Corporation. What’s the W?
My first name’s William! So there you go…

Simple as that! Tick! So… Before Feisty Pets, for what were you best known?
My first big hit was called X-zylo – a flying cylinder that can be thrown over 200 yards. We sold millions, and that’s what launched the company.

The X-zylo… That’s the flying gyroscope? I’m familiar with it! I didn’t realise that was yours…
Yes. That’s my first big hit; I came up with it when I was very young. My Mystery UFO and Flitter Fairies were also big international hits for us. Our biggest-ever hit, though, was the Air Swimmers… Giant, remote-control flying sharks and clownfish. That generated an international fad.

Yes! I think Jonathan Ross had one on his TV show here in the UK. Everyone was asking about them. So, now… Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of plush – but I think Feisty Pets are absolutely fantastic! How do you describe the concept?
That’s funny, I’m not a big plush fan either! I’ve always been mostly into inventing flying toys, and plush had never been on my radar… So inventing a successful plush line was never in the plan! We call them the bad boys of plush; the Anti-Care Bears. Stuffed attitude!

Anti-Care Bears! That’s great!
The Feisty Pets also have an edgy sense of humour along the lines of Bugs Bunny, or Bart Simpson. You can see that on our Feisty Films channel on YouTube – we’re now up to the 127th episode, and 300 million views. Our fans really respond well to that irreverence.

And how did that idea come about?
I’m an artist and always have been fascinated with how a slight change in eyebrows can make a tremendous change in facial expression. I tried to design a mechanism that would have the most dramatic mood change with the least amount of mechanical movement.

Read the entire article at Mojo-Nation here:
https://mojo-nation.com/mark-forti-on-the-remarkable-story-of-feisty-pets-and-the-worst-way-to-invent-new-toys/

Our new Feisty Pet video on Viral Thread got over 20 million views, 350,000 shares and 50,000 comments in just 3 days!! (click here). 

And Feisty Pets dominated the holiday best sellers on Amazon toys with 9 out of 20 of the top 20 best sellers-- including #1 Best Seller and #2 Best Seller!

Insider Design posted our Feisty Pets video and have gained over a million views so far!

These stuffed animals go from cute to terrifying (via Insider Picks).

The Daily Mail wrote a story about Fiesty Pets that is getting a lot of shares! Check it out:

Would YOU buy these toys for kids? Fluffy creatures look adorable at first but then transform into scary animals with one squeeze

And over at ViralNova this Feisty Pets story is going viral!

These Adorable Plushies Are Hiding A Sinister Secret

And now on Amazon Feisty Pets is ranked #1 Best Seller in the Plush Interactive Toys category!

We love how people can't get enough Feisty Pets! Check out the new Feisty Pets available now!

Buzzfeed Considers Feisty Pets for “Best Toy of 2016”! Brand new Feisty Pets from William Mark Corporation are catching the world’s attention. A Feisty Pets video posted on Reddit/Imgur less than 24 hours ago already has over 600,000 views:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/4pv8c2/feisty_pets/
 
AND, Buzzfeed just named Feisty Pets a contender for “Best Toy of 2016”! Check out the article at:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/feistypets/surprise-contender-for-best-toy-xmas-2016-2gdfq

Feisty Pets go from cute to feisty with just a squeeze to the back of the head. Choose from 4 animals: bear, dog, cat and monkey – and more animals are currently in production. Which one do you like most? Any ideas for future Feisty Pets?

By Matthew Wall, Business reporter, BBC News -
Inflatable flying clown fish This inflatable flying clown fish "swims" past a fish tank in Air Swimmers' hit viral video

How do you tell the world about your remote-controlled flying fish toys?

Go the traditional route of advertising in print, on TV and online at potentially great expense, or simply make a video?

Read more

By Ben Paynter - Want To Make A Hit Toy Like Air Swimmers? Engineer The Video Before The Product. Instead of making a toy for kids, Mark Forti made one for YouTube--and now all his products are crafted for virality.

Air Swimmers was one of the hottest toys in the U.S. last year, and yet the company behind it didn’t spend a dime on advertising. Instead, Mark Forti, founder and CEO of the William Mark Corporation, filmed a gag reel about the surprising ways that people could actually use Air Swimmers--those remote controlled inflatable sharks or Nemo-fish--and uploaded it to YouTube. In one shot, the nimble mini-floater exits an elevator in a crowded office building trailed by an operator in full scuba gear. In another, the shark looms over a cat hunting a smaller fish in a fishbowl, scaring the bejesus out of it. Forti sold millions of the $40-dollar toys as a result of his YouTube antics, but he’s more interested in his view count: It’s at nearly 9 million and counting. "I’m a millionaire in the attention economy," he says.

Read more

Putting a New Spin on Throw Toys (Los Angeles Times)

William Forti spent the Cold War as a General Dynamics executive, planning missile production in Pomona. Then he lost his job and joined 126,000 other unemployed aerospace workers in California.

Forti packed his business suit away in the closet last year and embarked on his own defense conversion program, seeking to market a flying toy that would rival one of the most popular playthings of the past three decades; the Frisbee.

Forti and his son Mark have invented a one-ounce plastic ring that can be thrown the length of two football fields. They are hoping to break the world Frisbee record set last summer at an international championship game in San Diego.