Whoop it up: Products gets exposure

Clearwater toy entrepreneur Jay Kamhi got what he called a dream phone call in late July: TV personality Whoopi Goldberg wanted to display his line of plush toys, Vamplets, on the popular show “The View” on ABC, during a Whoopi's Favorite Things segment.

Kamhi says he excitedly shipped a batch of Vamplets to Goldberg's staff in New York. Vamplets, Kamhi told the Business Observer in June, are “cute, cuddly, and rotten-to-the-core babies.” The world the toys live in, he says, Gloomvania, is full of baby vampires, werewolves, ghost ponies and dragons. Working with Gayle Middleton, who designed billion-dollar toy brands such as My Little Ponies and Littlest Pet Shop, Khami has spent more than $500,000 to create a blockbuster buzz with Vamplets.

Goldberg chatted up the products, including companion books and vials of fake blood, on the Aug. 6 episode, taped in front of a live audience. She told the audience they would all get some Vamplets at the end of the show, part of a package of her favorite things. “They are a little creepy,” Goldberg says in a cutesy voice on the show, “but they are so fun.”

Vamplets are currently sold online and through tradeshows and a few boutiques. Kamhi says the Goldberg exposure follows some toy industry insight he heard a few months ago from a friend of Seth McFarlane, who created the animated hit TV show “Family Guy.” The wisdom: “Nobody likes you until someone else likes you.”

Kamhi hopes Goldberg is that someone. “This is what we always dreamed of doing,” Kamhi tells Coffee Talk. “It was amazing.”