Brand Profile - Gabby's Dollhouse

Gabby’s Dollhouse the cat’s whiskers

She may only have arrived on screens in 2020, but Gabby – the eponymous star of DreamWorks Animation’s Gabby’s Dollhouse –has amassed a huge and loyal global fanbase. Now one of the fastest growing brands in the pre-school space, Gabby’s Dollhouse continues to open doors into new product categories for licensees, while the content pipeline stretches well into the future. Rachael Simpson-Jones caught up with Paul Bufton, vice president EMEA Consumer Products, Universal Products & Experiences (UP&E), to find out how the studio is ensuring brand longevity – and offering plenty of opportunities to join the (dollhouse) party.

When it comes to pre-school entertainment, there’s no shortage of content. Some new properties fail to break into this competitive space and quietly drift away. Others find their niche and tick along nicely, enjoying multiple seasons and humble success among smaller, but loyal audiences. Then there are those that arrive waving pom-poms and throwing confetti in the air, become an overnight sensation and raise the bar for all those to follow. Gabby’s Dollhouse is the latter.

An original mixed-media series from DreamWorks Animation, every episode starts with the real-life Gabby (played by the effervescent Laila Lockhart Kraner) unboxing a surprise, before donning her magical cat headband and jumping into a fantastical animated world full of cute cat characters that live inside her dollhouse. Created and executive produced by celebrated storytellers Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey (Blue’s Clues, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Team Umizoomi, Super Why!), Gabby’s Dollhouse is high-energy, colourful, imaginative and cute. Series 8, which launched on Netflix in August, became the No.1 most watched kids show within the first three days of premiering and charted as an overall Top 10 series in 57 countries on Netflix. The title has spent six weeks in the Global English TV Top 10 list on Netflix (as of 5th September) while the Gabby & Friends YouTube channel has amassed over 1b views. And then there’s the Gabby’s Dollhouse app, which has been downloaded more than 26m times and is currently the No. 1 creativity app for kids, and the official music, which has racked up over 165m streams across Google Play, Spotify and Apple Music.

Paul Bufton – himself a massive cat fan (no bias here, then) – says the show’s uniqueness sets it apart from everything else in the pre-school space, as well as its ability to blend the most popular aspects of the franchise together.

“The music is incredible, the characters are fabulous, and Gabby is truly aspirational; she’s friendly and kids can imagine her being their best friend,” he tells Toy World. “The surprise unboxing element at the top of every episode, which becomes the catalyst for the story to follow, feels relevant and on-trend with today’s kids, as does Gabby’s miniature world. Tiny is big right now, as we all know, and Gabby’s dollhouse is the ultimate dollhouse, with a different theme in each room to discover: music, cooking, crafting, science, stories. Bring all that together with an adorable cast of cats and you can’t go wrong. Who doesn’t love cats? Well, apart from dogs.”

Paul and his team are understandably delighted with the success of Gabby’s Dollhouse to date, noting that while they always felt they were onto a winning property, its stratospheric success has surpassed even their expectations. Paul credits the ‘incredible’ team at DreamWorks Animation for Gabby’s performance. While pre-launch test screenings give a good indication of what kind of reception a new property can expect to receive, he says that until it’s actually out there in the wild, so to speak, much is still unknown - and success is far from guaranteed.

Paul also tips his hat (or should that be magical cat headband?) to master toy partner Spin Master, which has been on board as a licensee since before the first series even dropped. Its launch range of play sets, plush and collectibles hit global markets in 2021 and instantly became of the most sought-after new product ranges, while in 2022, hero playset Gabby’s Purrfect Dollhouse made its way onto numerous Top Christmas Toys lists including DreamToys. Since then, more than a million of the very accessibly priced Purrfect Dollhouses have been sold. And this year, Spin Master’s Gabby’s Dollhouse Girl Doll has already topped John Lewis’ list of 2023 Christmas best-sellers predictions.

“Spin Master is an incredible partner for us and has done a stellar job with Gabby’s,” Paul enthuses. “We’ve worked with Spin for many years. The team brings such passion, energy and creativity to our brands, and Gabby’s is no exception.”

The property is also building its presence in construction, with Lego recently launching a new range of Gabby’s Dollhouse Lego sets. This, too, has been a huge success, with strong momentum behind the range no doubt fuelling further product development. Each set hones in on key moments and play patterns from the show: the big-build Gabby’s Dollhouse set mirrors the rooms in the dollhouse from the show, while the Kitty Fairy’s Garden Party, Bakey with Cakey and Gabby & MerCat's Ship & Spa sets all feature figures based on some of the most popular feline characters from the content.

Licensed bedding from Dreamtex has been a highlight of the consumer products slate too, finding its way into the selections of several toy specialty retailers which wouldn’t ordinarily entertain Softlines of this nature. Paul adds: “To me, this speaks volumes about the fact retailers see Gabby’s Dollhouse as a fully rounded proposition; it’s not just about toys, integral as they are. Unsurprisingly, given the themes within the show, Party Goods from Procos have been huge too – every kid now wants a Gabbythemed party.”

The vibrant, joyful nature of the content and its aesthetically pleasing colour palette have also been reflected in licensed CP lines from partners including Ravensburger (puzzles), Posh Paws (plush), Tonies (audio content), Akroyds and Fashion UK (DTR nightwear and underwear), Signature Publishing (kids’ magazines), Alligator Books and Hodder & Stoughton (publishing), Crayola (crafts), Cartamundi (games), KidDesigns (expanded toy lines) and Clementoni (puzzles).

Gabby’s rise to prominence may have been rapid, but UP&E and DreamWorks are focused on turning the property into a long-term proposition through considerate, thoughtful and methodical licensing partnerships. All new ranges have to tap into the themes of friendship, imagination, discovery and adventure: you won’t see any licensing just for the sake of it. Based on the success of Dreamtex’s bedding, Paul views Softlines categories such as fashion as areas in which the property can realise strong growth. Nightwear and underwear will be expanded, with new clothing lines arriving at major retail partners from spring/summer 2024. Bedding has also opened the door to conversations with homewares licensees keen to explore how Gabby’s Dollhouse can increase its presence in homes across the world. Within Toys and Hardlines, meanwhile, there’s scope to move into outdoor play across bikes, scooters, playhouses and much more.

Gabby’s Dollhouse continues to stand out at retail. Circana data from EOY 2022 ranked Gabby’s Dollhouse as the top new preschool property in the UK toy market and the No. 3 licence in Pre-school Figures/Playsets in Q4, and when Spin Master’s Gabby’s Purrfect Dollhouse launched, Smyths Toys brought forward pre-sales by two months due to the high search term demand on its website. Smyths was also at the centre of the phenomenally popular Gabby on the Go! retail tour, which kicked off in May of this year. The immersive fan experience, which Paul describes as ‘no small undertaking’, spanned six UK retail locations - and four in France - before heading to the US from summer until autumn, with coast-tocoast stops tied to major retailers as well as theme park activations at Universal Destinations & Experiences resorts. Answering the question ‘How do we take Gabby to the next level?’, Smyths, DreamWorks and UP&E worked together to create an experiential event like no other, one at which fans could have their picture taken with the Gabby costume character, collect stamps in their Cat Passport and explore zones that recreated many of the rooms featured in the show, including Gabby’s Bedroom, Cakey’s Kitchen, SS Mercat, Kitty Fairy’s Garden and DJ Catnip’s Music Bus.

Gabby on the Go! was a hit. A big hit. Around 30% more consumers arrived than anticipated, with no barriers noticed in terms of weather or location; the attendees were hardcore Gabby fans and accordingly turned up in their droves. This resulted in a significant CP sales uplift in participating stores and nationwide.  “Gabby on the Go! was a career defining moment for me,” Paul says. “There we were, giving so many kids, and by extension their families, these incredible moments and memories, seeing the joy on their faces as they were taking pictures with Gabby. The roadshow truly was incredible.”

UP&E works closely with License to PR on press and social media coverage, a partnership which saw influencers and celebrities such as Rachel Riley and her husband Pacha Kovalev, and James and Ola Jordon, plus their families, turn up to mark the start of the tour. The Gabby on the Go! national PR campaign reached an incredible 380m households, substantially furthering brand reach and awareness among kids and parents. You also didn’t have to attend a Gabby on the Go! event to be aware of the roadshow: national press and celebrity weeklies covered the activation, which spread the message even more.

Gabby’s is well on track to become a global top preschool property, which is no mean feat considering the show only launched three years ago and that 2023 is the first full year for CP in the UK. The momentum it has gathered so far is allowing the teams at UP&E and DreamWorks to tap into key pillars moving forward, such as music, while the property will also enjoy a much stronger presence at Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX) theme parks in Orlando – a favourite destination among UK holidayers – and Hollywood. A core theme throughout 2024 will be ‘Celebration’. This will be reflected at retail, in CP launches, at parks and in the content. The property will also be supported by new influencer and celebrity partnerships plus a diverse new slate of content creators, while ongoing promotions, PR and media coverage will also help keep Gabby’s Dollhouse front of mind.

All this will be up for discussion at Brand Licensing Europe, which takes place 4th-6th October. There, visitors to Stand A171 will be able to find out more about the roadmap in place for Gabby’s Dollhouse, which extends throughout 2024 and beyond. Gabby is loved and supported across all Universal divisions, each of which is leaning into separate strengths and areas of expertise to ensure brand longevity. The key is being able to join up the dots, sticking to the strategy and nailing the execution.

“When all our teams are able to rally behind one specific moment, IP or franchise, it really creates a strong sense of continuity across the business,” Paul explains. “Our teams have done an excellent job in making it happen.”

Paul adds that UP&E is very much positioning itself as its partners’ partner of choice, a theme that also runs across the UDX business, which views its locations as destinations of choice for global holidayers. While part of this depends upon being strategic, creative, entrepreneurial and organised, being a partner of choice also means coming to the table with an abundance of high-quality content with broad appeal. Which, of course, UP&E does, from pre-school with the likes of Gabby right the way through to its adult horror portfolio, Universal Classic Monsters.

“We feel very lucky to have an amazing content pipeline coming through; we can talk about 2024 all day long, but we’ve also got new content slated for 2025, 2026 – we’re even pushing out to 2030 on some franchises at the moment,” Paul finishes. “That’s why our partners can be confident that our properties offer long-term opportunities for success well into the future.”