Brand Profile - Blue's Clues and You!

Something for everyone

This month’s cover star Flair Just Play is launching its master toy range for ViacomCBS’ hugely popular preschool show, Blue’s Clues and You! Toy World spoke to Nicola Bergot, Flair’s commercial director, and Charlotte Rodgers, marketing manager for the Just Play brand, about why the property is a such a good fit, and what retailers can expect from the launch range.

Nicola Bergot

Charlotte Rodgers

Just Play was announced as Global Master Toy partner for Blue’s Clues in 2020; what does the property offer from a product development perspective?

Charlotte: The show and all the accompanying content, whether on its hugely successful global YouTube channel or on the Blue’s Clues & You! Bedtime stories podcast, is all about pre-school readiness, giving children a voice with an overriding theme of friendship. Blue is a pre-school-aged puppy herself, so preschoolers find the show hugely relatable, and they can all learn together with the help of the presenter, Josh. The toy range is very closely linked to all the concepts seen in the show and reflects the interactive nature of it too. For example, the toy line offers kids their very own Handy Dandy Notebook, while the role-play segment allows them to follow the paw print clues to find out what Blue wants to do. The role-play collection also supports the development of storytelling skills, while the collectible figures and play sets are great for fostering imaginative play.

What makes Just Play a good fit for Blue’s Clues?

Nicola: Just Play has an enviable history of creating fantastic products. From plush to play sets and role-play, Just Play demonstrates an eye for detail in creating show-to-shelf products that enable children to emulate their heroes, play like their most beloved TV characters do, and replicate the stories they see on their favourite TV programmes. The company has an excellent reputation for developing licensed toys that capture kids’ imaginations, having brought recent hits to market such as PJ Masks, Spirit, Doc McStuffins and Ryan’s World. The show-to-shelf concept is important to children, and Just Play’s new range perfectly interprets Blue’s Clues & You! in a way fans will love.

What will the launch range comprise? And when will it hit shelves?

Charlotte: The launch range comprises high quality plush, a selection of feature plush and, of course, plenty of figures, play sets, and all the most recognisable role-play items from the show. The range launched in the US in the final quarter of 2020 and has already achieved No. 1 new licence globally for 2020. We can see what consumers are reacting most positively to over in the US, and we are using consumer feedback and sales data to ensure that our UK range features all of the most popular lines, plus a few different items which we know are perfect for UK consumers. Peek-A-Blue and Peek-A-Boo Magenta are stand out items in the US, and we believe they will be equally strong here in the UK. We will support these toys with kid- and parent-targeted creatives, as well as media activity.

What new products can we expect to see later on this year?

Charlotte: We will be introducing Dance Along Blue, who dances either faster or slower depending on the tempo at which the child plays their guitar; Blue also moves her feet and ears and wiggles her bottom to the Blue’s Clues music, which kids are sure to find funny. The Blue House Playset is the perfect place for kids to play with all their Blue’s Clues & You! collectible figures. This set features a number of built-in clues and surprises that really tap into the concepts and themes kids see in the show.

How else do these toys reflect the core themes from the show?

Charlotte: Children can enjoy finding and tracking clues with their very own Handy Dandy Notebooks or even playing Josh’s guitar just like he does in the show. The Mailbox lets children post their own letters and clues, and then retrieve them. It also plays recognisable sounds and phrases from the show to add to the fun.

What marketing support will the Blue’s Clues range benefit from?

Charlotte: The range will be supported by a strong 360-degree marketing campaign. We have developed a number of creatives that cover a wide variety of items from the toy line and have been made with parents in mind, as well as children. We will also be ensuring that parents, gifters and fans of the show are seeing our ranges not only on their TV screens but also on their favourite VOD platforms, across YouTube, and in their social media feeds. We’ll also have some high profile faces showing off our favourite items. Finally, to ensure that online shoppers convert to purchase, we will be investing in the bottom part of the funnel too. We will also be partnering with Nickelodeon to bring this new brand to life with on-air, online, print and in-store activity planned.

How will Flair be supporting its retail partners this year?

Nicola: In addition to Blue’s Clues & You!, we have some great new Just Play ranges and standout items in our autumn/winter line, from our new range of Disney Doorables to a new master toy line for Disney Mickey & Minnie, which will be hitting shelves in the second half of this year. In addition, we have a strong range of evergreen items - Disney Princess, Doc McStuffins, Barbie, and Slinky – as well as a new role-play range of Love, Diana products that is just about to launch.

We have many exciting new ranges coming through from our GP Flair portfolio too. Godzilla Vs Kong Action Figures will support this year’s new movie, and we’ll be launching some strong arts & crafts lines too. IDO3D is being relaunched alongside the ideal line for the younger crafter, Jewel Secrets, and new additions to our Sneak Artz range.

We will continue to support our range of classic retro best-sellers, Plasticine, Spirograph, Mr Frosty and Stickle Bricks, and we are introducing Sevi, an educational range of wooden toys. We are also excited to be bolstering our portfolio with the luxurious plush range from Trudi.

We have certainly done a lot of learning over the past year, and we have become more nimble and adaptable in the process. We will be taking this learning into post-lockdown life to maximise opportunities and ensure that they deliver the biggest impact for us and for all our retail partners going forwards.

We would also like to say thank you to all our suppliers, agencies and retail customers for supporting us and being so flexible since life changed a year ago. We are confident that great toys will always prevail; we have some great new launches and plans for autumn/winter and beyond.