Zuru - Small World

Toy World spoke to Will Collinson, UK general manager at Zuru, about the plans to expand the company’s hit collectible range 5 Surprise Mini Brands, and to find out exactly why small is so big this year.

5 Surprise Toy Mini Brands launched late 2020; how has the reception been in the marketplace?

The initial sales and customer reaction to 5 Surprise Toy Mini Brands has been phenomenal. This is without doubt the ‘year of the mini’, and Toy Mini Brands comes hot on the heels of the hugely successful autumn/winter launch of our licensed food shopping brand collectible, Mini Brands. In a matter of weeks, Mini Brands shot into the top 30 ranking items in NPD, which, given the low ASP, is remarkable. We therefore expect Toy Mini Brands to follow suit. If brand growth in the USA is anything to go by – which is 18 months ahead of the UK in the 5 Surprise brand lifecycle - the best is yet to come. We’re obviously seeing mini-mania take over the kid demographic, but it’s also making huge strides in the 13+ TikTok-driven space too. In the UK, shop closures have caused some challenges for the Collectibles category.

Has this impacted Toy Mini Brands?

Store closures have been especially challenging for the specialists and retailers deemed as ‘nonessential’. However, the toy industry is wonderfully resilient and it’s great to hear how affected retailers have taken these challenges in their stride and pivoted in relation to the changing shopping habits, with a focus on eCommerce capabilities when it comes to lower price points. Having said that, lockdown measures have undoubtedly played into the hands of certain channels. Grocers, which usually enjoy a substantial share of the collectibles market as it is, have clearly been unable to capitalise on the additional shoppers browsing their aisles seeking 5 Surprise.

How does social media tie into a product like this, and how was it utilised for the launch?

Mini Brands exploded into North America in 2019 and became an instant sell-out. The brand went viral on TikTok in April, continued growing on the app and driving huge conversion at POS, then went on to be the No. 1 googled toy in December; the importance of social media was clear from the start. Prior to the launch of the UK range, we saw UK super-fans, driven by the TikTok hype, prepared to pay up to 10x more for the North America capsules from US sites. The virality and huge engagement across these platforms is what confirmed our decision to go with a 100% digital marketing strategy, which has shown phenomenal results to date. #MiniBrands on TikTok recently surpassed 1.3b views, with the official page garnering 325,000 followers in just nine months. We have created a specialist team that works closely with some of the biggest creators across Instagram and TikTok to create funny and engaging content, from unboxings and memes to our favourite Mini Brands swapping pranks.

What expansion of the range can we expect this year?

The Mini Brands and Toy Mini Brands strategy sees a new wave of miniatures released every six months, driving the collectability we know is so vital in this space. From Easter, fans can find allnew Mini Brands in the assortment, with a total of over 160 products now made mini in Series 1. This autumn/winter we will also be introducing a new wave of Toy Mini Brands and debuting the muchanticipated Series 2 of Mini Brands. We will also be introducing new play sets across both ranges that really facilitate the role-play element of the range and serve as the perfect display for avid collectors.

How will Zuru be supporting Toy Mini Brands this year, both in terms of marketing and of retail partnerships?

As ever, we have a plethora of retail partnership initiatives in place, and we will continue to engage with all our key partners on how best to bring our brands to life at store level. One of Zuru’s core tenets is to delight our customers wherever they are, and 5 Surprise is no exception to this.

Regarding marketing support, we are continuing with our digital strategy and are working closely with partners such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. It’s also finally time to see Hammy’s adventures in our UK creative. Hammy is the superstar of all our YouTube videos and bumpers. We will adopt an always-on approach to reach kids and their parents with this hamster’s adventures in her Mini Brands house.

For older fans, the key channel will still be TikTok, where our talent ambassadors will share new unboxing and prank videos before Easter to launch Series 1 Wave 2 of Mini Brands, arriving in stores soon.