Brand Profile - Creature Cases

Creature feature

Last year, PMI Kids’ World was announced as the master toy partner for Creature Cases from Sony Pictures Television – Kids (SPT-Kids), an animated pre-school show that blends mystery, action, education and comedy for boys and girls aged 3-6. Omer Dekel, PMI’s CEO, tells Toy World why he believes the mystery of which preschool property retailers should get behind next has been solved.

The pre-school space is very competitive in properties: what makes Creature Cases stand out?

As a parent, whether it’s food or entertainment, I want my kids to consume ‘healthy’ things, and Creature Cases is ‘healthy’ content. In each episode, detective duo Sam Snow and Kit Casey work together to crack cases, armed with secret intel from their miniature contacts, the Mice Squad. The result is a show that mixes real, accessible zoological facts with seriously cool detective action and storylines that teach kids about helping others and being kind and brave. The producers are the same team who created Octonauts.

With its diverse cast of animal characters and thrilling detective adventures, Creature Cases effortlessly translates into a toyetic universe, offering opportunities for action figures, play sets and collectibles inspired by its engaging storylines and lovable protagonists.

Research by SPT – Kids’ Content Insights team has shown that Creature Cases appeals very strongly to its core target audience, ranking alongside Universal’s Gabby’s Dollhouse in terms of its popularity (46% of respondents say they ‘Like it a lot’). That’s incredible - once a child watches the show, they fall in love with it and return to it again and again. I may be biased, but when it comes to my own children, I will always nudge them towards Creature Cases over any other show. I love it, and so do they.

How will PMI be bringing Creature Cases to life with its master toy range?

As part of the support PMI and SPT - Kids is putting behind Creature Cases, a large focus group of US  families was asked for its thoughts about the show and the toys they want to see based on it – is there a better way of ensuring you’re producing what people want?

Vehicles emerged as the top choice, with the R.O.N Jet taking the lead, closely followed by the Clade Cycle and Mice Squad Van. One of our standout offerings is the Clade Cycle with figure, set to launch at an incredibly competitive RRP of £9.99. These toys are almost complete replicas from the show, ensuring that young fans can immerse themselves in the world of Creature Cases with unparalleled authenticity and quality at an unbeatable price point.

We’ll also have a core range of 8” plush retailing for £10 RRP, as well as 30cm and 40cm huggable feature plush of Kit and Sam. The 40cm plush is always a best-seller on Amazon. Kit’s backpack from the show also ranked highly during our research. Available with one of the Kit feature plush, the backpack will play sounds from the show and is big enough for pre-schoolers to wear on their own adventures. (My four-year-old daughter absolutely loves her and wears it everywhere.)

As well as Vehicles and Plush, our master toy range will include Action Figures, Playsets, and Collectibles at attractive price points. The R.O.N. Jet play set will be a higher-ticket item, but that’s because of its awesome features: kids will be able to drive the Clade Cycle into it, just as Kit and Sam do in the show.

Why do you think PMI managed to land the master toy partnership?

PMI’s spotters flagged Creature Cases to me early on. I gathered my kids in front of the TV and announced that instead of a bedtime story, we were going to watch Creature Cases on Netflix. But when I turned on the TV, I could see the first six episodes had already been watched. My son was amazed I hadn’t heard of it, so straight away, I knew I was onto something special and have championed the property from the very beginning.

I met Ron Allen, EVP Franchise Management & Commercial at SPT- Kids, at the Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2022. He didn’t know much about PMI or about me, but I was able to show him a presentation that completely changed his assumptions about the company and made it clear I wouldn’t settle for anything less than the master toy licence for Creature Cases. Ron and Lisa [Macdonald, SVP Commercial & Franchise Development at SPT- Kids] are wonderful to work with. They could see our passion for the property and so the deal was agreed. We’re very fast to market and SPT – Kids appreciated our willingness to work to their timescale on the range.

Whether we’re creating toys based on Creature Cases, Stumble Guys or any of the other licences in our portfolio, we always remain both modest and humble. Our job is to create what kids want, not what we think they should want.

What does the property offer from a retail perspective? Why should retailers get behind it?

There’s a vacuum in the pre-school market for an adventure/mystery series for pre-schoolers. It’s been this way since PJ Masks, which used to dominate the category, started to fade away. Yes, there’s Paw Patrol, but that’s now settled into an evergreen cycle of content and toys, which sets it apart. When I go to meetings with retail buyers in the US and EMEA, they admit there’s a gap on their shelves for this sort of property, but Pre-School buyers are wary: they’ve seen a lot of failures. Which is why the facts and figures that back up what I’m saying are so important. We’ve studied the market, and we are confident we can fill this gap.

How will you and the licensor support your toy range at retail?

Two more seasons of Creature Cases have been greenlit which will run through to the end of 2026 on Netflix. FTA broadcasting in EMEA starts this summer/autumn, our master toy range launches spring/summer 2025, and we’ll be announcing our UK broadcast partner soon.

We’re planning huge retail support, from POS solutions and on-shelf statements to special days out at major zoological parks across the globe, such as Berlin Zoo in Germany. These will help kids join the dots between the animals they see in the show and the real things and inspire an even greater love for them.

Sony is investing seven figures in YouTube activity for 2024, which will support the show on YouTube. Bandai is distributing the toy line for us in the UK and France, and we’ve brought Mark Kingston on board as our new lead of Licensing and Business Development, in an advisory role. That in itself is quite a statement about our intentions. Mark has a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the pre-school sector and is ideally placed to help us on this journey.