Company Profile
Jazwares
Cuddle up with Bolstered by yet another standout year for Squishmallows, Jazwares comes into 2024 on a strong footing and with a slate of licensing deals that’ll offer something fresh and new to fans of the brands it works with. Toy World’s Rachael Simpson-Jones sat down with Holly Oldham, managing director UK & Nordics at Jazwares, to discuss how the company’s collaborations, new launches and focus on both people and culture continue to provide opportunities for retailers and consumers alike.
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n a year like 2023, you’d have wanted a brand like Squishmallows in your portfolio: an award-winning, year-round, global best-seller with a huge, passionate fan base and massive retail presence. Against the backdrop of an undeniably tough 12 months, with its particularly challenging Q1/2, surprisingly hard back end and very late Christmas, Squishmallows played a big part in delivering Jazwares’ 11th consecutive year of growth. “Although it’s not come easy, we’re absolutely delighted to have outperformed the industry in 2023: we wrapped up Christmas in great shape,” says Holly. “There’s no doubt a significant portion of our growth stems from Squishmallows: in fact, as I sit here today, we’re close to selling our five millionth unit of Squishmallows and Squishville here in the UK, which, once again, represents massive year-on-year growth. We’ve had amazing support at retail, with our partners throwing themselves into experiential activations. We’ve invested in amazing displays for Squishmallows and taken a varied approach to marketing, including bespoke digital campaigns and exclusive launches. Our retail partners have also really helped us expand our out-of-aisle presence, which has been a massive driver of success for the brand.” Squishmallows has also had a huge year on the licensing side, with new Disney, Pokémon and Harry
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Potter ranges launching in 2023, while Squishmallows HugMees, which skews towards a younger demographic, partnered with pre-school favourites including CoComelon in 2023. Bluey launches in the UK in 2024. Holly calls these the ‘cherry on the cake’ (the cake being the core range) - and speaking of food, Squishmallows’ tie-up with McDonalds on seasonally-themed Happy Meal campaigns went down a treat with fans, while Panini’s Squad Vibes! Sticker Collection likewise sold out at record speed. There’s also more to come from the Jazwares Pet division, which recently partnered with Pets at Home for the exclusive launch of its sell-out Squishmallows dog bed range. You could say Squishmallows was at the ‘pawfront’ of the pet industry. “Social media really is behind all this: it’s where the fans live and Squishmallows culture thrives,” Holly explains. “To date, there have been over 13b social media impressions across all platforms and the fanbase is growing all the time.” In January 2023, Jazwares unveiled BumBumz, a range of cute plush with weighted bottoms Holly refers to as ‘the cheeky younger cousins of Squish’. The response during previews was overwhelmingly positive, but trend-led plush is a competitive category and Jazwares knows it has to nurture this range, to build it out in an authentic,
