Company Profile
Squishful thinking As Jazwares looks forward to celebrating its 25th anniversary and the 10th year of its UK office, Toy World catches up with senior vice president, Europe, Jonny Taylor and managing director of UK & Nordics, Holly Oldham, to chat about the year ahead, the runaway successes of Squishmallows, direct distribution of the Pokémon range and further European expansion.
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azwares enjoyed a recordbreaking year in 2021, fuelled by its phenomenal portfolio of brands and with a host of new launches in the pipeline, another bumper year is on the cards for 2022.
ultimately attributes Jazwares’ success to “having the right brands with some great products.” She adds that much of the company’s growth in recent years has come from acquisitions made by the company, with Wicked Cool Toys in 2019 followed by Kelly Toy in 2020, a move which brought the Squishmallows brand into the fold.
“Pokémon is an absolutely phenomenal brand which is on fire at the moment,” says Jonny. “We have a very exciting product range coming for 2022 and onwards, and we are excited to now be working with retailers and servicing their needs directly, with one of the most exciting properties on the planet right now.”
“A real highlight for us has been growing the business every year in the UK over the last nine years, and we are confident, based on the product portfolio we have, and traction at retail, that next year will be our 10th growth year in a row,” adds SVP Jonny Taylor.
Pokémon will be one of the main focuses for London Toy Fair at the end of this month and Jazwares is also hugely excited for the continued success of Squishmallows and Squishville in 2022.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, increased sales and expansion of the UK office have seen the Jazwares team nearly double in size. Bringing in resources to support the growth, which will continue as the range carries on expanding, has been a huge focus for the company.
“The thing that I’m probably most proud of is the quality of product that Jazwares has been making, right from when the company started 25 years ago – and the product is getting stronger and stronger. We are adding more and more innovation, and I feel we are delivering the right play value in the properties that we are managing for every single brand.”
Holly Oldham, managing director UK & Nordics, says that the pandemic has undoubtedly driven an increase in demand. However, she
Over recent years, Jazwares has enjoyed particular success with properties related to the video games space with brands such as Roblox and Fortnite. Another phenomenal success has been Pokémon, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and for which Jazwares is master toy manufacturing partner. As of this month (January), the UK office will bring the distribution rights for the UK and Ireland in-house and will also take over distribution for German-speaking territories.
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“Squishmallows has been a phenomenal success and I think 2022 is when we are really going to see it ignite in the marketplace,” says Holly. Last year, Jazwares launched its squishy brand extension, Squishville, introducing the UK’s first all-plush play sets. The brand releases product every 12 weeks to keep the line fresh and ensure it is driving high engagement with the collector base, maintaining a steady flow of fans visiting toy stores and purchasing online. Another key component of the brand’s marketing strategy is social media and with 5.5b posts across social media platforms, this has also been pivotal in driving sales. “The advantage of social media is that we are able to learn from it and obtain real fan data, which is now coming through in some of the new product ranges,” says Holly. “For instance, we are introducing a new Food Squad, which the fans seem to love.”
