Special Feature - Jazwares

Jazwares UK a perfect 10

Hot on the heels of Jazwares’ 25th anniversary, the company’s UK office celebrated its own milestone in December 2022 – 10 years of increasingly successful business. Rachael Simpson-Jones spoke to Jonny Taylor, SVP Europe at Jazwares UK, and Holly Oldham, managing director UK & Nordics, about years gone by, what lies ahead, and how the company plans to maintain the momentum of its powerhouse Squishmallows brand.

This time last year, before all the trials and tribulations of 2022 made themselves known, we told Toy World readers that for Jazwares, ‘another bumper year is on the cards’. We weren’t wrong. Jazwares’ strong brand portfolio - driven by Squishmallows and Pokémon, both of which had a momentous year – helped mitigate the many challenges faced by the industry in the previous 12 months. And rather than fretting too much over factors outside of its (or anyone else’s) control, Jazwares has instead focused on what is in its power: selling fantastic toys at attractive prices, supported by strong marketing campaigns. This deceptively simple approach has just delivered the company’s best year to date, bringing the total number of consecutive growth years to 10, just in time for the UK office to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Holly told us that in ‘true Jazwares style’, the team raised a glass (or two) at its Christmas party to toast both achievements.

Since starting up its European operation a decade ago, Jazwares now has offices in France, Germany and Holland, as well as the UK. In that time, Jonny estimates that the company has increased 20-fold globally. The UK team is now more than 50 strong and expanding all the time, with further new roles to be filled this year in line with the company’s growth plans. Jonny says that when he started building the team, the focus was mostly on emerging master toy brands in youth electronics. Nowadays, Jazwares’ far more well-rounded portfolio spans categories in all retail channels, including Boys Action, Girls Collectibles and Pre-School – not forgetting its presence in Plush, which we’ll come back to.

I asked Jonny and Holly for their highlights from their time with the Jazwares UK team. Picking up on Jonny’s comments about the depth and breadth of the company’s current portfolio, Holly’s highlight is the fact that in 2022, Jazwares solely distributed its own manufactured product in the UK. As many readers will be aware, for many years Jazwares has been working with a number of other toy manufacturers on a distribution basis as part of its own product mix. However, the strength of its ranges, both licensed and own-IP, means everything is now 100% Jazwares designed and manufactured. This, according to Holly, gives Jazwares a very competitive edge in the marketplace.

Jonny, meanwhile, opted for his own interpretation of the question: rather than picking an event, product launch or other major moment, he wanted to draw attention to Jazwares’ people and culture. Both globally and regionally, the company has created a ‘very special’ culture and work environment which brings out peoples’ best work. The team is therefore producing better products and results than ever before. Jazwares continues to ensure its team ‘works with a spirit of energy, collaboration and fun’, and has the very best surroundings in which to do so.

Last year, Jazwares took on an extra floor of its UK office building and then completely renovated the whole area, giving it the feel of a stylish loft space –think neon signage, houseplants, windows and wood panelling. There are also new breakout areas and meeting rooms, plus more collaborative workspaces than before. The company was keen to create an environment its employees want to be in, and it appears to have succeeded: although it’s continued to allow hybrid working since the pandemic, having proved it was more than possible to run a successful business remotely, the majority of its workforce spend more than half the week at the swanky new office.

Earlier I mentioned Jazwares’ presence in Plush. Of course, I’m referring to a brand that hardly requires an introduction. In just the final few weeks of 2022, it made an appearance on just about every ‘Top Toys for Christmas’ list Toy World was sent, was chosen as a Top 12 DreamToy by the Toy Retailer’s Association and, at the time of writing, had just been named US Toy of the Year by the Toy Foundation, winning both the Toy of the Year and the People’s Choice awards for the second year in a row, following earlier Plush Toy of the Year and Licence of the Year accolades. That’s right – it’s Squishmallows.

“Well, it’s certainly a lot of fun!” enthused Jonny, when asked what it’s like having such a powerhouse brand in your portfolio. “Squishmallows is a unique property, and it continues to go from strength to strength. It’s all about the collectability, so we’re releasing new waves every 12 weeks, which offer something for everyone and ensure the fanbase is super engaged. There’s so much energy and momentum behind the brand. Squishmallows benefits from a very strong and vocal collector community, which means we understand their demands and desires and can cater to them with new product and content. We know we have something incredibly special in Squishmallows: it’s genderneutral, appeals to a huge age range, and the property seems to be striking a real emotional cord with its fan base. There are major content plans in the works and other exciting announcements to follow soon too.”

Heading into 2023, the team is steadfast in its belief that Squishmallows can maintain the extraordinary level of hype and demand it enjoyed during 2022. The squashy, tactile, cute characters lend themselves perfectly to the likes of TikTok, where they’ve gained quite the celebrity following (including the Kardashians). Squishmallows resonate hugely on social media platforms and, as a result, Jazwares’ marketing efforts have focused on this area to great success.

Jazwares has other aces up its sleeve for 2023 and beyond as well. Although they can’t reveal too many of the finer details just yet, Jonny and Holly did tell me there are three big new launches on the way this year. The first is a licensed toy range based on Uplift Games’ Adopt Me, the No.1 game on Roblox with 42m monthly active players, 28b+ visits and a CCU (Concurrently Connected Users) record of 1.92m.

The Jazwares toy line promises to fully represent the world of Adopt Me and the style of gameplay that’s made it so popular, with collectability and redeemable content codes adding to the fun.

In addition, Jazwares will be unveiling a new collectible plush line called Bum Bumz that has apparently been ‘very well received’ by the trade. Holly and Jonny tell Toy World that Bum Bumz has ‘all the hallmarks of a successful collectible plush range with endless innovative themes and unique tactile nature’. The company is building this IP with meaningful marketing to drive brand awareness. For the first time in the company’s history, Jazwares is also bringing an on-trend new fashion doll line to market that Jonny says is both exciting and disruptive. These two new launches are own-IPs, an area Jazwares is focusing on more and more as it continues to grow.

“Licensed toy programmes are an important part of Jazwares’ portfolio, and as we continue to grow we are unlocking more and more meaningful opportunities with our existing and new licensing and content partners,” Jonny says. “To support further growth we are building out our own-IP division, which is really exciting and a core part of our strategy as we move forward.”

Holly adds: “Entertainment and gaming brands are still firmly at the heart of what we do and always have been. Developing our own-IPs is essential if we want to keep innovating and staying ahead of the trends, but from a licensing perspective, we’ve come so far. We’re master toy partner on some massive brands across the marketplace and we’re building successful relationships with the leading global studios including Disney, on the likes of Star Wars and Spidey & His Amazing Friends. The latter has had a huge year and there’s more growth to come now the show has gone free-to-air on the BBC.”

Jazwares is also master toy partner for the preschool phenomenon CoComelon: and, hot off the press, Jazwares revealed to me that after a number of successful years working with its partner, Bandai, it would be taking distribution of the toy range inhouse for the first time. The news comes almost a year after Jazwares announced the UK office was to bring the distribution rights for Pokémon in the UK and Ireland back in-house, taking over from former UK distribution partner Character Options. Clearly there are still some feathers to add to that cap. (Any dog lovers reading this will be as excited as I was to hear that a new division, Jazwares Pets, has been identified as a toy-adjacent initiative. That’s rightSquishmallows dog beds are on the way.)

But what about the longer term? What is Jazwares’ strategy for navigating the next 10 years in the UK marketplace?

“The level of ambition in this company is huge, and while our ultimate aspirations are somewhat on a need-to-know basis, what I can say is that we have we have big things planned,” replied Jonny, cryptically. He continued: “We plan to continue to invest in the best talent, tools and environment to help fuel further growth. We are always on the look-out for exciting strategic commercial opportunities and we are also planning on opening more new offices around the world, including new locations in Europe so we can maximise business locally.”

While all of this is going on, Jazwares remains staunchly committed to what we touched on at the start of this piece: selling fantastic toys at attractive prices, supported by strong marketing campaigns. Visitors to Toy Fair 2023 and the Spielwarenmesse will be able to see for themselves the impressive new toys the company is bringing to market for this year. Showing product to retailers and licensing partners is a vitally important component of Jazwares’ plans, so toy fair season is the perfect way to kick off the UK office’s 11th year, which, by the sounds of it, could be even bigger and better than 2022. Contact the team now to ensure you don’t miss out on your appointment.