Nick Mowbray, CEO at ZURU, talks about toys trends and sustainability efforts in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: Some of the hottest toys in 2021 were based on toys going viral on social media. What other toy trends are you seeing for 2022?
Nick Mowbray: TikTok continues to drive so much growth in the industry, and we don’t expect to see a change in this for the new year. Our 5 Surprise range, specifically Mini Brands, rode the TikTok wave and is still seeing huge success, delivering more than 3 billion hashtag views to date. Mini Brands is the No. 1 most-liked toy brand on TikTok. We are expecting to hit 1.5 million followers in early 2022 and deliver more than 25 million likes. Alongside this, X-Shot is now the No. 1 most-liked toy blaster brand on TikTok, which is enabling us to win more space and share of categories. We are using TikTok not only has a marketing tool, but also using trends to find new products that will resonate with consumers — with two such lines launching this fall.
We have already seen a massive jump in consumers wanting to personalize or customize what they buy. This has been noted in other categories for the last couple of years, however, it is now becoming a big trend within toys. This stems from trends like customization within gaming, but also ties into a growing need to personalize to suit individuality, which is great to see. People are now looking at how this translates to their collectibles and toys. We expect this will show through launches this year across the industry, one of which will be our biggest launches of the year this fall.
We have also seen consumers become more vocal on issues they care about. We are seeing a shift as consumers no longer see sustainability as “nice to have” and instead as a necessity. The toy industry has a way to go here. It can vary per market, of course, but the growing call to action is getting louder. For many consumers, this heavily impacts what they decide to purchase. They do, however, see this responsibility sitting primarily with brands and expect more from businesses to ensure they are taking the best measures possible to be more eco-led.
TB: How does ZURU plan to continue its sustainability efforts?
NM: As technology and material in this area becomes better, it allowed us to have access to low-impact resource that protects our environment without compromising on the quality of our toys for which we are recognized.
We had our first recycled plastic capsule for our popular 5 Surprise range hit stores last holiday season. Our move to certified recycled plastics is our priority, reducing our use of raw materials and to make use of what already exists. This ultimately removes single-use waste and reuses it instead, to prolong its lifecycle. For 5 Surprise, we estimated a reduction of 1,800 tons of plastics in 2021. This, alongside the change in Bunch O Balloons, will mean we prevented about 3,600 tons of plastics from entering the environment last year alone.
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
