"Adult gamer children are becoming an increasingly important target group!"
Interview with Ruven Rippe, Sales Director and Rafaela Dorodzala, Head of Brand and Marketing GSA & Benelux at Jazwares GmbH
Jazwares may only be known to industry insiders – but Pokémon and Squishmallows are no longer just familiar to every child. In an interview with Wirtschaftsforum, Sales Director Ruven Rippe and Head of Brand & Marketing Rafaela Dorodzala revealed how Jazwares plays the German market, what new opportunities the digital world and social media hold for the toy industry – and what makes Jazwares a very special company.
European Business Forum: With Pokémon and Star Wars, Jazwares has two of the strongest toy licenses ever; with Squishmallows, you have established an equally well-known brand in the market. Which is more challenging to manage – the licensed business or your own brands?
Ruven Rippe: I think making that distinction might overlook the real challenges: For instance, Pokémon is a licensed brand for us, while we developed Squishmallows ourselves. However, the products of both brands are probably easier to sell than those of a new brand in the early stages of market entry – whether it originated from our own creation or was acquired from our parent company in the USA. Both for Squishmallows and for Star Wars or Hello Kitty, we can rely on wide listings throughout the entire retail landscape and a strong level of brand recognition – success factors that we must work to achieve with a new brand. Naturally, it helps if a name or certain characters are already known from movies, TV, or the internet.
Wirtschaftsforum: How does the German market sometimes differ from the USA?
Ruven Rippe: Americans are still much more fond of action figures than the German audience, so this product category plays a much bigger role there than it does here - one reason, by the way, why a well-known toy manufacturer was not the undisputed number one in the market in the USA, unlike in Europe. In Germany, more emphasis is placed on educational toys; also the theme of Arts & Crafts, - that you can make something with your hands, - is more important for German target groups.
Rafaela Dorodzala: Particularly valuable for us in Germany from a marketing perspective are the experiences that have already been made with the respective brands and product groups in America - because usually, the first market entry happens in the USA before Europe follows after some time. This way we can closely observe which customer approaches might have worked particularly well overseas, which social media channels were important, and which hypes or trends might be playing a special role at the moment.
Wirtschaftsforum: What role does social media play for Jazwares as a toy manufacturer?
Rafaela Dorodzala: Building and maintaining strong communities has become essential for our sustained success; we also rely on strong local social media channels in individual markets to specifically address our target groups. At the same time, the connection between toys and brands, straddling the tactile-physical world and the digital space, opens up completely new possibilities. Squishmallows, not least, is also a very strong social media phenomenon that gained significant popularity during the coronavirus pandemic. Then as now, millions of fans share pictures and videos of their collections and go on so-called Squishhunts to exchange information about their latest acquisitions. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian or Lady Gaga have naturally contributed to this enthusiasm as well. Furthermore, we work closely with content creators and influencers who are known in the community and who present the new characters there are to collect and cuddle, in cooperation with our retail partners at the store shelf. Thus, an originally digital interaction is consistently continued at a real touchpoint and from there reflected back into the virtual world.
Wirtschaftsforum: Has the digital world changed the way children play?
Rafaela Dorodzala: Children basically play in a similar way as before – but the way they access the things that inspire them and with which they want to play has become significantly more complex through the digital world. If you watch children play today, you immediately notice that they are engaged with the same imagination as our generation or the generations before us. What has perhaps changed is the diversity of possibilities: the digital world offers many exciting characters that also function as toys!
Wirtschaftsforum: What role do 'grown-up children' now play as a target group in your industry?
Rafaela Dorodzala: An ever-growing one! One only needs to look at the market leader, who has been skillfully playing the corresponding product segments for a long time – we recognize this without envy. Jazwares will also be increasingly involved in this context soon: Because we have the right brands for it – and Squishmallows are already very popular among young adults!
Wirtschaftsforum: Hello Kitty, Pokémon, and Star Wars are among the most famous brands in the world – how important is Jazwares as a brand?
Ruven Rippe: It is important for trade, but less relevant for the end consumer. Naturally, industry insiders and the buyers at our partners are familiar with Jazwares, associating it with something special. But if you ask 50 consumers in Germany if they know our company name, the vast majority would say no. However, if you ask them about Pokémon, almost everyone would immediately have an image in mind – that's much more important for us.
Wirtschaftsforum: What makes Jazwares a special company?
Ruven Rippe: Before my role as Sales Director at Jazwares, I worked for a long time as a purchaser for a large German retail chain, where I experienced firsthand the strong growth and relentless innovation of Jazwares. Each year, the numbers went up, and there were previews with unbelievable products – the demand for which often turned out to be much higher than Jazwares had anticipated. This was also much talked about in the industry. It fascinated me. Particularly in this combination of a thoughtfully disruptive market presence, a strong German mittelstand culture, and a financially powerful American parent corporation with an incredibly valuable treasure of licensed products and own brands, there lies an excellent basis for the coming years – and of course, an incredibly interesting playground for us!
Wirtschaftsforum: In the USA, Jazwares is among the top five toy manufacturers. In Germany, they have already made it into the top 20. How quickly do you want to climb the ladder further in Germany?
Ruven Rippe: Of course, we want and will continue to grow in the German market and eventually take the next step into the top 10. But that doesn't necessarily have to happen next year, and it should not be rushed. We approach this sportingly, optimistically, and positively, and we are under no pressure from the USA to achieve a specific ranking. Instead, we receive the supportive freedom from corporate management that we need in order to continue growing sustainably, safely, and wisely. Success then comes through exciting brands and great toys!