#260: NY Toy Fair 2025 Exclusive Interview with Jayson Esterow & Gavin Lawler
After four days of running (literally) from booth to booth, taking meetings, and soaking in the latest trends, I’m here to give you an inside look at what went down at New York Toy Fair 2025. If you missed New York Toy Fair or couldn’t see everything, check out this first episode of NY Toy Fair 2025 Exclusive Interview Series.
Over the next month and a half I’ll be taking you inside the show floor for exclusive interviews with toy designers, licensors, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and inventors who are Making It In The Toy Industry!
In this episode, Jayson Esterow, President of License 2 Play Toys, shares how he turned a viral trend into a major licensing deal with Jeep. If you’ve ever heard of Jeep Ducking, you know how passionate Jeep owners are about their community. Jayson saw an opportunity to take this organic, fan-driven movement and transform it into an officially licensed toy line.
Gavin Lawler, Creator of Deddy Bears, fresh off his TOTY win for Collectible of the Year, opens up about the challenges of breaking into the toy industry and how he used his F.B.O. (First, Best, Only) formula to develop a product that stands out. Plus, we dive into his major collaboration with Liquid Death and why identifying white space in the market is the key to launching a toy brand that captures attention and drives sales.
Listen now for quick and in depth lessons on toy licensing, product innovation, and winning toy awards.
Listen For These Important Moments
[00:00] - My Toy Fair 2025 Experience
[03:28] - Was New York Toy Fair 2025 a Hit or Miss?
[08:47] - Licensing & White Space: The Key to Toy Fair Success
[12:15] - Jayson Estro & The Jeep Ducking Toy Phenomenon
[20:58] - Gavin Lawler & The Collectible TOTY Award Winner Deddy Bears
[32:05] - Key Takeaways
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Meet Deddy Bears, the TOTY Award-winning collectible that’s taking the toy world by storm! Shop now at KreepyCollectibles.com
From trending brands to must-have novelties, License 2 Play brings you the best in toys, gifts, and games for every retailer. Stock up now! 👉 License-2-Play.com
Jeremy Padawer just shared his insights on the exciting return of NY Toy Fair, highlighting the incredible activity, networking, and innovation happening in the toy industry.
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[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It in the Toy Industry, episode number 260.
[00:00:22] Azhelle Wade: Hey there toy people, Azhelle Wade here, and welcome back to another episode of Making It In The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com.
[00:00:33] Azhelle Wade: I'm sure you've already noticed that my voice is nearly gone after four days at New York Toy Fair.
[00:00:40] Azhelle Wade: It was a great show for my self. So we are going to be doing an exclusive interview series for the rest of this month and into next month as we dive into some of the trends and conversations had at New York Toy Fair. This series is going to be a little different from our usual format. Instead of breaking up our interviews with separate takeaway episodes after them, as we've been doing this year, instead, I'm going to be sharing those key takeaways and key recap notes from the previous guest at the start of the next episode. So that way we can get through the amazing, all of the amazing interviews that I was able to gather at this show, but still get those recaps at the top of that episode. So I'm hoping that'll help you actually take away the information that the guests are giving, but also encourage you to come back and finish up the interview series.
[00:01:28] Azhelle Wade: But to kick this all off, I want to start with my own recap of New York Toy Fair. Now I'm still in research mode a bit, still gathering what people actually thought of the show. Was it a good show for them? Was it a bad show and why? And I'm not going to give you a blanket statement when I do come back with this report.
[00:01:50] Azhelle Wade: I definitely am already seeing that it is going to be a mixed bag of opinions, depending on if someone is a larger toy company, midsize, smaller, or if someone is in the media as myself at press or the media, or if somebody is in marketing at a company. So my really quick overview right now, before I have official quotes that I'm allowed to use and unofficial anonymous quotes I'm about to use.
[00:02:20] Azhelle Wade: What I will say is this, there are certain sections of the Toy Fair floor that were not as active as others, and there are some smaller companies that were on the lower level of these sections that would have preferred to be in a different spot. What I'm hearing for bigger companies, however is that it was an incredible show, incredible because they got to reconnect with a lot of their friends, colleagues in the industry.
[00:02:49] Azhelle Wade: They kind of had this big marketing moment that showed major appreciation for the work that they'd done and achieved. And for many of the toy industry people who are from L. A. I'm gonna shout out Jeremy Padawer here who did a post talking about how post the L.A. fires, this was a much needed rejuvenation to get back with your toy people and feel that sense of play and excitement and just kind of re-invigorating the love for the business.
[00:03:21] Azhelle Wade: Jeremy said that Toy Fair New York is back and I will share the link to his post in the show notes because there were a lot of great comments from other industry players in that post comment section.
[00:03:32] Azhelle Wade: But I also will say, I've heard from a lot of midsize companies that decided to not attend New York Toy Fair, that they're glad they didn't because there wasn't a huge audience of people walking through the aisles to discover new product. What I was seeing, as we said before we headed off to New York Toy Fair, the importance of booking meetings, well, that seemed more true at this show than ever.
[00:03:57] Azhelle Wade: It seems those people that had full sales teams or sales reps to book meetings for them and kind of jam pack their show date did well. But those of you who went in an attempt to make new connections and kind of get discovered, had a little bit of a harder time and kind of had to get a little scrappy with networking events, with how you reached out to people and brought them to your booth, friends of friends and using your relationships to generate some revenue and visibility at the show.
[00:04:28] Azhelle Wade: Now, I will say my marketing people, both corporate and individual press, like myself, loved this show. I mean, there's so many you can see from the toy book to the influencers that attended the show, loved the show. And how can you not? It's an incredible marketing opportunity.
[00:04:48] Azhelle Wade: If you're creating content, there is no easier place to create content than a toy fair, right? And Toy Fair in New York? Even better. I mean, you've got the backdrop, you've got the fun, you've got the people. It's got all of the ingredients for viral content. So we love it. We, the press love it.
[00:05:05] Azhelle Wade: But enough about the woes of press. I'm sure if you were at New York Toy Fair, you too got in anywhere from 8, 000 to 15, 000 or 20, 000 steps every day, walking up and down the aisle and still probably didn't get to see everything.
[00:05:23] Azhelle Wade: So other feedback I've heard from people attending the show from inventors who are not there to sell product, but rather meet with toy companies and sell their ideas. What I heard is the inventors are, you know, it was a very good show for them because their clients were there and their clients were making time to meet with them, which they all appreciated.
[00:05:45] Azhelle Wade: And their clients being the toy manufacturers themselves who want to license ideas. However, the inventors definitely noted that the event was less attended in the sense that it was less crowded. I actually had one inventor say, "No, we're usually like shoulder to shoulder in this place. It's dead." is what this person said.
[00:06:08] Azhelle Wade: And also I had several people comment to me on how far back the show went and that it used to go further back. Now listen, I don't take full inventory every time I go to a New York Toy Fair. I am not that picky or analytical about how big this show is. In my personal opinion, it's a little better for manufacturers when the shows aren't so big because it gives retailers a chance to get to all of the things in the show.
[00:06:35] Azhelle Wade: But these were some of the things I was hearing. Now, however. I believe the look and the vibe of the show was great. It was very much camaraderie focused and networking focused. The events that I attended did that same thing. It was very much about letting loose with your toy people and having fun and playing and enjoying the success of the year.
[00:06:59] Azhelle Wade: But everybody's experience at Toy Fair is different. So I'm hoping that throughout this interview series, this exclusive interview series for New York Toy Fair 2025, we will uncover all of the different angles and aspects and experiences of New York Toy Fair.
[00:07:18] Azhelle Wade: Today, I am thrilled to welcome a guest to the show who I've known in my toy journey for I think over, well over 12 years now. And our guest today is Jayson Esterow of Licensed to Play Toys. Now, I met Jayson while I was working for Fred and Steve Ellman and Fred and Steve are inventors in the toy industry. Their father, Julius, partnered with Mr. Potato Head creator, George Lerner. So they're no strangers to invention.
[00:07:49] Azhelle Wade: And I was working with them on a project. They were developing clickies, doing design work. So I was always at their studio and their workshop. And that is where I met Jayson who had an office down the hall. So we just saw each other all the time. We would talk and we just all got along. It was just so fun working a little workshop on toys. And it's been incredible to see his evolution in the industry. I remember just seeing how they were working out of the small office that they then had back in the day, how hard he was working, how focused he was, and just never gave an air or energy of "Maybe this won't work." Like, you know, some people that are just always confident that they're going to figure it out.
[00:08:33] Azhelle Wade: That's Jayson Esterow. So it's been incredible to witness his evolution in the toy industry, and he complimented the same to me. So thank you, Jayson. And as the owner and president of License to Play Toys, Jayson has been instrumental in bringing innovative products to market. His company's recent licensing agreement with Jeep that was majorly on display at Toy Fair this year is focused on how to create toys for the Jeep ducking phenomenon is a trend we'll cover in the interview where Jeep owners place rubber ducks on fellow Jeeps as a friendly gesture. It is a testament to Jayson's ability to identify and tap into current emerging cultural moments.
[00:09:20] Azhelle Wade: But this clever collaboration, in my opinion, doesn't just showcase Jayson's innovative approach to licensing in the toy industry But it also highlights the importance and value of doing something you really love doing and not just something because it's cool. You'll see what I mean and why I say that as we dive into this interview.
[00:09:41] Azhelle Wade: Oh, and I have to say, if you're listening to this episode, keep on listening cause I'm sure you're working out or driving or doing something super important, but you have got to check out the full video on YouTube because Jayson and I are doing this interview from a Jeep.
[00:09:57] Azhelle Wade: Jayson, thank you so much for joining me on this drive, at Toy Fair. Like I'm so excited to chat with you about this new Jeep partnership you got going on.
[00:10:06] Jayson Esterow: Thank you for having me
[00:10:06] Azhelle Wade: Thanks for coming on the show. So I actually want to talk about licensing because so many people that check out my podcast do not understand licensing and like how it can help grow their business.
[00:10:19] Azhelle Wade: And you are like the king of licensing.
[00:10:22] Jayson Esterow: I wouldn't say that.
[00:10:24] Azhelle Wade: So your company, License to Play.
[00:10:25] Jayson Esterow: Yes.
[00:10:26] Azhelle Wade: King of licensing. Who would have thought to partner with a car brand?
[00:10:31] Jayson Esterow: So this was a very interesting one, right? Yeah. So jeep is where the duck trend all started. So jeep ducking. I've been a jeep owner for 10 years.
[00:10:39] Azhelle Wade: Oh, I didn't know that.
[00:10:39] Jayson Esterow: Yes. this is like a, a love of the product love of the brand. And, I've been a jeep owner for 10 years. I've been ducking jeeps for probably the last, like two or three years with my children. And so this was like a labor of love. And a quick phone call into Jeep is what set this all off.
[00:10:55] Jayson Esterow: They were so open to licensing and building the brand around it.
[00:10:59] Azhelle Wade: Okay, I'm gonna embarrass myself, but I have no idea what ducking is. I mean, my brother's wife. My sister-in-law, she has a Jeep and she has all these ducks and she kind of explained it to me, but like, I don't really know why is it called ducking?
[00:11:12] Azhelle Wade: What is that?
[00:11:12] Jayson Esterow: So it's a feel good moment, right? So it started up in Canada, drawing a blank on the woman's name, un unfortunately, who started during COVID. Yeah. And she started leaving little ducks on a fellow Jeep owner's cars. Okay. And so what started out as like just a little tiny like woman in, in Canada, came a big, huge trend that got viral, like it went viral.
[00:11:33] Azhelle Wade: So like what happens? Like, do you collect ducks on your own or is someone supposed to give you the duck?
[00:11:37] Jayson Esterow: So you buy some ducks, right? Hopefully they're the officially licensed jeep ducks going forward. So, so you buy ducks, you buy a whole bunch of them and then you go and you go duck a car.
[00:11:50] Jayson Esterow: So my kids will go leave notes on different Jeep owners cars or and say you've been ducked and that's ducking.
[00:11:56] Azhelle Wade: So you actually gift Jeeps to people? You gift ducks to Jeep people.
[00:12:03] Jayson Esterow: That's it. That's the whole trend right there. And so like there Disney ducks out there, there's a Hello Kitty ducks, but nothing is an official Jeep license stuff.
[00:12:11] Azhelle Wade: Okay, I did. I like I was obsessed with Jeeps when I was younger. And it was one of the cars that I really wanted. I had a vision that I would have like a blue teal Jeep, but you could see me in that, right? Yeah.
[00:12:20] Jayson Esterow: Oh, totally see you in that. Yes. Yes.
[00:12:22] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. I would love to get ducked. That's really cool. So tell me a little bit about this partnership.
[00:12:29] Azhelle Wade: What are you hoping to do differently for the ducks now that you have the Jeep license?
[00:12:34] Jayson Esterow: So we have a lot of ducks coming out. We have a lot of different ideas for concepts and what we're going to do here. we have. Throw being a Jeep owner, I understand what Jeep Ducks really means to the ownerships themselves.
[00:12:45] Jayson Esterow: So we're hoping to be able to do like a, Jeeps, like to have an iconic tire uhhuh and do a tire wrap around a Jeep that says like, you know, something with the ducks. We have throw blankets coming because as a Jeep owner, you have the car top down and you be a little bit chilly in the back. So we're doing things and gonna have variety and collectibles and all different ducks coming like, you know, so you'll see a little bit here.
[00:13:09] Jayson Esterow: This is the early on prototypes that we were able to get in time for the show. But you're gonna see a whole range of hundreds, if not thousands of ducks.
[00:13:17] Azhelle Wade: So I don't know if you're allowed to share this. Just let me know if you can't. But licensing is usually category specific. I assumed you just had like the plastic toy license for Jeep. Is it bigger than that?
[00:13:28] Jayson Esterow: I think it's bigger than that, right?
[00:13:29] Jayson Esterow: So it certainly started with the plastic ducks, but we're talking about plush. We're gonna do inflatables, for like your pool. Imagine like a duck for your pool. We have figures. We have pillows. Like I said, the throw blanket. So we're gonna definitely have a lot of bigger category.
[00:13:45] Azhelle Wade: That is so cool.
[00:13:46] Azhelle Wade: How do you think that the Jeep community is going to respond to having branded Jeep products?
[00:13:50] Jayson Esterow: If it's anything like the response, we're having a Toy Fair. It's gonna be amazing. What's it been like at New York Toy Fair? This definitely I would say one of the hottest brands that that we have in our booth for sure.
[00:13:59] Jayson Esterow: And I think actually overall at the entire trade show, to be honest with you.
[00:14:03] Azhelle Wade: Oh my gosh. I love that. Jayson, congratulations on this licensing partnership and on, oh, didn't you just win an award for Deddy Bear?
[00:14:10] Jayson Esterow: Yes. We did win a, TOTY award for the Deddy Bear brand that we helped bring to market in the United States.
[00:14:15] Jayson Esterow: So yes, we're on a little bit of a streak right now and we hope to continue that. So, yes.
[00:14:19] Azhelle Wade: Well, congratulations on all your success and thank you so much for taking the time for this interview Yes. Anytime. Well, there you have it, three people. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Jayson Esterow, but hold on. I've got a little bit of a surprise for you. It's not over yet. At the end of my interview, you may have heard me congratulate Jayson on winning the TOTY award for collectible of the year. And there's more to that story.
[00:14:43] Azhelle Wade: So there's a brand that Jayson represents underneath license to play called Deddy Bears. That's the brand that took home the award. So right after this interview, Jayson invited me to step further into his booth and to meet the creator behind it all behind Deddy Bears.
[00:14:59] Azhelle Wade: So I've got a bit of a surprise for you. You don't have to wait any longer to hear that conversation. We're jumping right in to a combo with the founder of Deddy Bears, Gavin Lawler, he and his wife started the company in Dublin back in 2018 under innovate creative Academy. And in just a few years, they built a brand that's now officially award winning.
[00:15:24] In this interview, I think I made Gavin blush a little bit because I put him in the same league as some pretty big hitters and he was super, super grateful and humble about it. Okay. Let's get into it.
[00:15:35] Azhelle Wade: Toy people, I am here with the creator of this year's Collectible of the Year Toy of the Year Award, Gavin. Congratulations on the win.
[00:15:45] Gavin Lawler: Why, thank you. I may just say that I am totally in love with your hair. I'm trying something new. I could definitely like see one of my characters like this. There's some influence coming through.
[00:15:57] Azhelle Wade: Get inspired.
[00:15:58] Gavin Lawler: I'm totally inspired.
[00:15:59] Azhelle Wade: Just send me a sample. It's the Collectible of the Year, Toy of the Year Award.
[00:16:02] Azhelle Wade: Is this your first Toy of the Year award?
[00:16:04] Gavin Lawler: It is my first toy. So I've been in the toy trade for 15 years and it was quite a moment if I'm being completely honest with you. Like from a, I suppose a professional standpoint, it's probably the pinnacle of my career. But the timing is just, I mean, the product is excellent.
[00:16:18] Gavin Lawler: It's exceptional. I mean, we're in 65, 000 retail doors and 50 countries. Yeah, retail doors. Yeah. So I mean, it's, it's a great product. It's a genuinely great product.
[00:16:28] Azhelle Wade: Wow. I mean, and when you talk about Collectible of the Year, like you're in league with people like Squishmallows, like we're talking big, big, this is a big, big.
[00:16:36] Gavin Lawler: Look. When you're putting me in with some big people, they're in big names. I think, look, the bottom line is right, we found some white space. We're not quite creepy, and we're not quite Disney. We're just in this middle lane where it absolutely works, right? So, and we found our success in this white space. That's what we managed to do.
[00:16:52] Azhelle Wade: So I love that you brought it back to white space. I teach new innovators how to break into the industry all the time. First thing I say, find the white space. Don't create a product that already exists. Can you share a little bit about how you uncovered this white space? Whatever you can.
[00:17:06] Gavin Lawler: Oh, this is my favorite topic.
[00:17:07] Gavin Lawler: This is my favorite topic. So, there's so many people who don't really understand the process of innovation, and I'm not saying that it's like it's you've got to go to a technical school to understand how to process innovation. For me, what works best for me is a formula. It's called F. B. O. First Best and Only.
[00:17:25] Gavin Lawler: So I will be the first in the market. Tick the box. I will be the best in the market. Tick the box and I'll be the only in the market, that challenges myself to bring in many unique selling points to the item. So that's like a set of criteria that I set for myself before I sketch and before I work on these brands.
[00:17:42] Gavin Lawler: More times than not, you walk away and you're disappointed, but every now and again, you just get that one where that you get that feeling, the hairs stick up in the back of your neck and you can't walk away from the project and you just absolutely know in your heart and in your soul that you've got a winner.
[00:17:56] Gavin Lawler: And I'm going to be honest with you, like I kind of had that with Deddy Bears. Yeah. Like, like when I walked away from it, I was like, I just know, I just know. You know,
[00:18:03] Azhelle Wade: Wow. I mean, you gave me chills with that answer. You took us to church, nothing else needed. Oh my gosh. So what was the process like? Did you work on your own to create these Deddy Bears and then find a partnership here with License to Play?
[00:18:18] Gavin Lawler: Correct. Yeah. I mean, like I've been doing this for 15 years and like I said, you have some successes, you have some failures, but the bottom line is when you, when you know you have something you present and if it's good enough and if the people behind it are good enough and if the product is good enough, the money typically follows.
[00:18:33] Gavin Lawler: So that's what happened when we built into the space. Look, we're diehard entrepreneurs, even when our self esteem is on the floor, our self belief is through the roof. Okay? Yeah. And that's a really important thing for an entrepreneur. We believe in ourselves, right? It's not facetiousness. It's not cockiness.
[00:18:47] Gavin Lawler: It's not egotistical. It's okay to have a belief. And that's something that I kind of try to teach to other people to like, you know, stick your chest out, be brave with your designs. You know, fall in love with it, mess about it, you know, look at the trends and build into that white space, as you keep saying.
[00:19:02] Azhelle Wade: Oh, love that. So you keep saying "we", who's the we on your team?
[00:19:06] Gavin Lawler: Oh, man, like we've got a, we've got a seriously good team. There's just no "I" in team, right? Yeah. So it's all about shared work. It's all about, like, I might have an idea. And so I've got my co founders, my wife, I've got four or five incredible, yeah.
[00:19:18] Azhelle Wade: My husband won't work with me. No? He says we'll kill each other.
[00:19:21] Gavin Lawler: I said she was my co founder. I didn't say she liked working with me.
[00:19:24] Azhelle Wade: She started founding and she was like, I'm out. You make the money. I'm just, no,
[00:19:30] Gavin Lawler: We do have a process. So typically one of us will come up with the kernel and we'll incubate it and turn it into a popcorn.
[00:19:36] Gavin Lawler: All right. Okay. So that's what we do. So sometimes my wife will have
[00:19:39] Azhelle Wade: His like little euphemisms, acronyms. Yeah.
[00:19:42] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Yeah. Well...
[00:19:44] Gavin Lawler: We like, you know, it's important to like what you do too. Yeah. It's not easy when everybody says no. I think a good example would be when, when I first made Deddy Bears, like we had a hundred no's before we had one yes.
[00:19:56] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, and I bet those no's were like, really like, "Dude, you're crazy." Like, they were, they were like,
[00:20:02] Gavin Lawler: They sting. They hurt. They sting because you kind of, it's like you've created something that you're just magnificently proud of, right?
[00:20:09] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, and no one sees it.
[00:20:10] Gavin Lawler: No one sees it. No one sees it.
[00:20:11] Azhelle Wade: You're like, but, but I see it.
[00:20:13] Azhelle Wade: And they're like,
[00:20:14] Gavin Lawler: The lesson in it is don't give up, right? Don't give up. I mean, how many times you get told that to your people?
[00:20:18] Azhelle Wade: Oh, my God.
[00:20:19] Gavin Lawler: White space.
[00:20:20] Azhelle Wade: Every phone call.
[00:20:21] Gavin Lawler: I mean, most entrepreneurs, our thing is, right? It's resilience. Yeah. Because all you're going to hear is a ton of no's before you get them ton of yes's.
[00:20:28] Gavin Lawler: Yeah. All right.
[00:20:29] Azhelle Wade: So interesting, because I likened you to Squishmallows. Jeremy Padawer came on our podcast and one of his topic was resilience and entrepreneurship and how important that is. So very. like great minds think alike, but
[00:20:42] Gavin Lawler: In fairness, that man is a genius. Yeah, that man is an absolute genius. Yeah. But you got with, with, with the likes of jazz wares with, with Jordan, Jordan, Laura, and all these guys, and even her, these guys are incredible. Like for me, like when I grow up, I want to be like them. Right. Yeah. Well, I've got a gift. I've got to get the industry tightens their jewels. Right. I'm making product. I'm making history. But it's nice for us to look up to that. Right. It's nice for us to look up to that. So I need to aspire to be as good as the best. Right. If I can continue to or if I, if I think that I am the best, I'll lose my edge, right?
[00:21:17] Azhelle Wade: Very true.
[00:21:17] Gavin Lawler: So you got to have, you got to remain humbled. You got to remain resilient, hungry, hungry, not hungry, starving. If you drop it besides the pizza on the I'm going to freaking eat it. All right. That's how much I want to be the best at the choice.
[00:21:28] Azhelle Wade: Oh, I love this. I'm so envious. Like, let's go. So, going off of that, you also have an incredible collaboration with over here.
[00:21:37] Azhelle Wade: Let's back up and take a look at Liquid Death. My favorite. I'm just going to throw up it. I won. Should I?
[00:21:45] Azhelle Wade: You should.
[00:21:45] Azhelle Wade: This seems dangerous.
[00:21:47] Gavin Lawler: It's not dangerous.
[00:21:50] Azhelle Wade: So needed at the show. Why is it so dry here?
[00:21:52] Gavin Lawler: I know, right? It's quite dry. It's the air conditioning.
[00:21:54] Azhelle Wade: My voice just changed.
[00:21:55] Gavin Lawler: Yeah, yeah, but your hair remains the same. It's lighting up the room, so that's the main thing.
[00:21:59] Azhelle Wade: So talk to me about this Deddy Bear collab. I'm sure Liquid Death is a brand that so many toy companies want to get in with. Like, how'd you make this happen and what are you doing with this collab?
[00:22:09] Gavin Lawler: So it's an interesting one, right? The more success you have a retail, the more the doors open up, right?
[00:22:13] Gavin Lawler: And that's just the process. That's just what happens. It's very few and far between where you're going to get somebody of this stature who's going to say right out the gates or right out the traps. Oh, you look like a good company. Let's collaborate. These guys are a titan of industry. Not only that, they're incredibly cool.
[00:22:29] Gavin Lawler: Like, and they're good human beings.
[00:22:31] Azhelle Wade: Are they?
[00:22:31] Gavin Lawler: They are. They're really, really good. So we've got this most, we have the most incredible partner called Stacey Reiner from Remarkable Brands. And Stacey came to me and she was like, "Okay, Gav, what, what, what do we gotta do?" And I'm like, okay, here's what I want you to do.
[00:22:44] Gavin Lawler: I want you to get this license. I want you to talk to these. I want you to get this. And she came back with this and I was like, yes. Yeah.
[00:22:51] Azhelle Wade: They probably also looked at your product and said, Hell yeah. Like who else are they going to partner with in the industry?
[00:22:56] Gavin Lawler: Talk about a match made in heaven. And every retailer that we sell in, every one of them is completely excited about this.
[00:23:05] Gavin Lawler: It's a match made in heaven.
[00:23:06] Azhelle Wade: So what's it gonna be?
[00:23:07] Gavin Lawler: I don't know how much you know about the branding for Liquid Death. And I'm not going to speak out a turn either, but, but they do have their mascot. So we wanted to get a ton of their branding in, make it look, and then just put our little spin of our Deddy Bear on us.
[00:23:18] Gavin Lawler: Right? So it's a co brand and it'll be an exclusive to, I know some of the bigger stores, Walmart, Targets, the one SKU to start, but we'll turn them into an assortment over the period of time.
[00:23:27] Azhelle Wade: And Liquid Death, didn't they just expand into like drinks of some sort or like, like there's some flavor?
[00:23:32] Gavin Lawler: Nothing surprises me about them. They are hands down one of the best marketing companies on the planet. Like every young person coming out of a college should study these guys. It is how it is done. Everybody over complicates marketing for me, right? I mean, at its core. It's quite simple. You get some creative people.
[00:23:52] Gavin Lawler: Yeah.
[00:23:53] Gavin Lawler: How much is it?
[00:23:54] Gavin Lawler: What is it? And where is it?
[00:23:55] Azhelle Wade: Huh.
[00:23:56] Gavin Lawler: That's it.
[00:23:57] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.
[00:23:57] Gavin Lawler: Get the eyes on it and create the brand and drive the revenue. Yeah. And so many people complicate it. So many people. You need to do this. You need to do that. And this activation is, you know, too many variations, too many layers. Yeah. Keep it simple.
[00:24:11] Gavin Lawler: What is it? Where is it? How much is it? Get the eyes on the prize and the people. If your product is good enough, the people buy it. Yeah. That's the bottom line. If it's not, put it to bed, pull the duvet over its head and go back and make another one.
[00:24:23] Azhelle Wade: Thank you for this masterclass in licensing, product development, award winning.
[00:24:29] Azhelle Wade: Can we see your TOTY award? What do you have over there? What do you bring it over? What do you Do you actually have the award?
[00:24:38] Azhelle Wade: Oh my gosh, he's got the actual award!
[00:24:39] Gavin Lawler: I have it wrapped up in my school
[00:24:40] Azhelle Wade: Oh, very secure. Did they not give you a case? Look at that! Hold on. The award winning. Award winning Deddy Bears. So cool. Gavin, thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. Thanks for sharing with us your TOTY. It was a pleasure to get to know you and chat with you.
[00:24:59] Azhelle Wade: An honor, honestly. And I hope to see more of you in the future.
[00:25:03] Gavin Lawler: 100 percent I would love to talk to you at any stage.
[00:25:05] Azhelle Wade: Yes, take care, take care. Have a great rest of your show. Well, there you have it, Toy People. An interview from inside the License to Play booth at New York Toy Fair 2025.
[00:25:17] Azhelle Wade: My conversations with Jayson Esteroww and Gavin Lawler were both enlightening and super inspiring. Jayson's journey from the early days when I first met him to today and his incredible Jeep partnership collaboration just shows the power of licensing and how impactful it can be to tap into organic consumer trends that have a bit of an emotional appeal. Also, I love that Jayson himself is a Jeep owner and personally is involved with jeep ducking and isn't just doing this for the commercial part of it, but it's because he believes in the heart of it. And then stepping deeper into the license to play booth to meet Gavin Lawler,
[00:26:01] Azhelle Wade: fresh off his TOTY win, where he actually pulled out his for Collectible of the Year was just an amazing sample for how bold creative ideas can just break through the industry. We talked about white space. Gavin gave some great acronyms for developing products to fit that white space. I mean, seeing what he did with Deddy Bears and how he used a partnership like the one with License to Play to increase the visibility of this product to the point where he is among the greats, I would say like Squish Mellows is just incredible. But we're not done yet, toy people.
[00:26:40] Azhelle Wade: This exclusive interview series from New York Toy Fair 2025 continues next week.
[00:26:46] Azhelle Wade: At the top of next week's episode, I'll start off with a quick recap of the key lessons and takeaways from this week's episode. And then we'll get right into our next interview. I want you to feel like you were at New York Toy Fair if you weren't, or like you were in the room with me as I conducted these interviews, just absorbing all of the toy industry insight so you can start, launch, or grow your own toy career, business, or inventor venture, alright? If I saw you at New York Toy Fair, it was so lovely to meet you. Hello again.
[00:27:22] Azhelle Wade: And if you'd snapped a picture with me, please, please, please upload it and tag me. I'd love to share it and just have that picture for myself. As always, thank you so much for being here with me today.
[00:27:33] Azhelle Wade: I know there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one. If you love this podcast and you haven't already left a review. What are you waiting for? Your reviews keep me coming back week after week. They keep me inspired and motivated to know that you are listening and you do love, need, and care about this type of content.
[00:27:56] Azhelle Wade: So please leave a review. You can be super specific and tell me what you want to hear next or you could just be general and say, what you love about the show. As always, thank you so much for spending time with me here today. I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one.
[00:28:16] Azhelle Wade: Until next week, I'll see you later. Toy people.
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