Episode #179: Trailblazing Toy Creators Share The Mission and Story Behind Their Brands [1 of 2]
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Are you ready for a thrilling episode filled with innovation, inspiration, and the untold stories of toy and game creators? Join us as we delve into The Toy Coach Showcase, an extraordinary platform creating a revolutionary entry point for newbies in the industry. Get ready to be inspired as you hear firsthand from the creators themselves. Engage in brief yet powerful interviews, where they open up about their journeys, the motivation behind their creations, and the overwhelming response they've received. As you listen, you'll be amazed by their resilience, as they share stories of overcoming brain tumors, combating colorism during pregnancy, and finding solace through trauma toys. These creators have not only turned their struggles into triumphs but have also built vibrant communities around their brand missions.
But that's not all! Throughout this episode, you'll gain a deeper understanding of The Toy Coach Showcase itself. Uncover why it has become an industry game-changer and discover how it provides a more affordable entry point for aspiring creators. Learn about the tremendous impact it has had on the lives of these talented individuals, allowing them to showcase their products at prominent trade shows and media pop-up events.
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Discover the My Gnome on the Roam brand and their mission to create year-round adventures for kids and their families.
Dive into the captivating stories of resilience and fearlessness from various toy and game creators.
Learn how The Toy Coach Showcase is disrupting the industry and providing opportunities for talented creators.
Be inspired by mission-driven individuals who identified market gaps and developed innovative products.
Find out where you can get access to these new products for your retail store.
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
My Gnome On The Roam
Order wholesale contact MYGNOMEONTHEROAM777@GMAIL.COM
Website: https://mygnomeontheroam.com/
My Mother Is A Superhero
Order wholesale contact cjcharles@mymotherisasuperhero.com
Website: https://mymotherisasuperhero.com/
Honeylambs
Order wholesale contact hellohoneylambs@gmail.com
Website: https://honeylambs.org/
Gem Blocks
Contact: ehi@littleartdesign.com
Cubo Toys
Order wholesale contact vip@cubotoys.com
Website: https://www.cubotoys.com/ -
I got ready to launch, in 2019 at America's Mart in Atlanta, and I had everything set up. Went back to our hotel room. My best friend made me go to urgent care because I had some red streaks running down the side of my face, and I was diagnosed with a brain tumor that night.
You are listening to making it in the toy industry episode number 179.
Hey, there toy people, Azhelle Wade here. And welcome back to another episode of the toy. Coach podcast making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com.
This week's episode has audio and video. So if you don't already follow us on YouTube, do that right now, a video version of this episode, we'll be releasing on Sunday. Head over to youtube.com/the toy coach.
Now, in this week's episode, I'm going to share a little bit about the The Toy Coach Showcase. You may have seen it on my social media accounts. I actually shared Instagram lives throughout the process of building the booth and going to the show we drove. From New York to Columbus, Ohio, and set up the entire booth. So I hope you followed along with that process. If you didn't, don't worry. I do plan on doing a video to recap the whole process, but for this week's episode on the podcast, I want to talk about what the The Toy Coach Showcase was slash is because we do plan on doing it again.
It was very well received, but more importantly, I want to highlight the nine toy and game creators that were featured at that showcase. Okay. So the people that were a part and invited to be a part of the toy code showcase are all alumni of toy creators academy that you need to know about. You need to know about them, whether you are a retailer looking for some hot new product to fill some gaps in your Q4 planning, right. Or if you are a consumer looking for some great products for an upcoming birthday anniversary or holiday.
So these products are created for mission driven creators. They are parents. They are educators. They are artists who saw a void in the existing market and they took it upon themselves to fill that market gap.
Okay, let's talk about what you're going to learn in this episode. First, you're going to learn about The Toy Coach Showcase what it is, why it's an important new thing in the industry. Then you're going to learn about what the nine new products are that were featured and debuted at the showcase.
Who made them, why they created them, how successful they've already been, what their retail price point is and an interview I did with each creator. These are brief interviews, but they really help you dive into the heart of the product and how important the. The brand missions are. While you're listening to all of these interviews, you may be thinking, oh, that product's amazing. I want to buy it. I need it right now. We've got to bring it into my store or into my home, head over to the toy coach.com forward slash 1 7 9. Scroll down to the mentioned in this episode section and there you'll see the website and contact info for all of the products that were mentioned in this episode.
So first up The Toy Coach Showcase what is it? So the toy code showcase is really my answer to creating a pathway for brand new toy and game creators in the toy industry.
I created the showcase with the hope that it will create a more affordable entry point for creators and allow amazing ideas to get off the ground in their early days, by being an in-person launch pad at popular trade shows and industry events. The vision I have for this showcase is for a creator to be able to debut their product over a year at various shows and even media pop-up events as their very first time coming out with a product.
Now you are a new inventor who came up with a product that you actually wanted to manufacture yourself. You know, when you file that provisional patent, you've got this one year that you're trying to make a huge splash. So that's where I see the showcase fitting in. Now over the past three years that I've been doing my work as the toy coach, I have seen so many great ideas, just limited to having an online presence or a small craft show presence in the creators, local town, just due to the inability to invest in a larger out of town trade show. And the lack of knowledge of if these trade shows can really be beneficial. And in what way, right? These creators are using their own money to fund these startups. And a lot of them have families, so they can't just be throwing their cash out Willy nilly.
They've got to be really targeted with their efforts and all of the coaching and education in the world can't help these new creators overcome the simple fact that they need funding. To get off the ground. So I started brainstorming ways that I could help alleviate that I'm not a venture capitalist, so I can't give money. Right. I'm not an investor, so I can't give money. But what I could do is I could negotiate and arrange for a situation that would allow for a more cost effective entry and an entry that is supported by the toy coach brand and the overall. Toy coach alumni. Right? So lucky for me, Astro was willing to give us a chance to try something new. And that's where we decided to present toy creators academy, star students, at a showcase at the ASTRA marketplace in the academy.
If you happen to be someone who's an organizer of a trade show that you think would benefit from The Toy Coach Showcase, coming to that trade show and featuring new product in this way. Please reach out to me at info@thetoycoach.com. Also, if you are the organizer of a media event within this industry that sees the value in having an experiential, pink carpet, showcasing new products as a part of your event experience also, please contact me, , info@thetoycoach.com.
So if you've been following me for a while, then you already likely know about my program Toy Creators Academy.
And we now offer a live version of the program, but also a go at your own. Pace version. Now you also may know that at the end of the live version of Twitch creators academy, we have a TCA virtual pitch event, and this is a virtual pitch opportunity for inventors and entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas, to major toy manufacturers and also retailers. The toy code showcase is the in-person version of that virtual pitch event.
if you are hearing all this information about toy creators academy, alumni, and you want to be a part of that, you can head over to toycreatorsacademy.com to learn more.
Now that you know what The Toy Coach Showcase is, let's talk about who was there. There were nine creators in total, eight of which had product that was ready to ship. One who is in the early startup stage of a product that will require more investment. So they wanted to get initial feedback before doing that. Now let me tell you, these creators are resilient with a capital R and fearless with a capital F.
In the remainder of this podcast episode, you are going to hear the story of a creator who overcame a brain tumor in the midst of launching their product. Another creator who dealt with and managed colorism throughout her pregnancy, which only further pushed her to develop her brand and another LGBTQ artist who invented trauma toys to deal with his own internal struggles and in turn found a massive online community that was looking for the same thing.
Now, before every interview, I'm going to do a quick intro of the brand and of course let you know the MSRP of the product, which, is the manufacturer suggested retail price point of the product.
So, whether you were looking to buy wholesale or your consumer, you can get an idea of if this product is right for you. Before we even dive into that interview with the creator, the interviews with each creator are really brief. Some are five minutes, some are seven. So stick through for the entire episode and hear from all of our creators.
So let's dive in.
The very first interview is with the creator of My Gnome On The Roam. This brand has been lovingly called the elf on the shelf for all year round and soon you'll know why this creator went through difficult struggles when they first launched their brand, which put everything at a screeching halt. But today the brand is thriving, selling in some retail locations. And if you want to be a retailer carrying this amazing activity brand. Then you can do so My Gnome on the Roam offers a larger adventure kit for $40 MSRP. And they have an open price point kit at $15 MSRP. Let's dive into the interview with the brand creator right now.
My name is Anne Armstrong and I am creator of my My Gnome on the Roam, what you see here, right here. So what is the mission behind my No on the Rome? Um, My Gnome on the Roam is designed to help busy families create ventures and then capture the memories of those adventures as stories so that they can kind of live them.
Again, it's a little time machine, sort of. I've heard a lot of people at this show refer to it as like El on the shelf, but for all year round. Absolutely. Families adopt the Gnome. So unlike the Elf, every Gnome will be unique, but it's not just a piece of art that you put on a shelf, but a family mascot that you take along on adventures.
Oh, I love that. And what inspired you to create My Gnome on the Roam? I taught for the past 27 years, and I always tried to make adventures in my classroom. I wanted students to understand that. What we were doing in the classroom had life outside of the classroom in the real world. And then I adopted my son at 44.
And so all of those years of dreaming of the adventures that we would do together when I got off maternity leave, there just wasn't time to do all the things I had imagined. When we got home. At the end of the day, we were lucky if we got dinner and bath, and then when he got older, homework and practice, if we had time for a.
Story at the end of the day, my gosh, much less an adventure. So I started working on little adventures that we could do in small pockets of time, and I talked to other teachers and parents and I learned that I wasn't alone. So that's really where my My Gnome on the Roam came to life.
how has it been being a part of the Toy Coat Showcase? What have you been most excited about being a part of the pink carpet experience? Well, in addition to being around Azhelle who I have.
Now coined as a tornado. Oh my gosh. There's nothing she can't do. Um, this is sort of my opportunity to relaunch. I got ready to launch, um, in 2019 at America's Mart in Atlanta, actually. And I had everything set up. Went back to our hotel room. My best friend was with me to get everything set up. She made me go to urgent care because I had some red streaks running down the side of my face, and I was diagnosed with a brain tumor that night.
Oh my gosh. And had to go straight into surgery back in Nashville, and so it's taken me all of this time to kind of get my legs underneath me again and get ready to launch. So it's super fun to be at this show with a disruptor because I feel like this is sort of a disruptive brand as well. So it's. It's been a real treasure to, um, to be back in this, in this space, but actually have something that I could offer too.
But even while you were going through all of that, I know My Gnome on the Roam has some retail placement, so how did you land all of that? While everything was going on with Covid, I had to make the decision. I, you know, I thought about hanging everything up and just quitting, but I, I, if anything, am tenacious.
So I decided instead of quitting, I was gonna lean in. So I just worked on my e-commerce and um, and I threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall. So, I sent things to influencers and got some big testimonials and I think that I've leaned on that, but now it's time to like step into the real world and really, you know, offer the brand to companies and get it really moving.
I love that. So what awards has my Nome on the Rome won? I know you've already been, you're already in retail, you've been, you're notable people have been coming to this table to talk to you.
So tell me about the awards that you've won and what it felt like to get those awards. We've won Parents Choice. We've won, uh, creative Choy of the Year. Um, my favorite, like I got some testimonials. That's what I was just spaghetti at the wall, so I wrote a letter to and sent. A copy of everything that I did to my kind of parenting mentor, Dr.
Sha Berry, who's Oprah's parenting expert, and she gave me her testimonial. So I kind of, when thi when I'm down, I kind of go back and look at the words that she shared. My Gnome on the Roam gives parents and children an opportunity to share moments of. Heart and soul. Oh, I love that. That's so nice. So, okay, I gotta ask you my favorite question. What toy or game blew your mind as a kid?
Um, this was a fun thing to think about. My very favorite toy. Now I'm a generation Xer. I'm older than everybody here, but, um, was a Mattel toy called the Sunshine Family. The Sunshine Family. Family. I, no, I'm not sure if anybody will know it. They're kind of like Barbies, but they had articulated arms and legs.
There was a mom and a dad, baby, and a little sister, grandparents. They had, um, multi, um, ethnicities. Yeah. In a time in the early seventies. One that just wasn't seen. But the coolest thing about the brand was that every time you bought one of their products, there was a little foldable inside that told you how you could upcycle things around the house, like a Kleenex box or a, you know, a bin that strawberries have come in from the store and turn it into like furniture or something to use.
For your Sunshine family? Yeah, so I cleaned out my closet for the bottom of my closet was where my Sunshine family lived. All my shoes were piled up in the corner of my room. That's so cool. When I was a kid, I had these little bears that I turned like shoe boxes into, homes for them. I love that too.
Yes. So I gotta look up the Sunshine Family. Well, and thanks so much for your time today. Thank you so much for being a part of the showcase, and you've been a bright light throughout this show. So thank you so much and I can't wait to share this with the world. Thank you so much, and thank you for all that you do.
Oh my gosh, not just for me. I wish I had found her at the, at the beginning. I found her at the end, but I'm so thankful that I found her. Oh, thank you. Ah, thank you Ann.
. The next brand we're going to dive into is my mother is a superhero. Fun fact about the founder of this brand sheet is also a sag card holder. What does that mean? Well, if you know anything about the film and entertainment industry, this creator actually started with a side hustle career in film, and then moved over to toys. So my mother is a superhero offers a book that retails for 1499 and a doll that retails for 39 99. Let's listen in. To the interview.
📍
hi everyone. My name is CJ Charles and I, the founder and creator of My Mother Is A Superhero
so our brand, our brand is a bilingual brand. So I am a credentialed Spanish teacher of 17 years, and the reason why I started this whole brand is because I realized that kids are so obsessed. With social influencers, they're obsessed with at like everybody except the people who take care of them.
And so I decided to create a doll that would help students and children see their everyday superpowers, right, their everyday superheroes, to get those superhero powers activated.
what is the essence and the mission? Behind my mother is a superhero cj
Our mission is to show children that their superheroes are not found in celebrities or influencers or athletes, but that they can find those everyday superheroes and those adults in their life who care for them, their teachers, their mom and dad, grandparents, the the neighbor, the mailman.
We really wanna encourage kids to really touch, to see those amazing people in their everyday lives.
So, cj, what inspired you to come up with the idea? My Mother Is A Superhero. This book and this doll line that you've created.
Okay, so I'm a kid of the eighties and the nineties and I have an obsession with superheroes. So my first superhero crush was Wonder Woman led, like the original Wonder Woman, and she, and do all these really cool things. Well, I realized that my mom was just as pretty, she was just as smart. She couldn't spin into her costume, but she could spin into her church clothes.
So I totally took that inspiration I saw to my mom and I decided that superheroes is what I was all about. And so I kids see their everyday superheroes in their lives.
Yeah. I love the page from your book where your, the mom of the story. Your mom. The mom is like lifting a couch with one arm and vacuuming with one arm underneath it that calls very superhero. That's great.
Thank you so much. Yeah, so those are images that I actually remember from being a young kid watching my mom. And I know that moms do that every day. And so we want kids, we want girls, boys, we want them to see their moms as like, what the heck? My mom is amazing. She's a superhero.
Your brand has been really well received. When you go to craft fairs how does all that positive feedback feel for you? And I know also you just released a doll to go along with your book because everyone was asking for it and, and not only is it selling now at Craft Faires direct to consumer, but you had some buyer interest already in the doll.
What does this all feel like? Is it a dream come true?
it's a complete dream come true. I'm so grateful. So I just wanna say thank you to everyone who loves it now and who will love it in the future. I wanna say thank you. It's a complete dream. Dream come true. The positive feedbacks just reaffirms. The movement that we've kind of joined, you know, without knowing we were joining a movement.
So, you know, our brand is completely about appreciation and getting kids to look at, you know, have those values of gratitude and appreciation. And so when people come over to us and they appreciate my mom's story and our story and what we're doing, it just makes us feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing.
This is our calling. And for everyone to love the doll, now it's. It's an indescribable feeling. We're just super overwhelmed. We're super grateful, , and we just hope that we continue to put out quality products and books and stories that other people can relate to.
What are you most excited for being a part of the Toy Coach Showcase at Astra?
So I'm super grateful. Thank you so much for Astra Coach having us to people to learn about our brand, our messaging, and that we are like super forward orders. And connecting with new markets and new owners and, and just everybody, we're like super excited to be there and we just hope that everyone falls in love with our main character, Justine, and that she goes home with lots of
Now, the last question, my favorite question to ask toy creators, what toy or game blew your mind as a kid?
So I'm a doll girl, and so I've always loved cabbage patch dolls and Barbie dolls. Um, I used to actually cut the tops off my socks and design their new outfits because I didn't like the Barbie clothes. So I redesigned all my Barbie clothes on a Saturday afternoon. I'd be sewing with a my little stitch and thread, you know, making new little buttons and outfits and cutting arm holes for their little arms and stuff.
So, If it's a doll, I'm your girl, so I love it.
Thank you so much cj. Thank you for being part of the showcase.
Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Thank you.
our next creator is the founder of a brand called Honeylambs. And this brand features cute yet creepy plush characters. Honeylambs plush retail for $50. They have a core three character style offering, but every season they come out with the Matic drops of their beloved characters with a massive following online and built and videos that have millions of views. This is a brand you've got to watch let's listen in to the interview
My name is Honey Lamb or Ernesto Stewart, and I am the creator of Honey Lamb's. What's the mission behind it? I know you guys have a great story. I'd love for you to share it with the world. So our mission is basically to reinterpret the concept of the underworld into more fantasy world. We believe that storytelling and marketing can really help people who are struggling with similar issues.
And, uh, and we can make the world a more understanding and gentle place. So, honey, lamb, what inspired you to create this brand of toys? Well, we really wanted to focus in on a duality of, of a serious topic with mental health that involves all these stories that are metaphorical for lessons that we go through in our life.
Uh, tough lessons, and as well as having a lighter side from the, the physical immediate response of the toys is that they're cute and, and a little creepy. Can you just, State the names of the three main characters in the the world of honey lambs. We can start with Tommy. Tommy. He's the first. Character in, in our hon Lamb family.
He's a two-headed bear and we have Pansy who is a spider eyed rabbit who has like nine spider eyes and two long floppy ears. And we have Clarice as well, who is a six legged lamb. Yeah, I see your brand fitting in with two major trends in the toy industry right now. One being this focus on toys for mental, emotional, social health.
And then the other side being this focus on edgy dolls and plush inspired by the Wednesday Adams series, and it just melds those two things. Together so well. Yeah, totally. I, I think that it really resonates with the young adult to older adult or even adults, adults demographic. And it cuz of the stories within them speak to all of us of, of any age.
And I think the, the physical body of the toy also speaks to the young at heart at, at always, you know, you have some videos with. Millions of views. What does it feel like when you go on your Instagram, you go on your TikTok and you see hundreds and hundreds of comments of people that not only love your toys, but are understanding the deeper story you're telling with them.
What does that feel like? Oh, it's amazing. I, I. I'm extremely grateful of being able to connect with people and people actually understanding the, the deeper meaning behind the stories and, and getting the concept of honey lambs. It's been extremely fulfilling ever since from the start. Yeah, it's, it's amazing.
Oh, love that. Now, what are you most excited about to be a part of the Toy Coat Showcase at Astra? I am very, very excited to see people physically react to the products. I've always been very online based and so I'm really curious to see how people would physically react to the, like their first initial response of never seeing me online and seeing it physically for the first time.
My last question for you is, what toy or game blew your mind as a kid? I was very obsessed with Legos Connects bionicles, the sort of building like small piece building type toys that would make, that would transform into either robots or, uh, I loved building like kits of, of different diagrams of cars or planes and things like that, but I always have a really warm spot or a big spot in my heart for any soft.
Stuffed animal or puppet, what do you love most about that entire creative process? I really love coming up with just the different themes for it. I, ever since I was little, I've always been really in love with the, the process of showcasing a thing down to the paperwork or the small detail. I really love creating all the ads, all the marketing, the videos.
Changing up the website to where it fits the theme every single time. It's, it's always really fun. Thank you so much for this time, honey Lamb. I know you've got to get back to making more toys for the world. So I'll, I'll let you go. All righty. Thank you so much for your time as well. 📍 now the next creator who we're going to hear an interview from. She's the only one who went to the show with a concept that was still brewing. She brought her 3d models for buyers and potential investors to test out.
She brought 3d models for buyers and potential partners to test out and explore what her product will be. Target. Launch date is 2024. This brand is called gem blocks. So let's allow the creator to explain what the product is and how she came up with it.
Hi,
my name's Ehi and I'm the
founder
of Gem Blox.
What is the mission behind your brand? Why'd you
create Gem Blox?
So it started with tin foil. My daughter and I like to play, make believe, and we'd make crowns and jewelry and rings, and I started going through a lot of tin foil in my house, and I just got this splash of inspiration, like, how would it be to make something shiny and malleable that we could use over and over and over again?
So really starting with that idea. Led into the creation of Gem Blox, which lets you build not only jewelry, but objects, structures, wearables. It's really this sort of bringing the world of make believe from the kitchen into the playroom.
I've got a photo, of she and I posing together with a, I'm wearing a tenfold crown and she's got tinfoil earrings and she's always saying, mommy, make earrings, make earrings.
And I just thought, okay, I've gotta do something not just to be reusable, but something she could make herself, tin foil, have really hard edges and she's still quite young, so I thought, you know something, something soft and smooth and shiny and reusable, and that's where Gem Blox came from.
What are you most excited about to be a part of the Toy Coach Showcase at ASTRA?.
I cannot wait to see all the other innovations and all the new work on the floor itself. I've never been to a show like this, of that energy in the space, walking the floor. And also just getting some initial real life feedback about what Gem Blox is. Obviously. I love it. I think it's great. But I wanna know, what does a, what does somebody see when they think of Gem Blox?
What do they think they wanna make? I wanna see where people's imaginations can go
So you can see they're faceted. They're faceted like gems. They can be rigid standing straight up, but they're also. Fully flexible. So you can build curves, you can build turns, you can build things that wobble to and front.
They're strong and flexible and fun and free. They're just so fantastic.
There are other little attachments that you can attach them to. So you can take a piece like this, pop it on, you've got a set of earrings, you know, there's some, there's stool pieces. You can make things as ornate or as simple as you want. They're just really fun. I know what I like to make, but I want to hear what other people might like to make too, so I know what to do going forward.
Tell me some of the things that you've already built with your Gem Blox.
So I think my favorite thing that I've built is it looks like the Disney Princess Castle. It has and I, and with the, some of the more the faceted pieces that have gems like this, there's like a stained glass effect on the front door, and that's sort of the most complicated thing I've built. I've got a sketch design for a rocket ship, sort of if Barbie went to space, that's what it would look like. We have in design a little Gem Blox person that you can take with you that comes with your kits so that you can build a house for them or you can wear them on your neck. I literally get new ideas every day, what to do with this and where to take it. So I'm just, again, it's really exciting looking forward and I can't wait to get that feedback.
Now I know you've also shared Gem Blox with toy industry executives and gotten great feedback, and that was version 1.0 and you're now at version what,
14.
how does that feel getting that validation from senior leaders in the toy industry?
You know, it is so gratifying because you're, you know, I work alone. I sit, I'm a mom in my basement, out in the suburbs, tinkering away, and you think you've got something, but until someone else sees it and can say what you, are you, what you have made without you explaining to them, that is the greatest moment of validation that says,
You know, I'm not crazy for doing this. There's a real need out there. And so, yeah, the feedback I've gotten has been, you know, this is a white space. This is needed. I would get this for my daughter. I wanna play with this now. Every time I hear something like that, it makes me smile. And it's not just because of what it could mean for the future of Gem Blox, it just means that there's gonna be a world out there where girls like my daughter can go out and have fun in the same way. And I think that's fantastic.
I wanna give that experience to everybody.
What toy or game blew your mind as a kid?
It was Barbie's, pink Rolls Royce. Barbie's, All right, it's niche. Hear me out. Hear me out. So I've always been something of a gearhead as a child. Like I was, for some reason I was fascinated with cars. And then Barbie had, you know, my brother had his radio cars and there were monster trucks on tv, but Barbie had this huge pink Royals Royce, and it was around the time that movie with Madonna came out where she was running around in a Rolls Royce and there was a tiger. It's, who's that girl? I'm going somewhere with this. But basically it just said, Barbie is fun. Barbie is pretty, but she's so independent and she could drive. And so I would take that. I took that thing with me everywhere, all over my house. So I'd push it down the stairs, I'd roll it across the kitchen. I'd drive my mom crazy, but I love watching her go. And so it wasn't just that, you know, Barbie went, went places.
Well,
I to see you at the Toy Code Showcase. I'm really excited about Gem Blox. I hope you bring a ton actually build things there.
oh.
Yes, I'm doing a
sack.
Okay, awesome. Thank you, Ehi. Have a Thank you.
📍 The next brand we are going to dive into is Cubo toys, a Montessori inspired brand that aims to have kids take control of their lives by understanding their emotions and how to deal with them, but also offering products that allow kids to plan their daily schedules and take control of their own calendar. At the showcase, we had Cubo sticky schedules, which retails for 34 99. And we had Cubo sticky feelings, which also retails for 34 99. One of the best compliments we got at the show for Cubo. Sticky feelings and Sticky schedules is how easy it is to understand what the product is. One to sample is set out on the shelf. The buyer that walked by shared with us that as soon as he walked by the product display, he knew exactly what it is and what it was used for.
This buyer stated that that was beneficial because he doesn't always have time to explain every product to every customer. If a customer can walk by a shelf and through a simple display, quickly understand what the product is, how to use it and what the benefits are. That is a winner in his book. Okay. Let's dive in to the interview.
📍 Hi, my name is Karen and I am the founder and Chief of Play of Cubo Toys.
The first question I have is, what is the mission statement of your brand? Cubo Toys.
Cubo Toys offers educational toys for parents with kids from zero to five years old. So those are your babies, toddlers, and preschool years. Ultimately, what we want to do is to help conscious parents move away from single use plastic toys, and this is coming from my own personal experience as a mom.
In the first year of my children's life, we have changed their toys every one to two months, and it's not their fault because the first year of life, the brain development is so fast that after that they have achieved the specific skill. Most of the toys offer. They just want to move on to the next one.
But as a parent, we actually have piles and piles of toys in our living storage space, and I found out that I'm actually not alone in this predicament. A lot of moms and dads are looking ways for ways to cut down, and they're also looking for alternative products that they can use so that they don't have to face all these challenges.
Can you tell us a little bit about the name of your brand, where it came from?
So, yes, so I'm glad that you asked that. So Kubo is actually coming from a Filipino origin word, but slightly spelled differently. The word kubo represents brotherhood to our culture
Kubo is something that can be changed in so many ways. So it's the same way in which our brand represents, Kind of modular or multi usable, and it changes based on the child's growing and learning needs.
So what inspired you to create Kubo toys overall?
I was truly inspired by my children and it's because it's not just about being A toy entrepreneur. It all started when I had them, and I was really generally interested in the whole early education system. So that's why I became a preschool co-owner as well as the educator.
And what really happens for a parent is that when they have their children in the first few years of life, they are, we, we are so amazed by the different things, the small, small things that is happening with our children. So things like their first words, their first time to walk. And we are just awed by this wonder of learning that is happening around us, and we celebrate all these milestones, even though how small it is.
What are you most excited about being a part of the Toy Coach Showcase at ASTRA?
when, when I first heard about this, and I think it was only by chance, and I think I do remember the time when I first went to you, I was in a very, very bad state, but when you told me that there is such a thing as the Toy Coach showcase at the ASTRA Show, I felt that. That moment had turned completely for me because, I know that this is the first time that you are doing this, and the second one is, I felt that it's very exclusive.
A lot of the brands coming in, I do believe that we are premiering for the first time, like a real movie premier, and how, how exciting is that? Right? I feel like we're making history, small history, small steps, and I'm really glad to be part of this launch with you and yeah, what, what a privilege. What a privilege for me.
Oh, thank you so much. Now your toy already received an award from Dr. Gummer, the Good Play Guide. does it feel like to be awarded for the work that you've been doing?
If you look at the good play guide and look into the educational toys category you have, like Melissa and Dog, I've seen National Geographic, even Lego and learning resources and to be side by side with all these big brands for a rookie like me, I feel. Small yet big, we know that we can offer so much for this industry and to be actually be part of that very prestigious group. It feels that we have achieved a huge milestone for us. We have started recently to run ads that feature the seal, and we've seen that. The performance of our social ads, that feature is Seal has times for more engagement in the
days. When we have placed that little seal over here at the product shot and we told that, Hey guys, you are accredited all the way from the uk, people are clicking to the landing page. And we felt that we have started to reach the from the know to the trust stage. We're not in the like stage yet because we still yet to get, you know, but we feel that we're almost there. We're almost there.
Congratulations. We gotta share that with Dr. Gummer. That's awesome.
Yeah
My favorite question, when you were a kid, what toy or game blew your mind?
Oh are you familiar with Sailor Moon
Yes.
Yes, . So I was obsessed with Sailor Moon. I would wear a t-shirt for a week, the same T-shirt, and I would actually buy playing cards, put together a little magazine, publish it, send it to my classmates, and then suddenly I that it's in another school. So I, I was really obsessed with it, that when we went to the toy store, my mom gave me this budget.
I spent everything to buy this. Expensive. Are you familiar with the Star Locket? It's something that she uses to transform, so basically destroy when you open it up, it's like a musical box. So you, it would perform the opening team of the TV series, like,
and just imagine myself trans transforming after that. . Yeah. So it was. Really the prime of my imagination and yeah, it helped a lot during the time.
Thank you so much for sharing, Karen. I can't wait to feature your product. At the showcase.
Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity, and hopefully this will be the start of everything.
And this is where we're going to take a pause on today's episode. Yup. That's right. We had to turn this one into a two. Harder because we just had too much information to share and. I want to make sure you have time to really absorb the insights from the creators that were introduced.
While you're listening to all of these interviews, you may be thinking, oh, that product's amazing. I want to buy it. I need it right now. We've got to bring it into my store or into my home, head over to the toy coach.com forward slash 1 7 9. Scroll down to the mentioned in this episode section and there you'll see the website and contact info for all of the products that were mentioned in this episode.
If you do order something, let me know an Instagram post, a story, post a post. I'm going to reshare it. I love to reshare the content that you guys post. So please don't be afraid to do that.
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As always, thank you so much for being here with me 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. Until next week, I'll see you later. Toy people.
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