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Squish it Real Good with Incredible Group's Ryan Carr
187 Plays5 days ago
Everyone loves a good squishi, right? Well Incredible Group is out there making some of the coolest squishi toys around based on classic brands like Swedish Fish, Oreo, Ring Pop, and Sour Patch Kids. These squishi toys all have unique textures, unboxing experiences, and even super familiar scents. Learn about what goes into making these visceral collectibles from Incredible Group's own Ryan Carr.
Look for the latest Squishi toys from Incredible Group this October at Target!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents permission, check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
Dave's Chicago Adventures
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi. uh dave ah welcome back from your your trip to uh the midwest trip to chicago this time as opposed to the pretend one from the draft episode that's right that's i thought oh look at you breaking kayfabe i thought uh i thought that that was real i thought that trip to the chicago bears draft room was real yeah well let me they let me on on campus before they announced
00:01:02
Speaker
They're building a new stadium outside of the city. The illusion is shattered. Which is apparently a very controversial topic in Chicago. Oh, wow. OK.
00:01:13
Speaker
All the only thing I saw, ah obviously, ah the other than what you were sharing, um was that really unfortunate um sign outside of Wrigley. I guess there's like a famous bar that referred to our darling Mets as the Chicago as the White Sox of New York.
00:01:30
Speaker
I don't know if you saw that when you Yeah, it said come. It said it's it's whatever that famous bar is right across the street from from Wrigley. Cubby Bear.
00:01:41
Speaker
Maybe I, I i don't know. I don't, I can find the picture later, but it said like, um, don't have tickets to the game. Watch the Cubs beat the white socks of New York tonight.
00:01:53
Speaker
That's not worked out really. That worked out really well for them last night.
Eric's Wrigley Field Experience
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah. It's that said, and you know, we could do more on this, uh, on, uh, if we've talked about it on live at five, but, um, it's, it's a really, so,
00:02:11
Speaker
ah visiting fans in the new york area generally don't love coming here um i gotta say like this is my second time being to wrigley i'm not a cubs fan um this is the first time i've seen like my team play there though and it's great like As long as you're cool, nobody cares. And like, it's really hard not to be cool at Wrigley.
00:02:39
Speaker
Like, and I mean, watching it on TV, though, there were quite a few Mets fans. in it There are. And they, you know, they don't love it. But it's also like Wrigley is such a destination that true.
00:02:54
Speaker
You can't really help but. Realize that you're going to get.
Introducing a Special Guest: Ryan Carr
00:03:01
Speaker
fans of like all teams coming through there because it's it's such a historic building like it's such a historic place and it's really cool because it's right in the middle of the section of town so you're like walking down the street and there's shops and restaurants and all this stuff and then there it is it's very similar to boston i was gonna say like fenway it's that that old stadium style where just like it's the coolest thing it's just yeah yeah But it's great. Like I it's I've not been to a game at Fenway yet, but i've been like I said, I've been to two at Wrigley and I've been other places.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's by far my favorite stadium to visit so far. Very cool. Well, we have a lot to discuss tonight. We have a new guest on the ah on the show, um but a little bit of a new guest.
00:03:49
Speaker
Right. It's I feel like we've been trying to try to weave Bob and we get some. Not only is tonight's guest ah new to the show, new friend, new friend of the pod, um but also it's a like.
00:04:03
Speaker
very very unique and different topic um in the collectible space than we've discussed before yeah this is gonna be a fun one for everybody i think yeah i can't wait to like really squeeze as much as we can out of this topic that was good see what i did there um but before before we do that my job the weird the fun word play But my first episode with purple hair, so it is. it is. Your hair was much more purple before you left for Riot Fest. There was a lot of rain and a lot of need to shower.
00:04:38
Speaker
um But before, as always, before we hop into invite our guest on here and and hop into the topic, um we've got a giveaway. So it is still September. Last time I checked,
00:04:52
Speaker
um And we, of course, have partnered up with a fellow member of the wrestling figure community, ah Alex West collects ah one of ah one of our our buddies out there to give away this ah invisible, invisible. I'm air quoting.
00:05:09
Speaker
I'm finger quoting very hard. um Invisible 17. Yeah, they never seen 17. The invisible collector's edition WWE elite John Cena. i So pretty, pretty sought after figure, I would say at this point. um It's it's super cool. you know Dave and I both both have one ourselves. Yeah.
00:05:29
Speaker
ah And this is your
Ryan Carr's Expertise in the Toy Industry
00:05:31
Speaker
chance to get one. So ah you can visit us at AIC underscore podcast over on Instagram. um Look for the pinned post. Follow all the rules in the post.
00:05:40
Speaker
ah You have until September 30th to enter. And then ah on October 1st, the official start of spooky season. for real um we will announce the winner of this giveaway as well as announce our um what i'm referring to dave as our our first ever trick or treat giveaway um we will have two we will have two giveaways two two chances to win um on uh on October 1st throughout October and both ah giveaways again, just dropping some hints here.
00:06:17
Speaker
um Both giveaways are first time on the pod giveaways. So things from toy lines and parts of the toy world that we have never given away before.
00:06:29
Speaker
um And they are both spooky season adjacent and um, very much so related. So, uh, yeah, even though it's a trick or treat giveaway, you will not have to ring any doorbells.
00:06:41
Speaker
No doorbells will need to be rung. um And even though it's trick or it's really like treat and treat, there's no tricks involved. Both both are both are our prizes. It's going to be pretty standard. It's going to be the pretty standard follow tag. Like, yep, yep.
00:06:59
Speaker
But you just have two chances. And then actually, here's the trick or treat element. I just thought of this on the fly. And this treat and treat giveaway. No, the trick or treat is um first person to respond gets dibs.
00:07:14
Speaker
So when we announce the winner in november on November 1st, if there's going to be two prizes, whoever responds first gets to pick which of the two prizes. So get those get those fingers and or thumbs ready.
00:07:29
Speaker
Turn on those notifications. Whoever responds to when you say they won first Yes, correct. Correct. And we'll make sure timestamps are available for for proof proof ah purposes. But both both prizes are super cool. So I'm i'm really excited to to announce that.
00:07:48
Speaker
But that's that's for later. For now, we've got... a for For right now, we it's time to introduce our guest. So... um This week, ah we are joined by a a new friend of the pod, Ryan Carr. He is the senior sales executive at Incredible Novelties, Inc.
00:08:08
Speaker
ah He has 20 years of experience in the toy industry, including leadership roles at Mastermind Toys. Ryan, ah he knows a thing or two about what makes a product successful.
00:08:19
Speaker
So a step outside the usually usually highly articulated collectibles we typically cover, Incredibles latest creation, Squishy, is hitting target end caps this October. The scented, squishy sensory collectibles are inspired by iconic candy brands like sour patch kids ring pop swedish fish and even some wild gross out throwbacks like some toxic waste love love us some toxic waste uh yeah so nostalgia sensory sensory play maybe a little uh asmr um all wrapped into one ah ryan welcome to adventures in collecting
00:09:00
Speaker
Thank you so much for having a Great intro, by the way. Like nailed it. There's nothing more I can add. I don't even know what I'm here for. It's great. All right. So that's the whole episode. Thank you, everybody, for listening.
00:09:12
Speaker
I will add. Hang on. I will add. i I heard you guys talking a lot of baseball just off the top. I have to say i am a Toronto Blue Jays fan. I am a Canadian and a Toronto Blue Jays fan. We are having a great season.
00:09:22
Speaker
Nobody is giving us any respect at all. And yeah, we've been playing some middling baseball in the last few games, but here's a prediction. You heard it here first.
00:09:34
Speaker
The Jays are going to shock everybody and go straight to the dance. It's going to be awesome. See you later, judge. 50 home runs. I don't care. Get out of here. Get out of here. Who cares? So we're, we're Mets fans. yeah yeah I know I heard. That's why I knew I felt in a safe space. and i Totally safe. Also, I think,
00:09:51
Speaker
I think that call was so this is this is going to air on a few days after this call happened. But that back to back foul but foul ball call and then that awful third strike.
00:10:02
Speaker
Brutal. Absolutely brutal. I'm not prepared. so i I shouldn't have brought it up because I'm not ready to talk about that. That one was deeply painful. I'm sorry. This is a baseball podcast, right? Like we're not. It is now. Good.
00:10:16
Speaker
good we have that ability to morph. We, we like lots of fandoms. We cover, we we talk about lots of things. yeah um Yeah. Yeah. Baseball is is very, very hot right now for obvious reasons, but yeah. Yeah.
00:10:29
Speaker
yeah um Yeah. So but before before we we jump into everything here, as this is a show about collecting, the first thing that we ask all of our guests, ah what, Ryan, what do you collect? and And let me preface this with it doesn't have to be toys. If the answer isn't like something toy related and you have some really cool collection of some kind or quirky thing, um whatever you collect.
00:10:54
Speaker
Uh, shockingly, I do collect toys. Uh, having been in this business for as long as I've been in this business, I big Lego guy love Lego. Uh, also recently started collecting vintage toys. My partner, she gave me an old erector set that she found at a, like a flea market or something.
00:11:18
Speaker
And by the way, a Erector set's 100 years old. They work with today's sets. like they haven't you know It's the same. like it's this It's the same molds everything. And that sort of set me on a path where I was like, oh, this is cool and on brand for me, having some some cool vintage stuff. So yeah, shockingly, toys.
00:11:38
Speaker
Not so much in the collector room where you guys play.
00:11:44
Speaker
ah say much more in the art.
00:11:49
Speaker
I lived through a lot of fads, Rainbow Loom and Fingerlings and Tamagotchi going way back and Beanie Babies and these things. And so having some of these around to remind me of the
00:12:03
Speaker
food in being in the business of those times kind of fun. So I would say that, toys. Yeah, that's awesome. And then yeah it's it's always funny, like how we we like carve our own like collector paths out of things sometimes and how we we like find our way back in. And, you know, I I always reference like.
00:12:25
Speaker
You know, I Dave has been a wrestling fan for much longer than I than and i have been. But I'm just doing this podcast little bit longer. So yes, by the rough, roughly seven years or so.
00:12:38
Speaker
But um yeah, they this podcast ended up being my avenue to get back into. wrestling figures like I bought a wrestling figure in order to be able to do like photography and size and scale comparisons and I was like wow wrestling figures have changed a lot maybe I'll watch wrestling again and we went you know slippery slope rabbit hole sort of situation it ah yeah it always ends up that way I, uh, in, when I was a kid in eighties, I did have one of the original WWF rings with the Hulk Hogan figure. And I can remember Jake, the snake with the kind of, if I'm being honest, a little bit crappy snake that he came with that was around his shoulders that I lost immediately, immediately. And was so destroyed over that.
The Magic of Toy Buying and Toy Fair
00:13:24
Speaker
And even worse, still contentious in my family to this day is the fact that when I went away to school, my parents packed up a lot of my toys from the 80s and 90s, and those were then divested ah without without my my knowledge or permission I contend my mom is like, no, I told you I was going to do that. It's fine. We gave it, you know, with the church sale or whatever. It was great. We raised like 50 bucks. Like, oh, my God, mom, what have you done?
00:13:56
Speaker
So some of these things, some of my there's holes in my collection still because of that, if I can say that. Holes in your collection. And it sounds like maybe your your soul. a little Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:08
Speaker
yeah Definitely, definitely in my heart. Also in my relationship with my mother. This is still deeply, it comes up in therapy every week. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, Adventures in Therapy, Adventures in Baseball.
00:14:25
Speaker
well just get We're just going to keep adding things to the title this week. It's Adventures in dot dot dot. ah Good. Wide ranging. Yeah, totally.
00:14:35
Speaker
So before we get into Squishy, um just Ryan, a little bit of a background on your journey through the toy industry and um how you landed at Incredible Novelties.
00:14:46
Speaker
um Well, my story is back to my mom's completely based on nepotism, actually, because my first job in the toy business, I got it at the dinner table.
00:14:58
Speaker
ah My mom managed a toy store when I was a kid. And so growing up that, by the way everything you your first draft in your head of what that looks like. Exactly.
00:15:08
Speaker
Like it was. awesome. but ah the The latest Lego sets, every time they launched, I got them first when they were still coming out of the boxes. ah ah yeah It was like, you know, Willy Wonka except toys or Mr. McGoriam's Wonder Emporium is probably the rest. Anyways, so my mom managed a toy store. And so when I was a teenager, when I was 14 years old, she said, okay, you got to stop hanging out here and, you know, just taking toys home. You got to work here. And I started to work in that toy store and i ended up working there as a teenager for about 10 years.
00:15:44
Speaker
My mom retired and then other people came in and I got to know the owners of the business to to whom the toy store belonged. That was called Mastermind Toys. At the time, it was about 10 stores in the Toronto area and I worked in one of them and knew, got to know the owners. And I went away to school, came back, called up the owners and said, you know, by the way, I'm,
00:16:07
Speaker
I'm done school now and I really could use a job. And they said, well, do you want to come work for us? And so I became a toy buyer at that time. It was a smaller company, so we all did a lot of things, but I became a toy buyer and did that for another
00:16:26
Speaker
17 years and Mastermind grew and went cross country during that time. And I eventually came to to run the buying team ah for many, many years. So I had a team of buyers who we, our job was to select all the all the toys that went into Mastermind.
00:16:43
Speaker
which was a very cool job. And ah over those years, I actually, i bought from a number of different companies, including my friends at Incredible Novelties, the owners, Saul and Dan, my age, friends of mine for probably 15 years and bought tons of different products from them.
00:17:00
Speaker
And when it came time that i that I eventually did leave Mastermind, I called my friends up and said, hey, I could really use a job. And they said, well, you know, we we were thinking about expanding into the US. Do you want to try your hand at that? And I said, yeah, that sounds super fun.
00:17:17
Speaker
And so then I started to not buy toys, but sell toys and be heavily involved in toy design and licensing and all kinds of fun things that incredible. So i I love that you have this background in technology.
00:17:32
Speaker
in buying, right? I think it's something that as collectors and i across the board, right? Like we we always shop at like the big retailers, you know, the the targets, the Walmarts, even like, you know, Best Buy is carrying toys and stuff now.
00:17:48
Speaker
And there's a lot of like mystery about like how that process works right like who decides what goes on what pegs and yeah you know how much space a certain thing gets and how does that get carved out and you know how do how do those deals happen um you know what what's it like having been on kind of like that side and then moving over to the other side of it It's like all the time people would say, oh, you had the job of like Tom Hanks in the movie Big. And I i want to say yes to that every time.
00:18:24
Speaker
um The truth is it's a lot of spreadsheets. It's a lot of numbers. It's a lot of strategy around you know the metrics of the business. But what I always do say to people is it's such check an amazing job because you'd be at your desk you know trying to work out numbers, figure out how you're going to hit your goals your your goals and your your budgets and all these things and ah geez this category is not working what are we going to do here this and that and somebody just pokes their head in their and in your office and like hey come check this out this is wicked and and all of a sudden you're playing football in the hall you know with a new football that spins and you're like how does it spin like that that is oh this is wicked let's see the package oh the package is amazing what's it gonna cost oh it's gonna be that's an amazing price like oh my god like but we gotta buy so many like we gotta get an exclusive we gotta we gotta
00:19:10
Speaker
make some cool video around this. We've got to do some marketing. And it's like, that's when the job is amazing. When you really get into the fun aspect of like, oh, this is a cool thing. And I really get, I see why it's a cool thing. And I see why people will want this.
00:19:25
Speaker
And then you do your merchant things to bring it to life in a store and make sure your staff, at least the kind of retail where i used to work, make sure your staff know all about it and have have the education and all.
00:19:39
Speaker
to sell it and everything. And, and it's, and it's super fun. And like that, yeah, the most fun in that job is when you're sitting in a meeting and a vendor is showing you a bunch of things and you're just imagining what they could be and how many people would like them and why they would like them or sometimes why it's terrible.
00:19:58
Speaker
And why you're, why you're like, Oh my gosh, this is, this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Nobody would ever want this. I cannot select this. Like, and how do I nicely tell this person that's what I think? Yeah.
00:20:10
Speaker
And so, yeah, toy and toy buying is a bit, but I understand it looks like there's a lot of mystery to it because sometimes you stand in front of a shelf and you're like, what happened? Like, why did you why did you do this? Why did you make these decisions? And even me, like I'll be in a store and be like, why did you do This is not who your customer is or what you should be doing. But, you know, I think the last thing I'll say about it is that you know There's a bunch of different types of people who end up in the job. and the the
00:20:44
Speaker
The um ah uncharitable a description of somebody who wouldn't be good at it would be a widget buyer in that they just they're just buying widgets. It could be anything. It doesn't matter that it's a toy.
00:20:56
Speaker
it's yes no it's ah It's a thing. It's a box. It's a number on a spreadsheet, which, again, a lot of the job is that. But the best toy buyers are the ones that are like, oh, this is wicked.
00:21:09
Speaker
like and I used to say to my buying team, it's like when you feel your inner kid start to like, oh, like, wait, what is it? Like, this is, you know, that's when you're like, oh, listen, listen, this is fun. This is cool. this could and this could lead to very good sales.
00:21:26
Speaker
Not always, but, you know, that's the, and that's the type of individual that I think really excels in the in the toy business, you know, and and can do well with it. Yeah, you got to find your your inner 10 year old that you that you've locked in a cage. so Yeah. Just just let them out, you know, let them rip. Yeah. We're talking about toys. They're supposed to be fun. I think that's kind of what I've found to be and but having been fortunate to have been to Toy Fair a couple of times to just seeing that kind of like evolve and almost being fly on the wall in a way like.
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, because we get we get caught up in the world of, you know, collectibles and high, like not necessarily high end stuff, but like, you know, like adult collector stuff. Right. So it's fun when we get a chance to to go to Toy Fair and like and and play, you know, like and and there's so much more to to toys than the the tiny little corner of collectibles that we've we've carved out for ourselves.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah. um That. i Yeah. toy Toy Fair is magical. like really Or it can be. You know what i mean? You can see a lot of people traipsing around that building who sort of, you know, they've done it before, they've seen it before, it's not magical for them anymore, and it's like, no, that's too bad. But really, like...
00:22:44
Speaker
it it it it's supposed to be like kid in a candy store, like go from booth to booth and see what they got. Like everybody's got their, their interesting, fun, exciting thing that they've poured their heart into and think is is the next best thing in this business. And some of it's not going work.
00:23:01
Speaker
So it's not great, but it's everybody, it's so much passion in the building. It's like, if you tap into that, man, Toy Fair is the best, so much fun.
Exploring Squishy Toys by Incredible Novelties
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So speaking of things that are are different um for those that haven't necessarily seen ah the incredible novelty squishy items, tell tell us a little bit about what kind of sets them apart from from other collectibles.
00:23:27
Speaker
ah Well, yeah I can tell you that my company has been making squishy toys for 10,000 years ah and we're really good at it. And you may be surprised to hear, though, that we're not the only company making squishy toys.
00:23:42
Speaker
And so, today yeah shocking, shocking. um And we, so as we often do, we were just sort of kicking around, trying to come up with, all right, like, what's, what's the next angle? What's the next interesting thing? What can we do? That's just, you know, but it's not rocket science, the toy business.
00:24:03
Speaker
ah Some of it is some toys are pretty intense, but A lot of it is just like, you know, let's just, what's fun? What's interesting? What's different? And and as we were kicking ideas around um a couple of years ago, somebody said, well, what about food? Like squishy food? All right, it's kind of been done, but like, okay, squishy food, you interesting.
00:24:21
Speaker
um What about, what if we scented it? Like, is that possible? do Do you guys know how to do that? No, I don't know how to do that. All right. Could we figure it out? and Probably, of course. We can figure anything out. Okay, so we'll make it scented food. That's it.
00:24:33
Speaker
What if we made it like, you know, based on food that's out there and candies. And we were kind of we had a half-baked napkin sketch of an idea and started to call up candy companies. And we had no experience in licensing at the time and learned a lot of harsh lessons very quickly, but managed with these napkin sketches to convince a few companies that the idea was worth, you know, exploring.
00:25:02
Speaker
And we we we signed our our first few partnerships and set about making the toys and um ah quickly realized it was way harder than we thought, like so much, so much harder, you know, when to to make them. But to answer your question, what sets them apart? Well, they are awesome.
00:25:22
Speaker
almost across the board, almost all of them scented squishy toys that look and in many cases kind of feel like the real thing. We go for broke on packaging, trying to call back to brands that people know and love, um you know, like Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish and Bazooka Joe Gum, which, by the way, had no idea People are deeply passionate about bazooka Joe gum.
00:25:50
Speaker
Lots of intense reaction to that one. um And like I said before, it's not rocket science. These are simple items. They're just they're fun, low price point items that are a little different that when you see them on the shelf, you're like, oh,
00:26:06
Speaker
That's crazy. with ah the And then you sort of feel it and it's like, oh, that's cool. And they make a great little special something, whether it's just for the kid who, ah you know, is in the grocery store in the check lane and sees, you know, mom and dad see something cool there and and grab it for them as a little thing or whether it's in a party favor bag whatever.
00:26:26
Speaker
Just something, if you're a person like me and super fidgety and you can't you just have to constantly be you know at something, it's like, oh, here's an interesting thing for you for you to be at. and I would say that's what sets us apart in a you know ah crowded category, admittedly. and It seems like based on the feedback that we're getting and and based on how the products are being received that we're on to something. so That is gratifying after you put a lot of work into something like I was talking about earlier.
00:26:58
Speaker
um and and yeah, we're just excited to finally and now that it's getting wider and wider sort of release and placement. That's that's exciting for us. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:27:16
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:27:33
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:27:45
Speaker
That's
00:27:51
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:27:57
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Yeah, when when the the Skittles ones first came out, I think that those were like some of the first ones that you guys did that were scented.
00:28:08
Speaker
if i I remember correctly from um from the the very kind box you guys sent us ah a couple years ago, I just remember thinking like – Oh, man, this smells like a Skittle. Like, I mean, it's it it smells like the candy.
00:28:23
Speaker
It was actually so actually it was actually Jelly Belly. The Jelly Belly. That's right. This is the first. My apologies. No, you're fine. The hardest, by the way. So, so hard. That red jelly bean smelt like a Jelly Belly jelly bean. Yeah, because thank you for distinct.
00:28:42
Speaker
Very distinct, like their flavors and scents are very distinct. And there's also something that's just fun about like, even like the, the Sour Patch Kid ones, like they're a good size where it's like, this is funny because ah it's a giant jelly bean or a giant Sour Patch Kid.
00:29:04
Speaker
And like people have these visceral connections to the things that they eat and like, especially like the snacks and candies that they, that they love. And it like Yeah, it was it was like we we had so much fun with the the Jelly Bell. I can't believe I thought there were Skittles. I'm sorry.
00:29:21
Speaker
The Jelly Belly ones, because we all have different like favorite flavors and like the orange one smelt like the orange one. The the like the very cherry one was very clearly very cherry. Like it was it was those classic flavors.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, my my favorite back in the Jelly Belly line was the root beer one that yeah it was, that's a hard scent. And by the way, like a little bit of background for you, we work with a scent company that has perfumists and we sort of throw these things at them where we're like, okay, we've got to make a toxic waste scent. And they're like, what?
00:29:53
Speaker
Like what? what is What is toxic waste? and what And we'll kind of say, it's like sour green apple or something. And they'll work up a sample for us. Perfumists, they're essentially like chemists, right? Yep. They'll send us the sample and we'll, you know, as often will happen, we'll smell it and go, No.
00:30:10
Speaker
And then what's funny about the process is you've got to go back to these people and tell them like, what's, what's wrong with it? Why, why, you know, and, and that's so hard where you're like, I don't know. It's just not toxic waste. Like, what do you mean what's wrong with it And what they always say to us is, well, just use words, just give us words.
00:30:30
Speaker
And so you'll say something like, okay, fine. It's too sharp. And they're like, oh yeah, totally. We know exactly how to fix that. Okay. It needs to be like, yeah, like too sharp is it more rounded.
00:30:40
Speaker
is It needs to be a more rounded sample. Oh, yeah. No, no problem. No problem. Yeah, we can. And it's so funny how you just give them nonsense and they're like, oh, exactly. Yeah, here we go.
00:30:52
Speaker
And here's your next sample. And you're like, oh yeah, it's not sharp anymore. How do you guys do that? That's so perfect. ah But that was just one of the many things we learned through this process.
00:31:03
Speaker
um Because it turned out to be way harder than we than we thought it was going to be, definitely. The ah you know the other thing is when you're working with licensors, they approve everything.
00:31:14
Speaker
And so as was the case with Jelly Belly, they're very protective of their their brand. They want it to be a good brand experience for business. be Jelly Belly, Bazooka, Ring Pop, whatever. And so, you know, we have to send these things off to get approved.
00:31:29
Speaker
And sometimes we'll get feedback that's at odds with what we think about the product. And then you have to sort of It's a strange experience of going into a meeting where you're going to like tussle with the brand to try and convince them you what you think because what you know, no, no, in a toy, it should be more like this.
00:31:50
Speaker
And it should be this size or else it's going to be this price. And that's crazy. And, you know, and it's. yeah but Again, we we were just used to making toys that we looked at and be like, yeah, cool. Okay, make it, produce it. Great. On to the next one. Now we have to get all these permissions and everything and then these these approvals. And that was just ah a whole new element, which we've got a lot better at.
00:32:13
Speaker
We sort of know how to, you know, soft shoe through that process a little better and deliver feedback that isn't, you know, blunt and insulting to their brands. if I can say that. And and yeah, so it's been but a lot of fun. And and like it is great that the products are being well, that people seem to like them. get a lot of people say, every time anybody says anything nice about the product, I just say, thank you.
00:32:42
Speaker
because you so it looks like a nothing little item, but I'm telling you, the amount of hours and late night, you know, zooms with overseas and all this that you go through to try and figure these things out before they get to the shelf, not to mention the whole process of convincing buyers that it should be on their shelf. And then, you know, going through all their, the rigmarole to get in the different stores. It's a,
00:33:07
Speaker
you know By the time it gets to somebody and they go like, oh yeah, that's really cool. It's like, oh my God, thank you. Thank you for saying that. I needed that so badly. no that Now these are a pretty big deal partnerships. you know Sour Patch Kids, Ring Pop, Swedish Fish, Toxic Waste, Dippin' Dots, um Bazooka. How did these collaborations come about?
00:33:32
Speaker
ah Yeah, you know so again, the but by chance almost, it's so it's like despite our best efforts, I think, in some cases, because the the early companies, like for example, so the company that owns Oreo, Swedish Fish, and Sour Patch Kids called Mondelez, enormous confectionery company, um and enormous reach, enormous brands,
00:33:57
Speaker
They're used to doing enormous partnerships. You know, you might have noticed Oreo frequently it's like you know, pumpkin spice and whatever it's like. yeah And those are massive deals that these these people are. Their release is one that's happening right now. yeah Exactly.
00:34:14
Speaker
Out of this world. Good, by the way. so listening. It's so good. It's delicious. It's best peanut butter Oreo you will ever eat. ah On both ends. Even though the cup is good.
00:34:26
Speaker
yeah and And so, you know, yes, everybody knows these things. Everybody's seen them, you know, and then along comes this quirky little toy company. Like, we've got an idea. like we want to take your Oreo and make it so that it's like a squish, but the icing squishes out the side. And they're like, all right, that's weird. Okay. yeah Have you done anything like this before? Can you actually do it?
00:34:50
Speaker
Well, no, like we we we're not sure we can do it. We're pretty sure. like we yeah this is But no, never had a partnership like this before. Okay, yeah, wow, strike two. Okay, um and you know I think it was just the fact If I'm being honest, I think the fact that we were so clearly passionate ah and just ah quite honest, I think, with a lot of these companies that we were by no means presenting them with a partnership that was as big as pumpkin spice Oreos going into every grocery store around the world.
00:35:25
Speaker
But I think all of them who have signed on with us, and now it's a number of companies, kind of looked at it and were like, Oh, that's really cool. Like, oh, that's really cool. And the first few who signed on were so grateful for that. Mondelez being one of them kind of gave us the shot.
00:35:43
Speaker
And then subsequent, you know, the subsequent brands can see like, wow, that Oreo that you made, you know, yeah like, and that squishy Swedish fish, like, oh man, the scent, it smells exactly like a Swedish fish Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:56
Speaker
You could probably do something cool with Ring Pop. Okay. Yeah. Let's, ah let's do this. And you know We keep parlaying it into more and more and fun and interesting partnerships. so it's ah you know The answer to your question, how did this come about, is is we were lucky, I think, and we had a few companies who kind of took a shot at it, and then we've been snowballing ever since.
The Sensory and Nostalgic Appeal of Squishy Toys
00:36:23
Speaker
So nostalgia is clearly baked into this, you know, in some degree. I mean, things like Bazooka Joe and and even like the the Swedish Fish and and toxic waste stuff in the co on the back.
00:36:33
Speaker
yeah how How do you balance that level of nostalgia, but also doing things to appeal to you know kids today that may not have those same like baked in, you know, snacking and and kind of candy memories from ah from from bygone years?
00:36:51
Speaker
It's a great question because you know when we first started making these products, we did sort of sit down and ask ourselves, are we making these for kids or are we making these for adults? And for the most part, it's we believe we're making them for like adults, quite frankly, and you know tweens and teens. and and But in in many, many cases, it's people who have these nostalgic memories of these brands. And it's clearly what we're seeing in the market as well.
00:37:20
Speaker
kids obviously are drawn to and attracted to our our products. There's no question about that, but it's, it's, you know, the toy term kid adults, it's, it's, it's us, you know it's us sitting around squishing these things. And so, uh,
00:37:36
Speaker
It is a balance. We're always making a toy. ah But we don't we try not to miss those opportunities to lean into the stuff that people go like, oh, I remember that. Like you brought up the the cartoon on the bazooka product, which I'm going honest with you, i'm still like that one still hurts me a little bit because we all had a chance in our office to submit to the creative team ideas that for the cartoon that was going to go on the back of the Bazooka Joe.
00:38:04
Speaker
And I wrote like 32. I was like, I am this is part i want this as part of my legacy. like I'm going to nail this. And I you know ah tried, tried, tried. My colleague wrote one.
00:38:19
Speaker
And hers was good. And it ended up on the back of the thing. And I'm still a little upset about that one, but be that as it may, um ah it is, it's a balance.
00:38:32
Speaker
ah And I think, you know, again, yeah i will say this for the most part, we're trying to make a great squishy toy. Something that at the end of the day, a simple thing, but just like you were saying before, right size, cool squish, interesting, looks like the thing.
00:38:50
Speaker
you know Each of them have a different squish or angle or something that just sets them a little bit apart and gives them a reason for being. And you know it's ah ah we just kind of lean into that more than anything.
00:39:04
Speaker
Well, that being said, if you if you want to if you want to make a ah Sour Patch Kids watermelon one at some point for for this this this big kid or some Mike and Ikes.
00:39:17
Speaker
Oh, it's so funny you mention these. Yeah, yeah. What can I say? Stay tuned. How about that? love that. Yeah, because there I mean, that's one of those things, too. Like but is if off the top of my head, like I know what a Swedish fish feels like, I, you eaten so many of them in my lifetime like even a sour patch kid like with the sugary outside like you know what these things are and you know you could see them or you could like close your eyes and be like yep that's that's this that's that you it's it's pretty great
00:39:52
Speaker
it is little things It is little things like that, too. Like you mentioned the sugar on the Sour Patch Kit. I happen to be holding one right now. like we We figured out how to mold that onto the outside of the product. It's so it's hard to see in my crappy webcam here. but um So the product does have like a sugary surface.
00:40:11
Speaker
And one of our designers was trying to figure out how to do that. And eventually he just had to hand like hand place on his, he had to place all the little ridges, you know sort of one by one to get it right.
00:40:24
Speaker
I don't know. I'm not a technical person. I can't tell you why you had to do it that way. just know that it was so painstaking. And he was like, do I really have to do this? And we were like, Yes.
00:40:36
Speaker
Because it's going to make it better. So I'm so sorry. Here's a can of Coke and enjoy your all nighter.
00:40:45
Speaker
Yeah. But that that sensory aspect too, like plays into it because, you know, I'm i'm like a texture and fidgety person myself and sensory play and am at ASMR are big trends right now.
00:41:00
Speaker
So how intentional was it to weave those elements into squishies? Well, yeah, like I said before, we we've been in we've been making squishy toys for a long time. And ah during the pandemic, that that category exploded because you know there was that widespread sort of um belief, acceptance, whatever you want to call it, that, like hey, listen, a lot of people are experiencing a lot of anxiety.
00:41:24
Speaker
And something simple like a little textured toy, something just to to worry at, you know can help. And so kids who were doing online zoom online school yeah on Zoom and and these kind of things, it really blew up as a category. One of one of those strange quirks of the pandemic that was strange in so many ways.
00:41:45
Speaker
And it never it never went down. Like a lot of things that went, you know, stuff for your backyard went crazy during the pandemic. And then after it was like, wow, we have a lot of stuff in our backyards. We don't have to buy anything for the backyard for like six years, you know? that Bread making supplies.
00:42:00
Speaker
Yeah. Exactly. That came down. Squishies didn't. And so we knew lot about making squishies and we had a lot of experience with that and the different materials you can use and the different ways you can do it and what makes one cool and fun and sizing and pricing and cost. And had great relationships with different producers of these different types of things. And so,
00:42:24
Speaker
We had a toolkit that we could draw from to to do that sort of thing. So it was very intentional. Each one has its, you know, like the ring pop is squishy that you can actually wear and sort of fidget with. Well, it's, a you know, like we were drawing on a lot of experience to do those things.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a great aspect, too, just to someone who's, ah you know, kind of always enjoyed like that, that tactile, that sensory of feeling of whether it was like a seam on a sleeve of a hoodie or like, you know, just really anything. And to be able to like kind of learn through, oh yeah, this is actually like an anxious anxiety based thing to know that like, oh, I could actually, you know,
00:43:11
Speaker
not destroy the seams
Launching Squishy Toys at Target
00:43:13
Speaker
of my clothing. I could have like a Swedish fish. It's an outlet. It's excellent, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's a simple thing. i keep saying it. It's not rocket science. You know, it's a simple thing.
00:43:24
Speaker
We put a lot into it. perfect, and it works on so many ways. like Well, thanks. So many levels. Thank you. Thank you for saying We do put a lot into it. But yeah, no, it's fun, too. They're simple.
00:43:36
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I can tell you a quick one, like the Bazooka Joe Gum. In truth, we wanted to sign the license for the Ring Pop.
00:43:47
Speaker
And this is the same company. And they sort of said, well, if you're signing this, we'll we'll put this as part of it too and make a Bazooka Joe. And we were like, All right, that's going to be a really boring squishy. That's going to be a rectangle. What is fun about it? OK, well, the scent will be really cool. And OK, well, the like the nostalgic packaging will be really cool. And OK, like the comic, OK. And if we give it, OK, but if we just give it a gum squish,
00:44:15
Speaker
like I don't know exactly what that is, but we're to figure that out. Like it's got to squish like gum somehow and and squish like gum. With all due respect to bazooka, that's a little bit stale because it's like when it's a little bit stale, that's like the best bazooka. And, you know, and we yeah you just go through stuff and and it became honestly, it's one of our most popular items out of the gate and when it was originally a bit of an afterthought for us, just because we leaned into the sensory stuff and then style just stuff and, you know, simple things like that.
00:44:47
Speaker
So we mentioned at the top ah you that you've got this major target end cap coming in October. What does that kind of retail presence mean for for, you know, squishy at at this stage and, you know, for for kind of this project overall?
00:45:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty big. I don't know if you guys knew this. Target has a lot of stores. You don't say. Yeah. yeah and So that's pretty exciting. I mean, obviously, from a business transform ah standpoint, it's transformative um for sure. getting the Getting the exposure that will come with a high profile placement at Target like this.
00:45:25
Speaker
But also, kind of like what I was alluding to before, it's just nice validation. It's like it like we were talking about buyers before. When you sit in front of a Target buyer who has great power to bring you know products into their section in very limited space, and believe me, everybody under the sun is showing Target everything, and when that buyer says, wow,
00:45:46
Speaker
I want everything. Like I like it all. That's like, okay, that is validating. and That is really great. And I think in this case, the the buying team that we're working with at Target is extremely talented and they really have a vision for what they're trying to do. And we're fortunate that we fit in with that.
00:46:06
Speaker
And we're really excited just to get the, it's going to put it into the hands of a lot more people. Which, you know, is pretty cool. Pretty fun. We've been working at this for a few years, so it's that's pretty great.
00:46:20
Speaker
So from your perspective, what's the biggest challenge when introducing like a new collectible line like this into such a competitive toy market? ah Just having a point of difference. just Just being something that people notice ah because you guys well know. It's like that you a lot of people, as much as the toy business can be magical, there's a lot of me too.
00:46:42
Speaker
There's just a lot of stuff that's like slight iterations on what came before. um I would be remiss in not recognizing that ours is definitely an iteration on the squishy category, but it's like you've got to iterate enough.
00:46:55
Speaker
You've got to do something just a little different enough to to kind of find your your niche and and have a reason for people to go like, oh, oh, that's cool.
00:47:06
Speaker
Like versus, oh, that's the same, you know? So I would say that's the biggest challenge. You know, and I think it's it's interesting, right? Like seeing something like this, you know, we talk about this, you know, in just kind of the content space in general, right? Like you're not competing against other squishy manufacturers, like, so you know, other companies that do squishy toys. You're competing against...
00:47:29
Speaker
everything that anybody is spending their money on, like across the board, not even just like the toy market. You know, you walk into a Target, it's effectively like a, you know, a department style store. Right.
00:47:42
Speaker
And the toy toy aisle is, you know, more towards the back. They've got to walk through quite a bit of store before they get to the toy section. You know, you need to have something that has that kind of visual hook, something to, you know, make your product stand out. And you know Like I said before, there's something to be said about you know ah what would roughly five inch long ah Swedish fish.
00:48:07
Speaker
you know like it's just it's It's something that's instantly recognizable. The colors and the packaging is – if you're watching this here on YouTube, the colors on the packaging are like they pop.
00:48:19
Speaker
um Yeah. it's just And they're also reminiscent of the way that the actual thing is packaged. yeah it's it's just it's very It's so clever. It
Future of Squishy and Ryan's Favorite Childhood Toy
00:48:28
Speaker
really is clever. Yeah, thanks. Thanks. it's ah Yeah, you've got to do everything you can just to get noticed.
00:48:36
Speaker
It's really the hardest part of it. So without spoiling too much, I know i already threw my my my request spoiler, my my request out into the ether for for some watermelon Sour Patch Kids.
00:48:50
Speaker
um That's the greatest candy in the world, by the way, for anyone that's listening. um What what can fans expect ah next from Squishy? Is there there are there any new sense styles or maybe partnerships on the horizon? Anything that you can you can maybe hint at or.
00:49:06
Speaker
Oh, sure. I can just ever so slightly hint at a few things. um yeah have This is the fun thing about where we are now, is that now,
00:49:19
Speaker
but it especially with all these companies who tend to know each other and see what each other is doing. Now we kind of, Oh yeah, you're, you're the squishy guys. Like, will you do ours? And we're getting approached by people who want big and also bigger and bigger companies.
00:49:36
Speaker
Um, And bigger and bigger brands that would like to so sometimes, you know, things that were like, that doesn't work. ah Love your brand, but yeah we have no idea how to do this.
00:49:47
Speaker
But other times things like I am holding squishy Kool-Aid man. Stay tuned. He smells so good, by the way. This is our first. I was going to say, i hope it's for i hope it's fruit punch. Oh, pigs oh it's like bang on.
00:50:00
Speaker
I'm telling you. I'm telling you, it's bang on. It smells so good. Oh, my God. um yeah so we're it's exciting that we have lots coming uh lots of big ones too and interesting ones as well like for example you may know that kool-aid man is uh owned by the company craft and craft is kind of no boy for some other things especially in in uh in canada they good good call out good canadian catch different brand in canada Yeah. if If everybody knows what we're talking about. But yes, we don't we don't call it. we It just has a very basic name in Canada. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The k craft has a lot of fun things, actually. And we have some super fun things in college. My favorite dinner.
00:50:54
Speaker
micy Yeah. and Evidently in Canada, like our only dinner. That's what it's called here, which is kind of crazy. But so amazing. We have fun stuff coming. But yeah, that that opens up. I mean, the idea of like savory versions of these like that, that open now or now we're like, oh, that's a whole, whole new world of of opportunity.
00:51:18
Speaker
Can I tell you, can't I can't. And I'm so I'm so sorry that I'm going to do this. But I had a conversation with somebody today who has ah a savory thing that they want to turn into a toy. And we were like, what? Wait, oh, that's so fun And yeah, stay tuned. and i hope think of it I can think of a really good one that we'll talk about offline. I'll throw it your way. We'll talk about it offline. Yeah, yeah.
00:51:45
Speaker
yeah Because we it you're right. It's opened up some new, fun, interesting, like, oh, that's hilarious possibilities. I can think of a character. I just don't know, like, if the smell would be fun.
00:51:59
Speaker
Interesting. alright okay All right. right. Well, with that, ah Ryan, this takes us to... Thinking as iconic as the Kool-Aid man, I'll say that.
00:52:09
Speaker
okay well i think that we're going to talk about offline because i think i know what you're talking about and if it's the one i think i had a separate conversation it's going to be ad it's going to be crazy if you just pick the one because there was one i had a conversation about today and there was another one this is very cryptic bit of nonsense for your podcast right here but that's okay where if if you just pulled it that's it i'm going and signing it right now mystery and intrigue mystery and intrigue mystery and intrigue um so ryan thank you so much for for taking time to chat with us before we let you go ah we do have a tradition here on the show um we have a final question that we ask all of our guests so dave would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's james lipton and ask our final question why yes i would
00:52:59
Speaker
Ryan, the final question that we ask all of our guests. What is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one of each or it can be both.
00:53:12
Speaker
Well, when i was, i think I'm not positive on the year, but I think when I was eight years old 1988, There was a Lego set coming out called Eldorado Fortress.
00:53:26
Speaker
And I was super into the Lego pirate stuff, which was relatively new at the time. And I had the Sears catalog and there was a picture of that. And I asked Santa for it for Christmas and I poured over that catalog for like four months.
00:53:38
Speaker
Just like fantasizing about how I would play with that set. And I actually, I got it for Christmas. Santa came through, shout out to the big man. He's been good to me over the years. And ah and I had that set for so many years. And then lo and behold, in the calamity that was the disbursement of my toys, it was gone.
00:54:00
Speaker
And then ah Lego released an icon set of Eldorado Fortress, an updated, amazing version of that. And I was like talking about it around the house, like, oh, you know, that look at that that. was my favorite set when I was again. I'm telling the story everybody like, oh, God, wouldn't it be so cool if I had that? Oh, shucks. I don't know.
00:54:20
Speaker
Fully expecting to get that for Lego. Christmas. And instead, what my partner did, she went out and somewhere on eBay, she found the original set in packaging.
00:54:31
Speaker
Nice. And got me the original set, Eldorado Fortress, that I had when I was a kid that was like, you know, the thing that I still look back and think, I probably thought about no other toy more than that when I was a kid.
00:54:47
Speaker
She got me the original. And so I have an original in my collection built, displayed with packaging. ah And that is my prized possession. Wow.
00:54:58
Speaker
Eric looks like he's looking for it. I'm trying to find I can only find I found a picture of the the new one. Oh, wait, here we go. Never mind. I got it. I
Conclusion and Farewell
00:55:07
Speaker
got it. The new one's sweet, too. By the way, I would have been yeah I would have liked to get the new one, too. But it's the the original is.
00:55:14
Speaker
ah Was it one of those like when they put out? Yes, the classic packaging. There we go. This is the OG. This is the original 1989.
00:55:24
Speaker
Eldorado Fortress. There it is. Yep. i I knew exactly which one you were talking about when you said it. I knew exactly which one. I was just looking for the one that had the Legoland banner on the left instead of the Icons banner.
00:55:40
Speaker
Classic set. class go remember I can still remember unwrapping it. Like I'm telling you, I'm not making this up. Like it was it was visceral. And so, you know, but and this was ah one or two years ago now when I, you know, opened the present up and at Christmas modern day and was like, what the, how is, how is this possible? How did you find, it was unbelievable. anyway Yeah. um that That must have been building it again. It was just this fun.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah. I'm sure yeah it did. I know. And I know that I just I just admitted to opening it and building it and displaying it. I'm so sorry. Like as a collector. No, that's what you should do and That's what those are supposed to be. It's supposed to do with those.
00:56:27
Speaker
It was awesome. It was awesome. Yeah. Well, Ryan, before before you head out, ah remind our listeners, our our followers, um where can they find ah Squishy?
00:56:40
Speaker
ah Where can they keep up to date with ah with incredible novelties online?
00:56:47
Speaker
So we are incrediblegroup.com and squishies will be in the target stores in just a few weeks now in October is when they launch.
00:56:57
Speaker
They're also available at all kinds of other interesting retailers, you know, and the other thing that i always say is a lot of small toy and gift shops have really been great supporters of us. Like the learning express stores across the U S they're fantastic, great stores. And just,
00:57:16
Speaker
That's the kind of choice stores that I grew up in too as a kid. um So there's lots of places you can find The simplest place going to be Target in in October.
00:57:29
Speaker
All right. And we'll make sure that ah that we take pictures at our local target. We post them. Yeah, absolutely. ah Look, look for that end cap. And ah and yeah, Ryan, thank you. Thank you so much for ah for joining us, Dave. I i think it's time to to send us home. I'm I'm looking forward to like just having a couple of Swedish fish just in various strategic locations and the house and the car.
00:57:53
Speaker
so I'm going to leave everybody with that. Get your fish to squish. Yeah. There you go. Nailed it.
00:58:03
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:58:19
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:58:35
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited in some assembly required. Each sold separately. Not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
00:58:43
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.