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Hype Around Labubu Is Unstoppable | Toy Talk Newsletter

PLUS: Toys Product Market will Touch New Development Level

Author

Zihan Lyu
April 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

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Welcome to Toy Talk, your essential newsletter for toy eCommerce professionals.

Editor’s Pick 🌟

Marketing thought leadership has a tendency towards binaries. The funnel is either completely dead or very much alive. Brand marketing is either pointless or the solution to all your problems, and ChatGPT is ending 30 years of search overnight.

At Fospha, we love the measurement challenge of any new channel that offers our clients ways to reach more customers. However, Google is still very much the biggest advertising platform. Performance Max (PMAX) and Search products alone represent around 30% of our clients’ digital share of wallet.

In uncertain times, it’s more important than ever for brands to nail these core channels, so we produced the definitive best practice guide on PMAX and Paid Search. Here were our top findings:

  • ⚖️ Best performing brands allocate 55% of Google budget to PMAX and 12% to Paid Search.

  • 🏆 Brands that pair Search and PMAX with ~50% of their budgets in YouTube, Demand Gen and Paid Social see optimal results.

  • 🎨 Especially for PMAX, high-volume creative is key for AI-powered optimization.

Sector Spotlight 🎥

PRODUCT INNOVATION

MGA’s Miniverse “Make It Mini from Scratch” collection taps into the growing DIY trend and leverages influencer partnerships, offering kids creative hands-on baking experiences with 15 collectible mini desserts for $9.99. Marketers can note the effective integration of recipe-based play to drive both engagement and collectibility.

BRAND HYPE TRENDS

Labubu’s viral toy frenzy, fueled by blind box scarcity and high-profile celebrity endorsements, drives unprecedented consumer demand and thriving resale markets, evidenced by sold-out releases and inflated aftermarket prices.

This phenomenon spotlights powerful scarcity marketing and fandom-led growth, offering lessons in hype-driven eCommerce for marketers.

STRATEGIC LICENSING

Hasbro’s multi-year extension with Disney Consumer Products reinforces its access to powerhouse brands Star Wars and Marvel, ensuring a continued flow of toys, collectibles, and branded experiences. Marketers should note heightened licensing security and expanded cross-media opportunities, especially for driving multi-generational engagement and high-value collaborations.

TRADE TARIFF IMPACTS

Gary Cohn warns that new 145% tariffs on Chinese toy imports threaten U.S. holiday retail, forcing consumers and businesses to accelerate purchases or risk shortages. Small businesses are especially vulnerable, with many unable to absorb costs or source alternatives quickly. Marketers should anticipate disrupted supply chains, volatile consumer behavior, and shifting inventory dynamics.

TOYS MARKET GROWTH

The global toys and games market is projected to grow from $150 billion in 2025 to $280 billion by 2032, driven by STEM and eco-friendly trends, rising incomes, and eCommerce expansion. Marketers should note the sector’s segmentation by educational value, pop culture influence, and regional opportunities. Key challenges include counterfeiting, safety regulations, and market seasonality.

Influencer Corner 📢

Meta Ads vs. Google Ads: Which One is Better for D2C Brands?

Meta ads excel at:
👉 Building brand awareness.
👉 Nurturing new customers with engaging content.
👉 Retargeting cold leads who didn’t convert initially.

Google ads are great for:
👉 Capturing demand when people are actively searching for solutions.
👉 Generating high-intent traffic with low CPC.
👉 Converting cold leads into paying customers quickly.

Which one should you focus on?
👉 Meta ads work best if you’re focusing on top-of-funnel and brand-building.
👉 Google ads work best when you’re ready to convert customers actively searching for your product.

Rumour has it that OpenAI might be quietly working on a native Shopify checkout inside ChatGPT.

Apparently ‘leaked’ code shows:

👉 'shopify_checkout_url'
👉 'buy_now'
👉 'product_offer_ratings'

No redirects. No search. Just chat, compare, and buy in one flow. Unconfirmed, but catching attention.

If this happens?

Google, TikTok, even product pages as we know them are all about to change.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

SEARCH INNOVATION

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) integrates traditional SEO with AI-focused strategies, ensuring content is both visible in classic search results and cited by AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Marketers must structure content to answer specific questions, prioritize authority, and track AI-driven citations. Adapting to GEO is essential for maintaining discoverability in an AI-driven search landscape.

DISCOVERY COMMERCE INNOVATION

TikTok Shop’s newly released playbook, developed with Accenture Song, provides marketers and brands actionable frameworks for driving growth through discovery commerce, leveraging real-time creator content and robust measurement. With TikTok Shop rapidly capturing eCommerce market share, ignoring these trends risks falling behind competitors capitalizing on content-driven online retail.

INNOVATIVE PERSONALIZATION STRATEGIES

Cookieless personalization is reshaping digital marketing by requiring brands to use first-party and zero-party data, contextual targeting, and server-side solutions instead of third-party cookies, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This shift enables marketers to maintain effective, consent-driven customer engagement while safeguarding user privacy. Marketers must adapt quickly to sustain relevance and trust.

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