It was a bit of a hard sell at first, “but once we showed them prototypes of the minis and the deep detail and how we’re able to replicate their products, most partners were blown away,” Mowbray said. Our tasters were pleased with the appearance of these, but the texture didn't match up to others, with just over half finding it wasn't creamy enough for their liking. There had been plenty of earlier examples of toy companies using supermarket products in kid’s playthings, said James Zahn, deputy editor of the Toy Book, and senior editor of the Pop Insider. The team at Zuru, a 17-year-old toy company that has had other toy hits, including Bunch O Balloons rapid-fill, self-tying balloon toy, X-Shot foam blasters, and Rainbocorns collectibles, saw that miniatures, particularly food items, were trending. We need to make sure we manage that very fine line around scarcity,” by placing special editions like the Gold Rush in select retailers for very limited time periods, she said.

All audio, visual and textual content on this site (including all names, characters, images, trademarks and logos) are protected by trademarks, copyrights and other Intellectual Property rights owned by ZURU™ or its subsidiaries, licensors, licensees, suppliers and accounts. Magnum's Classic proved itself to be so in our test, impressing tasters with its level of sweetness, thick chocolate coating and good balance of chocolate and vanilla flavours. Zuru’s twist on the food miniatures idea was to make exact replicas of the supermarket brands, down to the nutritional information and the bar codes.If I was a kid and I got this for Christmas I would be desperately disappointed,” a CNBC anchor said after a November, 2019 broadcast segment when he and a co-host opened Zuru’s Mini Brands toys on air, just before the line faced its first holiday season. Each full-size Magnum ice cream contains a whopping 20g of sugar, two thirds of the adult daily recommended maximum (30g).

Zuru’s decision to package the Mini Brands in round plastic balls, each containing five of the miniature figures, triggered legal action by toymaker MGA Entertainment in 2019. And like the supermarket products it shrinks down, Zuru’s ongoing success with Mini Brands will depend on whether it can keep things from getting stale, Silver said. A lot of people are space challenged today,” he said, “They want to collect things – its human nature – but they don’t have anywhere to put them. The panellists rated the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of each product and told us what they liked and disliked about each one. Kenner’s Easy Bake Oven had a licensing deal with Betty Crocker to include branded cake and cookie mixes with the toys, Zahn noted.The toy maker approached major consumer products corporations about licensing their brands and packaging. The companies announced in May that they had amicably ended their dispute, with no restrictions on Zuru. The Mini Brands leverage three trends that rival toy companies were already capitalizing on: collectibles, surprise unboxings of small toys, and nostalgia. There are 90+ miniatures of your favorite brands to collect, including ultra-rare frozen moments and new Mini Minis, even smaller Minis of your favorite brands, find mystery Mini Minis inside Fedex and UPS boxes for the ultimate surprise. All the best brands have collectible toys for children to swap and share so there’s bound to be the right range for you.