Moose Toys’ James Austin-Smith on evolving the Cookeez Makery brand with Yum Yumz

James, it’s always lovely to catch up. We’re here to talk Cookeez Makery. Before we look at what’s new, how was last year for the brand?
The Cookeez brand is one I’m really proud of. It’s a great toy and as it was developed by our UK team, it’s even closer to my heart as I got to see it develop every day! The Cookeez Makery Freezy Cakez fridge that we launched last year stands out – the product looked great, and it was really hard to pull off. It was like our difficult second album, especially because the oven was so popular. That said, the fridge was a really fun bit of play and the reveal was great, the shivering ice cream cake really puts a smile on kids faces!

There’s now an expectation and framework for what people expect from this brand. How do you approach fulfilling the expectation, but also surprising people?
It’s painfully difficult! That’s the reality of it. Our brand teams are excellent at unpicking the core DNA of Cookeez; highlighting the aspects we need to maintain as we go. We work closely with them and enter into each new season with a spirit that needs to be maintained. Then everything else is up for grabs – and we heavily debate the different paths we can take!

Could you give us an example of the sorts of debates you’d have around Cookeez?
We’ve had a lot of conversations about how important it is for Cookeez to remain food-based – and it continues to be food-based. But we’ve spoken about it focusing on more general creation play. Could it be about growing something in a garden for example?

We started by creating the best baking experience that kids are going to have at home. We made the oven and kids have made bread or cake… We’ve already done the best experience of that. That’s what makes following up on these first launches so tough – you usually start with the strongest idea! We also saw it with Magic Mixies – the cauldron was an incredibly strong idea. We’ve done cool magical items afterwards – and they’ve been popular – but nothing has been as good as the cauldron because if something was better than the cauldron, we’d have started with it! That’s what makes it so tough.

Hence the difficult second album!
Exactly. You need to maintain the spirit of that first idea, without falling into diminishing returns. With Cookeez, we followed it up with the Pancake Treatz and that frying pan – from a technical perspective – was really difficult to do. The engineering on it was really challenging.

That’s the struggle – to create something different, but that’s also kind of the same. There’s a constant struggle between those two positions. We get there and hopefully make it look effortless, but it isn’t easy.

I imagine sometimes you have ideas for Cookeez that could actually be the launch-pad for a new brand entirely? Or even suit one of your other brands better?
Yeah, for sure. We’ll often have someone pitch something and then everyone goes: “We should send that over to the Beast Lab team or Mixies team.” I mean, the original Cookeez concept came from Mixies!

Oh?
It came from a really bad pitch that we did to a retailer for Magic Mixies – the buyer didn’t get it at all… I remember coming out of that meeting and, in trying to solve the problems they’d raised, we ended up creating Cookeez! We’d changed the material so the price point could be different, shifted the theme to avoid some other concerns and within a day we’d created the concept that became Cookeez. Ultimately, we ended up with two very different products that both enjoyed success in their own rights.

Thank you to that buyer!
Yes! Their worries gave us a new product line!

Let’s dive into a recent launch for Cookeez – Yum Yumz. How would you pitch this range?
It’s an interesting one in the context of the previous question because Yum Yumz is a slight tweak to the DNA of Cookeez – it’s a sub-brand of Cookeez, as opposed to just ‘Cookeez but smaller’.

We saw how popular the Cookeez plush was and felt that a lot of Cookeez items we create are at the higher price point. We wanted to give kids access to buy loads of the plush – but at the same time, it doesn’t feel in the spirit of Cookeez to just buy plush… You have to create it…

We wanted to explore how we could make the activity section ‘light’ in order to still give children a little moment of wonder, while really maximizing the value of the plush over the vessel it comes in. And I think it would be remiss not to reference Pikmi Pops a little bit too…

Pikmi Pops were another Moose item from a few years back… Plush that came in a kind of lollipop case.
Yes, it was very successful and was also a food themed collectable. So what we wanted to do with Yum Yumz was take the best of Cookeez and the best of Pikmi Pops and bring them together to create a small scale collectable that lets you buy into the character assortment of the brand. It gets you into collecting them, looking for those rare ones with the special finishes and having fun mashing up ice cream with animals.

You mentioned this still retains the magic creation element of Cookeez, so can you talk me through what that looks like with Yum Yumz?
The process is quite simple. You start with that what looks like a double cone of ice cream which you open. You take whipped cream top off and inside you find a little envelope that has a couple of ingredients in it. These ingredients directly correlate to the ice cream that you’re then going to make. So, let’s say you find a mint leaf and a strawberry, then what you’re going to create is a strawberry ice cream scoop and maybe a mint chocolate ice cream scoop.

So, you take the ingredients out of the envelope, and you float them on top of the printed cream. Then you put the lid back on top and it comes with this little cherry. You put the cherry on the top of the ice cream and twist it. Then when you lift up the whipped cream top again, your ingredients are gone and instead, you have two plush characters sat there – one strawberry and one mint.

Terrific!
It’s a classic magic trick that essentially involves having a false top. There’s always this great moment where the kid does a little double take – like, where did that come from?!

And, of course, the plush is scented – they smell really good. There is also pocket money price point, which is a single cone that simply has a plush inside. And within that there’s a huge matrix of rare characters, common characters, fluffy ones, ones with shiny finishes… Plenty of things for kids to look out for and chase.

What helps energise the team when you’re tasked developing brand extensions like this? I’d imagine it differs somewhat to when you’re designing a totally new brand?
It’s a good question. Concept fatigue is a genuine issue across all forms of development, whether it’s invention or in-house. The fatigue, in my experience, doesn’t sit as much with the creator of the concept as it sits with the receiver of it – trying to be excited seeing the same things.

In terms of keeping the team motivated, it really varies on the type of toy. Cookeez is actually quite an easy one because it’s less formulaic. There are interesting creative challenges every single time we design something for Cookeez. It usually requires some relatively interesting technical design… Yum Yumz was a slight departure from that, so it was exciting for the team to pick it up and run with it in a new way. Abbi, who does all of the illustrations for Cookeez, did a wonderful job bringing it all to life visually. Yum Yumz has been an opportunity for her to really let loose and have fun with the characters.

It’s more challenging when the form of the product stays the same season after season, and you’re just doing a thematic refresh or an aesthetic refresh – that’s where you might start to get into motivation challenges… If you’re having to think up another 60 versions of something that looks the same as last year, it can be less exciting from a design perspective. But we’re lucky that we haven’t experienced that yet with Yum Yumz, and future iterations will give us opportunities to change the form factor. So I think it’ll always feel like a breath of fresh air – and fun to go back to. We genuinely love working on this brand.

Does that also speak to the wider creative culture at Moose? It feels like somewhere that risks and innovation is encouraged?
Absolutely – and I hope we will always be that risk-taking company. It’s genuinely part of the company’s manifesto. It’s not just corporate stuff that’s put out there to sound good… One of our core objectives is to be the world’s most innovative toy company. That manifests in multiple ways and one way is in product. It means we can’t just be doing the same thing all the time.

And it’s driven from the top… Everyone is always looking for opportunities to do something that’s cool and different. And because over the last few years we’ve had success from doing that, that’s what success looks like for people at Moose – it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. It becomes the goal that everyone’s chasing… We’ve got to do something new and interesting. Being brave and creative is a big part of who we are as a company.

Let’s switch gears for a moment and talk about Gui Gui, Moose’s new slime line. What can you tell us about this launch?
Gui Gui has been such a fun and different project for us! It’s a totally new direction that reimagines slime in a way that no one has seen before: a beauty-inspired twist to classic slime play. It taps into the global obsession with slime but layers in that unmistakable Moose DNA of personality, collectability and surprise. Gui Gui brings glamour and attitude to the category, it is ‘Slime Beautified’.

The product experience is totally elevated a premium, layered five-step unboxing that’s as satisfying to unbox open as it is to play with. You’re not just getting slime; you’re experiencing a beautified aesthetic experience. From luxe finishes, to elevated scents, to clever beauty inspired packaging and beautiful character designs, the team really went all out.

The slimes themselves are premium quality – some of the best I’ve ever played with – and the ASMR experience is next level. Plus, we’ve included display elements so kids can showcase their creations like beauty products. And of course, in true Moose fashion, there’s even a limited edition golden chase! “Over the Rainbow” Gui Gui unicorn jar!

Moose has a strong reputation for driving trends rather than following them. How do you nurture that culture of innovation?
That’s absolutely at the heart of what we do. Innovation isn’t just a department at Moose; it’s a mindset that runs through the whole company. We have a goal to be the most innovative toy company in the world and we consistently push ourselves towards that. We believe in taking risks and trying things that might seem wild at first. There’s no fear of failure here, which gives our creative teams the freedom to go big. We’re constantly tapped into culture, not just TikTok trends, but the broader shifts in how kids play, learn and connect.

That could be gaming, education, design, or even fashion and beauty. Gui Gui is a perfect example of that. We saw an opportunity to take slime – something kids already love – and blend it up with the worlds of beauty and collectability to create something truly fresh.

Whether it’s Magic Mixies, Cookeez or now Gui Gui, we’re always asking: What’s next? How can we make this category feel brand new? And most importantly, how do we make it Moose? That curiosity and commitment to doing things differently is what keeps us ahead of the curve and keeps surprising the market.

Great answer. I have one last question! What do you feel is the most underrated toy you’ve worked on in your time at Moose so far?
There’s a really long list! Some of the Mixies line was gently brilliant but didn’t make the headlines. I’d also say the Little Live Pets My Puppy’s Home was underrated. The consumers that bought it really raved about it. And it sold well even if it wasn’t a blockbuster like Mama Surprise – but it was a really lovely bit of play and a bit unexpected and I don’t think anyone saw it coming.

Whereas Mama Surprise will be with us for a really long time, I think My Puppy’s Home will be one of those that’ll be around for a couple of years and then be gone. But it is such a unique play pattern, when it’s gone there will be nothing like it out there.

Good pick! Huge thanks again James.

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