Marketing Play-Doh for Grown Ups

Who says grown ups can’t play with Play-Doh?

Certainly not Hasbro. The company behind many traditionally kid-centric brands like Monopoly and My Little Pony recently released a new Play-Doh line aimed at older buyers.

Here’s Hasbro in the release announcing Blooms by Play-Doh:

… Blooms by Play-Doh invites adults to slow down, create and display realistic floral arrangements using Play-Doh compound.

The collection invites adults (and crafty kids) to create floral arrangements that can be preserved and displayed.

The shift is part of a companywide push in recent years to increase the average age of its consumers with a dedicated focus on “kidults.” For Blooms, it presents a unique challenge for Hasbro’s brand and marketing efforts: Keep the parts of Play-Doh that feel familiar, but distinguish it enough that new audiences see something for themselves in it.

Shaping Sentiment

The company tried to strike that balance with Play-Doh before. A few years ago, grown up scents like “overpriced latte” and “mall food court” debuted, but never took hold.

Hasbro told the Wall Street Journal those variations felt too similar to traditional Play-Doh, in part because they were sold in the same containers.

With Blooms, Hasbro says it’s satisfying existing demand. “We’re not manufacturing a new need state,” said Hasbro Chief Marketing Officer Jason Bunge said in the WSJ interview. “We feel Blooms is meeting something that consumers are looking for.”

Hasbro has data to back that up. One in seven adults engage in arts and crafts for stress relief, Hasbro’s own research shows.

Industry data reflects a similar shift. Per Retail Dive:

“Over half of toy growth between January and April this year came from women, according to a recent report by Circana. Furthermore, overall toy consumption is being led by adults, with consumers aged 18 and over accounting for 35% of the total industry growth.”

With Blooms, Play-Doh hopes to leverage an established offering to satisfy and established trend with a new audience.