What’s hot at Warmies? David Tweedale and Amelia Fordham on the rise and rise of their heatable soft toys

And we’ll start with a picture here because people have to see these! They’re beautiful plush in their own right. Now, I know you can’t make medical claims, but in what way are they wellness products?
David: You’re right to say we can’t make medical claims; we’ve always got to be clear on that. I think what is clear, though, is that heat helps with aches and pains, and weight can help relieve anxiety and stress. So while the look of Warmies is cute, and the quality of the material is exceptional, all our products are weighted and scented with French lavender. They’re heatable and chillable so that you can use them to provide soothing warmth and comfort, or as a cooling aid. So I call Warmies plush with a purpose.

Plush with purpose! I love it. I’ve dropped the ‘a’ there for cadence! “Plush with purpose.” And in terms of the licensing, I’ve seen Bagpuss and Peter Rabbit – both gorgeous. But you’ve got so many more… How come?
David: It’s certainly been a journey. The company owner, Philip Gannon, started about 30 years ago and created lots of different types of plush, all heatable, and hot packs too. He always did well. Then, around 2016 or 2017, he created the brand Warmies. The product was doing okay in the UK, but he’d come across a partner in America and moved over there. With the brand name Warmies, things really took off there.

In about 2019, it hit a sweet spot in America to the point that it was crazy! And that continues to this day… I was over there earlier this year and gave someone a business card – they were so enthusiastic: “I love Warmies!” Then they started telling me how Warmies changed their life. But it wasn’t a one off! It happened on four occasions in three different states! So Warmies is a great success story in the US; it’s enormous.

But just growing over here?
David: Yes. I was brought in two years ago with a focus on emulating the success in America and reinvigorating the UK. One of the big changes for us was to focus on the brand. In the UK and Europe, people just knew us as a heatable product… They didn’t know us as Warmies. So how do we make Warmies known?

And just to check, in terms of the product you’re talking about, this was pre-licensing? The products were more generic?
David: Yes, we had wide range of different animals and so on… They’re lovely; they’re amazing and they do well! But they didn’t have the brand presence they deserved – so we’ve gone on an aggressive journey to deliver a bigger, more colourful range. We brought in a wider range and different-sized products… More animals, birds and food; a doughnut and a grilled-cheese sandwich – they’re top sellers. And we quickly realised what is and isn’t going to sell for us. Interestingly, whatever I don’t think is going to sell tends to do really well! Ha!

Ha! Is that right? If you’ve got your doubts, Warmies doubles the order! And you’ve pulled a catalogue out of your backpack there…
David: Yes, I want to show you how one change to our identity came about by seemingly supersizing our plush in human environments. Everyone thinks these giant versions are just AI pictures. But the power of AI wouldn’t be able to get that squirrel fur absolutely right, for example… So there are a lot of techniques bringing that imagery to life and helping to build the identity that people are now seeing. It’s taken a long time, but it’s really resonating. Now we go to shows and people say “You’re Warmies!” I honestly can’t remember the last time someone said, “You’re the heatable toys…”

And the reason we’re talking about this for Brands Untapped is that – at some point – you’ve very clearly made a switch to licenses. How did that happen?
David: I had a conversation with the owner, Phil, and asked him why we weren’t doing anything with licenses. It turns out that – many years ago – he tried a licensed product connected with a film. It didn’t go so well! It took a long time to get the product right and, by the time it landed in the UK, the momentum of the film in question had more or less died. This was many years ago…

Anyway, Phil and I had this conversation about how licensing might be one way to raise the brand, and how people will always buy a Peter Rabbit plush for example… Because Peter Rabbit is Peter Rabbit! It has an affinity that pulls people back. They’re naturally attracted to the product in the first place. Then, when they see that this Peter Rabbit is a Warmies product, it’s irresistible.

But your background isn’t licensing, is it? How did you come to be doing this?
David: No, you’re right: my background is in pharmaceutical drugs! I’d never worked with licenses. I give all the credit to Karen Addison here because she was so helpful. I got talking to her while I was negotiating with a major studio – I was making a real dog’s dinner of it! Ha! I was trying to pretend I knew what I was talking about and I had no idea. Long story short, I asked Karen to come on board. She lined up loads of meetings for us at BLE in 2024 – almost all of which went very well! Happily, a lot of them gave us favourable terms and showed real faith in us

And about whom are we talking?
David: Peter Rabbit, Aardman, Paramount, Sonic, Care Bears; WildBrain with Teletubbies and In the Night Garden… They all came back very positively. And then the hard work started, of course! I won’t lie about that: it’s been a very tough year pulling everything together. We’ve got a great team, though. For example, about a year ago, I brought Wendy on board – one of the happiest people I’ve ever met, by the way!

What’s happy Wendy’s surname?
David: Sorry; Wendy Angélica Rodríguez Vidrio. And Wendy became a partner in helping me get these products to where they are now. She’s worked tirelessly to get these products through… She needs a shout out for all the hard work she put in. Just amazing. I also had the realisation, Deej, that – marketing wise – I didn’t have it in me to do this: I needed someone who really understood the brand.

Amelia! You enter the story! Now, you’d already worked at Wamies? But you’d left… What made you want to come back?
Amelia: I think it was the renewed feeling of creativity at Warmies. I absolutely loved the job the first time I was there, but – as David said earlier – there wasn’t as much creative freedom as there was when I came back… They’d also opened in new markets and grown hugely since I was there previously. But I’d always been excited to go to work with Warmies, so I was really pleased to have the opportunity to come back and work with the licences. It’s such an exciting brand.

And in terms of characters, who else is on the way?
Amelia: We’ve just launched all four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all four Teletubbies plus Noo Noo. They’re super cute! We’ve mentioned Peter Rabbit. We’ve got Shaun the Sheep launching soon. Garfield and Odie, In the Night Garden… We’ve got Gromit and Feathers McGraw – all sorts coming.

Feathers McGraw! Amazing! And – giant plush images aside – how have you been marketing these?
David: We started with the tagline: Feel the Love. That stems off the fact that 80% of our global reviews had the word ‘love’ in them. Also, when I was doing in-person market research, I was watching how people pick up the product. When you do, you feel it, you touch it, you love it. So we started the tagline – ‘feel the love’.

Well, you’ve absolutely nailed the product. It’s beautiful. I can’t stop hugging them and stroking the fur.
David: We’ve actually trademarked that fur now. It’s called Cozy Fur. Shaun the Sheep’s a bit different, but most of our products will have this Cozy Fur on them. It’s super soft and really high quality. And it’s no exaggeration to say this… A LOT of our licensors have told us that their Warmie is the best product they’ve ever produced in this category.

Wow! And have your childhood favourites made it into the range yet?
Amelia: Yes, actually! Peter Rabbit is an absolute staple of my childhood!

David: And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big for me! So yes, our childhood favourites are in the range.

Peter Rabbit and Ninja Turtles… They couldn’t be much more different as properties, could they? So tell me: what’s the biggest challenge you face when you’re creating these?
David: The biggest challenge is, I think, getting the shape of the product absolutely right. That might look easy because when you stuff a plush character with polyfill, you can immediately give it the right shape and structure. Remember, though: Warmies are filled with that heatable element; that very calming lavender for the aroma. If you feel a Warmie, you’ll see they’re quite loose. We can’t stuff the plush to the point of bursting or make them too rigid. So that can be a challenge, depending on the size and shape of the Warmie.

Amazing! We need to start wrapping this up. What’s the one question, though – Amelia – that I could’ve asked you but didn’t? And while your heart sinks as you think about that, it’s the same question for you, David! Brace yourself! And back to you, Amelia!
Amelia: Maybe “What would be your dream license?”

That’s a great question! And what would be your dream license? Don’t now say, “Oh! I don’t know!” Ha!
Amelia: Ha! “What a good question!” I think my answer has to be Harry Potter. I grew up with Harry Potter so I would have to say that. As it happens, my favourite character is Hedwig – which is the one Harry Potter character we’ve already done! Warner Bros. asked us to do a Hedwig for the USA, UK and Japan stores.

Perfect! Good answer. And look, David’s rooting around in his backpack again… How are all these products coming out of one backpack?! It’s like a Mary Poppins bag! One astounding license after another! Ha!
David: Ha! It’s not just the space – it weighs a ton! Ha! But I suppose the one question you could’ve asked me is: “Where else would you like to see Warmies?”

An excellent question…
Moving forward, I’d like to see Warmies all over the world… And going back to my opening comments, I’d really like to go somewhere outside the US, hand over a business card and have someone say, “Warmies?! I LOVE Warmies!” I’d be so happy with that.

Well, I’ll tell you what: you’ve come to the right writer because there are literally a couple of people reading this… And you know what they say? If two people read this, and those two people tell two more people…
David: And those two people each tell two more people…

Right. Then there’ll be eight people in all. Plus us. And you know what? That’s eleven; that’ll be the biggest audience we’ve ever had.