The challenge

A cultural phenomenon fell into the lap of one of Newell’s brands and seemingly overnight Elmer’s was enjoying the fruits of being an integral ingredient in the Slime craze to the tune of a nine-figure annual business. As the hype begins to fade, Newell must look to the future and figure out how to make lighting strike twice.

the insight

The category of kids’ play is messier than the play itself. No two businesses look at this mini-consumer the same way. Even business units within the organization can’t agree, as each sees them solely through the context of their products. By employing the Jobs to be Done Theory, we investigated the ‘jobs’ kids ‘hire’ each and everything they play with, from LEGOs to chalk, from video games to the cardboard box you were about to throw out. Through their tiny, adorable eyes we reframed the category as they saw it, and built out seven unique platforms where Elmer’s could create activities worthy of another craze. 

the outcome

After defining these emerging patterns of play we believed could catalyze future growth, we deep-dived into the play pattern of casting and developed five distinct product prototypes with consumers, defined product portfolios, and helped retailers reimagine the activity aisle.

As an output of our work, Newell launched a new line of products in Walmart and Target in September of 2022 called "Elmer's Squishes", currently available in the market.