• by Sarah Mahoney , 7 hours ago

The timing lines up with a broader shift in the toy aisle. Adults are now powering U.S. toy sales, which are up 13% so far this year; people 18 and older account for 35% of total industry growth through April, according to the latest tracking data from Circana, with women responsible for more than half of the overall gains.

Much of that growth is happening in adult hobbies, like Lego's Botanical line, Formula 1-themed building sets, collectibles, and a surge in sensory-related play, including popular squishy toys from such companies as NeeDoh. TikTok is also playing a part, making it easier for these nostalgic "kidults" to find new playthings tied to fond memories.

It's a trend Hasbro has already been capitalizing on. In its latest earnings report, the company said sales of "Magic: The Gathering" — whose players skew to their 20s and 30s — helped increase revenue in its Wizards segment by 26%, to $582 million.

Hasbro calls the Blooms launch the most significant move in the brand's 70-year history, driven by growing demand for hands-on creativity. In consumer testing, women professed deep nostalgia for the Play-Doh pots of their youth, and Hasbro's research — drawn from a global sample of 10,000 people — found that one in seven adults worldwide use creative expression to cope with stress. Among Gen Z and millennial respondents specifically, nearly 80% said they feel burned out, and the company is betting Blooms by Play-Doh can help.

Sarah Madey, vice president of global consumer marketing at Hasbro, says the launch called for an entirely different kind of marketing, leaning heavily on influencers and social media, supported by earned media, experiential activations and retail partnerships — all focused on the channels Gen Z and millennials already use to find new hobbies.

"From the beginning, we knew a static product shot wouldn't tell the story," she tells Marketing Daily via email. "The experience of shaping petals, assembling blooms and creating a bouquet is what makes the product special, so we built the campaign around creator storytelling, experiential activations, and highly stylized, visual content that demonstrates the process from start to finish."

The idea was to show not just the finished product, but the fun of creating it. "We've focused on content that brings the product to life, allowing audiences to watch bouquets take shape in real time and understand why adults are connecting with the experience," Madey says.

That strategy is already playing out on the ground. Hasbro hosted an immersive creator and media event with guided bouquet-building stations and floral-arranging workshops, and kicked off the launch by sponsoring a free Friday evening at the Whitney Museum of American Art, offering visitors hands-on artmaking activities developed with the museum's education team.

The collection launches with four bouquet kits priced at $25, available at Walmart, Target and Amazon, with TikTok Shop distribution coming soon. Each kit includes detailed instructions, supported by video tutorials on YouTube — and unlike the desiccated disasters of childhood, the kits come with a specially formulated finishing spray designed to help the flowers hold their structure for months.