BTS: The Creation Of Our Star Wars™ Collection
Our Star Wars collection turns 4 this year! We've enjoyed showing off this collection over several years at cons, Disney parks, and our stores. This May the 4th, we're pulling back the curtain to show off how exactly this collection came to be and how we designed all of these fantastic Star Wars pieces!
The Call To Action!
We received a call from Disney & Lucas Film in January of 2019 that they had recently tried our products and were very interested in seeing what a Star Wars/Yogibo collaboration could look like. As our entire headquarters were lifelong Star Wars fans, to say we were over the moon would be an enormous understatement. To say we didn't scream like children a little would also be untrue.
The Brainstorm.
Our Marketing team headed offsite to downtown Nashua on a snowy Tuesday to begin this arduous process. They ordered coffee inside the RiverWalk Cafe, grabbed a table, and began brainstorming what this collection could look like. In less than three hours and after no less than 10 coffees between them, they came up with a whopping 45 products. A fantastic combination of our incredible furniture and our world-famous accessories. The stage was set to make an awe-inspiring launch. We were off to the races, baby!
The Sketching.
Over the next week at headquarters, our design team would research and sketch in intricate detail the nuances of what every character we’d settled on would look like. Chief among the challenges was finding that perfect spot between meeting LucasFilm’s high-quality IP standards and creating a collection that fits right at home with the Yogibo feel.
The Prototyping.
We fast-tracked this project, and after about a week of sketching, two weeks of revisions, and a week of conference calls with our friends at Lucas Film, we were ready to get started on the very first prototypes. For this process, detailed measurement files were created where every tiny part of the product was measured so our production team could create the initial sample as accurately as possible. In addition to these detailed schematics, a front, back, and side image was made to better illustrate how the final products would come to life. Embroidery, materials, and add-ons were also detailed as accurately as possible.
Samples Arrive.
Geeking Out Ensues.
For us, the day samples arrive for preliminary review is the same feeling as a kid waking up on Christmas. With this collection, that was amplified by 100! In no less than two months, we'd gone from notes and sketches and plans to having finalized products on our conference room table, ready to inspect. And they looked amazing!
Western Bound.
With the July heat setting in and a massive stockpile of brand-spankin' new Star Wars Yogibo products on an expressway to Lucasfilm headquarters, we packed our suitcases. We were flying from cloudy Boston to sunny San Francisco. One thing about the marketing team here at Yogibo; no matter where we travel, one of the first things we're guaranteed to do in any new location is to find the closest Pho soup joint. And, of course, San Francisco didn't disappoint! So, within 24 hours, we'd had our favorite food, met with our LucasFilm friends overseeing the project, scoped out final revisions based on their in-person feedback, and returned to New England on the red-eye home.
Getting Ready
For Launch.
Loaded with excellent feedback from our meeting in San Francisco, revisions were made upon returning to New Hampshire, and a final round of samples was ordered. Now it was time to shift gears and focus on the more extensive aspects of the launch. This meant photoshoots, commercials, tags, packaging, and everything to ensure we were ready for the November launch. Whew!
The Yogibo Star Wars Collection Arrives.
The Star Wars Yogibo Journey
Yogibo At Star Wars Celebration 2022
Upon release day, the best part of any of our collections is seeing how our customers interact with them and share in the excitement. When our stores first put these out, the response was wild! That’s what’s so cool about being a Star Wars fan; you’re never alone. So many people love the property, so we were thrilled to see their faces light up when they saw the entire collection. And it wasn’t just our stores and website that got to experience this galaxy of comfort. We’ve also been invited to several incredible Star Wars Celebrations, where we can help Star Wars fans experience something new and exciting from Yogibo. Meeting the fans and hearing ideas from people who already know about us has been super rewarding. It’s what gives us the energy to create in the first place!
It wasn't even two years later that the world would fall head over heels in love with Grogu™ on The Mandalorian™ series, and we'd soon release a new collection that would, to this day, have the most popular items we've ever shown at conventions ! This collection featured Grogu, the Mandalorian himself, incredible dual-tone items and several unique spins on Yogibo classics. But perhaps we'll go in-depth on that soon; we don't want to reveal all the fun behind-the-scenes info too soon do we?
This won't be the last peek behind the curtain of how much fun we have with our unique collections. This collection was special as it was the first time we got to flex our creative muscles on something entirely unlike anything we'd released before. In the years since Star Wars, we've had other notable collaborations; Pokemon, Disney Mickey & Friends, and Toy Story, to name a few. But the lessons we learned on this Star Wars one will always be something we look back on fondly, and we sincerely hope everyone has as much fun playing with these products as we had to make them.
May the Force Be With You!