ZEROPOD

On episode 30 of the Zero Rights Reserved podcast, hosts Toady Hawk and Joshua Fisher from The Noun Square sit down with David Horvath, a legend in the Lifestyle Character Brand world and creator of such cultural heavyweights as Uglydoll and Bossy Bear.

In this conversation, we dig into David’s past and his development from a curious child into a creative force. We hear his story about founding Uglydoll with his now-wife and working partner Sun-Min Kim, and building that property into a globally successful character brand.

We also chat about David’s 2022 Nouns proposal to put Nouns Sofubi and Plush into high end Japanese stores, and how they came back asking for more. Lastly, David talks about his new proposal to Nouns to produce more Nounish Plushes and place them in stores where they can be a trigger for new people to fall down the Nounish rabbit hole. 

Timestamps:
00:00 - Plush down the rabbit hole
00:50 - ZEORPOD Intro
01:33 - First time face to face
02:30 - The David Horvath origin story: Childhood
03:15 - Favorite toys
05:31 - Favorite Collectibles now
06:31 - “Releasing a plushy” vs Plush culture in Japan
07:50 - The power of plush
09:07 - “Caught in the pursuit of awareness”
09:39 - Gary Lee is the Mr. Rogers of this generation
10:50 - “Brands cannot live on nostalgia alone.”
11:11 - Ugly Doll’s genesis
14:14 - Collaboration with Sun-Min
16:28 - “The Eames Chair of Plush”
21:00 - Taking UglyDoll to scale
23:00 - Pounding the pavement
24:36 - How was Bossy Bear similar, different?
27:31 - Misconceptions about breaking into Japan
28:00- In Japan, Lifestyle Character Brands are for everyone
29:00 - Getting people to care vs just knowing about you
30:45 - The BossyBear story
33:51 - Your tribe has to grow organically
34:52 - BossyBear compared to UglyDoll creative experiences
37:00 - 5 o’ clock somewhere
37:34 - David’s original Nouns proposal
39:25 - What is a Sofubi?
41:54 - How were the first run of Nouns plush received?
45:00 - What to expect if the current proposal passes?
46:16 - Taking CC0 ideals to shelf space
48:00 - Prop is designed to be self sufficient in the long run
50:00- Nouns at Toy and Gift Shows
51:05 - How does he answer people who ask “What is Nouns?”
54:00 - “Maybe I shouldn’t explain too much.”
57:00- Talking Snoopy
1:00:00 - “Wouldn’t it be treat if they fell down the rabbit hole?”
1:04:20 - David as a nouns OG
10:06:00 - “We know when we’re being sold.”
1:07:00 - Where to find out more

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Podcast recorded by Toady Hawk, edited by Toady Hawk and Santhosh. Hosted by Toady Hawk and Joshua Fisher. Music by Toady Hawk x Suno AI.

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