Why Were Tweens So Obsessed With Smiggle?

Growing up, my parents bought me those thin 5-10c notebooks for school - you know, those shitty ones that would last one school term that you made your mum put contact on.

Even going to Officeworks once a year was a mission - my dad kept me on a tight leash every time; apparently I needed the newest ruler, rubbers and pencil case… I did con him into it every year. Look, I might be exaggerating just a little bit because I wasn’t this kid:

But I surely wasn’t this kid either:

I didn’t have all the fancy stationery back in the day like the P&C daughters but I did get a decent haul every year, plus I honed in on all the bits and pieces from Scholastic Book Fair every time it came around. Back in the day, stationery equaled status. If you didn’t have the newest pen that erases ink, were you really that cool? Also, just quietly, does anyone remember Power Balance Bands? Anyway, that’s for another time.

The pre-teen to teenager transition

As we got a little older and entered high school, we were lugging around five books for our different subjects every day as well as all the other random sh*t so by the end of Year 7, you were probably only carrying one four colour retractable ball pen. 

But the absolute HOLD Smiggle had on kids in the younger grades was insane. ‘Tweens’ (meaning pre-teens, apparently that’s a thing) were flaunting around their tiny bags with unicorns, pirates, glitter, stickers and colourful everything. Plus, the price markup on their items is criminal:

$20 for one of these? Damn, they were forcing their parents into bankruptcy. It made me think, were brands like Smash and Maped not good enough for you? Did your parents love you that much or were they just rich? Growing up on Bic Cristal pens, I deserve to be a little salty.

Why they had every kid hooked

I’m not sure why it frustrates me so much - maybe because I found joy in simply having new things. There was no appeal to stationery other than fresh books and an array of pens that actually had ink. But all of a sudden, Smiggle comes around with colourful, trendy, smelly highlighters that would get any kid excited.

The need to collect a whole set of stationery, appealing shapes and characters as well as the clever designs got me thinking, I wish I started this brand. They have capitalised from lunch boxes and bags to watches, headphones and you guessed it… Fidget toys. Every time I go into Smiggle (for my nieces, duh) the staff are so helpful and subtle with their upsells. They’ve truly got kids wrapped around their thumb. And their parents? Hook, line and sinker.

Don’t get me wrong, there were items I absolutely despised:

‘Til this day, I still think this pencil case sucks but it did give you cool kid status in class… so, you do you I guess.

Conclusion to this in-depth research

Smiggle’s marketing is fab. They have every tween in that late primary school, start of high school transition mesmerised with all their new bits and bobs and they’re keeping up with trends. 

A big fat kudos to you guys. As a sign off, I’ll sit here with my retractable eraser - still hating that I never came up with the idea first.