Joel Ronkin lived several beauty lives before arriving at what may be his most joy-filled venture yet, Blue Meadow Brands, an incubator he started last year where, as CEO, he oversees Squishmallows Fragrances.
A lawyer by training, Ronkin entered the beauty industry more than 27 years ago through fragrance distributor French Fragrances Inc., where he worked on the acquisition of Elizabeth Arden from Unilever. The deal launched a nearly two-decade run at Elizabeth Arden, where he eventually became president and oversaw roughly 80 fragrance brands across owned, licensed and distributed portfolios.
After leaving in 2015, Ronkin co-founded Luxe Brands, where he helped scale Ariana Grande’s blockbuster fragrance business and acquired the Frédéric Fekkai haircare line from Procter & Gamble. In 2019, he started brand holding and management company Brand2ition, which launched haircare brand LolaVie with Jennifer Aniston in 2021.
Squishmallows Fragrances, created with toy giant Jazwares, taps into the emotional appeal that made Squishmallows, the collectible ultra-soft plush toys, a global phenomenon. In the first quarter this year alone, Squishmallows toys generated roughly $860 million in revenue for Jazwares, cementing them as the largest plush toy franchise in history by quarterly volume.
Blue Meadow Brands has bottled the phenomenon. A Squishmallows Fragrances product sells every seven seconds at Ulta Beauty, the equivalent of more than 4.5 million units annually. The line launched nationwide at the chain in October last year with three scents—Whisked Away, Pink Possibilities and Moonlit Mist—priced from $38 to $58.
A fourth fragrance, a limited-edition version of Whisked Away called Tropical Sunset, has recently launched. All the fragrances incorporate DSM-Firmenich’s EmotiWaves scent technology designed to elicit feelings of happiness and well-being. In September, industry sources cited by Women’s Wear Daily estimated that Squishmallows Fragrances could reach $40 million in retail sales during the line’s first year on the market.
“It’s a heavy time for everyone around the world and so this is an escape. When you spray it on, you can’t help but smile,” says Ronkin. “I’ve been fortunate over the years to do a lot of great brands, but I’m not sure that I’ve had one that’s spread as much joy as the Squishmallows fragrances.”
Ahead, we speak with Ronkin about turning Squishmallows into scents, what younger consumers want from fragrance today and his take on celebrity beauty brands.
When it came to developing the Squishmallows fragrance line, where did you start?
They wanted to enter fragrance and pay appropriate respect to their core demographic, but their consumer is also getting a bit older. The consumers who first discovered Squish around 2017 are now gen alpha and younger gen Z shoppers—12 to 24 is our wheelhouse—aging into a first entry point for beauty. The challenge was creating a fragrance that resonates with that demographic without skewing too young or too old. It was a difficult tightrope to walk.
You’ll see it in our bottles, for example. They look like the characters, but they’re also something that I think anybody would be proud to have on their vanity. No. 2 is we thought about how do we bring the tactile nature of the squish to life in the fragrance? So, on the large size spray, you’ll notice you have the bulb atomizer: You squeeze it, you touch it. We’re paying homage to the Squish nature with that. I’ve only once before in almost 30 years ever done that with a fragrance. It was for Britney Spears’ Curious.
We wanted a juice that was mature, but not too mature. It had to be multiple fragrances. There were two reasons for that. One is they have a very diverse consumer base. We wanted to be able to hit a number of different types of consumers and noses, so to speak. We also want to be able to have fragrances that could be layered because this demo likes to make it their own. It’s really a sense of identity.
Your sense of smell and memory are very much tied together. We’re hoping years from now that our fragrances evoke memories: “Oh my god, I remember when I bought that when I was 16 years old or 20 years old, and it brings back fond memories.” I can still remember buying my first fragrance Polo For Men. I can remember what it smells like as I sit here right now. It can bring you back to memories of what you were doing back then. We take that seriously when we’re making fragrances today. We want to have great, memorable fragrances that literally are joy in a bottle.
Did you consider coming out with body mists versus eau de parfums given the demographic?
The people that make our fragrances, DSM-Firmenich, are the same people making fragrances like Jo Malone and Sol de Janeiro. We wanted that experience to be the same for the consumer as body mists, which they could frankly get. They may have other choices. That doesn’t mean someday we won’t have body mists, we will, but just not now.
There was a study last year by Boston Consulting Group that said the first entry to beauty is typically in fragrance around 12 years old. So, we thought, if ever there was a consumer aging into our demographic, it is in fragrance, and it is this consumer. We figured we would marry two things they love: Squishmallows and fragrance. This is a great way to get them started in this category. But we have lots of consumers that are older. There’s a collector’s aspect to this fragrance. It’s modern, and the atomizer gives it a retro feel.
How did you land on $58 for the 3.4-oz. eau de parfum?
We debated long and hard what we thought the price could be because the bottles obviously are not inexpensive. We’d ordinarily charge more based on the cost of goods, but we wanted to not price ourselves too high for this consumer. We tried to thread that needle, and we worked with our account, Ulta, to see what we thought would make sense. We masstige pricing. The consumers responded with their vote and said, “Hey, this works.”
What does marketing look like for Squishmallows Fragrances?
We have a very strong presence on TikTok and Instagram, but I would say word of mouth is strongest. We got a tremendous amount of buzz from people telling their friends and asking, “Hey, did you hear about this? ” If you look at the number one way that gen alpha and gen Z find out about brands, it’s from family and friends.
Also, if you look at creators, there’s a lot being created about our fragrances because they’re so different. There’s nothing else on the market that looks like us. We were in virtually every gift guide over the holidays, and we’re a very giftable item, which also helped.
We do a little paid content, but primarily it’s organic. There’s something called SquishTok, which is TikTok for Squishmallows, and there’s also FragranceTok. We get mentions on both.
How do gen Z and gen alpha consumers interact with fragrance?
We’re seeing real change in the interest of young men in fragrance. At the WWD conference this past week, they said one in three teenage boys believe they are fragrance experts. When they asked the same question of girls, only 8% said they were experts, which says something about us men. In any event, I thought it was very interesting how involved that consumer is. Boys are a relatively small percentage of our overall fragrance business at Squishmallows, but I think it’s definitely an opportunity moving forward.
Something like 30% or 40% of teenagers put fragrance on twice a day. They’re using fragrance more than they ever have, and it’s no longer about one scent. Almost no one has signature scents anymore.
We just introduced a scent called Tropical Sunset. It’s a summer scent, and it’s beautiful, but the point is everybody I think now is looking for, “Hey, what captures my mood?” Fragrance is a place for self-expression, escape.
What is your cadence of new releases?
We started out with three because we wanted to have enough that you could layer it. Now, we are trying to add as we see to reach more diverse consumers. We want to make sure that we have enough fragrances, but also not too many. Tropical Sunset is coming out now. There will be another for back to school.
We’re really not trying to overdo it. Squishmallows, as a brand, is usually in limited quantities and a collector’s item. So, one of the additional benefits with this brand is, if you go into an Ulta, for example, and you buy the 100-ml. fragrance, not only are you getting this fantastic fragrance with a beautiful bottle, you’re also getting a gift with purchase of a Squishmallow that you can only get at Ulta in the U.S. We change them throughout the course of the year. It’s for collectors to come in and have that Squish hunt mentality.
Where do you anticipate fragrance going next?
You’re going to see different delivery mechanisms for fragrance. You already see it with diffusers and home fragrance. Almost everything has some sort of fragrance associated with it now.
And it’s going to be things that consumers can make their own rather than just run of the mill, everybody having the same exact thing. Customizing scent is going to be interesting because technology’s going to allow everybody to ask, “Hey, how do I make this mine?”
What role do celebrity fragrances play today?
Most brands have a celebrity connected with it in some way in beauty, maybe it’s their brand, they endorse it, invest in it or comment on it. The reason is their reach. It’s cheaper than paying for the paid media in many cases, but just having celebrity brands where somebody puts their name on a brand and you call it J.Lo Glow or Britney Spears Curious, I don’t think there’s going to be as much of that as there was in the past. It’s going to be much more brands that have celebrities as founders.
In the case of LolaVie, for example, it’s a haircare brand that Jennifer Aniston happens to be the founder, and this is not an endorsement. This is her brand she founded with us. She’s as involved as you can be driving, creating and trying the products. It’s her vision. That’s very different than what you had in the past.
What about celebrities in haircare?
Celebrity hair today is fundamentally different from the early era of celebrity beauty because consumers are much more educated and selective. They are no longer buying into a celebrity name alone. They want efficacy, emotional connection, community and products that genuinely fit into their daily routines.
The brands that resonate now are the ones that create authentic engagement and build a real point of view around identity and performance rather than relying purely on fame. We’re seeing consumers gravitate toward brands that feel immersive and culturally relevant, which is something happening across all beauty categories overall, from my perspective.
Prestige haircare is growing because consumers increasingly view hair as an extension of skincare and self-care. People are paying closer attention to ingredients, scalp health, sensory experience, personalization and long-term hair wellness.
Going forward, I think the category will continue evolving toward hybridization. What I mean by that are products that combine efficacy, storytelling, fragrance, wellness and lifestyle into one experience. Consumers want products that not only work, but make them feel something. The brands that will win are the ones that create connection and cultural relevance in addition to performance.
Do you anticipate the current popularity of fragrance continuing?
I see no signs right now of fragrance slowing down. I’ve been around long enough, and there will be a time where it starts to [slow down]. You can’t always be up. Right now, it’s a great time for people that make fragrances, but beauty in general is in a great place right now, and a lot of creativity is going on in the category. There are so many great founders and so much great technology. There are brands from all over the world. It’s really the democratization of beauty.
What are short-term and long-term goals for Squishmallows Fragrances?
We’ll continue to round out the assortment, and we’re going to go to other countries. You’ll continue to see us partnering with Ulta, but others are interested. Squishmallows is a very global brand and the fragrance category is strong around the world, so we’re looking forward to spreading joy all around the world. Our business was so strong during holiday that we really struggled keeping up with inventory, so we’ll be more prepared for demand this time around.
