About Us
Nancy Zwiers
Founder/CEO and Chief Funosopher
Nancy is CEO and Chief Funosopher of Funosophy, Inc., the pre-eminent brand-building consulting firm in the kids' space. Founded in 2000, Funosophy has worked with nearly 150 of the top kids' product manufacturers, including Hasbro, Fisher-Price, LeapFrog, Spin Master, Jakks Pacific, Disney, Vivendi Universal, and more.
At the helm of Funosophy, Nancy leads a team of some of the most expert executives in the industry, consulting with clients on a wide range of marketing, licensing, and product development activities. She is a respected industry expert and has most recently served as Vice Chair of Toy Con 2009.
Nancy has pioneered a number of cost-effective research and decision making tools specially designed for kids' categories, including Instore Insight®, an in-store competitive intelligence and shelf-space allocation data source; Persuasion Power®, a persuasiveness test for TV ads; and Speed Select® and Pop the Question, online research tools.
Having honed her marketing skills over a decade in classical packaged goods at Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Heinz, and Tambrands, Nancy has spent the last 18 years in toys, licensing, and kids marketing.
One of the industry's most respected kids marketing experts, Nancy held a variety of executive positions at Mattel during her nine-year tenure there, ultimately rising to Sr. VP and Division General Manager. As Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Barbie, she pioneered a host of innovative initiatives, growing the Barbie brand by $700 million in just five years to its peak sales level of more than $1.8 billion. She relaunched the almost-dead Polly Pocket brand in 1999, positioning it to grow into one of the biggest girls' brands today.
Nancy and her 13 year old daughter Nikki live in Long Beach California.
