What is Mood Bears?
People of all age groups experience intense feelings. Sometimes emotions are temporary, at times permanent, but often, it is difficult to express and deal with them. Children, especially, face difficulty in identifying, understanding and articulating how they feel, and adults don’t have someone trustworthy to talk to, even if they are ready to express themselves.
To solve this problem, Jo Proud introduced Mood Bears, soft and cuddly toys that help people of every age feel better in their minds and hearts. Since the brand supports mental health and well-being, each soft toy represents a specific emotion or mood.
Mood Bears are trustworthy, nonjudgmental, cuddly friends who are always there to listen and support you. Moreover, these specialised and unique toys have helped adults, teenagers, and children feel better. On the days when you do not understand how to express your emotions, you can just sit with these soft toys and hug them to feel better.
Significance of Mood Bears
Mood Bears are based on colour psychology and come in eight different colours to match the feeling associated with their name. The company creates machine-washable, cuddly toys from 100% recycled material. The brand also follows British and European safety standards to make these stuffed bears safe for infants and toddlers. Moreover, the brand creates eco-friendly Mood Bears and uses specially selected recycled fabrics to design their products.
The company currently sells eight mood bears: Happy Bear, Silly Bear, Sad Bear, Calm Bear, Angry Bear, Love Bear, Nervous Bear, and Hope Bear. All the bears have paw shapes that represent the emotion they depict, reflecting one of eight essential human feelings. Additionally, every bear has a personal poem to help adults and children understand and communicate their thoughts, emotions and moods.
Mood Bears has already supported thousands of kids and adults across the world. The company has designed these cuddly toys to support mental and emotional health by allowing people to express themselves. They are a fun way to educate adults and children about feelings and moods and help them process these emotions.
Who is the Founder of the Mood Bears?
Imagine an intelligent, beautiful and skilled woman having a difficult and traumatic period of her life. We have all experienced sadness, pain, struggle, loss, or heartbreak and wondered where the happiness and hope have gone. Meet Jo Proud. Her life was chaos, and her emotional health was a mess in 2019.
One evening, Proud drew a picture of a yellow and fluffy teddy bear with cheerful faces on its paws. She decided to get this one soft toy made professionally for herself. When she finally received it, she smiled after a long time. This soft toy was the first Mood Bear, and Jo named it the Happy Bear.
That’s how Jo introduced Mood Bears in 2019, and despite the global pandemic, Jo grew her emerging company. The entrepreneur’s assistant, Dani, helped the business expand from one single bear to eight different bears. Currently, Jo Proud is the Founder and Director at Mood Bears.
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The Pitch of Mood Bears on Dragons’ Den
Jo Proud pitched Mood Bears on BBC’s Dragons’ Den in April 2023. She presented her product to Dragons Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett. Joanna sought an investment of £20k for a 10% stake in her business. According to dragonsden.blog.gov.uk, Jo delivered the perfect pitch to conclude the last episode of series 20 of the Dragons’ Den.
Davies and Suleyman were eager to hug the Mood Bears, but Jones was the first dragon to show interest in the deal. Proud’s product won the hearts of all the five multi-billionaire dragons. When Peter proposed teaming up to become a mega dragon to fund Mood Bears, all the dragons happily agreed.
Jones said, “Your innovation is truly unique, and I appreciate the meaningful message it carries. The combined power of the dragons and people could spread this message and create a real consequential and strong impact.”
The Dragons collectively invested £20k (£4k each) for a 25% share in the business. The audience found the pitch emotional and quickly expressed interest in Jo’s innovation on social media. “Wow. I am crying. She secured a deal from all five dragons! What an amazing way to end the series,” wrote one. Other users said, “Jo’s product was unique and straightforward, but her pitch was one of the most touching pitches of the whole series.”
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Joanna said, “To realise that all five of the Dragons – all such wonderful business tycoons, like and believe in Mood Bears, just means the world to me. I feel so excited and confident about what lies ahead. The dragons’ collective knowledge, experience, expertise and connections will benefit my business. I eagerly wait to work with each of them to spread hope and joy among people by offering my bears worldwide.”
Proud added: “I drew the first bear when I was completely hopeless. At that time, I was struggling to find any happiness. After receiving the first mood bear, I smiled for the first time in months. After introducing the business, I have noticed the bears give a lot of people strength, hope, support and joy. It is just incredible. I wholeheartedly love these bears.”
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Where is Mood Bears Now?
Mood Bears is a company underpinned by empathy. The brand sells each standard-size Mood Bear at £22.99 and mini bears at £12.99 on its official website. These soft toys are also available in pairs of Happy and Sad Bears or Calm and Angry Bears. You can also buy Talking Mood Bears at £34.99, Large Bear and Book at £24.99, and 90cm tall Hope Bear at £49.99.
Freemans is also offering the Mood Bears at a 20% discount. Moreover, these soft toys are available in over 60 stores in the United Kingdom, USA, Ireland and Australia. Mood Bears has also received recognition and appreciation from the Mirror, BBC News, ITV News Central, Daily Mail, ToyFair, and the list continues. Sometimes, a Mood Bear to talk to or cuddle with is all you need.