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Key people at Lazoo Worldwide.
Lazoo Worldwide is a children's lifestyle media company, developing award-winning products and cross-platform properties. It centers on fostering social competencies and exploring global complexities via storytelling. The company creates animated shows and related media, designed to engage young audiences in imaginative narratives that support learning.
Justin Heimberg co-founded Lazoo Worldwide, serving as Chief Content Officer, key in establishing it as a global multimedia brand. The company originated from the insight that imaginative narratives effectively educate and engage children. Heimberg's content development background shaped Lazoo's distinctive media approach.
Lazoo Worldwide's products target young audiences, featuring characters such as Zuzi and Hoshi exploring Lazooville. The company's vision focuses on cultivating imaginative thinking and a broader understanding of the world. It aims to inspire curiosity and critical engagement through crafted stories and interactive experiences.
Lazoo Worldwide is a New York City-based media production, broadcasting, and advertising company specializing in children's multimedia content, with reported annual revenue of $218,000 and 5 employees.[2] It developed a global brand featuring award-winning educational apps like *Squiggles*—a digital coloring book for young children—animated TV shows, and interactive retail products inspired by Japanese children's books, generating over $10 million in gross revenue historically through apps with millions of downloads, merchandise across 300 SKUs, and in-store experiences in US and Japanese locations.[1][5][6] The company serves parents, educators, and children aged 2+, solving the need for engaging, simple tools that build social competencies, creativity, and early learning via storytelling and interactive play, with apps that topped iTunes Education charts before a PBS acquisition.[1]
Lazoo Worldwide emerged from an internationally best-selling series of Japanese children's books, expanding into a multimedia brand with apps, animation, and products.[1][5] Justin Heimberg, co-founder and Chief Content Officer, played a pivotal role in scaling it, creating content that powered two animated TV shows, a suite of apps, and retail environments.[1] Early traction came via *Squiggles*, the flagship app designed as a "living, breathing coloring book" accessible to toddlers yet appealing to older kids, which broke into iTunes top ten and led to millions of downloads; this momentum extended to physical retail setups in Toys "R" Us (TRU) stores in the US and Japan, boosting engagement and sales toward the $10+ million revenue mark before app sales to PBS.[1]
Lazoo Worldwide rode the early 2010s mobile edutainment wave, capitalizing on iOS app stores and tablet proliferation to deliver accessible children's learning tools amid rising demand for screen-based early education.[1] Timing aligned with parental shifts toward "guilt-free" digital play, especially post-iPad launch, when edutainment apps exploded; market forces like PBS's interest in quality content favored its PBS acquisition, amplifying reach in public broadcasting.[1] It influenced the ecosystem by pioneering hybrid physical-digital retail (e.g., interactive TRU setups), blending e-commerce with experiential marketing, and setting a model for IP-driven kids' media that competitors like Toca Boca later emulated, while contributing to social-emotional learning trends in child tech.[1][6]
Lazoo's legacy in scalable, revenue-generating kids' edutainment positions it for revival in today's AR/VR and AI-personalized learning era, potentially expanding *Squiggles*-style apps with adaptive features for global platforms. Trends like edtech growth (projected to hit $400B+ by 2027) and cross-media IPs (e.g., Roblox-style worlds) could reshape its influence, especially leveraging Heimberg's expertise for new storytelling formats. As a compact operation, expect pivots toward licensing or Web3 play-to-learn models, evolving from retail pioneer to enduring child development brand—echoing its origins in imagination-driven worlds.[1][2][6]
Key people at Lazoo Worldwide.
