The truth is times have passed Mattel by. What we here at Mattel need is a move toward the creative toy. Anything that is considered entertaining is dying under the digital wave that swept so many companies by... just like it killed Eastman Kodak. Because we don't have the infrastructure in place to organically grow a whole new digital entertainment industry (and obviously they are scared to spend any money on anything that would be risky at this juncture) we need to go with the only true physical toys that are going to escape the digital overlords. Creative art type things that are also toys are going to be the route this company needs to take to become truly the dominate player in the industry.
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Mattel is a dinosaur. It's old-school thinking, reliance on 40-year-old key brands, closed-source, closed-mind policies and politics have utterly strangled whatever innovation the design teams could muster. And whatever kept them motivated had to come from within themselves, as there was never any inspiration provided by upper management. The toxic, fear-based Mattel culture that flourishes there does not reward creativity or risk-taking. Mattel is hopelessly late to any party, mired in layers of procedure, approval, team meetings, and market research that moves at a glacial pace. The toy industry is fad- and fashion-based and constantly evolving. Mattel is unable to respond in a timely manner, even to the most obvious of trends, and we are constantly playing catch up. Boom Co never had a chance against Nerf. The Ever After High Team proudly and openly admitted they copied the Monster High formula. Did they actually say that, and how could it not cannibalize Monster High sales? Had the dire truth of Mattel's precarious financial situation been openly and honestly shared with the internal creatives long ago, we could have had productive discussions about strategy changes and reallocating assets to nudge our ship in a better direction. But instead, our fearless management allowed the situation to deteriorate until they herald themselves as financial wizards for laying off the very experienced people who could have saved the company. Mattel is in a spiral dive from which there is no recovery. Anyone (except VP and above with a fat wallet and contract) who doesn't have an exit strategy and a current resume is courting disaster. This dinosaur is fatally wounded and heading for the tar pits.
Many products by Mattel / Fisher-Price are actually software - or some combination of software and physical toy. New creative ideas sort of depend on the ability to implement in this software. But, after many years - they still haven't really fully embraced that. Anytime something too technical comes along they can't do it, they gotta outsource it. Software development for many things is moving overseas. That might be OK for very simple press button product. Not complex things that require iterating and collaboration with software developer. Really fun, creative software requires open collaboration, creative input and fast iteration from programmers, design, user interface people, animation, sound guys and more. The technical guys onsite have the 'roll with it' factor - they can just go do it, if the spec ain't perfect they deal with it, design's in the same building so questions are easily answered. It's not the same as writing a letter to someone overseas and hope they understand what you meant, then get email back for confirmation with questions, then have to explain exactly what's needed down to the small details and two or three days go by and then you forgot what you originally wanted while they say "we're not so good at doing what you asked, can you do it?". Whenever version control, digital asset management, online collaboration software, maybe some productivity tools are brought up people seem to give blank looks on that. I always looked at those kinds of things as being things that make it much easier to develop software. All that said, I do give Mattel a lot of credit for trying, I know they would like to solve all problems but gotta do one thing at a time!
Necessity is the mother of invention, and by the sounds of it, there is a business plan budding here. Hold on to your good ideas and take it with you. Why bother with Mattel's red tape, when you can start anew? Why not gather the masses and take all this extraordinary undervalued talent and create a company that wants to creat fun. Sound good to you? Sounds thrilling to me! C'mon people start a movement to get unmattel-ed and show the Goliath what true inspiration looks like.
Truly insightful OP, I have felt for a while now that the recent acquisition of the Rose Art brand, with their unique expertise in creative art type things, will ultimately prove to be Mattel's salvation.
They would be too afraid to change to a creative mindset. They would rather sit by and collect money until they retire. The top is dominated by the old and the backward thinkers. I like your idea, but short of an innovator like Steve Jobs coming along and saying you gotta come on this journey with me, its definitely a matter of time before Mattel is acquired. Hell that may be the whole motivation of bringing back Bryan, maybe they are making themselves ripe for a buyout from someone. They'd have to be big enough to absorb the toxic culture here.