A follow-up... In the 21st century, which is the better model?
30 replies (most recent on top)
Again, it's their arrogance & stupidity that makes them THINK they are Hollywood writers & producers just because they have a free subscription to Variety. They hobnob with the studios & walk around the Design Center like they're above everybody else. Never forget when they were having a meeting & I could hear them bragging about how many 100 of millions they were going to make with Apptivities which turned into what people were calling Crapivities..........they were all walking around with free iPads from the company. Really? What have you generated that has made ANY money? What is MattHells ROI on this entire group of $aleries? What profit have you generated? It's a shame this useless PlaygroundUp Reductions is still there generating nothing while people who actually work are getting laid off. A travesty.
Look, the main jealousy is looking at Hasbro and TRANSFORMERS BILLION dollar grosesses per movie. The movies have minimal plot (and minimal logic - why exactly do robots that don't need oxygen fight on Earth? Or go into car mode when they can fly 10 times faster than our Earthling jets?) So, it looks easy - like there's Free money for the plucking ... especially in the beginning of the 3D era when it looked like ANY action movie that was in 3D could make serious money so Mattel thought it's FREE & EASY MONEY but it's not to be ... just look at how many DC properties failed to make much money versus Disney-Marvel (like the last two Superman movies did okay biz but not that well liked). Hollywood is hard ... but if you hit it right, you can make $1 BILLION dollars in less than 2-months so it's enticing ... but it took TEN YEARS to get the LEGO movie made - in fact, if they had made it 10 years ago, it probably wouldn't have done much buziness but it was perfect timing - so it's a LONG TERM play that needs to be LEFT TO PROFESSIONALS. There is ZERO REASON to staff up a producer, it's literally a free lunch for very little payoff. You get INDEPENDENT producers who foot their OWN BILL until the film gets made and Mattel takes a slice off that.
Well said and right on point Anonymous171872!
Let's also not forget hasbro said failed attempt at the cable channel The Hub, but at least they're putting forth a concerted effort, where as we sit in the design center sifting through upper managements turds at their insistence because they believe "thars gold in dem turds!" Therein lies the problem. The supposed chefs have degrees from everything but a culinary school.
Thoroughly appreciate the comments & feedback. Again, thank you.
simple equation is that you cannot expect to finance content with toy sales. PERIOD. Hasbro has been looking to create their own content for a long time. why do you think they tried to buy Dreamworks? it is a long term investment for them that they have decided to double down on. And there you have it, a willingness to invest in it. once again just because you swallow a few coins, don't expect a golden turd to come out.
Easy Holmes, it's all state of the art. nnn-K?
The last comment got it absolutely correct. Even when MattHell had the content they mismanaged it again & again because of raw arrogance/stupidity. DPCars was at one time an evergreen line 3 years after the first movie was released for at least 5 years & they somehow managed to trash it. It's dead now after almost generating a billion dollars BEFORE Cars 2 even opened. Crappy Gars 2 no play pattern/over priced toys flooded the market. Nice job DV/LS destroying a once evergreen Line.......Max Steel was generating almost $100 million with existing story lines that were fueled by DVD's. Easy, inexpensive, successful healthy Line. Along comes DV & his Playground Reductions which writes terrible storylines, awful looking no sense characters, supported by the most lowball NerdCorp animation. He thinks its great, of course he does. Failed, now basically dead from what was 100mm in South America only. HeMan, beat like a dead horse. Hot Wheels the Animation, who cares. Disney Princess, lost to our arch rival Hasbro after Mattel back stabbing Disney. My point is, at one time they HAD content, & they STILL TRASHED IT!!!!!!! Yet they all still walk around this place calling themselves producers. Really, they've produced absolutely nothing.
Is anyone else seeing the Barbie ad in the feed on this site? That's pretty funny Mattel is advertising on the site where everyone is bashing them.
The answer to this question is both! If you have a compelling toy or brand that can stand on its own that is great. But there has always been spin offs of toys from really popular movies or TV shows...where we would get the licenses from them the studio and make toys around them. Then Mattel had a little success with the direct to DVD Barbie movies and all of a sudden it thought it could be a studio or something. THe execs figured why should they have to pay a percentage on toys they make to companies like Disney for their movies....let's just make our own movies and own it all. Except they found out that it isn't so easy to turn out hit TV shows or movies or other entertainment. The reason the Barbie movies worked is because they had a serious brand and the movies were another product for their fan base. They were also inexpensive and would have never made it as a big theatrical releases. Then they got lucky with Monster High and management got cocky and thought they would just make content they would own and build toys around. And everything since then has been a bomb. Max Steel actually had some good content, but they were financing it with sales from the toys. But of course they mismanaged the roll out of all of it....they didn't give the content enough time to catch on and when the toys didn't pay for it with high sales right away they abanndoned the whole thing in the US again. Stupid decisions all around. First of all you need real creative talent to crank out show after show and keep coming up with new ideas for shows or movies. And that is a risky venture as you just don't know what will resonate with people at any given time. Plus audiences are too sophisticated to not see when something is just one big marketing piece....like the hot wheels animated theing they did for a while. It bombed and rightly so. Ever After High is not the success that Monster High is/was. And since it went head to head with the Disney princess toys Disney dropped us. Another big loss. It's been one misstep after another with Playground Productions. A big waste of money because they weren't willing to invest the money it would really take to make it a true creative studio/production house. So yes, content can give you all kinds of opportunities for toys but coming up with original content is not that easy and it costs $$$.
Mattel just sucks right now and most of the serious talent have either left already or are trying to get out. It will be a long time before this place recovers, if it ever does. My fear is some private equity firm will come in and split it all up, selling off just the most lucrative brands. And when that happens a handful of execs and the private equity people will make a fortune, destroy the company and leave the rest of everyone out in the cold. They are robber barrons and won't think twice about it if it lines their own pockets. Think Bain Capital. Either that or Hasbro will acquire us, just as we tried to do to them about a decade or so ago. In any case it isn't looking good for the worker bees. For now I suggest collect your paycheck, get home to your family at a reasonable hour....don't go above and beyond for any of these jerks, and either get out or ride the train to the end of the line.
The shame about all of this, is that this once great company is in this mess to begin with! Thank you below, it is our company...it does mean we care...treat it as if it were your own...that's how you define passion, and in turn that's what makes great ideas even greater...conviction! We have lost that...that enthusiasm, that love for the initial idea. By the time it's makes its way through the quagmire of bullshit that is our new normal, it looses its luster and then is finally extinguished by our own NAD/GBT. Why? Why do we continue to allow what is so obviously wrong???
Holy Cow, what child says, "I WANT THAT TOY!! LOOK AT THE CONTENT!!!" Where did that term even come from? Who even knows what it means?! I think you guys should focus on putting mire of the awesome ideas the designers are coming up with on the market and quit second guessing what design is creating. Just put the stuff on the market and let the awesome stuff rise to the top. Instead, you have design and engineering getting products 90% complete and then dumping them? Often even further along? How much does that cost? And often, it's after marketing pushed us in that direction in the first place . . . Only to fail to properly market the stuff once it's done. No enthusiasm from marketing what so ever. So discouraging. Anyway, I got tired of it and left. But I do hope upper management learns to lead soon. There are so many good people with a true passion for toys left there. They deserve a chance to return that place to the greatness it once enjoyed. Please, upper management, get out of their way and let them design and engineer and put awesome toys on the market. Trust them. They know what they're doing. Authorize them to make decisions. Content! Who cares? Focus on awesome toys. Design knows what they are. Go ask them to show you and support them.
Hey 171695...lighten up...hope you don't manage people or have kids...you have for to be inexperienced or are just mean and/or baiting people...there's nothing wrong with thinking it's "your" company...its actually a good thing, it means you care...maybe check yourself...many people venting on this site actually seem to care about Mattel...agree with poster who said it was once an incredible place to work...I loved it and considered it my company...I hope it becomes that again...
by the way its not "your" company... they owe you nothing. you get a paycheck. if you'd rather get praise instead of pay then there are people that would happily take your money.
dear change - welcome to the dark side
You are either a company that makes content or you are not. the half ass way belongs with the MGAs of the world. if you don't clearly invest in content in the long run it won't be effective. you can't tie it to a season of product because content should be meant to lift all boats. if you want to lift a brand then the content should be a long term plan and not a seasonal play. the problem may lie in the ROI expected from content because it doesnt seem reasonable to think of content as a long fricking commercial for one product line. its about engaging your consumer on a deeper level rather than selling the toy of the season.
stick to the subject matter boys n girls
I love you guys!
Dear person who keeps complaining that folks our using this site to complaining...and calling folks trolls...why do YOU keep coming back to this site...get lost !!!
The complaints will end when... as others call it... Mismanagement get their heads outta their asses and actually change for the better. If you don't think greed and corruption are destroying this company then you also need to get your head outta your ass.
This site IS for venting if YOU don't like it go some place where they talk about Mattel of the past! It was once a fantastic place to work!
I see the same troll protecting incompetent upper mismanagement so not sure who he or she thinks they're fooling. Accept what stupid? The common complaint won't change unless something is fixed.
I see the same trolls from previous posts with the same complaints over and over. Victimization complex.com it's getting tired. Accept, move on or get a new complaint.
If one follows success stories of certain lines of toys there is a percentage of success tied to a well promoted content strategy that is higher than a random occurrence. This seems to apply more to toys that rely on story telling as a backdrop to the product. Less applicable to other categories such as activities or role playing toys such as ovens and kitchens etc. does one need content to become successful? I'd say no but based on the competitive offerings against the usual unrealistic expectations of the company the likelihood of success without it is statistically slim. Nowadays it's almost like saying "do I need packaging for my product".
Content is king. Ask the more pertinent question: Which came first: Mattel's antiquated, toxic, fear-based, hierarchical culture, or its bloated, arrogant, reactionary, uninspired and uninspiring team of management buffoons?
The fun started getting sucked out this once great creative place ( '80's ) when we moved to the new headquarters in E.S. I was there & saw it happen. It turned more corporate overnight as upper management started taking themselves too seriously. The fun soon stopped and it just got worse every year until we arrived where we are now. Lost. When ever we acquire a company we trash it UNLESS we leave it alone like we did with American Girl although I don't know if they got saddled with that stupid, useless PLM cancer as well. PF is a perfect example as they were fine until we sent our upper mismanagement over there. Now look at it. Matchbox/Tyco, Radical, same thing. Megablok falls next as they all got saddled with our overhead/arrogance. Upper mismanagement needs to go but that will never happen so fighting like hell is pointless. Sad but true, indeed one sided & empty. Let it die.
Nice speech about sucking it up. But without good leadership setting the example, it isn't going to work. Sorry to break the news to you. Poor leadership is why I finally left. Loved the work. But having good ideas, concepts and prototypes dumped . . . and even good products returning profits on the market . . . dumped!? Crazy. What sort of leadership makes decisions like that? Anyway, I wish you the best cuz I'd love to come back to what was once the best place I had ever worked. :(
It's hard to love something that doesn't return the love anymore. That's the worst kind of relationship there is. One sided and empty.
You could try to "KILL" the corruption with loving your job more. Or you could let Mattel die and make toys for a company that gets it. Mattel has cancer and should be allowed to pass away. It's just cruel to let it linger
There is no doubt that for those of us who are venting on this site, we are doing so because we can't stand how our company is being run! Stating what is most obvious can also provide clarity towards a solution. Our jobs over the years have become needlessly complicated. We are supposed to be be designing, engineering, marketing, and selling toys that parents want to buy for their kids. Simple really...our jobs instead have become convoluted and belabored to the point where all the fun that prevailed has now been sucked out of our great company!
In spite of all that has happened, the solution is quite simple...we all need to "suck it up" and start loving our jobs again! That's right, end the negativity and each of us force out the bullshit! After all our work is supposed to be "Child's Play". It is the essence of what it is that we are supposed to be doing...we have lost our way and need to fight like hell to get it back!
Yup You said it !!!
Marketing 101 is that you must have viable product/content that fuels demand, going forward. End of story, story, story, story, pun intended, Pixar anybody?......understand? Study the model that Lego, Disney & Hasbro are/have created to consumers for viable content which in turn equals $ales. You must have content that consumers want & believe in, which MattHell currently doesn't have, just look @ the stock as this is not a subjective observation IMO. The product that MattHell is offering does not create $ales & is not supported with content worth buying which is where MattHell will & continues to fall short. It's a very simple equation which all Directors & above are to stupid/arrogant to comprened. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.