Why would I want my kids to drink the interactive barbie kool-aid? Here you go sweetie. Talk to the $80 vapid blonde with the unrealistic body type that you can never obtain. Feel inspired.
17 replies (most recent on top)
Innovation is nothing but an empty buzz word that moronic upper mismanagement keeps throwing out day in/day out.They should just have it looped on a speaker system in the Design Center. The words uppermanagement should be practicing are fairness, honestly, integrity & loyalty. I never hear those words/actions here. Never, just when they make you listen & complete that stupid useless online MY HR form. What a ironic waste of time. The only thing worse is trying to complete a PLM waste of time form. The MegaBloks employees who now have to fill out this PLM crap must be thinking "What have we done?"....... New, Next, Never was DV's & DW's big thing but never did produce anything except one expensive/dangerous ride on skateboard that ended getting dropped because the battery/motor started blowing up/catching fire. The guy that spent years working on it has yet to design/develop anything that has been successful @ retail since he's been there but he does keep trying tho, I'll give him that. Doesn't even matter either way as Marketing is so stupid & inept there they couldn't market the Cure for Cancer. Serious.
Rainbow Barbie! Make it now! NOW!
Agreed! Innovation takes time and money and is never guaranteed.
You can't mandate it out of thin air every season. Especially if you're still working on something you just barely pulled out of your ass a few months ago.
But all the VPs and SVPs who wouldn't don't know innovation if they sat on it demand it from product every season because they're scared shitless they'll get lesser bonuses. And they back great ideas like PLM that is a disaster in millions. New next now will never work because NAD and the markets don't have the knowledge nor the balls to sell anything other than a diecast car or a doll. Forget about even trying to manufacture anything that's not that. So even if innovation came out of Mattel they wouldn't know what to do with it. That's why they keep cramming things in that damn doll. Cameras, lights, sounds, the Internet. It's laughable.
Everybody keeps forgetting to mention that true innovation costs money & needs real talent behind it which Mattel just doesn't have. All the money goes to pay upper mismanagement's $alaries/trips/Staples tickets & all the real talent either left on their own or got forced out because they didn't kiss the ring/do the dance. The place is doomed. Every talented person that I know just couldn't take it there anymore & is so glad to be out of there. On the other hand the talented people who are still stuck there are truely miserable hating life. Those are the ones I feel bad for because they are talented, care about their jobs but are over looked/shunned by the EvilLynns, ClicheClownChris, DLoss, PHell&back, etc, etc......If Hasbro were as smart as I hear they are they would open an office in the South Bay & would get the only talent that Mattel has left in a heartbeat. It's a hell of a commute from the South bay to Burbank, there's the rub. I do know several who are doing it though because they have no choice.
Of course they're looking to get bought out you ass. But Mattel taking the credit is laughable. There hasn't been any innovation in the Barbie division in years. The only innovation has been HG and his photo dept. finding new and innovative ways to shoot that crap and make it look interesting.
a bunch of morons writing scripts for a voice actress is not innovation.
ummm the outside company that is doing this is just using Mattel to get itself to look attractive to investors.
they most likely want to get bought out. i would....
All you have to reference is how the Marketing Giant Disney does things. Once John Lasseter sold his soul back to the Mouse it was ll over. Disney does it right and now has an axe to grind against Mattel due to Mattel upper mismanagement launching Never After High/Pie in the Sky which is done buy the way. Wouldn't be surprised if it was in the Mattel Big Lots tent right next to DoomCo & Max Steel piled up to the top O the tent. Hire one more SVP while we can fire 10 workers. Who cares a they just blame on the continued headwinds. Let's extend Bryan Stockdown's severance for yet another year while were at it, he's the best even though he doesn't even have to show up, just gets his millions while workers get the axe. Someone should ask C Sinclair at the Q&A/Q3 how much the idiot Alan Kay's severance was to leave? That turkey trotted all the way to Fort Knox. Foul on that Fowl.
Now put that stuff in a Chucky doll and now you've got something.
"Why are these posts about bashing the new ideas that are coming out of the creative teams inside Mattel?" because you tool the creative ideas are procured from outside sources. Don't kid yourself into thinking this is the brainchild of anyone within those hollowed lack of ideas towers. This is an inventor idea that mattel is paying royalties on. This is the impetus for the layoffs, not developing from within. If this is a hit then there's a boatload of cash going to an inventor, maybe the stocks rise a bit but it does nothing for the overall bottom line. Thus more layoffs. Big picture here moron, stop your whining and see the truth that without nurturing from within these quick hits will not be enough to sustain our jobs and we will be cut. Much like the way work is getting sent to MOA. Outsourcing us is not the key to success or employment longevity.
The issue in question is that will any kind of innovation in Barbie even matter anymore? As it begs the underlying question whether the Barbie brand is still relevant or not. Barbie represents an era of excess, vapid self centered-ness, and whiteness. Whether this is true or not this is the general feeling that has been borne out of what has been pumped out of product and marketing for years. It is hard to undo what has cemented the blonde pink avatar into the ubiquity of Kleenex. She was everything and anything therefore she is nothing and no one. One can probably see the rise of monster high as a sign of that backlash. So don't despair dear Barbie designers. Maybe she has to fall far before she can rise up again. Tear it down and build it anew. Besides, people like underdogs.
Anonymous155342 - clearly you never sat close to Sales in GHOs to hear their snark on items that had clear WTF responses. Hard work doesn't equal great toys, especially when the direction at the top changes things or gives poor direction to start.
Isn't this site about layoffs??? Why are these posts about bashing the new ideas that are coming out of the creative teams inside Mattel? Go away unless you have useful information for employees who are trying to get ahead of a possible layoff. The true creatives and dedicated employees inside Mattel wouldn't bash our own hard work.. Especially if we're still there after all that we've been through during the decline. Don't feed the trolls.
to the frustrated Mattel employee: Barbie isn't inspirational or aspirational. our culture has changed and producing that doll in her blonde bimbo unrealistic design does nothing for the younger generation of women other than set ludicrous goals for what they'll never be unless they're a Slavic sociopath who does waist training and has multiple plastic surgeries so she can emulate Barbie. does anyone want that for their kids? I sure as hell do not. so instead of catching up with the times and helping nurture the youth culture Mattel spends all it's time developing, wait, lets be honest you didn't develop crap this is an outside vendor your paying royalties to. this is Mattel with a bunch of jack offs in content writing a scripts to put outside technology into the same old Barbie whore frame. when parents reject this overpriced piece of crap it won't be for the a.i. it'll be because they want something a bit more empowering for the child. barbie sales I'm sure will do great at big lots, but this? another fail in the Mattel coffin.
If this is the same team of hard working creatives who've been working on Barbie the past 3 years as it's declined year over year, maybe it's time to find a new job...
It's frustrating to hear complaints on this site about management not letting creative designers and EEs innovate, only to then read people tearing down concepts born from these same creatives. This product wasn't some management initiative, it was a team of hard working creatives who said "wouldn't it be amazing if you could talk to your doll"...venting valid frustrations is cathartic. Shitting on everything just because it's from Mattel is vindictive and petty. If you are gonna be a troll, go live under a bridge
Will they have her say, "Math is hard."
http://nyti.ms/1MrBPop
This is going to be either a huge waste of money (more than likely) or skynet.