Just saw the TV show with the Texan crap car shop building a "Hot Wheels" Corvette.
In the initial meeting the bearded guy is describing his design vision and says, "..Big Blower, higher than the glass..."
The Brand Creative For HW, RWay, says, "He's talking about engines blowing up..."
How can HW ever be what it once was if the Brand Creative leader doesn't even know what a blower is?
This is an embarrassment for the company on National TV.
Goldman Sachs makes millions when a once public company goes private.......hmmmm any ties here? Theory/talk since MattHell has hit the skids is that eventually it will become an LLC if it can't turn itself around. Keep the once core Brands and dump everybody/all else. All the SVP's still make their millions, they all win :) Goldman Sachs ends up making a ton of gold..........
I think it's also because Goldman Sachs gave them a thumbs up. For what I don't know. When are the Q4 results supposed to be released?
Just saw online that MattHell stock is up 3% due to better Q4 numbers due to Barbie & Not Wheels :) I have feeling is that Kevin Farr must be spinning the numbers big time like Gandolf as he's the only one who knows the DaVinci Code. YYYaaayyyy, stock is up folks.........
BTW, ChrisClicheClownDown not only lost the DPrincess Line on his watch but also didn't get DPixar's Dino Line that his inept group pitched as well. Another promotion for being an absolute bootlicking brownnoser :)
Let's be honest, intellectually gifted people don't pursue Marketing degrees. Mattel is run by people with Marketing degrees. They hire their own. Bullshiting while using psycho-babble is more important than any other ability.
Such arrogance for people with no skills to discount the education and abilities of their betters. How can someone lead a department if they can't perform the function themselves? I've seen this at Mattel for years, yet never at any other company I've been part of.
Let's face it, any rich douchebag can get mommy and daddy to pay for a couple of extra years in school and walk out with an MBA. Almost none of those people could earn an undergrad degree from Art Center, or an Engineering degree.
Yet somehow these pompous a-holes walk around like the earth spins on their axis, and get promoted to positions they don't deserve.
Hey Upper Management: This Practice HURTS the Organization!
Losing an account (licensor) in any other company would have resulted in termination but since we function on pure hubris they probably convinced themselves that EAH was going to take over princesses and laughed at disney.
I'm also surprised that CD moved up, after we lost the Disney Princess license on his watch. Seems like most of the people involved with Disney back then aren't here anymore.
Three ways to get into senior management:
1/ Have a loud obnoxious/condescending laugh and must love to hear yourself talk even when you're not making sense. This is a must-have in ES.
2/ Able to effectively interrupt productive meetings and add very little input causing people to wonder what you just said exactly thus delaying product a few months, but just as long as your voice was heard (see example 1).
OR
3/ Be quiet, be an excellent paper-pusher and just do what your seniors tell you to do and never stick up for the people you actually manage.
Please note: You do not need any design experience for these roles.
Designers complain about management, and then when they get promoted to manager (because there's not many options for actual "design" promotions) they just roll over on their bellies forgetting everything they complained about - just to keep that nice management paycheck coming. Seen in time and time again. Until someone steps up to the plate and challenges them nothing will ever change here.
So not the case anymore. Wouldn't be surprised to see a Polly designer heading up the team at this point or moving a bozo from NYC who works on trains, because you know trains have wheels (sort of) and um, they're like, y'know a vehicle, right?
I remember back in the day when 100% of the HW designers were graduated Trans Majors, most from Art Center College of Design, but all of them Trans majors, the real deal. They just didn't want to go to Detroit. They could design anything that rolled, floated, or flew. No longer................. absolutely none of the HW mismanagement knows anything about vehicles, never mind being able to draw/design one. What a travesty :( I know, ........ let's totally trash a once real cool money making Brand. You can always tell on this site when a nerve is hit just by the response you see on each true topic/situation, all people saying the same thing. Are these all just bitter guys that were let go? NO. Mismanagement keeps saying how the HW numbers are up, but compared to what? Those idiots Sinclair & Dickson need to look at the high point of HW sales historically and admit to themselves that the Brand is in the toilet from what it once was. Upper mismanagement is in denial & the Board could care less as they are all bored. Just keep cost reducing product to crap, & keep laying off the workers. Dickson in denial, onward.....forward, yeah right. Backwards & downward with the head winds. Hasbro, Lego are doing it right and it shows in their product & great sales numbers. Cant wait for the Q4 propagnda that we'll hear real soon. Should make for an interesting tread/topic here. I could be wrong, hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
As a Haiku:
Hot Wheels Management
Know Nothing About Design
The Customers Laugh
Unfortunately this is the Cali way. Promote someone for being on the periphery of a team that had a modicum of success and the ride it all the way to SVP. Look at the folks who barely had anything to do with MH. Power positions. Powerful failing upwards.
CD and RW both transferred over from a failed Hot Wheels licensing program and what was their reward? PROMOTIONS! RW gets promoted to director of packaging with ZERO packaging experience. A year later ANOTHER promotion to Senior Creative Director of packaging AND advertising! Meanwhile, CD gets promoted to VP. Makes complete sense. Non-designers getting promoted to head-of-design positions. I can't wait to fail so I can get a promoted, too. I love it here!
The situation within Hot Wheels borders on Corporate Malfeasance. Putting people in management positions they are not qualified for is something that needs to be looked into. Where is the Board of Directors? They should be providing oversight. The Board needs to earn their compensation.
To get in good with ClicheClown Down you just have to ride a ten speed road bike with all the colorful Power Ranger outfits. That's all, or drive a red ambulance for storing road bikes :) sound familiar? ...........WrongWay Ron couldn't even tell you what a valve looks like, "what's a crankshaft?"....... Everybody who has commented has said it right except for the "breath of fresh air" comment :) The good ole days when real talent really mattered are gone now. The AKC aka ass kissing club is all that matters now which is why Fraser fled, that was never his style. I've been there when someone who can't render/design a vehicle tries to judge my concept. The guy judging my work doesn't know a horizon line from a vanishing point & can't draw wheel in perspective but he's telling me what's wrong with my work? I can take constructive criticism but it needs to be from someone who can walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Be a real Designer, not a describer..................
"Until the right people are put in charge and given the latitude to create and oversee with the proper brand knowledge we will continue to circle the drain. Having departments/people (not pointing fingers) oversee aspects of business not in their field of expertise will only continue to keep us down."
Who would put these RIGHT people in charge. This fish rots from the head. We have no Toy people at the top. By and large our Senior Management has no passion for the products we produce. They are in it for the quick payout and the golden parachute.
With Chris, Ted and Ron leading Hot Wheels it's only a matter of time before other talented designers leave like Fraser or it becomes the group no one in Mattel wants to be transferred to - like Barbie. We need to get rid of "leaders@ like Chris, Evelyn, Ted that are so far out of their league it's not funny. Chris's idea of a car guy is someone who drives a BMW. How Evelyn keeps her job after Barbie posts a 4th straight loss year (earnings out next Monday) shows Dickson doesn't know what the hell he is doing but loves the sound and feel of underlings blowing smoke up his ass.
This has been the culture that started with the Stockton era and has continued to be the prevalent business model for failure within Mattel. For too long Mattel has been elevating people into positions who lack the passion for the product. Sure there's a passion and drive for success but in toys I feel like this is the one industry where metrics and focus group testing doesn't hold up against passion for the job itself. Sure number crunchers will tell you that business is business whether you're making frozen yogurt, mufflers or pre-school toys, but with toys you have to have a certain vested interest in what you're doing. You're inner child/elf needs to be in the forefront with how you design and promote and that is where the great divide (and animosity) comes to play with creative and non-creative team interactions. I'm sure it was a bean counter decision to exclude the lead female character in the star wars movie because how many times have we heard "girls don't sell in boys action figures!" or "cost prohibitive" even though they make just about every single fart that appears in a star wars film into an action figure. I'm also guessing the boob making that decision at hasbro wasn't around when the first early bird special was released and included Leia (produced by kenner at the time for you young ones needin' some history).
Until the right people are put in charge and given the latitude to create and oversee with the proper brand knowledge we will continue to circle the drain. Having departments/people (not pointing fingers) oversee aspects of business not in their field of expertise will only continue to keep us down.
RW may not know what a blower is but no doubt knows what a blowie is.
Did you notice during the reveal of that horrible car he made sure to turn around and bend over with his ass toward the camera? Do you think that wasn't planned?
LStrom got away with murder under Richie W & Dave Voss ( both finally gone ) who promoted her to a non drawing Director then Design VP. How can you call yourself a designer if you can't draw? Whhhhaaat? WrongWayRon, ClicheClownDown and all the other so called miss managers are tanking our business. At least Larry Over the Hill Wood could draw/design a car.......you need to know what is passionate in the custom hot rod world. Fuel injected vs, blown vs carbs on a awesome looking vehicle if it exists in the real world or it's a concept car. Lisa didn't know one from the other. A breath of fresh air? More like a breath of hot air who protected all in her inner circle. BTW, who names their son Zephyr? .....Zephyr? I still remember when Jill Barad slapped her for her mismanagement of the Disney Hercules line when she was in charge of it, just like she trashed the Kung Fu Panda line as well. Go bake some cakes LS.
LStrom was the best thing that happened to HW in the last 2 years? So sad.
I'm sure she grew up playing with Hot Wheels. NOT. No doubt her years in Disney Pre-School gave her the insight to know what boys like after they get out of the playpen. NOT.
She had no business being put in charge of the HW business. Anyone who approved of that move should have been shown the door immediately.
HW needs to be run by car guys. End of Story.
If you can't name at least 10 designs by Tom Daniel or Big Daddy Roth you should not be considered for any position in the division. Extra points for you if you can provide a photo of your 12 year old self holding a copy of CarToons!
I grew up playing with Hot Wheels, helping my dad wrench on cars, and drove a small block 350 Nova in High School. I've owned high performance street and track cars all my life. I can rebuild a Webber carb and jet it for your application.
I have spent countless hours reading books on auto racing and vehicle design. I've probably spent as many hours watching shows on Speedvision and Velocity Channels.
I have more than 25 years of experience in the Toy Industry. I can design parts, I know costs, and I know production methods.
I do not consider myself to be qualified to lead the HW Design Group.
Somehow our Upper Management has decided that a couple of Bronies who probably never played with HW should lead this cornerstone of our business?
WTF?
Where's Voss? Hopefully long gone, high time. BTW LStrom was the best thing that happened to HW in the last 2 years. Note that she quit on her own, she was not fired like the rest. Tired of the bullshit. Integrity move.
And don't fret. While this may be a recent low, HW hasn't bottomed out yet. WIth someone named DOWN in charge, the business can only move in one direction. Talented long-time designers continue to jump ship. Fraser C is the latest in a long string. Buh-bye, talent. Hello mediocrity!
Management-wise, just look at who's left in charge. A bunch of no-talent, fail-upward untouchables. The halcyon days of Mattel are long behind us. Ruth & Elliot are officially turning over in their graves.
Wrong Way Ron doesn't know a 426 Hemi from a small block 327 Chevy, straight up......engines blowing up, what a moron, really? which is why Hot Wheels is in the toilet. Same with his boss, ClicheClown Down. Neither of these two idiots can even draw a car even if they tried to trace it. A Marketing guy is the VP of Design? and the two so called design managers in Hot Wheels are also in the same boat, RM & GdeLT both posers............ & who put them there? Lisa Strom/Dave Voss who are now finally gone. DV ran for some 7/8 years taking credit for other peoples work but could no longer hide, same with Lisa who loved to fire people who didn't kiss her ass. Question now is when is the rest of the group he was leading is going to go? Lots of salaries that do absolutely nothing. When are the rest of these posers going to be fired/forced out?