Can someone tell me what the difference is between brand and franchise? Now Mattel has both but no one seems to know why or what's what. What does this new group do that the brands weren't doing? Isn't this all very redundant? Isn't Mattel supposed to be cutting costs and "structurally simplifying" (ie, laying off people)? Why all the new hires in an area that no one can explain? And does anyone know the woman that RD hired to run this? Seems hypocritical to get rid of a bunch of people with real jobs only to hire a bunch of people with no real job to do. Can anyone in ES explain? From a distance, it just looks like another RD mess.
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They plan on turning their toy brands into movie franchises.
Maybe they are preparing to sell off Barbie and Hot Wheels as Franchises ? Just a guess .
I think in this case franchise is not like Little Caesar's Pizza, more like a movie franchise like the Jurassic Park film series is a movie franchise.
Had a friend that worked at Saban when she was there and he said she was a complete nightmare. Had a record of getting rid of very talented, competent people under her. Looks like she is following the same MO at Mattel. Why do we always end up with the rejects that continue to destroy this company??!!
The SABAN woman they brought in has the worst reputation in the business. You can look her up on glassdoor.com
To OP, I know what you mean. I get what a brand and franchise are in the rest of the world but at mattel the two groups seem to do the same thing. i think TV sales and CP and even live events are are all part of the new franchise department and they were with brand. so i guess brand is now only toys.
They are completely different. I assume your franchise department is handling outbound licensing, where another company can create
Products with your brands like Barbie or Hotwheels as long as they adhere to certain guidelines and you get money for allowing them to do so. It’s a way of getting money for your brand without actually having to create the product.
A brand is like Fisher-Price or Barbie, a franchise is a business that licenses its name a practices to individuals, like Subways resturants or Little Cesars pizza.