After reviewing Mattel, Inc., I understand the company seeks to maintain their position as a global leader in the toy industry by creating beloved, high-quality toys and brands in a safe, responsible, and ethical manner.
Mattel wants to improve their execution of the existing toy business and globalize their brands; extend their brands into new areas; identify new trends, create new brands, and enter new industries; develop people and improve productivity by simplifying processes and maintaining customer service levels. Mattel wants to make a positive impact in children’s lives around the world by using unrivalled creativity and innovation to create high-quality toys that will be loved by children and trusted by parents.
Mattel’s biggest challenge is the inability to adapt their marketing strategy and products to accommodate the constantly changing technological and socioeconomic trends (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Since the
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For example, Barbie’s popularity has decreased over the last twenty years as young girls’ lifestyles have changed (Ferrell & Hartline). I recommend Mattel hold an “All about Barbie” concert or fashion show to rekindle interest in the brand. They should advertise the event using TV and radio commercials as well as utilize various social media outlets. Mattel can even further promote Barbie driving Hot Wheel cars to advertise and leverage two of their core products.
Finally, Mattel should collaborate with quick service restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King to include a Mattel toy, such as Hot Wheels, in kids’ meals. In 2006, the food industry spent over $360 million on toys and 36% of all fast food meals were served to kids, making toys the most popular form of marketing to children (Gagnon & Freudenberg, 2012). This is a unique opportunity for Mattel to increase their competitive advantage through a different marketing
The Walt Disney Company is a highly diversified media and entertainment company that has been growing by leaps and bounds since its inception in the late 1920’s. In the past few decades, The Walt Disney Company has expanded into numerous markets and diversified its business greatly. The company states that their corporate strategy is targeted at creating high-quality family content, exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and expanding internationally. Upon studying the happenings of the company throughout the years, it is easy to see that the company is executing this strategy well through numerous strategic moves in the industry.
All of Pixar’s iconic films are inspired from small ideas drawn from aspects of everyday life. One of the most prominent inspirations was channeled into the film Finding Nemo. Andrew Stanton, a high ranking director and producer for Pixar, used his memories of a fish tank in a dentist’s office from his childhood as half of the story in Finding Nemo. Stanton’s sympathy for the fish and being an overprotective father served as the other half of the basic story and together the two memories formed the emotional anchor for the film. Another idea that spawned from a staff member helped create the unforgettable and heartfelt film Toy Story. John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Pixar, owned many rare and collectible toys, and became nervous whenever his kids wanted to play with them. However, the real message, Lasseter realized, is just because a toy is signed by Tom Hanks, it does not mean that it is sentenced to life on a shelf. Channeling that type of thinking into all of the toys in Toy Story is what makes the film so cherished and more easily relatable. Another popular film is The Incredibles, which is Pixar’s tribute to pop mythology, comic books, and spy movies. The other inspiration for this movie deals with an average, everyday family life: the fear, anxiety, work, and insecurities that happen throughout a day. Combining the two aspects make for a very interesting, action-packed film, while also being very sincere and family-friendly. Pixar films were not all inspired from personal experience and passion. A documentary about the Rainforest Mountains in Venezuela made by Adrian Warren was the inspiration behind the movie Up. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and Pixar proves that anything can be ex...
Some of the most popular toys today came from Mattel Inc. Handler her husband and partner Elliot Matt created this organization having no idea what would come out of it. Shortly after Barbie’s first debut, Mattel was pushed to the top of the toy making industry. “Since her "birth," approximately 1 billion Barbie’s have been sold in four decades, making Handler's "child" the bestselling fashion doll in every major global market.” (Karen). The Barbie brand is valued at over 2 billon dollars making it the most successful of all time. Every year between 150-200 different Barbie’s are put on the market making this product one of the longest lasting ever. It is amazing how one invention could turn into such an icon. Another invention of Handler’s which is far less popular but still just as important, was her line “nearly me”. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970 inspiring her to create a line of breast prosthesis. “Unable to find a satisfactory arti...
Any agency that uses children for marketing schemes spend hundreds of billions dollars each year world wide persuading and manipulating consumer’s lifestyles that lead to overindulgence and squandering. Three articles uncover a social problem that advertising companies need to report about. In his research piece “Kid Kustomers” Eric Schlosser considers the reasons for the number of parents that allow their children to consume such harmful foods such as ‘McDonalds’. McDonalds is food that is meant to be fast and not meant to be a regular diet. Advertising exploits children’s needs for the wealth of their enterprise, creating false solutions, covering facts about their food and deceiving children’s insecurities. It contains dissatisfaction that leads to over consumption. Children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, American Psychological Association article, “Youth Oriented Advertising” reveals the facts upon the statics on consumers in the food industries. The relationship that encourages young children to adapt towards food marketing schemes, make them more vulnerable to other schemes, such as, advertising towards clothing, toys and cars. Article writer of “The relationship between cartoon trade character recognition and attitude toward product category in young children”, Richard Mizerski, discusses a sample that was given to children ages three to six years old, about how advertising incurs young children that are attracted too certain objects or products on the market.
In chapter two of this book it describes the many ways fast food restaurants influence children to but their products. They also describe the many tactics that are used in order to keep children interested and coming back for more.
It has been noticed throughout the running of McDonald’s that they tend to market to the eyes of children with Ronald McDonald as their notorious “spokesclown” that is recognized by 96% of American children. Also, in 1998, McDonald’s signed a long-term deal with the Walt Disney Company to include Disney merchandise as giveaways in its Happy Meals.
Yes, I do believe that Mattel acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner with regard to the safety of its toys. Back in the 1980’s when Mattel started to shift production to Asia, they were using outside contractors. This concerned Mattel, as they thought the contractors might start imitating and reproducing their products. In the 1990’s Mattel acquired or built production facilities in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. In 1997, Mattel developed a detailed code of conduct, they called it, The Global Manufacturing Principals. The principals covered both the Mattel factories, their contactors, and suppliers. The principals addressed primarily labor issues, such as wages, child labor, and health and safety.
In conclusion, I feel that Toy Story is a much more advanced film when compared to some of Disney’s other animated films. Apart from the obvious technological advances made in animation technology, it also appeals on a much deeper level. The camera angles and techniques used help to add to the “realism” of the film but still give it an edge of the unreal. The way it appeals on all levels to both adults and children is helped by the fact that there is no clean-cut good and evil and even the good characters aren’t perfect. This is something that Toy Story has over even its followers such as “A Bug’s Life”.
... in the toy industry is to make toy safety the number one priority and to fulfill the customers’ needs.
...product toward children promising those children toys and gifts and you can even find inside some of those fast food restaurants games that attract children. Because of what they are doing one in six children are obese, the parents must be blamed but still the fast food industries are the ones who are selling that product and marketing it toward those children.
Worcester Polytechnic Institution. "Fast Food Marketing to Children." Public Health Communication. (2007). http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-082107-231740/unrestricted/Appendix_1.pdf (accessed February 17, 2014).
When researching McDonald’s through online sources, it is clear that nutrition is a major concern of the public visiting the fast-food chain. Secondary research conducted shows that there are several case studies and other secondary source searches around the same topic. McDonald’s has often been the center of nutritional attention within the fast-food industry. Secondary research shows that the restaurant has recently made changes to the American Happy Meal to reduce the amount of French fries offered and replace the portion with fruit (Strom, 2011). In a study conducted by McDonald’s a secondary source reports the meal cuts calories by 20% for the children’s meal (Strom, 2011). This is a critical move by the organization on children’s obesity is currently a hot topic within food chains and attention is driven by the Obama administration. Secondary research also shows that although the public has major health concerns with the food chain, profits are increasing during a high point of an economic recession (Dahan & Gittens, 2008). Acco...
Answer: The following are the number of problems that had stymied Barad’s strategies: l Parents were buying fewer toys and shifting their spending to computer software and video games for their children; l Parents were shifting the spending to competing dolls such as Pleasant Company’s highly successful line of American Girl If Barad had awareness of the external threat that computers were becoming more popular with families, which parents might use to entertain and educate their children and the lack of creativity in recent toys, her planning might have more consideration on innovative products. The same situation applies to the competition with video games, the unpopularity of Disney’s movies related toys, and the weakness that Mattel’s revenue highly depends on Barbie dolls. 3) Could better decision-making techniques have helped Barad avoid the decline in sales of Holiday Barbie? Answer:
...ials to make their products rather than using materials that carries hazardous materials. There widespread of products help expand the company all around the world, and inspire the world with great performance and design.
Top managers should be reminded that they are ultimately responsible for the quality of a product and the company. Quality management is one of the keys. By defining quality in operational terms, understanding the costs and benefits of quality, recognizing the consequences of poor quality, and recognizing the need for ethical behavior (Stevenson, 2012), will lead to a more productive operation. If Toys, Inc. specifically doesn’t want to hire additional positions to inspect quality they could outsource to a company such as SATRA whom from its website states, “SATRA can assess the risk of injury from a toy, as well as carry out analysis for the presence of restricted metals such as lead, chromium and mercury(2015).” Quality is the ability of a product or service to consistently meet or exceed customer expectations (Stevenson, 2012). Quality when it comes to manufacturing of toys especially those that have moving parts also brings in safety concerns. “Market watch officials and technological experts have warned parents to pay more attention to the quality of toys they purchase to better protect their children (Hazell, C 2011).” Parents will associate a poorly made toy, especially one that already knows that it’s poorly made by having a trade-in program as potentially dangerous for their son or daughter. Continuing to have customer dissatisfaction will further question the quality of our product and in turn the safety of our