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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in

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Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working

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Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety.

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Speaker 1: Remember that song from the Disney movie in Panto, we

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Speaker 1: don't talk about Bruno. Well, last week at the Variety

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Speaker 1: Entertainment and Technology Summit, going into my interview with Mattel's

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Speaker 1: CEO Enon Cries, my motto was, we don't talk about Barbie.

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Speaker 1: You see, I was determined not to let him have

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Speaker 1: another victory lap talking about his hit movie, and I'll

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Speaker 1: tell you why right after the break. It wasn't until

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Speaker 1: I sat down with Mattel's CEO Enon Cries on stage

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Speaker 1: last week get the annual Variety Entertainment and Technology Summit

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Speaker 1: that I realized the last time he and I were

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Speaker 1: face to face, I had concluded I probably wasn't ever

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Speaker 1: going to see him again. It was a breakfast at

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Speaker 1: the Polo Lounge months before he took the job as

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Speaker 1: CEO and chairman at Mattel in twenty eighteen. When he

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Speaker 1: indicated he was accepting the chairman position, it triggered an

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Speaker 1: unexpected range of emotions in me. First, there was panic.

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Speaker 2: What little I.

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Speaker 1: Knew of the toy company did not leave a flattering impression.

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Speaker 1: Did this mean I was going to have to pay

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Speaker 1: for the meal? Because if I was, I would have

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Speaker 1: certainly suggested a more modestly priced Starbucks. Then came confusion,

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Speaker 1: as I said to myself, then why tell the Hollywood

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Speaker 1: trade guy you're leaving the business to go play with dolls. See,

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Speaker 1: that's just the way we Variety scribes think. Of course,

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Speaker 1: exit showbiz, and you might as well have purchased a

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Speaker 1: one way ticket to Mars. But even when he explained

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Speaker 1: over our meal that he wasn't leaving Hollywood so much

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Speaker 1: as bringing Mattel to Hollywood by turning all those iconic

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Speaker 1: toy brands into an intellectual property gold mine of movies

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Speaker 1: and TV shows, I just didn't buy it. I hid

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Speaker 1: my skepticism behind a polite smile. And that's how I

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Speaker 1: started my weekly Mogul Memo column last week devoted to

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Speaker 1: Mittel's CEO enon Cries. If you missed it or any

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Speaker 1: of those columns, check them out at Variety dot com

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Speaker 1: slash Mogul Memo. But first, enjoy listening to me confess

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Speaker 1: to a hotel ballroom full of people that I underestimated

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Speaker 1: Cries who made clear in our interview in this podcast

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Speaker 1: that as big as Barbie was, he was really only

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Speaker 1: just getting started at Mattel with that hit movie listen in.

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Speaker 1: So this is a very difficult interview for me because

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Speaker 1: it starts with a public confession that the last time

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Speaker 1: Ianan and I were together, about five or so years ago,

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Speaker 1: he was telling me he was taking the job at

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Speaker 1: Mattel and I didn't wanted to admit it at the time,

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Speaker 1: but I wasn't sure he should take the job, but

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to tell him Mittel was in a

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Speaker 1: rough place. Then, boy, did he prove me wrong. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you've heard about this little movie called Barbie. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is tough for me to publicly eat Crow like this.

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Speaker 1: You know, let's start with the fact that, you know,

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Speaker 1: you talked last week about the fact that you in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three or have brought back to Mittel about

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty five million dollars from the ticket

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Speaker 1: sales from Barbie. And there'll be more to what is

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Speaker 1: that going to mean in terms of the kinds of

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Speaker 1: deals you think you're going to be setting for well.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate the fact that you remember our conversation five

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Speaker 3: years ago because I do remember it as well. It

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Speaker 3: has been a journey, and the journey at Mattel was

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Speaker 3: transformed the company from being a toy manufacturer that was

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Speaker 3: making items to becoming an IP company that manages franchises.

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Speaker 3: And the biggest shift in our DNA was to realize

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Speaker 3: that people who buy our products are not just consumers,

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Speaker 3: but they are fans. And once you have a lot

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Speaker 3: of fans, it's an audience. And when you realize you

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Speaker 3: have an audience, it changes the conversation and what is

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Speaker 3: that you're trying to achieve. And as a company, we

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Speaker 3: own one of the strongest portfolios of children and family

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Speaker 3: entertainment franchises in the world. And the opportunity that we

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Speaker 3: saw at the time was to first and foremost fix

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Speaker 3: the core toy business, which is actually a great business

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Speaker 3: to be in when it works, and then continue to

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Speaker 3: build from that and leverage the grow upon the emotional

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Speaker 3: relationship that we have with our fans, to capture value

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Speaker 3: from our intellectual properties in other verticals, film, television, consumer

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Speaker 3: product and merchandise licensing and merchandising, theme parks, live events,

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Speaker 3: digital experiences and so forth, and movies is just one

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Speaker 3: dimension of what we are looking to achieve. And the

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Speaker 3: Barbie Movie is one movie in a multi year strategy.

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Speaker 3: And of course it's great to celebrate the success of Barbie,

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Speaker 3: but it's not just about the Barbie movie or not

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Speaker 3: just about the Barbie franchise. It's a strategy and the

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Speaker 3: approach overall, and we absolutely believe we have a lot

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Speaker 3: to offer from an industry that is driven by big brands,

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Speaker 3: big franchises. This is what this game is about, big

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Speaker 3: brands that people care about and have an emotional relationship with.

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Speaker 3: And that's why we think we're in a very good

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Speaker 3: position to grow our business, both on the toy side

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Speaker 3: of the company and also on the intellectual properties that

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Speaker 3: we own that represent so much value and opportunity.

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Speaker 1: And so, what will these next deals look like when

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Speaker 1: you're making this next set of movies, You've got about

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Speaker 1: fifteen fourteen different movie deals to make that you have

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Speaker 1: an active development. Does the Barbie success change the kind

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Speaker 1: of deals you could strike?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the Barbie movie absolutely position Mattel in a different way.

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Speaker 3: The our brands clearly resonate in culture, people used to

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Speaker 3: think of our brands as appealing for kids who buy

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Speaker 3: our product and engage with our product. But clearly the

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Speaker 3: Barbie Movie represented a much broader audience appeal in terms

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Speaker 3: of people who engage with our brands. And the Barbie

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Speaker 3: Movie spoke not just to kids, but to adults, to

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Speaker 3: men and women, and not just twenty three generations of consumers.

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Speaker 3: And this is what we believe will apply to brands overall.

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Speaker 3: And yes, we believe and expect to create value for

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Speaker 3: the company and continue to improve, improve how we operate

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Speaker 3: and the relation and strengthen the relationship with our creative partners.

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Speaker 3: The approach that we took was Capitalite. It's a virtual

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Speaker 3: studio model. It's designed on a partnership approach in collaborating

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Speaker 3: with the best creators out there, the best filmmakers, the

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Speaker 3: best innovators, pioneers, people that have an original perspective and

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Speaker 3: a strong voice and a clear understanding of current culture.

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Speaker 3: So we partnered, of course with Greta Gerwick for the

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Speaker 3: Barbie Movie, who's done an amazing job in interpreting the brand,

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Speaker 3: and Margot Robbie was also a producer on the movie

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Speaker 3: and also was a great partner for us, and we

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Speaker 3: then continued that approach with JJ Abrams, who's the producer

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Speaker 3: of the HOTWOODZ movie, also with Warner Brothers, the distributor

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Speaker 3: with sky Dance who is producing Matchbox, developing Matchbox with us,

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Speaker 3: Tom Hanks for Major, Matt Mason where they Kip A.

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Speaker 2: Goldsman as the writer.

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Speaker 3: We have a movie in development with Vin Diesel for

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Speaker 3: Rocken Socking Robots, Mark Forrester for Thomas the Tank Engine,

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Speaker 3: and they and Linda Danham and Nellie Collins for a

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Speaker 3: poly Pocket. So we see some of the most prolific

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Speaker 3: creators of this generation that partner with us around our brands,

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Speaker 3: and it's multifaceted, multi dimensional, different genres, different demographics, but.

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Speaker 2: The approach is the same.

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Speaker 3: The approach is to partner with the best talent, amplify them,

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Speaker 3: empower them, and then support them and continue to promote

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Speaker 3: the movies outside of the usual, if you will, paradigm

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Speaker 3: of how movies are being marketed. And you saw that

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Speaker 3: around about the movie. How we collaborated with Warner Brothers,

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Speaker 3: who did an amazing job on their side and have

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Speaker 3: been a great partner all along the journey. And then

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Speaker 3: we came and amplified what they do through our channels,

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Speaker 3: our demand creation capabilities, and retail execution where the movie

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Speaker 3: was promoted in thousands and thousands of storefronts, promoting the

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Speaker 3: movie and creating another another engagement, more touch points with

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Speaker 3: consumers underground all over the world that ultimately created what

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Speaker 3: became a cultural phenomenon, And we'd.

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Speaker 1: Be remissing not pointing out. There was an interesting data

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Speaker 1: point last week. A market research firm noted that in

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Speaker 1: July and August, Barbie toy sales looked like they were

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Speaker 1: up about twenty five percent. So this has going right

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Speaker 1: to the bottom line at Mittel. How are you feeling

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Speaker 1: going into the holiday shopping season, especially given all sorts

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Speaker 1: of interesting economic data points, I mean, are you do

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Speaker 1: you feel good?

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Speaker 4: Well?

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Speaker 3: Of course, the Barbie's success translated to more sales and

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Speaker 3: more engagement at the retail level. It's important to say

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Speaker 3: that when we started the journey, and you and I

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Speaker 3: spoke about it back in the day, this was not

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Speaker 3: about creating a movie in order to sell more toys,

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Speaker 3: and it wasn't even just about creating a movie.

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Speaker 2: It was about creating a cultural event.

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Speaker 3: And the approach the manday internally was to create quality

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Speaker 3: content that people want to watch. It wasn't about trying

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Speaker 3: to sell toys. And we believe that if we create

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Speaker 3: content that people want to watch with a focus on quality,

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Speaker 3: good things will happen and we will know what to

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Speaker 3: do in terms of selling our product. But the approach

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Speaker 3: was first and foremost, create quality content that people want

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Speaker 3: to watch. And yes, the Barbie movie did drive momentum

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Speaker 3: in terms of sales. The toy industry is soft. Has

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Speaker 3: been sold in the first part of the year in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, and we are heading to a holiday

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Speaker 3: season that we believe will positive. We expect to grow

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Speaker 3: consumer demand for our product. We expect the toy industry

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Speaker 3: to be flat to slightly down overall, but we have

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Speaker 3: been growing market share significantly, not just in dolls, not

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Speaker 3: just Barbie, but across literary categories, in other categories, and overall,

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Speaker 3: we believe the toy industry is in a very good place.

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Speaker 3: When you look at it on a multi year basis,

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Speaker 3: it has been a growth industry. We expect it will

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Speaker 3: continue to grow. It's a great part of the economy

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Speaker 3: because it's resilient. It plays to a basic human behavior

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Speaker 3: of play. Parents will always prod oz spending money on

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Speaker 3: their children, especially when it comes to quality products and

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Speaker 3: trusted brands. It's a strategic categor or for retailers. It's experiential,

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Speaker 3: it drives food traffic, and you see a toy aisle

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Speaker 3: in every retailer, not just Walmart and Target, but also

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Speaker 3: every supermarket and pharmacy and convenience store. They all embraced

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Speaker 3: toys as a strategic category. And we will live as

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Speaker 3: an industry leader, a global leader and toys. We're in

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Speaker 3: a very good position to capture value from the toy

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Speaker 3: side of the business. But as I said, this is

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Speaker 3: not where it ends, and this is really when you

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Speaker 3: have a strong toy business, this is where you establish

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Speaker 3: an emotional relationship with your fans. Toys are tactile. Kids

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Speaker 3: hug our product, they go to bed with our product.

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Speaker 3: And it's not just this generation, it's also the parents

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Speaker 3: and even grandparents.

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Speaker 2: And when you have that.

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Speaker 3: Strong emotional relationship between fans and your product, that creates

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Speaker 3: opportunities to take to take that your brands and export

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Speaker 3: them to our categories and create more value there and

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Speaker 3: more engagement than touch points with your fans.

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Speaker 1: We'll be back with more with Mattel's CEO, Enon Cries

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Speaker 1: after this, and we are back with the CEO of Mattel,

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Speaker 1: Enon Cries, who I interviewed at the Variety Entertainment and

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Speaker 1: Technology Summit.

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Speaker 2: Have a listen.

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Speaker 1: You know, the funny thing about this amazing success that

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Speaker 1: you've had with this movie is, yeah, I've known you

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Speaker 1: a long time. You've worked at places like Fox Kids, Europe,

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Speaker 1: Maker Studios and them all. You're not a movie guy,

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Speaker 1: and here you are stepping up to the plate and

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Speaker 1: hitting this huge home run in your first at bat.

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Speaker 1: But it also makes me wonder just how you know,

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Speaker 1: how volatile business movies are. You know, the broader trend

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Speaker 1: in movies right now is not good, which makes the

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Speaker 1: success of Barbie all the more staggering. And so the

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Speaker 1: question is how central are movies to your overall movie strategy, because,

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Speaker 1: as we're going to talk about now, you know you're

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Speaker 1: gonna play in TV and gamings and digital and live

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Speaker 1: entertainment and all that, so are we I just want

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Speaker 1: to make sure we're not missing the forest for the

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Speaker 1: trees here. Is movies what it's all about? Or is

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Speaker 1: it really just one piece of a broader puzzle?

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Speaker 2: Now?

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Speaker 3: As we've said, movies is a key part of the strategy,

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Speaker 3: but it's not the only part. It's a it's an

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Speaker 3: overall approach of how you create multiple touch points with

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Speaker 3: your consumers that are fans and have an emotional relationship

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Speaker 3: with your product. So movies is one important tenant. It's

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Speaker 3: a key vertical and we all know the cultural impact

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Speaker 3: that can drive, and we're seeing it with the Barbie movie.

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Speaker 3: But it's not the only one and certainly not the

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Speaker 3: one that where we are dependent on. It has been

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Speaker 3: a success, but it's part of an overall multi prong

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Speaker 3: strategy on the on the IP side of our business.

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Speaker 3: The good thing is that it's not an invention. This

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Speaker 3: is not a novel concept where you take a strong

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Speaker 3: brand in one vertical and you put it to others.

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Speaker 3: Others have done.

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Speaker 2: It successfully before.

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Speaker 3: At Mattel we haven't done it. We've been around for

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Speaker 3: a long time and yet we haven't made any movies.

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Speaker 3: You have Fast and Furious ten and Hot Wheels zero

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Speaker 3: Hot Will's being one of the strongest vehicles brand in

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Speaker 3: the world. We sell seven or eight hundred million die

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Speaker 3: cast cars a year. So Lego was able to make

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Speaker 3: a great movie out of bricks with no character and

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Speaker 3: we own we own such an incredible portfolio of brands

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Speaker 3: and we haven't made that any movie before.

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Speaker 2: But what changed is really the approach.

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Speaker 3: We brought into the company incredible talent, strong leaders from

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Speaker 3: the film business. Robbie Brenner has been leading Mattel Films

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Speaker 3: very successfully. She is a filmmaker and she came into

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Speaker 3: Mattel to create movies and that has been key part

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Speaker 3: of the approach. And of course what we've done the

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Speaker 3: Barbie movie showed and demonstrated is ready the fact that

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Speaker 3: our brands resonate in culture outside of the toy isle

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Speaker 3: and have a broad appeal. We also show that we

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Speaker 3: know how to attract, collaborate and amplify talent, and give

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Speaker 3: talent creative freedom and let them interpret our brands in

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Speaker 3: their own way and then embrace that and amplify the

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Speaker 3: message socially, culturally and commercially. And of course what we

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Speaker 3: brought to the table, as I mentioned before, is our

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Speaker 3: ability to drive demand, to create the man to increase engagement.

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Speaker 2: This is something we do year and year and in

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Speaker 2: and year out.

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Speaker 3: We create demand, We manage Evergreen franchises, and we've done

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Speaker 3: that without movies, and this time what we showed is

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Speaker 3: that we can point our platform to create a man

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Speaker 3: for our movie and turn it into a cultural event.

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Speaker 3: And that approach is something we look to apply across

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Speaker 3: our strategy, not just for the Barbie movie, but across

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Speaker 3: our strategy.

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Speaker 1: But let's talk about other proms. You've done some other

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Speaker 1: interesting deals, Roadblocks, YouTube, take your peck, where do you

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Speaker 1: want to go first?

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Speaker 2: Matel Television is thriving.

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Speaker 3: We have twelve shows that we're putting on air or

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Speaker 3: distribute on streaming platforms.

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Speaker 2: This year.

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Speaker 3: We just launched Monster High, both a live action musical

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Speaker 3: on Nickelodeon and an animated series. This is already the

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Speaker 3: second season of both. We have We launched a primetime

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Speaker 3: show of Hot Wheels on NBC. We had The Great Barbie,

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Speaker 3: the Barbie Driamhouse Makeover Show on HGTV. We have the

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Speaker 3: Pictionary show that we launch on the second season the

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Speaker 3: on Fox network.

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Speaker 2: We announced that.

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Speaker 3: We coming out with new Barbie animated series on Netflix.

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Speaker 3: We have new shows for poly Pocket, Fireman, Sam and

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Speaker 3: Thomas also coming out, and already announced new seasons for

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Speaker 3: Masters of the Universe next year, and a Barney show

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Speaker 3: next year. So there's a lot that is happening within

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Speaker 3: Mattel Television and it's part of a comprehensive franchise management strategy.

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Speaker 3: This is not just about planting a TV series here

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Speaker 3: or there. It's about a comprehensive approach to how we

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Speaker 3: manage franchises, with toys being a key and core capability.

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Speaker 2: But of course it's.

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Speaker 3: About creating multiple touch points with your fans and continue

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Speaker 3: to grow that engagement that is very unique to what

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Speaker 3: we can bring to the table.

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Speaker 1: Live entertainment is another place I think Monsters High as

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Speaker 1: a place you're doing something with that's right.

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Speaker 3: We are looking to grow live events or end locations

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Speaker 3: based entertainment. There was the Barbie Traveling Exhibition show in

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Speaker 3: Santa Monica that was extremely successful and sold out. This

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Speaker 3: is before the movie came out, and of course after

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Speaker 3: the movie launched it with.

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Speaker 2: Just a runaway success.

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Speaker 3: We announced we announced the launch of the Matel Adventure

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Speaker 3: Park next year in Glendale, Arizona, which is a theme park,

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Speaker 3: not full scale as a Disneyland or Universal Studio park,

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Speaker 3: but universal park, but we but it's a park that

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Speaker 3: is really building off the success and engagement of Barbie

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Speaker 3: hot Wheels, Masters of the Universe, Thomas with roller coasters

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Speaker 3: and rides and three D animated AI experiences and a

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Speaker 3: lot of other fun and exciting opportunities for fans to

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Speaker 3: continue that can come and continue to engage with with

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Speaker 3: our brand. So this is a keep out of our

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Speaker 3: strategy and more to come. There will be more announcements

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Speaker 3: that we'll we'll be able to talk about in location

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Speaker 3: based entertainment and live events.

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Speaker 1: I mean, so when you is it possible obviously not now,

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Speaker 1: but five ten years from now that as much as

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Speaker 1: film looms as large as it does now, five ten

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Speaker 1: years from now, that other prongs of the media piece

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Speaker 1: of Mittel could be looming larger that or in totality,

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Speaker 1: they're all sort of you know, guns are firing. I

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Speaker 1: just wonder, when you you know, really look out in

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Speaker 1: the long term, how this could look.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we you can start them need to

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Speaker 3: become an IP company. You can start it as a

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Speaker 3: comic book publisher.

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Speaker 1: As one analogy, I think of another company that starts

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Speaker 1: with end.

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Speaker 3: And we've said it before, you know, Marvel is a

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Speaker 3: good analogy. We're not saying it's the exact example, but

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Speaker 3: Marvel started off as a comic book publisher that was

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Speaker 3: focused on one vertical until it fell into the right

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Speaker 3: hands and with great execution and real creativity, became what

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Speaker 3: it is today.

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Speaker 2: And we believe that.

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Speaker 3: Our portfolio of franchises that is so diverse and so varied,

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Speaker 3: with different genres appealing to different demographics, absolutely has the

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Speaker 3: potential to become very large and engaging outside of the

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Speaker 3: toy isle and in success. If we are successful in

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Speaker 3: executing our strategy, and we're very much on our way

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Speaker 3: to do that, this can be transformative for Mattel. It

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Speaker 3: is about execution. The idea, the assets, the model is

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Speaker 3: all there. We're not inventing or creating a new innovative

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Speaker 3: commercial approach. This has been done before. It is about execution,

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Speaker 3: and we have been consistently systematically methodically executing our strategy

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Speaker 3: even before the Barbie movie came out and had multiple

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Speaker 3: already successes. Even on on on the digital gaming side,

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Speaker 3: we have a very successful joint venture with nets which

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Speaker 3: is called Mattel one sixty three that in a very

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Speaker 3: short period of time just with three games only became

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Speaker 3: a meaningful player in mobile games. And so we've had

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Speaker 3: already important accomplishments along the way, and the Barbie movie

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Speaker 3: clearly is a big milestone and one that you can't

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Speaker 3: not see and appreciate. But it's it's it's it's a

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Speaker 3: long multi year strategy continue to do that, and we

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Speaker 3: believe we will continue to execute successfully. The brands resonate

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Speaker 3: that have an important place in culture, and as a

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Speaker 3: company overall, we have real societal impact. We know that

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Speaker 3: we're seeing it every day. You know, even before the movie,

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Speaker 3: when we would announce a new career for Barbie or

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Speaker 3: a new doll that we launch, this was newsworthy. This

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Speaker 3: was on CNN or Good Morning America or on the

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Speaker 3: BBC in the UK. So what we do matter in culture,

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Speaker 3: and I have to say we actually take it very seriously.

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Speaker 3: As a company. We believe we have an important role

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Speaker 3: to play in society. And what we've done and a

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Speaker 3: keep out of our success was being very conscious about

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Speaker 3: our impact on culture. Are what we do to our

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Speaker 3: role in supporting and partnering with parents and families, in

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Speaker 3: bringing mess important brand purposes into what we do, and

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Speaker 3: making sure that there's always a higher reason beyond play

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Speaker 3: for people to engage with our brands, and as a company.

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Speaker 3: We've been very deliberate and specific about our mission to

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Speaker 3: create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain, and develop

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Speaker 3: children through play, with play being our language. This is

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Speaker 3: how we speak to children and our fans, and we

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Speaker 3: use that to amplify the next generation to really embrace

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Speaker 3: play and continue to drive important social messages and being

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Speaker 3: very cognizant of our role as a corporate citizen.

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Speaker 1: Well, you couldn't have started any stronger, couldn't have proven

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Speaker 1: me any wronger. I'd say you're off to a good start.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for coming here and talking to me about it.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Andre, Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave

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Speaker 4: us a review at Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. We

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Speaker 4: love to hear from listeners. Please go to Variety dot

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Speaker 4: com to sign up for the free weekly Strictly Business newsletter,

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Speaker 4: and don't forget to tune in next week for another

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Speaker 4: episode of Strictly Business.