Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Carol Master.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Business Week Extra. It's our weekly
Speaker 1: podcast with a favorite conversation and from the week we
Speaker 1: caught up with Mattel President Richard Dixon. Now, last month,
Speaker 1: Mattel launched Mattel Creations. It features curated items for sale,
Speaker 1: highlights creator collaborations past in present, and kind of offers
Speaker 1: a peek into the creative process with Mattel's very own designer.
Speaker 1: Mattel Creations was launched in tandem with the brand seventy
Speaker 1: fifth anniversary and is being led by Mattel President Richard Dixon,
Speaker 1: who joined us to talk about it and well just
Speaker 1: to talk about toys. Well, first off, thank you for
Speaker 1: having me. Sure. I know there's a lot of news
Speaker 1: happening that should be the fun part of the day.
Speaker 1: It usually is, but not today, but it is now
Speaker 1: that you're here. Well, look, I mean the good news
Speaker 1: as we try and find it in today's you know,
Speaker 1: uh challenging times, is that families are obviously spending a
Speaker 1: lot more time together results of obviously you know, the pandemic,
Speaker 1: and in fact it's reinforced the importance of play and toys. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, the whole toy industry has continued to search.
Speaker 1: We had a great third quarter overall in the industry,
Speaker 1: and we're incredibly proud of Mattel's performance, which outpaced actually
Speaker 1: the overall market. We've been gaining share and ultimately really
Speaker 1: obviously responding to our consumers and providing the right toys
Speaker 1: and the right assets, if you will, to occupy during
Speaker 1: these challenging times at home. What have you seen in
Speaker 1: terms of trends in terms of the types of purchases
Speaker 1: people are buying? From my understanding, people were buying barbies,
Speaker 1: they were buying hot wheels. What what were people buying?
Speaker 1: Were there any interesting trends that you noticed in the
Speaker 1: buying Yeah, well, certainly, again, as I mentioned, the whole
Speaker 1: industry was up. Almost all categories posted growth and within
Speaker 1: the Within the industry, of course, as I mentioned, Mattel
Speaker 1: is leading and in our portfolio, you've just had you know,
Speaker 1: enormous success with of course, categories like dolls. You know,
Speaker 1: Barbie has had an incredible run for the year. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, great great increases, terrific new product reflecting obviously
Speaker 1: diversity and inclusivity, great new toys. The game's piece of
Speaker 1: our business has also been incredibly successful. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: families spending time at home using games as a way
Speaker 1: to occupy their time. You know, the number one card
Speaker 1: game in the United States. I love you, you know,
Speaker 1: can I just say love it, love it, love it? Right?
Speaker 1: But we love hearing that, and many many other people
Speaker 1: do love you. You know. In fact, um Uno is
Speaker 1: going to be celebrating it's fiftieth year, if you can
Speaker 1: imagine that next year, which we've got a lot of
Speaker 1: excitement and new new product coming. To keep those new
Speaker 1: fans going, we play kind of a hubo un version
Speaker 1: at the beach. My brother has created a version that's
Speaker 1: just ramped up and it's just a riot. We play
Speaker 1: for hours. So, um that's good to hear fifty fifty years.
Speaker 1: So I do wonder, Richard, do you would anticipate that
Speaker 1: the trends that you're seeing, Because I'm thinking about the
Speaker 1: holidays and I'm thinking it's been a rough year and
Speaker 1: you know, wanted to be a good holiday season. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be around a lot of family, um
Speaker 1: And I do wonder what you anticipate for the holiday season. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, um that the toy shopping as we
Speaker 1: see at the outlook for the fourth quarter is strong.
Speaker 1: In fact, toy shopping has already been planned earlier than
Speaker 1: last year. And with the um you know, a surge
Speaker 1: with online and e commerce, the ability to shop early
Speaker 1: is more enticing than ever. Uh. You know, our research
Speaker 1: shows almost shoppers planned to start holiday shopping even even
Speaker 1: just before November. And obviously we're already in November, and
Speaker 1: with everything that's going on with the pandemic, some families
Speaker 1: are actually planning on making these holidays, you know, truly
Speaker 1: extra special for their kids. It's been it's been a
Speaker 1: really challenging year, uh, four kids in many in many aspects,
Speaker 1: and I think parents are recognizing, you know that the
Speaker 1: simple rewards of toys and and fun. So there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of h I think excitement around the industry
Speaker 1: and certainly in the Mattel portfolio for the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Have you well, what's your supply chain been like during
Speaker 1: this process? You know, it's an asset Formattel. You know,
Speaker 1: we we have an incredible group of dedicated people and
Speaker 1: facilities around the world that have been working. Tires Lee
Speaker 1: certainly under the current you know, restrictions that have been
Speaker 1: in place in verious different places, but ultimately working to
Speaker 1: supply the demand. You know, given that there's been such
Speaker 1: a great surge uh in the industry and in particular
Speaker 1: for our brands and toys, our supply chain has been
Speaker 1: working incredibly well. And as you know, in any business,
Speaker 1: it's about execution, and our execution has been really, really terrific.
Speaker 1: It's been a great year of excellence in performance driven
Speaker 1: metrics for the company. So in any kind of so,
Speaker 1: I found that fascinating your supply chain, like so any
Speaker 1: of the manufacturing that was needed to be done, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming a lot of it happens outside the United States.
Speaker 1: None of that stopped well, you know, we certainly had gaps,
Speaker 1: but if you look at when the timing of the
Speaker 1: most restrictions based on where our facilities were, primarily in Asia,
Speaker 1: that really took place, um at the end of last
Speaker 1: year and in fact the beginning of this year, if
Speaker 1: you were called January in February, and and in terms
Speaker 1: of production, the slow side of our business where we
Speaker 1: really ramp up in production is uh In in uh
Speaker 1: In the start of the second half, where restrictions were
Speaker 1: lifted and we were able to resume much of the
Speaker 1: workforce and UH and working patterns. So really from a
Speaker 1: timing perspective, UM, as odd as it's sounds, it worked
Speaker 1: favorably in terms of production and supply chain. Hey, one
Speaker 1: last question that I want to talk about Mattel creation,
Speaker 1: So working from home? Are your employees working from home?
Speaker 1: Can some work from home? What's your take on you know,
Speaker 1: what's happening in terms of the potential for a hybrid
Speaker 1: workforce well as as you can imagine, our first priority
Speaker 1: is our people and has been our people, their health,
Speaker 1: their wellness and certainly well being. UM. And I have
Speaker 1: to tell you just you know, being part of the
Speaker 1: Mattel community, we really are about collaboration and we've we've we've,
Speaker 1: of course, like many other companies, had to transition to
Speaker 1: a work from home environment, you know, using digital first mindsets,
Speaker 1: tools that we put into place very very quickly, UH
Speaker 1: and mobilized around the world to accommodate from a technological
Speaker 1: perspective as well as UM programs to ensure that our
Speaker 1: people had the right breaks at the right times, had
Speaker 1: the right hemily engagement UH. And we've done a lot
Speaker 1: of great work with that in mind, and ultimately, our
Speaker 1: our community has been incredibly resilient um and and the
Speaker 1: results speak for themselves, but we've we've had a really
Speaker 1: wonderful bonding if you can imagine over the pandemic and
Speaker 1: uh and the work ethics that have risen because of it.
Speaker 1: So does hybrid stick from Mattel, Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: going to stick, not just for Mattel, but for many companies.
Speaker 1: I think there is a degree of recognition that, you know,
Speaker 1: working from home is possible, and as as we sort
Speaker 1: of moved through whatever the new normal will be, I
Speaker 1: think they'll be recognition that you can work from anywhere.
Speaker 1: But there's also the need to you know, show up
Speaker 1: work together being an environment where, particularly from Mattel, which
Speaker 1: is a creatively lead company, where design, development and marketing
Speaker 1: get together and really look at product and and and
Speaker 1: I d e uh that in person um arena is
Speaker 1: still incredibly meaningful and important. And so is social engagement. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know that's where you get you know, bas and creative.
Speaker 1: So you can't replace that all right. Well, speaking about
Speaker 1: creative ideas, tell us about your new digital platform called
Speaker 1: matel Creations. What it's all about what you're trying to
Speaker 1: do here. Well, thank you for asking that question. It's
Speaker 1: a meaningful new brand for us UM and it's commensurate
Speaker 1: with the seventy five anniversary for Mattel. This year is
Speaker 1: our seventy fifth anniversary. We were started in in a garage,
Speaker 1: which is of course a great story by itself, but
Speaker 1: the tie into the name Mattel Creations is because that
Speaker 1: was the name above the garage door. Uh. And ultimately,
Speaker 1: when you think of the name Mattel Creations, you imagine
Speaker 1: working in it are the creators who began our company
Speaker 1: and certainly set us up on the journey that we
Speaker 1: uh that we are enjoying today. So to honor that legacy,
Speaker 1: we launched a new brand called Mattel Creations and it
Speaker 1: is an e commerce content platform that's going to feature
Speaker 1: really incredibly exciting collector products um from designers, both designers
Speaker 1: that you know and designers that you will know, because
Speaker 1: we're gonna be launching them on matel Creations. Taking our
Speaker 1: products and we have over four hundred brands at Mattel
Speaker 1: and inviting designers to recreate them with us. So creating
Speaker 1: limited edition much sought after curated collector product scarcity. We
Speaker 1: know collectors love the hunt and the limited editions, and
Speaker 1: it will really be um an engine for us that
Speaker 1: pairs internal creators and innovators outside of Mattel to create
Speaker 1: new and exciting collectible toys. Is this for the adult population?
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's well, clearly, you know eighteen
Speaker 1: plus will enjoy, you know, the curated assortment, But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, they're toys. And depending on
Speaker 1: know who you are and how much you love, you know,
Speaker 1: what you see, it certainly can be playable, but it
Speaker 1: certainly is going to be designed for more of a
Speaker 1: collector orientation. Limited editions, you know, highly sought after and look,
Speaker 1: we've got amazing celebrated designer relationships traffic. Scott has worked
Speaker 1: with us with Hot Wheels, Kylie Jenner, recently with Uno,
Speaker 1: the late Carl Lagerfeld with Barbie and and even recently,
Speaker 1: you know, Harry Duke of Sussex works with us on
Speaker 1: Thomas and Friends. So there's an incredible array of pop
Speaker 1: culture curators that are inspired by our brands and looking
Speaker 1: forward to the play date for Mattel Creations. So we're Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: I just have to quickly ask is this expected to
Speaker 1: be kind of a productive revenue stream for you guys? Look. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know that one of the fastest growing segments in
Speaker 1: the toy industry has been the adult collector. And while
Speaker 1: Mattel has always had a great collector orientation and following
Speaker 1: in each of our brands Barbie, Hot Wheels, American Girl,
Speaker 1: this is the first time that we're presenting Mattel as
Speaker 1: a brand that features all of our brands and drives
Speaker 1: a collector orientation, which we know is a segment within
Speaker 1: the industry that's growing very fast. We believe not only
Speaker 1: are we going to create a lot of fun for
Speaker 1: collectors as a community, but this absolutely will be a
Speaker 1: driving segment for the company. And that wraps up the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week Extra podcast with Betel President Richard Dixon
Speaker 1: on that new digital platform it's called Mattel Creations. Check
Speaker 1: out more of our favorite conversations. You could find it
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcast and at Bloomberg dot Com. I'm Carol Masser.