So you think you’re going to do the numbers this year? I think we’re going to be OK. It’s going to be interesting to see how the year ends up, there’s obviously a lot of changes in the market so you never quite know what will happen. But the first half of the year has been great. What you always see when things get tough is that parents want to buy a good brand, that they’re positive their kids will like, so when you have a strong line up it leads you to believe you will have a good Fall. Then you need the great one-off items in the mix, something that captures the imagination of kids in a different way like a Fijit (Mattel’s must-have interactive best friend).
Fijit certainly looks to have captured the hearts of the major UK buyers. Fijit was one of the US items I developed so it’s very dear to my heart. It went through a lot of changes in the US as some people really liked it while others were less sure. It came in from an outside inventor and right from the first tests it looked phenomenal. Since then we’ve tweaked it and rolled it out to only a few markets because the voice recognition software has to recognise commands in a local accent. But it’s a great little item and you can see where we’re going to take it into next year. One of the really cool things is that nobody else seems to be going down this road, which is why we’ve been so positive about it even though it’s at a slightly heavier price point than we had hoped.
But presumably if you de-spec something like this, you lose the quality and the magic? Absolutely! One of the things we said throughout the development stage was don’t cost reduce the magic because you can end up with a really bad toy that hits a price point instead of choosing to make a really great item.
Do you think we’re going to have a Jingle All The Way moment this Christmas with people fighting to get hold of Fijit? We’re fairly confident the item will sell through and will be highly in demand when December hits. But we’re also managing the
56 Toyworld
manufacturing so we don;t jam the market with it. We want it to be a special item.
You’ve been fairly low key since you’ve been here. Is that how you like it? I’m not the sort of guy who makes bold statements in the market. I’ve grown up in this industry and I have a lot of respect for those who have built it. My competitors are a great group of people and I’ve ben fortunate to meet a few of them through the BTHA. I’m really trying to learn about the UK marketplace rather than make bold, silly statements that won’t be translatable down the road. It’s a great market and I’m here to learn. And if we can grow our share at the same time, I’ll be really happy. In my old world on the product development side I had a great relationship with British inventors like Chris Taylor, guys I’ve worked with for years and one of the fascinating things is the amount of creative talent that comes out of the UK. Like with my old Matchbox business and the pop-up play- sets, those were a UK invention and there’s a lot of it around Mattel. So it’s been great to touch base with those guys while I’ve been over here. That’s been fun.
CV
Home town: Manhattan Beach, California Education: University of Southern California (USC) and a MBA from Vanderbilt Sports played: Beach Volleyball Family: Wife and 2 kids (Son who is 5 and daughter who is 8) What you wanted to be when you grew up? Computer Programmer First job: Amusement park employee Career with Mattel: 16 years Career highlight: Signing the Warner Bros DC Property deal almost 10 years ago Favourite team (US): USC Football Favourite team (UK): Chelsea Hobbies: Comic Books, Video Games, my kids
All time favourite Mattel product: Hot Wheels – favorite toy growing up (outside of my Atari 2600)
You can tell you’re a real product man. Absolutely, before I open my mouth I want to learn something. I think that’s the key. Hopefully I can add something that I’ve seen and have some fun along the way.
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