Mattel Focuses on Brand Building and Brand Loyalty

Mattel brand loyalty Mattel CEO Chris Sinclair realizes that the iconic brand has to dig deep and leverage many wonderful assets to propel brand loyalty.

Sinclair outlined his strategic priorities during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call on April 16.

“Our focus is to move quickly to put the company back on track for growth and improve profitability,” Sinclair said, according to Seeking Alpha. “Our valuation of the business has reinforced the fact that our challenges are grounded primarily in execution, but it also pointed out the need to sharpen and expand some of our strategic priorities. And frankly, as the industry continues to grow, there is no reason in my judgment with our incredible portfolio of brands in our superior scale why we can’t be leading with that growth.”

Sinclair stressed that there will be a “greater sense of energy and focus” throughout the company.

“The isolated brand perspective that Mattel long adhered to is less relevant,” he explained. “And a new and exciting role to play has emerged, a role to play which encourages and rewards partner brands with greater scope, world class content, and faster innovation. Against this backdrop, Mattel is in a pretty unique position. You see at its very foundation, Mattel has really two complementary businesses, but together leverage the global scale of our extraordinary design expertise and our unmatched global supply chain and sales capabilities.”mattel brand loyalty

First and foremost, the company is the owner of a powerful portfolio of global brands with enormous untapped IP potential, Sinclair stated, referencing the following brands: Barbie, American Girl, Thomas, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price.

“And second, we are world-class toy maker that manages a wide array of our own brands and toys as well as a number of premier licensed entertainment properties,” Sinclair added. “In recent years, it’s fair to say that we have not done enough to leverage our capabilities or our potential in either part of our business. And we certainly were too slow to adapt and react to a rapidly changing technology and competitive landscape. And so we plan to change that. First with a rapid review of our culture, Mattel is getting back to embracing brand building, creativity, and innovation. And we will put a premium on speed and personal accountability.”

Sinclair touted the following strategic priorities: Exploiting the franchise strength of Mattel’s core brands; re-establishing toy leadership; strengthening its global supply chain; achieving distinctiveness and excellence on its commercial organization; rapidly expanding in emerging markets; and continuously driving for cost improvement.

“Exploiting the strength of our core brands requires us to be much more aggressive in activating them, activating them through brand management, and marketing through impactful and motivating content, product innovation, digital, and new high-value partnerships,” Sinclair said. “We simply have not been doing enough here to broaden our reach and our relevance. And given the power of these brands, I am confident that we can do a much better job of leveraging them. And this priority is absolutely fundamental to everything that we do.”

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing