Brand Transformation, Solid Execution Place Mattel on Path to Increased Customer Engagement

Officials at Mattel have endured challenges in the past and are doing their best to transform the iconic brand and spark customer engagement. CEO Chris Sinclair had been disappointed in the company’s execution in 2015 and made that one of his main goals for this year.

As a result, solid execution has set Mattel on a path toward increased customer engagement.

“We’re encouraged and we remain cautiously optimistic about the way the year is setting up,” Sinclair said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on April 20, according to Seeking Alpha. “It’s early and we still have a lot of work ahead, but we’re executing well, our entertainment drivers and most of our important brands are performing. We’re expanding rapidly in key emerging markets. And we’re getting out the cost that we expected to. We’re also encouraged by solid POS trends on key core brands like Barbie, Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels and by a number of our key brands within the Toy Box.”

What’s more, Sinclair said the company is executing well broadly across most of its customer base.

“While North America remains a good leading indicator of our progress with positive shipping in the quarter, we’re also seeing some fairly broad-based strength across most regions, and particularly in our emerging markets,” he added.

Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President and COO, shared Sinclair’s enthusiasm.

“We’re making progress on many fronts with lots of positive indicators of our success, not the least of which is the attention that tells transformation is receiving worldwide,” Dickson said. “Consumers and the media are once again focused on our brands and our products, rather than our challenges. And while much of the attention we’ve been receiving has revolved around key strategic priorities, we attribute our success largely to quarter after quarter of solid execution. And our first-quarter execution demonstrates that we’re off to a good start with consumer takeaway and shipping, giving us even more confidence that we can achieve our 2016 goal to hold the top line relatively flat in constant currency.”

Dickson added: “It wasn’t that long ago that we began to transform the Company’s culture and reset our approach to brand management with the creation of our core brand teams and the Toy Box organization. While recognizing we have more work to do, the first quarter results continue to demonstrate our conviction to fundamentally change our approach to the business. These trends also continue to validate our strategic initiatives, ongoing revitalization of our core brands, the rebuilding of relationships with strategic license partners, accelerated growth in emerging markets and a much more effective presence at retail.”

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