Beyond Barbie: The toy industry is no longer just for kids, says Mattel MD

euronews (in English)

The Barbie movie created a global cultural event and with at least 16 more films aimed at adults in the pipeline, could this signal the start of a new era in the toy industry?

Transcript

00:00It's in an industry where the average life expectancy of a brand is three to five years.

00:05For an iconic brand, it's the gutsiest thing you can do. It's the nostalgia of being a kid again.

00:17Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we speak to some of the biggest

00:22names in business. I'm Hannah Brown and today I'm joined by Sanjaya Luthra, the Managing Director

00:27for Mattel, for Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Thank you very much for joining. So let's dive

00:32straight in and talk about Barbie. It's an iconic brand, but just talk me through how it was doing

00:36financially and the trends you were seeing leading up to the release of the film in 2023.

00:40Barbie before the movie, right? Just imagine it's Barbie at 65 years old is one of the top selling

00:46doll in the toy industry. And it's in an industry where the average life expectancy of a brand is

00:53three to five years. So I think not many people know that when Barbie was created by Mattel's

01:01founder Ruth Handler, you know, she she broke the mold. Before that, the dolls were only nurturing

01:08dolls so that, you know, inspiring the girls only to be a mother. And I think the rest is history.

01:14Since then, it kind of, you know, broke all the records in the toy industry. I would also say

01:19somewhere in 2005, you know, Barbie lost little of its way with the consumers. And

01:28the kid wanted to see the girls wanted to see themselves and their kind of, you know, their word

01:35in in the Barbie dolls. And we were not in sync with that. So what we did is we recontextualize

01:43the whole Barbie brand to its core brand purpose, which is to inspire the limitless potential in

01:51every girl. We changed everything. We changed the packaging, we changed messaging to the consumer.

01:58We also changed the product. It's, you know, to do that for an iconic brand, it's the gutsiest

02:06thing you can do. And that's what we did. We diversified Barbie's shape. And today, if you

02:13look at Barbie, it comes in 180 different forms and shapes. Since then, we have gone from strength

02:23to strength. It is number one toy in the doll category. It's also as a licensor, we deal with

02:32multiple categories and it leads in multiple categories there. And I think we did all of this

02:38before the movie.

02:45So let's talk a little bit about the film. It was the highest grossing film of 2023,

02:49and it topped internet searches in the US for movie merch early this year. So since the film,

02:55how have you seen the business change? You know, have you seen a growth in revenue?

02:59Have your customer trends changed at all?

03:01Intention was not to just create a movie. Our intention was to create a cultural event

03:08around it. And I think that's what the movie has done today. The movie has, I would say,

03:15recontextualized the whole Barbie brand for a new generation. And it goes so well with our overall

03:22what we are wanting to do with the company. It's no more a toy company. What we are saying is it's

03:28a toy and a family entertainment company. And we want to build a lot of business, films,

03:35television, live events, consumer products, digital gaming, all around beyond the toys.

03:44And I would also say there is a trend emerging, which is adults and adult fans and collectors

03:53who are getting heavily into the toy industry. That segment of industry right in the US

04:00from 2020 to 2022 has grown 3.9 billion. Wow. Even in Europe, during the same period,

04:08that industry has grown by a billion. Young and adult fans, they want to connect with their

04:13childhood memories. They see nostalgia in that. These collectors need much more detailed product.

04:20So there is a new trend emerging there. And how do you plan to keep this kind of

04:24older demographic engaged going forward? One of our latest offering is Mattel Creations.

04:28It's a premium e-commerce site which we have created. And it's largely for all the adult fans

04:35and collectors. We are trying to build a community where all these fans and adult fans and collectors

04:40can come and share their feedback, talk about the products and trends. And we are getting phenomenal

04:48response out of it. Just imagine, I remember old traditional marketing times when we used to have

04:551,000 surveys from our consumers across the country and get the feedback. And four months

05:02later, we are very frank and open because they love the brands. I can give you an example from

05:07the movie, I'm Kenneth, right? The hoodie. We saw that it's a great product. We listed it and we

05:13thought we'll sell 4,000 to 5,000 units. It's a cool thing. And in first 10 days, and I can't

05:20tell you, we sold 100,000 units. In first 10 days, we have sold more than 200,000 units so far,

05:28hoodies. So it's a great example. And that's what we are doing in Mattel Creations. This is one of

05:35our fastest growing business right now. And so let's talk a little bit about your role.

05:40I believe Barbie's biggest market is the US, but you cover Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

05:45What are the biggest brands in your territories? Yeah, I would say it's diverse, but it's a

05:50vibrant, I will call it region. And I'm very excited, right? I love this region, the diversity

05:55of it, multi-currency, multi-language, multicultural. So Barbie is the largest brand in our

06:02business. And Hot Wheels is a close number two brand. And I would say that Europe as a region

06:12is also very games-focused markets, so games. And UNO is a massive brand for us.

06:17Where is your biggest growing market right now? UK, Germany and France. These are the

06:22three leading markets in the region. Turkey and Poland are two of our fastest growing markets.

06:31And today they are growing at such a massive pace that they will be soon very close to many

06:39of the core European countries. As we are talking about the toy industry, right? Pre-pandemic to

06:45post-pandemic, during the pandemic, the industry grew 6%. And then for the last one year, it has

06:53gone back to the pre-pandemic levels. But Mattel has continuously grown during that time.

06:59And we have outpaced that market growth at a much faster pace. The published numbers are,

07:09we are going at, during that period, we have grown at 19%.

07:14And finally, on a personal level, what is it that you love about working in the toy industry?

07:20It's the nostalgia of being a kid again. Every day, it's such a purpose-driven industry.

07:27I can't think of working in any other industry, right? I have been in the industry for 22 years.

07:32One thing I love the most is when I connect with any kid in seconds.

07:38That's the beauty and I love that part of it. Okay, brilliant. Well, thank you so much for

07:43your time today. It's been really, really fascinating to chat to you.

07:45It's a pleasure. Thank you very much.

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