Steve Totzke, chief commercial officer at Mattel, talks about its application of licensing and opportunities for consumer product growth in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: How important is licensing to Mattel’s growth strategy?
Steve Totzke: We feel our best-in-class commercial capabilities, strategic retail partnerships, broad distribution, and ability to create demand in an increasingly complex media environment has proven to be a unique competitive advantage for Mattel and our partners.
The combination of that category innovation and commercial excellence leads us to believe the global momentum we have established over the past couple of years will continue, and we expect to increase our volume and grow our market share.
As part of our growth strategy, we aim to be the partner of choice for the entertainment companies bringing their product to life and to market in the most successful possible way. We have well-established and expanding global partnerships with Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Microsoft, WWE, Pokémon, and Disney.
In addition, last year we announced an expansion of our relationship with Disney Consumer Products, Games, and Publishing for Disney and Pixar’s eagerly anticipated movie Lightyear. This property and Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion are sure to drive excitement and traffic to the theaters and toy aisles as we launch at retailers around the world this summer.
TB: How will Mattel’s consumer products business evolve this year?
ST: We believe there is a significant opportunity to further our consumer products business.
To do this, we are actively looking to create new partnerships, enter new categories, and expand our distribution footprint. A great example of a recent partnership is the UNO x Nike launch in late 2021, through which Mattel partnered with NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo (an avid UNO player) to launch a shoe and clothing collection.
More opportunity exists with relaunched brands like Monster High, a significant piece of Mattel IP to be rebooted this year, which had a significant presence outside the toy aisle.
Additionally, we will look to new executions across location-based entertainment to round out the consumer experience. These provide an immersive brand experience, such as transporting the consumer onto the island of Sodor as part of A Day Out with Thomas or into the action of our Hot Wheels Monster Truck Live shows. These opportunities provide a great place for families to interact with our brands and an additional avenue for toy sales. These shows have started coming back post-COVID-19-related shutdowns, and we are excited about the response we are seeing from consumers for their return.
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
