Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel | Screen Dreams | 6

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With the world plugging into the Internet, toys are under pressure. Kids are swapping plastic play for screen-based entertainment and both Mattel and Hasbro need to adapt. The question is: how?

Mattel’s also finding out the hard way that Barbie’s reign as the queen of dolls is no longer secure. Challengers to her throne are emerging and the first strike against the dream doll comes not from Hasbro, but from within its own offices.

You can find new episodes of Business Wars, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to stitcherpremium.com/wondery and use promo code WONDERY.

This episode orginially aired on April 8, 2019.

Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/businesswars.

Support us by supporting our sponsors!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars ad-free on Amazon music.
0:04.8	Download the app today.
0:14.8	Christmas 1996 is just five days away and in Oklahoma City, a desperate mom's on the hunt
0:21.7	in Toys or Us.
0:23.7	She hurries down the pink Barbie aisle.
0:26.3	The doll her daughter wants more than anything isn't there.
0:31.1	She stops the store assistant.
0:33.0	Excuse me, do you have any holiday Barbies?
0:35.8	You know the one with the burgundy coat and white fur hat?
0:39.2	Sorry ma'am, they sold out last week.
0:41.6	We won't be getting anymore.
0:44.2	Any idea where I can get one?
0:46.4	Sorry, those ones disappeared the minute they go on the shelves.
0:50.6	He's right.
0:52.5	These limited edition Christmas Barbies are hot.
0:56.5	Mattel made two million this year and they sold out in just a few weeks.
1:01.2	And those sales figures have emboldened Mattel's CEO Jill Barod.
1:05.9	The following spring, she meets with a holiday Barbie team in Mattel's LA headquarters.
1:13.6	The big retailers say they can sell even more holiday Barbies, so I want us to make three
1:19.6	million this year.
1:21.8	The Barbie team thinks that's a bad idea.
1:24.7	The challenging barod isn't wise either.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.