How Spin Master Toys created the hit Liv dolls, a thoroughly modern marriage of tech, storytelling, and 21st-century marketing that has industry giant Mattel looking over its shoulder.READ MORE›
NeuroSky, as well as having a slightly ominious sci-fi-ish name, has just succeeded in raising nearly $12 million in funding to develop its business. What's its business? Also very cool and sci-fi-ish: Brain sensors for ...READ MORE›
What will prove this year's Tickle Me Elmo? Here's how three companies are taking on the notoriously fickle holiday toy market--and what their prospects are.READ MORE›
Kitty Pilarz, 48, has been in the hot seat since the lead-paint scandal hit Mattel division Fisher-Price. The company had long followed voluntary safety standards set by an industry group, but Pilarz has instituted new ...READ MORE›
In the world of boy's play, Hot Wheels and Matchbox just don't cut it anymore. And neither does Batman, nor Superman action figures. So what's a toy maker to do? Mattel has presumably figured out a solution. If boys are playing ...READ MORE›
For years, Mattel has worked to grow beyond Barbie. One strategy was growth through acquisition. Ivy Ross's strategy is to inspire innovation -- to reinvent how the world's number-one toy company designs its toys.READ MORE›
No, I'm not talking about Martha Stewart.
One of the most difficult marketing challenges is keeping a long standing product relevant with its target audience, especially when the target is children whose attention span at best can ...READ MORE›
Mattel's new line of characters, creatures, and vehicles licensed from James Cameron's highly awaited 3-D opus will come to life on-screen--your screen.READ MORE›
Sue DeRagon, 49, runs toy testing for Connecticut-based STR, one of the industry's leading third-party labs.
"Our phones have literally been ringing off the hook. The Mattel recalls opened people's eyes. Current clients are ...READ MORE›
We love talking dogs. Even more specifically, we love to impose excitable yet simple-minded dialogue on dogs. Who didn't giggle at Dug the talking dog in Pixar's Up, who was prone to moments of dimwitted cuteness with lines like "I ...READ MORE›
When I finally cleared through the crowd of technology reporters at the press preview for Digital Life -- the largest consumer electronics show on the East Coast -- I saw the booth causing the buzz was Mattel. Besides hand-held ...READ MORE›
For 50 years, a certain American blonde with the figure of a Playboy bunny, the hair-do of a USC cheerleader, and the arches of a Conde Nast editor has been channeling the zeitgeist and fashioning her wardrobe accordingly.
She ...READ MORE›
Crisis management is not just about contacting news outlets or writing an apologetic press release. In the digital age, crisis management requires swift, sweeping action on all digital fronts: social media, blogs and company...READ MORE›
Consumer advocate Stephanie Oppenheim, 45, taps a network of families across the country to test hundreds of toys each year, then produces a guide rating the best and the worst.
"The false sense of security that parents have--that ...READ MORE›
We've heard the story before: Brand wants to inspire user generated content. Brand inspires user generated content. Brand hires lawyers, and shuts down user generated content.
Think, record labels and Napster users. Think, ...READ MORE›
Justine Ezarik
(aka iJustine) has more than 300 million video views and corporate clients from GE to Intel to Mattel.
Justine Ezarik -- known on the web as iJustine -- posted a video on YouTube this past spring about her desire ...READ MORE›
Once a year, as the holidays approach, I engage in a ritual well known to men of a certain demographic ilk. Armed by my wife with a shopping list detailed enough to thwart paternal cluelessness, I enter American Girl Place off ...READ MORE›
In the fifth post of their 7-part series, John Elkington and Charmian Love look at how COOs are coping with the new wild cards dealt by environmental, social and governance challenges.READ MORE›
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