27 min listen
Reinventing Hot Wheels
FromTeamistry
ratings:
Length:
26 minutes
Released:
Jul 5, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In 2016, a research video played in a conference room of Mattel Inc. caused deep concern. It showed an eight-year-old playing with iconic Hot Wheels™ toy cars. "Imagine doing this for an hour," the boy said, as if it was torture. The moment confirmed what many Mattel employees already knew: kids were shifting from physical toys to digital games at increasingly younger ages. And it meant that Hot Wheels, the best-selling toy on the planet, was losing its primary audience to digital gadgets and putting the company's future in jeopardy. The moment galvanized a small group of forward-thinking employees and a risky decision was made: everyone's favorite toy car would ride the digital wave – instead of being totalled by it. The team navigated strong resistance – after all, how do you fix a toy that isn't broken? – to introduce Hot Wheels™ i-d. It's a never-before-seen product that blends the physical toy with a digital platform. And guess what? It crashes and burns. But rather than sinking the venerable company, it benefits Mattel, Inc. To find out how, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite talks with both the innovators who challenged the status quo and the decision-makers who had trouble stomaching the risks. Hear from Chris Down, chief design officer at Mattel, Inc., and Ron Friedman, former director of global marketing. Also hear from senior leaders Steve Totzke, Mattel's executive vice president, and Ricardo Briceno, vice president of franchise marketing.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript and extras about this episode visit: www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/reinventing-hot-wheels.
Released:
Jul 5, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (30)
Photographing a Black Hole: On April 10, 2019, the world saw what many thought was unseeable. An international group of astronomers and scientists — called The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration — photographed a Black Hole. But while this first-ever image of a glowing orange ring was splashed across the front pages, buried in the back was the amazing story of how the team actually did it. A story of the herculean scientific work and dicey political maneuvering required from the researchers and scientists that spanned countries, continents, and institutions. In the second episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite uncovers the story of a team separated by time zones but united by the collective quest for the greatest cosmic discovery of our times. Shep Doeleman, co-founder of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, tells the tale along with insights from team member and professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam Sera Markoff. We also hear from Aver by Teamistry