Did it work it not...
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And with it goes the hope of any future 360 degree ecosystem of connected play. It's the end of an era at Mattel for sure. The stupid tech era.
An analyst on the earnings call asked specifically how HWID did, and RD avoided answering the question. He just talked about how great HW is overall. It was a complete dud or they would have been throwing numbers out there.
HotWheels ID was ill-fated from the start. There is NO KID ON EARTH OF ANY AGE who cares how fast his car goes vs. his friends' car. This was a position in the 60's and 70' when hotwheels got started and was comparing itself against original die-cast cars that didn't have axles. Since then, it's not been a factor and it's all because KIDS DON'T CARE. Why did it move forward? Because Chris Down fell in love with tech for tech's sake (a no-no in any industry) and pushed it through. Remember his infamous quote in the PR article where he said "not on my watch". well, Chris we all watched it crash and burn.
Hint to Mattel: You make die-cast cars, not nuclear energy plants. Stop trying to push things that no one wants (your own research proved this) just to have a buzz for a few minutes. This entire range is being closed out at Target now, isn't even offered in the Apple Stores anymore and was simply STUPID from the get go. Everyone associated with this from Richard on down (including the designers) should perform ritual hari-kari on video as an example of all future toy people (most importantly, those from Mattel) to not make BLATANTLY stupid and unneeded products.
So Chris, do you have the courage as a man to resign for your failure? I bet you don't you sanctimonius wuss.
Has HWID caused any deaths? No? Success!
One time, JH stood behind his chair on a stage for an entire Q&A session while the CEO and all other VPs sat and talked. Very odd.
It worked so good they promptly removed JH from the Wheels business no more than six months after bringing him back.
Hot Wheels ID is Mattel's bet on the next 50 years of toys
BraveStarr was destined to be seen as a failure simply because expectations were unrealistically high, it was meant to replace and hopefully outperform MOTU, which a bit like hoping to catch lighting in a bottle twice. Intellivision did well, but ultimately it's hard to say it was a success. In the video game console industry, success is based on longevity, Nintendo, Sony, Sega... These are success stories from the 80s and 90s, Mattel is nothing more than a footnote.
@first responder: Your list is quite accurate except for Intellivision, that was not a failure. That actually make a lot of money for the company until it crashed hard in 1994. BraveStarr & Captain Power worked for a while, because back then when we actually had toy people calling the shots. But it's a very different story these days when our clueless "management" chases anything shiny associated with tech. When they start using buzzwords like apptivity and phygital, watch out.
For Mattel $10 is a drop in the bucket. That around how much money the company will loose over the course of the next five days. If that's all they invested it should be seen as a total win regardless of how well it sold.
Didn't RD say we spend over $10,000,000 developing this line? Seems like a lot of money for what the final product we ended up with. 😞
Yeah it was a HUGE success. All the kids LOVE it and can't stop talking about ... Errr. No. It failed.
They only made a small number of units so the company had no faith in the product either. The whole thing was a PR piece that was started while Margo was still with the company. In fact she hired the head of IT to also be the high tech toy expert. The guy has a degree from an online, unaccredited now defunct rip off college Kennedy-Western University. He lists Harvard on his LinkedIn profile but it was just a month long certificate program. When he arrived at Mattel people figured out he was in over his head but he quickly fired legacy Mattel employees and hired all of his sycophants from DirecTV.
Is Hot Wheels ID just the latest in a long litany of failed attempts at tech at Mattel. Off the top of my head, Intellivision, Bravestarr, Powerglove, Learning Company, Radica, Hyperscan, Fuhu and Nabi, Sprouting, ThingMaker, Aristotle, Smart Bear, Hello Barbie, Smart Dream House, Barbie Hologram, Viewmaster, the hiring of Margo Georgiadis. I'm sure there are at least a dozen other examples over the years. If we keep trying I'm confident we'll eventually get it right.