Look it up. What a mess. People who attended compared this to Fyre Fest and the Wi--y Wonka disaster. Good luck to the person who approved and organized it.
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Mattel loooooves their third parties and the half-@ssness of it all.
Anyone with inside first hand knowledge of how Mattel works and makes decisions on the Barbie Brand or any brand for that matter, disaster can happen any day! Barbie fest was a Mattel born disaster.
@3gw I meant the Mattel brand team, not the vendor. Also, you can't always blame the vendor, do you know how many people that must have approved BarbieFest along the way. Mattel doesn't do light/quick decision making, it takes a committee.
@322 No way they used the same team, Misfit Management, for Coachella, after Dream Fest.
Also hilarious that the same team is out celebrating Coachella like they are just best in class for live events. Sorry, Coachella doesn't make BarbieFest disappear. The fans remember. Do better.
Epic! Someone will get promoted for this, I guarantee it
well this bodes well for a Mattel theme park no?
Maybe they can blame a third party when that goes off the rails too LOL.
@12s former employee here and completely agree. Nothing about it surprised me in the slightest, knowing other events and how fingers are pointed everywhere and everyone but themselves
News channel accounts of Barbie Dreamfest…..”How can a train wreck like this happen?”…. Anyone with firsthand experience inside Mattel knows this can happen at anytime. And just did!
Mattel deserves to have their noses shoved into this pile of $hit event! Catching up on the event , website and attendance commitments, this is a massive pile. The professionalism of the website versus the images of the event are two completely different levels of professionalism or lack of. Buyer beware!!
Reading the attendees comments on-line about their experiences has a life of its own. An absolute F for effort and execution of this event. The news of Barbiefest Dreamfest failure made mainstream news outlets like the Today Show on NBC.
This debacle is peak Mattel. 😙🤌
After events like Barbie Dreamfest, any wonder why employees and shareholders hold Mattel in contempt? You can hear the former employees laughing about this viral quagmire. Top selling product does not go viral, but situations like this do. Great job Mattel!
But we’ll celebrate a job well done since it’s not our fault because “we outsourced it”
@qw you have time to read the internal corporate spam?
@qt why would we do anything internally when we can “just outsource it”?
Mattel advertised this a lot including at least five emails via the Creations mailing list + website ads. Mattel sent employees as guest speakers to the event. This isn't like the theme park where it was only a branding deal.
Barbie Fyre Festival….. great way to describe the Barbiefest in Florida!
The trade show service group in the back of the ES Maple Building could have done a much better job creating Barbiefest. El Segundo company picnics are better produced!
Wow, reading Barbiefest debacle reviews are eye opening. How a pathetic event could ever be produced? The photos of the event appear more like poorly produced elementary school carnival than an entertainment company event. Good job VP $iegelm@n and Berg@r. JS had a significant hand ruining the American Brand. Go to reviews and photos of the event and decide for yourself.
refunds are being issued my Mischief Management.
@n8 No this rests on Mattel. Mattel, like many companies, uses third party resources for all aspects of business. Code writers, Tool Cutters, TV Commercial editors, Kids pajama manufactures, book writers (Computer Engineer Barbie).... . If it is an unsanctioned event, then Mattel should sue them. If it was a a sanctioned event, it is on Mattel and the employees at Mattel in charge to safeguard the consumer, especially children. Passing the buck that it is someone else fault I do not buy for one minute. The blame should fall on Mattel and they should have stopped this before it happened. Look at the pictures. This was not a "morning of" event accident, like a pipe breaking or something. Any legit company would be watching how their IP is represented like a hawk, especially when the consumers are kids.
This event was ran by a third party, Mischief Management, proper name. Unfortunately the blame falls on Mattel. Mattel as sponsored many convention events over the years most are good, thanks to the people who actually run it. This event was bad, again, thanks to the people who actually ran it. It's a big hole to dig out of for Mattel and the Barbie brand, good luck
If this Dream Fest is what Mattel employees are delivering to their kid consumers, I can sort of see where layoffs are justified. This was a licensed, sanctioned event that included Mattel employees. Shifting the blame on the hotel, the community, the vendors, and the negativity from the parents is just not valid. Companies should not treat kids this way, period. It is very disappointing to see. I love the toy industry and all the magic that I do see happening out there, but Mattel really did drop the ball on this one. Only after it was over and all the kids went home did Mattel apologize. Not buying it here. This should have been stopped before it happened. People spent money on travel and days out of work for this that will never get reimbursed, included to any disappointment delivered to the kids. The Barbie brand I used to know never would have done this. There are a lot of great toy companies out there. If anyone is laid off that was outside of the Barbie brand due to this experience, there are a lot of great places to work!
What a disgrace. People traveled to Florida to attend this convention? Booked fights and hotel rooms? Paid $300 to get into the “convention”? They should all receive a full refund.
i wonder if the persons involved in this project got the call this week.