Mattel – thoughts on branding after the crisis

The Mattel brand has been sullied.I’ve seen the proof in their TV advertisements.I recently noticed that a recent Hot Wheels commercial didn’t showcase the red circular Mattel logo, that I had come to know and love.

It showed only a small Mattel logo at the end of the commercial.

The small print at the bottom of the screen proved it was a Mattel toy commercial (in case you missed the red circle with one blurry word inside.)

One would think that Mattel would need to drastically change its marketing strategies in order to continue being a successful company.

I don’t think this would be the case when you think about how Mattel does business.

Mattel is the parent of brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, American Girl, Tyco R/C, and Fisher-Price.

Mattel doesn’t really need to change their marketing/ branding principles that much.

It just needs to lower the prominence of the Mattel logo, and raise the importance of its other well-established brands when advertising.

Lessening the prominence of the Mattel logo would only be necessary until the backlash of the recall situation blows over (which could be very soon once children start wondering what awesome toys they are getting for the holiday season.)

Brands like Barbie, Hot wheels and Fisher-price don’t even need the Mattel brand to succeed.

If the Mattel logo wasn’t shown at all this holiday season, I don’t think anyone would suffer, unless you count brand recognition of Mattel if and when the public forgives them for their bumble.

But brand recognition is not the most important thing Mattel has to worry about at the moment.

Here are some links with other opinions on how the crisis has affected the Mattel brand.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1796
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/08/16/mattel-brand-hurt-by-recalls/
http://www.brandchannel.com/view_comments.asp?dc_id=85