Transcript
A (0:00)
Welcome to We Fixed It. You're welcome. The show where we take over companies, you come along for the ride and we try to put them back better than we found them.
B (0:11)
We were thinking about a topic for today's episode and then it just clicked. Let's talk about lego. That's right, those colorful little blocks that are fun to play with and painful to step on. We're giving them our full attention. And the reason is that the LEGO company, until somewhat recently, has built its entire identity around kids learning, creativity, imagination for kids. And suddenly here come the nostalgic grownups who want Lego too. And they have the big bucks. We're going to decide whether embracing the thriving market segment of LEGO adults is just good business or whether it's gone off the rails.
A (0:48)
What about the children? Well, we're going to figure this out.
B (0:51)
With me, we've got Melissa, who specializes in operations and customer experience. Chino, who focuses on global recruitment, talent and corporate culture. We've got me on marketing. And someone else is here to play. I'd like to introduce Leo Battersby. Leo is a former Mattel executive and one of the brains behind Mattel Creations, AKA Mattel Collectibles for adults. They're super cool. And he knows his way around tapping into a market of grown up toy fanatics.
A (1:18)
So I bet he's going to have.
B (1:19)
A lot to say here. But first, Leo, tell us a little bit more about yourself.
C (1:23)
Hi everybody. Really excited to be here. So yeah, I worked at Mattel for three or four years, started Mattel Creations with Richard, Richard Dixon, the president at that time. And we took that from zero to $110 million. And you know, when I say zero, we were the first to introduce Shopify to the business. That was new. So from the ground up, you know, retooling the studio, building a team around the creative, building a copy core, build a narrative around the brand. So it was a very ground up enterprise in that way for what is otherwise a 75 year old company. A lot of tension there, a lot of fun things to talk about. Before that I spent a lot of time in the agency world doing a lot of brand strategy, brand foundation. I actually was introduced to Mattel during a brand strategy project for Hot Wheels which involved ages and stages and the way kids play from, you know, 2 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 7. So there's some interesting stuff to talk about there today, I think with respect to, with, with respect to Lego. And since then I've started my own helmet company called Midnight Rally Club. And I'm also the VP of brand creative at a startup called FluidLogic, which is a performance, an algorithmic performance hydration brand here in El Segado.
