UPDATE: Mattel's 2011 Toys Feature Barbie, Hot Wheels
19 Janeiro 2011 - 10:16PM
Dow Jones News
Mattel Inc. (MAT) offered a sneak peek at its 2011 toy line-up
on Wednesday, which featured big news for the iconic Barbie doll,
an overhaul of its recently lackluster Hot Wheels cars and a toy
dog that emits gross noises.
Mattel's new lineup comes as the toy maker has benefited from
sales of merchandise tied to the film "Toy Story 3," and resilience
in its iconic Barbie dolls. However, its Fisher-Price younger-kids
division was slumping even before a recent toy recall and its Hot
Wheels and Matchbox car categories have lagged.
Hot Wheels will launch products designed to recapture the minds
and dollars of boys of any age. For bigger kids, novelties include
a race track that can build upwards along any wall using clips
designed by 3M Co. (MMM) to prevent marring the painted or
wall-papered surface.
It also will sell for the first time a car with an embedded
video camera that will allow 12 minutes of video recording. The car
can attach to bicycle helmets and skateboards, providing users the
ability to film themselves doing their own, real-world, life-sized
stunts.
To engage kids from 3 to 5 years old, Mattel will launch a Hot
Wheels-themed version of its Fisher Price unit's Trio
build-it-yourself sets of bricks, sticks and panels.
After a star turn in the animated "Toy Story 3" last year, the
Ken doll, lately a bachelor, is making a full-out press to win back
his on-again-off-again gal pal of 50 years, Barbie. As part of a
Valentine's Day promotion, Ken will deliver a special cupcake from
famous New York bakery Magnolia designed to win her back.
To complement the story line, Mattel is introducing a new,
talking Ken doll, complete with a hairdo modeled after teen
heartthrob Justin Bieber, and on Valentine's Day will begin selling
a Barbie and Ken doll set, which will retail for $5 for a limited
time.
Mattel has also designed Barbie hair that can be fed into any
inkjet printer and customized with any number of designs, providing
personalized clip-on hair for both Barbie and her owner.
For its third quarter, Mattel reported worldwide sales grew 2%,
with a 6% rise for Barbie that offset a 3% decline for Hot Wheels
and a 10% drop in core Fisher Price sales. On Sept. 30, the last
day of the third quarter, federal safety regulators said Fisher
Price would recall 10 million Fisher Price products sold in the
U.S., including tricycles and high chairs.
Perhaps most shocking toy is a new plaything designed to
capitalize on the popular gross-out craze. The Tough Talkin' Dirty
Dog, complete with plastic slobber, mucus-filled nostrils and rude
sound effects. It will retail for around $80 when released in the
fall.
Mattel expects to have fully functioning versions of most of
these toys, rather than the prototypes on display Wednesday, at the
toy fair held in New York City next month.
Mattel's Fisher Price kids brand is also introducing new a new
toy based on Thomas & Friends, the popular children's series
starring a locomotive, as well as an iPod case meant for infants
and a Rock Star Mickey animatronic, music-playing Mickey Mouse
toy.
Also set for release this year are new toys for the second
season of its popular Sing-a-ma-jigs singing plush dolls and
Monster High dolls with zombies-and-vampires-meet-high-school
themes.
Shares of Mattel closed Wednesday down 2 cents at $23.83.
-By Maxwell Murphy, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2171;
maxwell.murphy@dowjones.com
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