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01-24-2011, 05:53 PM | #1 |
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Okay, so I was recently reading a chapter in the wonderful book; " Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them", and I wanted to discuss something that came up.
There is a chapter that talks about Joe marketing in the 90's and all of the attempts made at that time by the great Kirk Bozigian and Hasbro marketing to get the right angle on why Joe was in a downslide. Turns out that mutant-mania was on the rise and kids simply weren't relating to Joe, so Hasbro starting trying to turn Joes into mutants. Okay, but I digress slightly from the point. At one point during this chapter one of the Hasbro bigwigs is quoted as saying that he views adult Joe collectors as "a pimple on the elephant's butt". The author, G. Wayne Miller doesn't elaborate too deeply, but I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to reason that most likely this exec meant that collectors- although not completely insignificant- are but a small divet in Hasbro's bottom line and that the true marketing power behind Joe is to be found in selling to mom's and kids. Granted, this was quoted circa 1990 and I'm sure much has changed since the Hasbro regime of that time, but what do others interpret in this quote? Do you think that Hasbro still sees we adult Joe collectors as just a boil on their ass, or have we grown in prominence over the years to have a more significant place in the marketing and thoughtfulness of all things Joe at Hasbro? Last edited by Stygian; 01-24-2011 at 05:56 PM.. |
01-24-2011, 05:55 PM | #2 |
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all fans of GI JOE as kids become fans of GI JOE as adults..
I think we ask to set the bar high, demand a certain quality / caliber, than leave it to rot on the pegs and frustrating the @$%@ out of Hasbro.
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01-24-2011, 05:56 PM | #3 |
#voteblackjack
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I take that quote to mean two things...
1- A small market segment, which is true, with most lines but not Joe, at least not now. We're a small market segment, in terms of numbers, but currently we are all that is keeping Joe going. 2- An insult to the collectors but a somewhat accurate one. There's a reason that adult toy collectors get a bad rep, as some of us (the small but vocal majority) create a bad impression of the rest of us.
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01-24-2011, 06:00 PM | #4 |
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I'm proud to be a pimple....
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01-24-2011, 06:04 PM | #5 |
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Quote:
Sometimes Hasbro just needs to take its best guess and hope that they appease kids and collectors, and that is a very difficult bit to balance. I really don't envy Hasbro at all. |
01-24-2011, 06:05 PM | #6 |
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when I first read that I thought it would apply more to SW fans as a "fandom" Joe fans are gernerally pretty cool, theres bad eggs in every group but you guys are a lot more accepting than Transformer fans among others. In my personal experience, anyways he could be just referring to collectors as a whole and that we make up a small niche in a market. At this point Id be curious to see the numbers though. Who is really supporting this line at this point? Its catching on slowly again but really at the end of the day who is spending more money on this brand? Moms or adult collectors.
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01-24-2011, 06:22 PM | #7 |
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To me its an insult we the collectors still keep their product moving when it starts to suck, when the economies bad we stil buy and guess what those kids will grow up to be us still collecting. I feel dont bite the hand that feeds you Hasbro we are the consumers with the money all year round, not a 6-9 yr old who has to wait for a b-day or Christmas to get the product.
I agree with Weapon X's closing sentance, I dont see a mom spending upward to 80-100 dollars on an on-line exclusive Joe set, or running out at 7 in the morning to target to snatch up every friggen shock viper they can find at 8-9 bucks a pop. Last edited by Marine-73; 01-24-2011 at 06:25 PM.. |
01-24-2011, 06:34 PM | #8 |
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Considering it was 1990, there was a different bread of collector then. Those collectors didn't grow up with the 3.75 figs... so in 1990 seeing a 30 years old getting giddy about these things probably seemed a lot different than us 30 year olds now getting excited about it... cause we grew up on this stuff.
Now it's nostalgia mixed with appreciation for a craft mixed with OCD... back then it was just weird.
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01-24-2011, 06:40 PM | #9 |
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Quote:
To me its an insult we the collectors still keep their product moving when it starts to suck, when the economies bad we stil buy and guess what those kids will grow up to be us still collecting. I feel dont bite the hand that feeds you Hasbro we are the consumers with the money all year round, not a 6-9 yr old who has to wait for a b-day or Christmas to get the product.
I agree with Weapon X's closing sentance, I dont see a mom spending upward to 80-100 dollars on an on-line exclusive Joe set, or running out at 7 in the morning to target to snatch up every friggen shock viper they can find at 8-9 bucks a pop. In the end kids are who Hasbro needs to not only sustain their company but for a particular product line to stay healthy, topical, and growing. However, they also can't discount adult collectors because (as someone else mentioned) we keep line alive even during the stagnant periods. That all said though I still think the pimple comment was meant toungue-in-cheek, but who really knows. |
01-24-2011, 06:46 PM | #10 |
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If it was written 20+ years ago, it's no longer valid. Look at everything that has happened since then:
- Return of the biggest '80s toy lines (Joes, TFs, TMNT, MoTU, etc) - The creation of large cons (SDCC, BotCon, JoeCon, Star Wars Celebration, etc) - Emergence of Collector-centric product lines (MoTU, etc) I think it's safe to say that Collectors are more than a pimple on an elephant's butt. I'm not saying we're the majority of the market, but we occupy a larger proportion than we did in 1990. Maybe we can be compared to a wart on a hamster's butt? OB
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