Mattel & WWE Finally Step Into The Ring Together
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Jan 4 2010, 10:01 AM
AFTER all these years of marketing Barbie in all her glorious incarnations — and outfits — Mattel is about to gear up to sell a new plastic collectible figure with a different, but still distinctive, look: a 7-foot-tall wrestler named the Big Show.
Mattel will be making toys for World Wrestling Entertainment, the maker of hit shows like “Raw.”
Pro wrestling’s true appeal lies with its soap opera elements, says W.W.E.’s chairman, Vince McMahon.
Mattel, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, is scheduled to announce on Monday a deal to become the new toy partner of World Wrestling Entertainment, the corporate titan of the pro wrestling world and producer of two of the most successful — and longest-running — franchises in television, “Smackdown” and “Raw.”
Starting this week, a new line of toys derived from W.W.E. characters will hit store shelves, a result of two years of development by Mattel. The toys will include action figures of W.W.E. stars like the Big Show and his polar opposite Rey Mysterio (about a foot and a half shorter), as well as roped rings for the figures to wrestle in and toy-size championship belts with special lighting. The deal also includes significant advertising commitments from Mattel in the W.W.E. shows.
If it seems incongruous that a company that depends on selling to children would want to nestle in with wrestling, you may not have been paying close attention to how effectively W.W.E. — which knows a thing or two about many incarnations itself — has reinvented its particular form of entertainment.
But the people at Mattel have been paying attention. Tim Kilpin, the general manager of Mattel Brands, said in a telephone interview, “We’ve always followed the sports and entertainment at W.W.E., and we’ve always admired what they do.”
via www.nytimes.com
AFTER all these years of marketing Barbie in all her glorious incarnations — and outfits — Mattel is about to gear up to sell a new plastic collectible figure with a different, but still distinctive, look: a 7-foot-tall wrestler named the Big Show.
Mattel will be making toys for World Wrestling Entertainment, the maker of hit shows like “Raw.” Pro wrestling’s true appeal lies with its soap opera elements, says W.W.E.’s chairman, Vince McMahon.Mattel, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, is scheduled to announce on Monday a deal to become the new toy partner of World Wrestling Entertainment, the corporate titan of the pro wrestling world and producer of two of the most successful — and longest-running — franchises in television, “Smackdown” and “Raw.”
Starting this week, a new line of toys derived from W.W.E. characters will hit store shelves, a result of two years of development by Mattel. The toys will include action figures of W.W.E. stars like the Big Show and his polar opposite Rey Mysterio (about a foot and a half shorter), as well as roped rings for the figures to wrestle in and toy-size championship belts with special lighting. The deal also includes significant advertising commitments from Mattel in the W.W.E. shows.
If it seems incongruous that a company that depends on selling to children would want to nestle in with wrestling, you may not have been paying close attention to how effectively W.W.E. — which knows a thing or two about many incarnations itself — has reinvented its particular form of entertainment.
But the people at Mattel have been paying attention. Tim Kilpin, the general manager of Mattel Brands, said in a telephone interview, “We’ve always followed the sports and entertainment at W.W.E., and we’ve always admired what they do.”
via www.nytimes.com
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