Hot Wheels female executive wants more girls to be part of the brand
abcnews.com/amp/Business/hot-wheels-female-executive-girls-part-brand/story?id=137287611
For Ries, reaching out to young girls is also important; the brand has been making efforts to be more inclusive and welcoming toward female collectors and enthusiasts.
Ries talked about about her team's love for automotive, how the brand is leaning into limited-edition collections and why Hot Wheels is a "right of passage for kids."
Discussion
The only problem I see is that most younger girls, not all, but most girls don't care that much about toy cars unless they are the PINK Exotic Supercars,which who doesn't like those.
I'll never understand why companies try to force them selves in to markets that ultimatly won't pan out, while making the core audience suffer through pointless marketing and weak gimmics. See the Halo franchise as an example.
If it gets more people into the hobby of collecting cars (racing them is a whole different level), then good. As H3zzard said, the more the marrier!
Not gonna lie, I have little sisters who have collections, albeit small ones, of their own, and who have shown interest in modding...
I had a girlfriend who was secretly into diecast cars back in 3rd grade.
I wish them well and hope whatever they do works. Now is the time to try, things have changed A LOT in toys over the last 20+ years...but maybe not so much at the stores.
But honestly, as long as they continue to put the Hot Wheels in the "boys" section of Target/Walmart, it's going to continue to be primarily boy toy. Likewise with "girls" toys too...as long as they stay segregated, so will the interest of kids as they wander those aisles (physical and digital). If they start putting a peg wall next to the Barbies, it might rub off.
I feel like Lego is the only brand to really find a sweet spot in their placement on shelves. I see F1 models right next to flower boquets, next to Harry Potter, next to Star Wars. Smart placement.
Im not against female diecasters in the hobby, hell I find it great that they want to make hot wheels more inclusive for the demographic, I just don't understand how you could necessarily target hot wheels towards girls or make it more appealing to them.
Someone already said so, but when nerf did the whole "Rebelle" line meant to be targeted towards girls, it didnt exactly go over well. It's not like you can necessarily make cars "feminine" outside of their color palletes. I guess we will just have to wait and see how they try to further develop this initiative
- The Monster High Ghoul Mobile is a tie-in to series of dolls. And then there was the Barbie camper and the Ken EV truck. That kind of stuff. — Justin_Thyme
Girls like the 50' seamless track, starting gates and performance wheel/axels kits.
Uuuuuuuugh...this is the equivalent of Mazda, or Tesla, or Ford saying "we want to appeal to more Women drivers, so let's make our cars more women friendly..."
NO...No they don't need to make anything more appealing to anyone...just keep doing what's kept the toy awesome for the past 60 years...why mess with the fact "it AINT BROKE!!!" The fact you've got proper car girls in the industry is proof that you don't need to change a thing...
id like to see less rioting over mainlines and premiums and less pegs that look like they've been attacked by feral raccoons. Do something about the manners of those knuckle draggers that hoard and scalp and maybe I'll change my tune...but why would they do that when the secondary market is what drives primary sales
- Agreed. But a good chunk of that is up to the stores, not Mattel. Not unlike movie theaters...go the movies, they say. I love going to movies but the theaters themselves are not a great experience. The product itself doesn't matter much if the path to getting there is unhappy. — redlinederby
- I second this. — JBlotner42
not holding my breath that this has any better outcome than the last companies that tried it...