Playmobil in crisis tries the Taylor Swift card for relaunch

MILAN – Rely on Taylor Swiftthe $1 billion artist who can change the fate of the presidential race of the United States, to revive sales.

That’s the reasoning behind it PlaymobilGerman manufacturer of ‘puppets’ for children in trouble due to the excessive power of Legoand which obviously attracted the attention of the news.

Having crossed the threshold of 50 years of existence, the German toy company realizes that its Danish rivals have ten times higher sales. And that’s the licenses that Lego has entered into with Star Wars, Harry Potter or lastly with Barbie they helped her a lot to dig this huge furrow on the road to success.

Trip to Billund, Denmark. Where Legos are born

by KEREN LENTSCHNER (LE FIGARO), translated by FABIO GALIMBERTI

03 August 2018

L’Afp describes a very different climate at Playmobil, where the greatest success is a Martin Luther 7.5 centimeters which conquered Protestant Germany in 1.3 million copies. Not exactly a blockbuster to be reported on a global scale. And just chatting about these things with the international agency, Playmobil’s number one, Bahri Kurterdropped the bomb: the company is in contact with Swift’s entourage and the creative work around the pop star with shocking numbers has begun. It is not yet certain where it will lead, “but it would be a dream” said Kurter, acknowledging that work on this type of licensed product started late.

In the meantime, the Bavarian company is restructuring: after the hit of the pandemic, with the growth in energy and raw material prices, it has reduced its workforce by 700 people worldwide (as much as 20% of the workforce), with half of the cuts concentrated in Germany.

Competition in the gaming sector is increasingly fierce, and it is no coincidence that Playmobil has lost a third of its sales in the 4-8 year range from 2015 onwards. In addition to the Swift ‘parachute’, the management is now focusing on adults who return to playing with children’s objects (a target called kidults).