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Re-Inventing Hotwheels

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fun-bits-of-plastic dept.

garzpacho writes "BusinessWeek has an interview with Gary Swisher, Mattel's Vice-President of Wheel Design, who talks about the challenges of designing new toys for today's tech-savvy kids. In addition to discussing 'the challenge of stewarding an old-school brand like HotWheels in our tech-driven age, the emerging technologies that will affect the toy industry, and Mattel's Web strategy,' he also talks about the effect that video games have had on toy design, and argues that exciting the imagination is the most important role that a toy can fill."

2 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. I buy hotwheels cars practically every other day by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They don't need to reinvent themselves because they are perfect as they are.

    My youngest is a clutcher and takes a car with him to school every day.
    Most days he doesn't come back with one, or if he does still have one, you can bet it wasn't the one he took.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. Re:Why does everything need to be tech based? by ClemensW · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and are tyrants over their teachers."

    Now guess who said that?

    Socrates, greek philosopher, 470-399 BC.

    Very probably in his advanced years ;-)