Playmobil hopes to put the pieces back together thanks to Taylor Swift
Holy Taylor Swift, help us. Now everyone relies on her. Biden and the Democrats hope for her intervention to win the next presidential elections, the American economy is also thriving thanks to her and for women she is an icon of female empowerment. Now Playmobil also offers her a prayer, hoping to recover. Facts, numbers and curiosities
Taylor Swift has the American economy , the next US presidential elections and now also the Playmobil fortune in her hands. Yes, because the German puppet and construction company is not doing very well, especially compared to its biggest competitor, Lego. And, therefore, he would be trying to involve the pop star to become cooler.
THE PLAYMOBIL CRISIS
2023 did not end well for Playmobil which, in the 2022-2023 financial year, recorded the first loss in its history. The turnover of the toy brand had in fact decreased from 653 to 614 million euros .
Furthermore, last October, the Brandstaetter group, of which Playmobil is part, announced that by 2025 it will cut 694, of which 370 in Germany , of its approximately 4,000 jobs on a global scale. The cuts, Avvenire specified , "represent a share of 17% worldwide and 16% of the total workforce in Germany where on balance one sixth of the employees will be cut".
Among the company changes also the outsourcing of the construction of the molds to produce parts of the puppets with a cut of 74 jobs because, as explained by Playmobil, "it is no longer one of the main skills and has lost its importance".
AGREEMENT IN THE AIR BETWEEN PLAYMOBIL AND TAYLOR SWIFT?
To revive her fortunes, Playmobil would have contacted Swift's entourage to launch a figure representing her. According to the company's CEO, Bahri Kurter, contacts were made with people close to the singer and the creative work began. “We will see how the situation develops,” he told AFP , adding that a figure of the American star “would be a big dream”.
PLAYMOBIL VS LEGO, OR THE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE
However, speaking about this dream, Kurter also admitted that Playmobil "started late" in the licensing sector. In fact, while the company is preparing to celebrate 50 years of activity, the competition with the Danish Lego, the undisputed number one in children's constructions, appears very difficult.
At Playmobil, the biggest success ever is a 7.5 cm statuette of the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, of which 1.3 million copies have been sold. Not exactly a figure that one would call fashionable, especially when compared to those of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Barbie, produced by Lego.
The Danish company, on the contrary, does not even seem to suffer from the changing times and tastes of the little ones. Kurter of Playmobil, to justify the negative results of the last two years, in fact spoke about how children's gaming habits are different today, who prefer digital games to traditional ones and therefore, to address all age groups age, the company could start making board games as well. Lego, on the other hand, doesn't seem to need it given that its sales are 10 times higher than those of its competitor.
FROM KIDADULTS TO GREEN
Playmobil, in addition to courting Swift, also wants to pursue other paths so as not to end up in oblivion. Among the various ideas, increasing the number of agreements with some of the main museums, such as the Louvre, after the success of the collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the placement of 400,000 figurines of the painter Van Gogh. But also focusing on adults who collect figurines with famous people and sportsmen.
Finally, the company boasts both the fact that it produces in Europe – Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and Malta, where its largest factory after the one in Nuremberg is located – and its green approach, seeking to strengthen its sustainability credentials at a time when companies' reputations are at stake. As stated by Kurter: “The range of products for the little ones is moving to 90% raw materials of plant origin. It's a start."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/playmobil-spera-di-rimettere-insieme-i-pezzi-grazie-a-taylor-swift/ on Thu, 21 Mar 2024 08:36:45 +0000.