Mattel's 'brand purpose' is bigger than the toy aisle: CEO

Mattel (MAT) has big plans to integrate artificial intelligence into its business while expanding upon its available IP (intellectual property) library. At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz sits down with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi to talk about how the toy and entertainment giant plans to utilize its portfolio of recognizable brands.

"We continue to grow and expand our offering outside of the toy aisle. And for us, this is about content, film and television, location-based entertainment, consumer products and merchandise, and, very importantly, digital as well," Kreiz tells Yahoo Finance. "And we talked about the fact that we're now looking to get into self-publishing of mobile games. It's a very exciting part of the industry that we believe we can apply our IP and execute well at a very favorable risk-return profile for Mattel."

As Mattel hopes to ride the success of its Barbie film from last summer with a timeline of upcoming brand-based films, Kreiz emphasizes the industry of "play" to be "a broader concept" that pushes past the toy aisle.

"While the journey started, as you know, in the toy aisle, we do so much more than that. And it's all about the strength and the cultural resonance," Kreiz states. "The brand purpose that we infuse in our brands and how we continue to expand the experiences, broaden the demographics that we appeal to, attract more adults and adult collectors into our business, and leverage brands that are societal, cultural, generational to have a meaningful impact across multiple categories that in some cases are much bigger than the toy industry."

Kreiz also weighs in on the outlook for the toy industry ahead of the 2024 holiday shopping season.

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This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.