Buzz has been building around the upcoming Barbie movie. But according to Mattel President and COO Richard Dickson, it's just the beginning. In an interview with Yahoo Finance at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival, Dickson explains how the film will help Mattel "unlock the value" of the Barbie brand.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: All right. Joining us now is Mattel CEO Richard Dixon. Richard, good to see you here in person. For a change, last time I talked to you, I was in my kitchen during the pandemic.

RICHARD DIXON: Yeah. You were in your kitchen. I think I was probably somewhere else, not in my kitchen, but I think that was our wrap last.

BRIAN SOZZI: Good to see you nonetheless. And lots of eyes on what you're doing with Barbie as the "Barbie" movie gets set to premiere. But I think even getting to this point with Barbie, you can't get here without the reinvention that you and your team have driven at this brand. Walk investors through it.

RICHARD DIXON: Thank you. And certainly, a nice place to tell the story. The Barbie revitalization has been one of storybook. It's a case study in the making. Our playbook, which we talk a lot about is the methodology that was behind the revitalization. First and foremost, it's about the brand purpose, inspiring the limitless potential of girls.

We talk about design-led innovation, which is really about studying our consumer and understanding their wants and needs. And then third, of course, is cultural relevance. I mean, Barbie is a cultural conversation at this point. So we know that's playing back to us in spades. And last is executional excellence. You can have great ideas. You could have, you know, all the, you know, narratives in the world, but if you can't execute it and bring it to market successfully, then there's nothing but ideas.

So we're incredibly proud of the work that's been taking place over the last several years to revitalize Barbie, both from a product and marketing perspective and ultimately results are shared. Our performance has been spectacular over the last several years. And so we're resonating, and now we're going to take this to the next level. Obviously, with the "Barbie" movie on the cusp of its launch. So we couldn't be more excited.

BRAD SMITH: And we're definitely going to talk about the "Barbie" movie because we have a lot of thoughts and we've even seen Sozzi kind of channel Barbie core recently as well. We won't get too into that. But when you think about everywhere Barbie is right now-- Barbie is in the sports car. Barbie is on the beach, but Barbie is also in STEM. She's at NASA. She's also in the science lab.

And when you think about the multicultural relevance of Barbie as well, you've really expanded how people think about the Barbie brand. And so where do you take Barbie from here? What does that look like, and what are consumers clamoring for?

RICHARD DIXON: Well, I think you really said it. You know, Barbie is everywhere. And where we've evolved, Barbie is far from a identified character into a bigger platform for cultural conversation and inspiration, particularly for girls. To inspire their imaginations, we needed to partner with the very most successful women in the world and honor their careers with special Barbies and expand our career assortment to really inspire girls to imagine their limitless potential.

And so part of the brand's methodology has been to work with some of the leading women in the world from a career perspective. Inspire them by creating career dolls, playsets that unlock their imaginations to imagine what's possible. And so the methodology behind our playbook has really extended the brand and all of these multicultural touchpoints that ultimately have been driving our business and also driving the equity value of Barbie.

I think what really becomes more interesting as you see the Barbie brand evolve is from a character into a platform and ultimately a franchise. And so from toys to lifestyle product to live experiences, digital gaming, now film, you really start to see the manifestation and the monetization of the power of this incredible franchise.

BRIAN SOZZI: How does-- how is Barbie going to play against AI? I came into-- I read a story coming in to this event. Now we have teddy bears that could potentially tell bedtime stories. How is Barbie going to have to change in this age of AI and various robotics?

RICHARD DIXON: Yeah. Well, first of all, we are venturing into the digital landscape progressively. I think in order for us to realize the actual potential, we've got to start swinging in these spaces. We had our first foray into virtual collectibles with Barbie as NFTs.

We've done them with fashion houses like Balmain to Boss Beauties, which inspires the many different careers in the virtual collectible world. We've got extraordinary partnerships in the virtual gaming community. We've got a mobile partnership with NetEase.

So we are actually extending the Barbie brand in the digital playground and intend to be an important digital brand as that community evolves. We look at it more as like extending the playground.

BRIAN SOZZI: Did you see the doll itself talking at some point?

RICHARD DIXON: I do believe that we will get to a place where Barbie in a character form, whether it's your choice of how you engage in that character or the play pattern itself will have some dialogue. It's inevitable. And I think that's the exciting part of it.

Where we're at in the digital playground is it's going to continue to evolve and Barbie's brand ethos is about being culturally relevant. And so we've got to be in that space. It might not all necessarily be as successful as we would like. But eventually, it's going to be a really important part of the Barbie ecosystem.

BRAD SMITH: Something on a more serious tone before we get to the more fun tone of the movie, we're in a kind of a discretionary spending downturn right now, where people are really looking across how they're spending in some of the more discretionary categories, whether that's toys or home or appliances.

So from the Mattel perspective, when you kind of have those conversations with your partners, what does that look like? And, I guess, from Mattel's perspective as well, what other levers in a time like that can you pull to make sure that the company is still healthy?

RICHARD DIXON: During recessions and we've seen it time and time again, you know, Mattel is a storied company. It's eight decades. So we've been through lots of different economic highs and lows and certainly cultural events. Toys is an incredibly resilient category. First and foremost, parents will not deprive their kids of play.

And essentially, the value of play express through toys is really a great category to be in particularly during economic challenging times. That being said, the toy industry itself while a good and resilient category still has lots of competition. And there are incredibly innovative companies that we compete with.

We have a storied portfolio of very strong franchise brands-- Barbie, Hot Wheels. American Girl, Thomas the Tank, Fisher-Price Magic 8 Ball, Pictionary, Uno, and so forth. So we've got really powerful brands that resonate. And when times are difficult, people resonate with nostalgia, with brands of credibility, and with innovation that prevails. And certainly, the toy industry is well known for innovation. And Mattel, in particular, has a great innovation pipeline.

So while challenging, we believe we have a really purposeful portfolio of brands with great innovation that should be resilient during challenging times.

BRAD SMITH: Does that mean that you're anticipating a still strong holiday season for toys?

RICHARD DIXON: We anticipate as always, Christmas will come. Holidays will come. Toys will be under that tree and under the holiday areas of family. And Mattel will prevail as the leading toy company in the world.

BRIAN SOZZI: Well, before the holidays will, in fact, be the release of this "Barbie" movie in mid-july. From an investor standpoint, that investor comes onto Yahoo. They do a yahoo.com search and they see all this excitement about this movie. How does that translate into your bottom line? And is it a stock-moving event?

RICHARD DIXON: Well, first, I think when you look at the power of what we've created with Barbie, premovie and ultimately, what will be movie and post movie, you have to recognize that this is a brand of cultural importance. And the monetization of that brand certainly proven through toy.

The next chapter of that is going to be unlocking the value of this IP through storytelling, whether it's theatrical, television, live action content, gaming, live experiences. All of the different category partnerships that we've created in consumer products where this movie is really a catalyst for future monetization in the consumer product space-- apparel, sporting goods, home accessories.

And the other piece that I think is really exciting in the context of unlocking the value, is the multi-generational aspect of it. Clearly the base of our business is younger, right? But the movie is going to be PG-13. We appeal to an older audience, both teen, young adults, moms, glam-mas. And there's somehting--

BRAD SMITH: Glam-mas?

RICHARD DIXON: Glam-mas.

BRAD SMITH: Never heard of that before.

RICHARD DIXON: --of course. It's a Barbie grandmas and glam-ma. And you're going to see lots of product offerings in addition to content that is going to be monetizable for the company and exciting for consumers of all ages to engage in the franchise. So lots more room and a long tail that will happen from the movie in terms of the merchandising and monetization plans going forward.

BRIAN SOZZI: You know, you and I will be there, what, opening night, maybe?

BRAD SMITH: Oh, yeah, I would love to be there.

RICHARD DIXON: I hope so. I hope so.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right.

RICHARD DIXON: It's a hot ticket.

BRAD SMITH: It is. All right. Richard Dixon, Mattel CEO. Good to see you as always. We appreciate the time.

RICHARD DIXON: Thank you so much. Thanks for being here.

BRIAN SOZZI: Guys, back to you.