Product details

US toy maker Mattel is world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. Barbie, the most popular fashion doll from Mattel accounted for nearly a third of Mattel''s revenues and 40% of its profits in 1999. However, the 1990s saw rapid changes in the tastes and preferences of children. The product life cycles of many a toy lasted only a couple of years. Mattel needed to move beyond regular products such as Barbie. Mindful of this, Mattel unveiled a new product development process dubbed ''Project Platypus.'' It was an unconventional, cross-functional and re-occurring toy development process that laid stress on open idea sharing. The first Project Platypus session concluded in December 2001. Ello, a construction set for girls, resulted from this session. The case helps to understand Project Platypus, Mattel''s out-of- the-box, unconventional and creative product development process. A structured assignment ''404-005-4'' is available to accompany this case.