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Walgreens Marvel 'Mates


Gmonkey2k

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I really hope these do well and we get a follow-up assortment with Ms. Marvel, Abomination, Starboost IM, and the just announced Hawkeye (preferably Kate Bishop)

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Hey Walgreens, long time no see. These look alright I suppose, kind of plain really. Shoulda swapped out someone for Ms. Marvel, she's only got one variant and there's already a very similar Widow hanging around Walgreens. If DST has rights to the GamerVerse branding, can I start petitioning for a PS4 Spidey? Maybe a 2-pack of him and Miles for around when Miles' game comes out? Well, I can dream.

Edited by Smashmaster12
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These are nice for what they are but the Avengers game designs are boring AF. The ugly cap design does look a lot better as a Minimate so kudos to DST. 
 

I’ll still buy them to support the line but not announcing/promoting them before the game was released and using the hype to try and get some minimate interest going is disappointing.

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30 minutes ago, fwoosheyman said:

I’ll still buy them to support the line but not announcing/promoting them before the game was released and using the hype to try and get some minimate interest going is disappointing.

I’ve gone from disappointed, to rage to full on expecting it. It’s almost as if they want to go out of business. 

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4 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

I’ve gone from disappointed, to rage to full on expecting it. It’s almost as if they want to go out of business. 

It’s been quite obvious for a while DST can’t/won’t change with the times and modernize.

Edited by fwoosheyman
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Promoting a toy line with no pre-orders before it's available is pointless. To have people running around looking for Minimates that are not in stores is cruel and unusual. Now that they are out (in one store, as far as we've seen, but we'll ASSUME they are about to hit in numbers), we'll promote on Marvel.com, as well as with every news outlet that gets our releases.

By the by, Marvel has had information about this product for a while, but they are waiting until AFTER the game launch to promote tie-in product -- clearly, Marvel wants to go out of business? Or maybe they didn't want to interfere with the game launch, either/or.

The idea that hype is gone because the game is out is ludicrous. Now that people have played the game, they may, maybe, possibly, want to get figures of it. Sure, the Legends have been out for months, but maybe we can still get a piece of it.

Thanks for the spot, Onyx! 

Edited by DSTZach
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2 hours ago, nandoninny said:

here are some great pictures i hadn't seen yet:

https://marvelousnews.com/252-27453

 

I appreciate the comment about not knowing to budget for them. Since this IS a toy and kids (of all ages) do have Budget strains it is nice. Also demand is a basic principle of advertising and you know distribution.

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1 hour ago, thereasonsy said:

I appreciate the comment about not knowing to budget for them. Since this IS a toy and kids (of all ages) do have Budget strains it is nice. Also demand is a basic principle of advertising and you know distribution.

He also said he didn't like them as much as the Marvel Legends, so it doesn't sound like he was a guaranteed sale we lost.

At $8 a pop, Walgreens Minimates aren't usually a budgeted item, not like a $20 Legends figure (or 4), they're a lot closer to being an impulse item. 

And distribution through Walgreens is dependent on a lot of factors, including warehouse stock status and individual store inventory. I stand by my decision not to send people out in a pandemic to look for toys that are not on the shelf.

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12 hours ago, DSTZach said:

He also said he didn't like them as much as the Marvel Legends, so it doesn't sound like he was a guaranteed sale we lost.

At $8 a pop, Walgreens Minimates aren't usually a budgeted item, not like a $20 Legends figure (or 4), they're a lot closer to being an impulse item. 

And distribution through Walgreens is dependent on a lot of factors, including warehouse stock status and individual store inventory. I stand by my decision not to send people out in a pandemic to look for toys that are not on the shelf.

First off I thought we had an understanding to ignore each other on here since it isn’t an enjoyable experience for either of us. 
 

Secondly: the EXACT quote is: 

Well, this came out of nowhere. Sadly didnt know about them so didnt budget for them and they arent better then the Legends stuff I did budget for.

Edited by thereasonsy
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12 hours ago, DSTZach said:

He also said he didn't like them as much as the Marvel Legends, so it doesn't sound like he was a guaranteed sale we lost.

At $8 a pop, Walgreens Minimates aren't usually a budgeted item, not like a $20 Legends figure (or 4), they're a lot closer to being an impulse item. 

And distribution through Walgreens is dependent on a lot of factors, including warehouse stock status and individual store inventory. I stand by my decision not to send people out in a pandemic to look for toys that are not on the shelf.

That EXACT QUOTE means you lost a sale due to a lack of awareness. You need to do your job and ACTUALLY get to know your audience. $8 plus tax may not be a lot to YOU but it is clearly for some people including kids. What the poster said was “I have a budget. I didn’t know about these figures. I budgeted for A Marvel Legends figure (which is the same price point as buying both sets). The figure I was PLANNING on buying is better than these 4 figures I didn’t know about. I’m sticking to my plan.” 
 

What you aren’t getting is that HAD they known about the figures they MAY have budgeted for BOTH or been so excited that even though the figures aren’t as good as said Legend they may have been persuaded into buying the figure.

I get you are defensive about this but if you actually put your ego aside and LISTENED To what I and some of the other marketers on here have been telling you for years it would probably would be beneficial for the brand. As for your earlier comment toward me: DST is not marvel. You will never BE Marvel. You license THEIR product and instead of getting the Halo effect early you blow it and then claim a lack of interest. Look at what Hasbro just did with their ridiculous Sentinel. They got so much brand affinity that people are waiting a YEAR for a delivery after paying hundreds of Dollars.
 

How do they do that? Brand love— which DST doesn’t have with the mass market and with the way DST is marketing you never will. 

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4 hours ago, MisterPL said:

My question is if this represents a shift for Walgreens from the Animated side to the Gamerverse brand. Obviously offering Marvel's most popular characters is desirable so if there aren't any viable variants from the cartoons, it's time to look elsewhere.

Not that I am aware of. Not sure what's in Animated Series 14, but I beieve there will be one. Also, more movie and TV Minimates. 

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4 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

First off I thought we had an understanding to ignore each other on here since it isn’t an enjoyable experience for either of us. 

I actually enjoy a good argument, but I enjoy pointing out misstated facts and assumptions even more! We should have our own podcast, spare these people.

3 hours ago, thereasonsy said:

That EXACT QUOTE means you lost a sale due to a lack of awareness. You need to do your job and ACTUALLY get to know your audience. $8 plus tax may not be a lot to YOU but it is clearly for some people including kids. What the poster said was “I have a budget. I didn’t know about these figures. I budgeted for A Marvel Legends figure (which is the same price point as buying both sets). The figure I was PLANNING on buying is better than these 4 figures I didn’t know about. I’m sticking to my plan.” 
What you aren’t getting is that HAD they known about the figures they MAY have budgeted for BOTH or been so excited that even though the figures aren’t as good as said Legend they may have been persuaded into buying the figure.

There's a lot of "HAD" and "MAY" in that declaration. I said "It doesn't sound like he was a guaranteed sale we lost," and I stand by that. Sure, if we'd revealed them at the same time as Legends, SIX MONTHS ago, then MAYBE he would have pre-ordered the three Legends figures he liked better (plus the game!) and put aside money for the non-pre-orderable Minimates down the road. ...But I doubt it. I think it would more likely be an impulse situation, where if he had money, and was feeling generous, he'd buy them. That's what it SOUNDS like to me.

And I have kids. I'll allow that there may be some who budget, and some who have long-term planning down pat, but the idea that they would put aside $16 for six months and not spend it on something before that smacks of fantasy.

And you're assuming I don't know toy collectors. I'll admit I wasn't buying toys as a teenager, I stopped for five years or so, but starting in college, and continuing through my professional career, I went to Kay Bee and Toys R Us and GameStop and EB almost every day, looking for Legends and Muppets and Star Wars and other lines. I was never a Hot Toys collector, I gravitate towards the inexpensive toys, but I think I know how toy collectors think, more or less. 

Quote

I get you are defensive about this but if you actually put your ego aside

HAHAHAHAHANEVAR

Quote

and LISTENED To what I and some of the other marketers on here have been telling you for years it would probably would be beneficial for the brand. As for your earlier comment toward me: DST is not marvel. You will never BE Marvel. You license THEIR product and instead of getting the Halo effect early you blow it and then claim a lack of interest. Look at what Hasbro just did with their ridiculous Sentinel. They got so much brand affinity that people are waiting a YEAR for a delivery after paying hundreds of Dollars.How do they do that? Brand love— which DST doesn’t have with the mass market and with the way DST is marketing you never will. 

...You realize that we solicit 12-15 products each month, some of them in the $2-300 range, that won't come out for 6-10 months? And we do build-a-figures and build-a-dioramas that are assembled over the course of multiple series that customers need to start to invest in years in advance? We have plenty of people, including retailers, who respect the DST brand.

But, unlike Hasbro, (because of Hasbro) many of our most popular lines are not allowed to be sold in the mass market -- despite our presence at Walgreens, we are still primarily a specialty market company. We've looked at doing crowd-funded projects like the Sentinel, some of them even Minimates-related, but having a major distributor as a sister company raises a lot of questions as to how it would work, and what would be different, exactly.

 

Edited by DSTZach
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11 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

We've looked at doing crowd-funded projects like the Sentinel, some of them even Minimates-related, but having a major distributor as a sister company raises a lot of questions as to how it would work, and what would be different, exactly.

 

man, now you've got me wondering what you've looked into!!!!

as someone who is not a lawyer, nor a retailer, distributor, etc (but used to work as a retailer and still talks shop w/ old pals) i know a lot of them are annoyed at hasbro b/c they don't/can't get a discount from haslabs.  so to them, they have to pay up front, then wait, then mark it up and have everyone know their margin.  a reasonable person would understand and accept it but that's not always the case.  some grown folks tend to act like kids when it comes to buying toys.

so, i would say spin off a new related party company and sub license the risky product to them somehow (like the DC minimates). 

i like Mantic Games' approach where people who support the fundraiser get perks and exclusives but then the main product is still offered as a regular release, just minus some goodies.  it adds some collectibility/incentive to fund it early.  raises awareness and that "gotta have it" mentaility that plagues us all (or most of us).

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2 hours ago, DSTZach said:

I actually enjoy a good argument, but I enjoy pointing out misstated facts and assumptions even more! We should have our own podcast, spare these people.

Zach, I wouldn’t even have a free drink with you. If there was a way to block you on this forum I would the same way I’ve blocked you everywhere else. I have actually had conversations about your brand with retailers since I worked with some. None of them can refute this conspiracy theory claim of yours that hasbro or LEGO are blocking things for DST.  From what I’ve seen in person, data runs and online you are a problem as a poor presenter and marketer— and a dick. 

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Wait, none of them can refute it? So they think it's true? I'm confused about your point. And why you would ask a retailer what our licensing restrictions are. 

I think multiple people here know that we have restrictions on our license, and that I am only a... pain in the neck to those who are pains in the neck to me. I don't like rudeness, or name calling.

And if you're who I think you are, you've definitely blocked me on IG. You can respond to me, but I can't respond to you? Craziness. 

Regardless of your marketing prowess or algorithm expertise, the cold drop is a perfectly legit marketing technique. Artists drop surprise albums all the time. No one calls them short sighted for not plugging it in advance. Think of us as the Beyonce of toys!

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