thereasonsy

I’m going to with no because :: insert no valid reason:::. But, hey write in to Ask DST and suggest it! Seriously though these figures could and should be updated. Aren’t they going to be in a What If? Episode?

Well, bless you for doing it and I hope that DST gets involved!

I don’t know who came up with this idea but this is awesome and I cannot wait to participate! https://instagram.com/marchofminimates?igshid=nfpi5fckt6em

I’m going with 4 two packs available at Walgreens/Duane Reade. As for FFH, I’m team comic wave (even with the stupid Miles). I can see why people would be upset though.

I debated sending this all week but as the youth say "it's for the culture". Zach, in reviewing their channels and press mentions they seem to have a strategy that revolves around dripping of information that is usually one or two characters a wave each convention. If you follow the pattern instead of announcing a whole wave at once they have been announcing a figure or two a few days before major conventions internationally. They also have a content calendar that honours the anniversaries of the subjects. 25 anniversary of AOA here's a wave. 40th anniversary of Alpha Flight, here's a box set. They leaned in heavily into the 80 years of Marvel and also tapped into 90's nostalgia hard with the "Classic waves on ToyBiz cards" and their character selections. They also have been completing teams. Just some quick hits but in the past year, they had over 359,053 mentions with a projected reach of 108, 825,690 of the #MarvelLegends hastag. Their brand sentiment is over 90% POSITIVE. Add in Neutral and you are looking at a brand that is in the high 90s. The majority of these mentions can be attributed to photos with instagram leading the way but with pinterest, flickr, reddit, and daily motion being the most important websites*. Cavat- not all comic sites are pulled into the media tool I am using so these numbers are actually higher. also checking on trends the summer is their most active time period and most searches in the US are from West Virginia. In the same time period, Collect DST as a WHOLE, got only 20K mentions with a reach of 241,350,159. Twitter is actually driving that volume. What I care about is Minimates. In the same time period the term Minimates has barely 8K mentions with a reach of 40K but a high sentiment score of 90%. #Minimates barely has 3,633 mentions with a reach just north of 3,402,043. Users of the hash have an even higher sentiment toward the brand at 93%. This is dominated by photos on Instagram. Three websites were pulled in pcgamer, actionfigureinsider, popcultureinsider. There are API limitations with the tool but even with that I can tell that the top conversation drivers are myself, Luke, btdatdbs, heinousfigures, professor_minimate.and the previews video with Walt and Weezie. In checking trends, your search volume is mostly on the coasts and not in middle America but Indiana and New York are the states that search the term the most. And since this is "for fun" Buffy. Buffy the term has over 131,155 mentions with a reach of 531,492,275. Brand sentiment is at 84% but that is mostly due to the revamp news and Joss Whedon's ongoing issue. The show itself is doing well. The driver of the conversations is photos with gifs coming second and twitter is the channel of choice. . I understand that you are saying preference is an issue and I don't disagree that it isn't a factor but the numbers tell me awareness is the actual issue. Archie may be cheap but I would recommend slicing that and putting the money into SEO, retargeting off of Walgreens properties and actually leaning in harder into your FB/Instagram including paid. You need to increase your reach and your frequency. Also you need better influencer partners and to give them materials way ahead of time. You need a clear social strategy and cadence to the channels. I would actually look at to what Luke is doing because it has a pretty good rhythm. I would also be in my insights every day. That's your free advice. Dave, I have an over 20 year career of working on Fortune 100s and have been focused on entertainment. That includes all aspects of manufacturing. licensing, product development, endorsements, and more. I can guarantee you have heard of every brand I have worked on in that career and you have listened to, watched, or bought something I have worked on. I have worked with Walgreens including during their acquisition of Duane Reade. So that "smack" I'm talking is called experience.

Speaking of horses, really wish they’d just get on the bus and copy the Hasbro promo model. It would keep fans happier and not have this gloom and doom. For me the straw that broke the camels back was Buffy Vinimates. I could take the insults of no DC, no Arrowverse, Aliens, TMNT, and Rocketeer but Buffy.... that was a step too far. So, started going toward what I like and I’m loving filling in the gaps of my 3.75 Marvel and of course the Legends.

I really love how hasbro has been marketing their stuff! We have an almost full year look at what is coming our way and I have to say I’m really excited. They’ll be getting more of my dollars for sure. Love that they are honouring AOA 25. https://marvelousnews.com/252-26426

Did we ever get the recipe for a LEGO Fantasticar?

Well this is depressing. Toy industry still hasn’t recovered from TRU closing. https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-toy-category-still-hasnt-recovered-from-the-death-of-toys-r-us/571701/

These are all great the problem is still demand and distribution. They have an incredible product just can’t get it into the right hands for whatever reason.

I 100% agree with this. I don't think anyone is being "negative" or "mean" but just being brutally honest because we love these toys. I would have sold my brother's kidney for a toy line like this to exist when I was a kid.

I was being a jerk since that is the company line for basically everything.

Sorry, we can't make them now we are busy making statues but you never know! Write in to AskDST.

I literally do not know what possessed them to get this license and then treat it this way. Then to take the most marquee name in the show, Jada, and then not make a minimate of her even though the show was partially driven by her... Especially when the Arrowverse was sitting right there. I bought the box sets out of misguided loyalty and thinking that maybe this was the door they needed to get us back DC mates, Arrowverse, or more. But as media plan after media plan came in and I passed on buying on Gotham in favour for CW I was just... sad. This is the piece of hope I had that maybe something exciting was going to happen... and then they pulled this nonsense with TMNT were the costumes and characters we wanted were saved to the end when the line was dead. But seriously what did we expect after years of begging for more than just Original Trek and Buffy Mates.

Completely! If I ever meet Ivan his drinks are on me all night long. Hell I just bought three minimates today that I used his site as a reference for.

That’s part of the problem facing all retail categories. A new report suggests that e-commerce could kill another 30k stores and half a million jobs by 2025. This is where and why the DST online store And digital experience is crucial and way behind the 8-ball. Matty Toy Collector was ahead of its time and something DST should look into. Hell even stealing the old cobra commander mail in proof of purchases for a free exclusive figure would drive sales

That’s part of the problem facing all retail categories. A new report suggests that e-commerce could kill another 30k stores and half a million jobs by 2025. This is where and why the DST online store And digital experience is crucial and way behind the 8-ball. Matty Toy Collector was ahead of its time and something DST should look into. Hell even stealing the old cobra commander mail in proof of purchases for a free exclusive figure would drive sales.

There are so many things that they could do that are low hanging fruit when it comes to this. First SEO. If LEGO really is the issue then be a bloody issue and do some cpc against their key terms. He’ll go after POPs. You can set your own budgets and just go. There are tons of cool things you could do with Facebook and Instagram buys that focus on even things that aren’t LEGO. Size the audience of Walgreens, Marvel, and toys and go from there. You could even do a bloody coupon. Change the Press shots and the order of the announcements. If they really have one wave on sale, one wave announced, and one in development make it a bigger deal. With UGC you can keep the current on sale wave alive. Show us more of the announced wave by taking us through the process from start (character selection) to finish. Give hints for the new wave. Ask what we want. Surprise and delight your fan base by giving key influencers access to the wave stat. It’s appalling to me that they don’t have waves auto shipped to Ivan and posted on the database before onsale considering how much people use that site. Not to mention reviewers like Action Figure Insider and Marvelousness instead of the unboxers months later. If anything send the un boxers a wave that hasn’t even been announced. Use the UGC for contests and show off the breath and depth of the line. Use these as inserts do kit bash recipes cards (great job Luke) and scenes. Shout out the stores that support you. Do the comic covers again as posters. Do social listening and learn. Whomever came up with the name Ulti-mates deserves a bloody prize and that deluxe figure concept needs to be explored. Follow the toy advertising guidelines but these days there are a lot of things that can be done, can be done for lower costs, and are successful. Look at what Legends has been doing. Redesign that awful website and store. Even the templates on Square Space are more modern. Use Instagram stories to swipe up and switch to likeshop.me so that people can just go and buy things easier. The net net is that it’s not the toy game of 2000s and they need to get it together because from the outside it looks like it’s falling apart. You can see it from the volume of collections being sold in full online and the reduced perceived worth of the hard to get figures. Sorry for the precoffee rant.

Which to me is sad since it could really be the workhorse for the company if they just would get three “lil” things right: marketing, distribution, and character selection. Sadly they will see this as wahh no one loves us let’s stop making them instead of it being the fan base pleading to make more and make smarter decisions.

Agreed. Or as often said “don’t ask, don’t get.” I just mean I would actually believe them if they said they tried unlike their DC response or “anything is possible” when discussing other brands or stores.

THIS!!!! I have seen this over and over in my 20 year career. Also, props on the sales bump. At the very least invest in seo and ffs there is so much great content that the fan base is making that could easily be used to help promote the brand. I know I have been coming off as negative lately I’m just at my wits end. They have managed to make an extraordinary product and now It feels as if it's being driven into the ground through apathy.

This is one time I’d actually believe DST if they said they tried and couldn’t get it. Mustang is a hard brand to work with.

Watching Crisis reminded me how much I hate not having Arrowverse minimates. So grateful we got Gotham ?

Agreed. They just don’t want to invest in this line and we need to sadly accept it.

Hasbro is KILLING IT on every level from the PR to the Marketing to the distribution to the actual product.