You are put in charge of Playmobil, what do you do?

[Rhalius]

For some reason, YOU are picked as the new head of Playmobil, you get to make all the final decisions on what to do with the brand, what ends up in the catalogue, etc.
What would you do?

What I'd do would be 10 things:

1-Reduce licensed series to just a few adult collector sets, make Star Trek a whole theme.
They already have some agreement there, I'd go with releasing several Star Trek: Next generation sets to have the Bridge, Engineering, the cantina, a hallway, captain's quarters and sleeping quarters. The Enterprise and other ships would be smaller ships, a model to use for space battles or such.
Later there could also be some Borg sets and other stuff.

2-Bring back the classic faces.
No more oddly coloured eyes, weird mouths or other stuff like that. Just the classic Playmobil smile as it's always been until recent years.

3-End the Novelmore run, bring back the Medieval theme and a separate fantasy theme.
No more separate boys and girls themes there, some sets might cater more to one or the other but the overall themes would be more for both to enjoy.

4-Bring back Steck.
Probably one most common here. I would innovate with it still though. Like there would be new colours and shapes, new windows, new battlement options, different roofs, etc. It would be the main building component for Playmobil again, across various themes. I would advertise the possibilities with it a lot and how it saves up space when stored.
It's great to constantly have it in the online store but I don't mean just reissues. I mean actual new sets released mainly in the medieval line.

5-Remove the upper age limit from all boxes.
Just putting 3+ on there, or somewhat higher where it applies would work. It's just shooting yourself in the foot when you put an age limit on there and causes stigma to also be put on children who might want to keep playing while eleven or older. Leave it to them decide when to stop playing, if ever.

6-Bring back dioramas for boxes AND catalogues.
Kids should see what they actually get which is awesome, no need for digital effects or all that. The picture on the front of the box becomes an actual picture of the set in action again, at most maybe having something in the air like a projectile or something winged. Back of the box would keep showing the content as is, since that's pretty great. On the sides of the boxes, additional pictures of the set would be shown to show off the various features and how the set can be played with, some action shots to get kids (and adults) excited.
Dioramas in the catalogues would be limited to sets of the actual theme but any number of them could be used.
That can encourage customers to buy a set more than once, letting children see the appeal of that too. Some stuff like fake water, sand, rocks and such could be used for the diorama but all the actual Playmobil in the diorama would be of that specific theme.

7-My figures line revised to fit way better with mixing and matching.
It defeats the whole point if you can't really mix it up much due to almost every clicky having a different skin tone or gender and that skin tone also showing on the arms and chest way more often than needed.

8-Send hospital themed Playmobil to children hospital wards in any country where Playmobil is exported to.
It's a place where children can use a friendly smile and it's great advertisement.
Lets the staff use the Playmobil to help explain what's going to happen too.

9-Do several things with classic sets for the 50th anniversary.
I would have a whole figure series made up of reissued clickies of the 90's, including some items if fitting.
I'd launch a tournament theme to mark the occasion too, which would consist of 12 sets. Each would have a knight on a horse, a squire and a weapon rack or chest of their time with some extra weapons. Would mostly stick to molds of their time where possible, with the classic ones getting a bit of an update to match the newer ones. Each would be of a different past faction, using the exact same heraldry.
I would also relaunch the entire 1974 initial Playmobil range fully updated to the modern age, with pretty much the same content but always with more than one combined together in one box. The pictures of the original sets would be shown on the box too, so it's clear to see how far they have come.
For example all the Indian sets would be combined into one with a new version of the tipi, canoe and cookpot (now with campfire) and the Indians would now have the right skintone and hairstyles, would also include women.

10-Longer shelf life for everything.
I'd keep any theme on the shelf for 4-5 years, they disappear way too fast these days, some are gone within a year. I'd release additional sets to the theme if it does well, only if a theme sells really poorly would I take it out of stores in fewer years.

[Klickteryx]

Regarding Star Trek I wouldn't do the mini ships, it's not really playmobil and Star Trek itself isn't about space battles. Instead I'd have a shuttle and maybe something like the Delta Flyer. For a full theme I'd expect a transporter room and sick bay as well. I'd also want a borg with resting station (modular so they can be clicked together to form a whole wall).

More historic buildings - as steck was mentioned above then two new steck buildings based on actual ones from Nuremberg - Albrecht Durer's House and the old Townhall (back when it had a rose window).

More focus on single klickies in smaller boxes or bags. The old specials in other words - low cost, varied and a good way to gauge interest in a theme. More minions over leaders too, once you have a pirate captain with a hook and pegleg you don't need a dozen more, but crew...

More versatility. If something looks like a klicky could hold it then make sure they can. Why have something a mm or two thicker or thinner? Kids will try to get their klickies to hold these things and they'll either break something with the thicker pieces or be disappointed when the thinner ones fall out of the hand.
Limit the colours used  for body parts so that you don't end up with five shades of khaki and 15 shades of light brown.
No more stand alone partial buildings. That corner shop that gets used as a cafe etc should be modular so that you can join them with other sets, or another of the same to make a more complete building. The average child will likely only get a single building but being able to combine them with a friend should be a factor as well as the wow factor of a good diorama using original playmobil products.

[Macruran]

Lots of good ideas. The lack of a construction aspect - be it steck, X, or just modularity with buildings - is a huge oversight. There needs to be that engagement/reuse factor, it's why L*go has retained such a huge fanbase.

I'd also lean into the sports thing. It's not my cup of tea, but it's a good idea and lots of people would like little teams, personalized star player klickies, and so forth. Other types of localization could be possible - local marques like gas stations or whatever. Lots of potential.

And as per your children's hospital idea, get more creative with marketting. Advertise the sports klickies on sports sites, sell them at stadia, etc.

[Klickteryx]

I have zero interest in soccer much less the German national team but that team on the German site looks awesome. If it came with a display case then the whole team could easily end up on office desks, workplaces etc.

[Rhalius]

Not a soccer person either, but targeted marketing could go a long way.

I mean, a Taylor Swift Clicky could make a lot of sales if properly brought to the attention of her fans.
Like send one to Taylor Swift herself, if she'd post a picture of her with the clicky suddenly there'd be a huge demand for that clicky.

Give half the profits to a good cause she supports and I bet she'd be down with it.

[Ismene]

That's a dangerous question to ask. 

I would:

- Do a full back-end analysis: production costs of each set, what sells, what doesn't sell, what has been causing supply chain problems . . .

- Institute a company-wide standard of ethics. It's hard to have a branding of childhood happiness when your employees are working under a reign of terror.

- Give molded faces to all klickies. I don't care if they are over-painted, but I don't want children to have the nightmare of seeing their beloved klickies losing their eyes slowly over time. I want to see klickies on the Antiques Roadshow in fifty years.

- Pick four or five core themes and expand them into worlds or eras with sub-themes - similar to what exists with the modern sets, but being more blatant that these sets are compatible. So, for example, if you are doing medieval, you'd have the tournament knights, the war knights, the tradesmen, the marketplace, the pretty princesses, the dragons, etc. The child can decide which direction to develop their collection in. There'd be shorter term novelty themes in addition, but these would be the signature Playmobil worlds that would be slowly developed in perpetuity, so you can return to the website and pick up something for your collection even a decade later.

- Find the "greatest hits" from previous F?gures series, produce them as non-blind Specials, and sell them on the website for double what a normal one-klicky set goes for. Let's claw back some of that Ebay cash.

- More famous historical people. They're a great way to reach people who wouldn't normally collect Playmobil. "Oh, congratulations on graduating in chemistry! Here's Marie Curie." Everyone has a field, interest, a historical figure they admire. Let's get a klicky on every desk.

- Ditch the blister packaging. It's bad for the environment, and fingernails. Find a more eco-friendly option for the inner bags. Downsize the boxes o' air. I know that box size can increase the initial perceived value, but that's followed by a sense of loss when the child opens the box to find it half empty. Loss aversion is powerful, and opening a new Playmo set shouldn't elicit disappointment.

- Keep on developing $4-$5 animal sets. Get them into bookstores, toy stores, Target, zoo gift shops, natural history museum gift shops, etc. Kids buy impulse toy animals all the time. They aren't buying Playmobil because it's not on the shelves.

- Make all buildings feasibly deconstructable or collapsible in some way, so that parents (and collectors) can practice toy rotation without renting a storage unit. It's hard to invest in a $200 set when you know you'll probably need to donate it in the end because there's no way to store it. Modularity is ideal. People would buy bulk Steck castle pieces if they were available. But at the very least, let's avoid the sinking "where are we going to put that" feeling.

- I suggested earlier a Me, My Weapon, and My Apex Predator series. PM has done a few sets like this, but I'd love to see it as a collect-them-all series like they did with horses. Kids love animals with big teeth. Ocean warrior with shark, arctic warrior with polar bear, etc. The vibe would be fantasy, so they could roll out prehistoric animals (e.g. dire wolf) that are more impressive than their modern counterparts. I'd buy a dire wolf, klicky or not. Best puppy.

- Lastly, make it easier to buy things. Fix the website, keep popular sets in stock, let foreigners buy from the German website if they are willing to cough up the shipping costs.

[Rhalius]

Oh, very good suggestion about having other themes than modern split in sub themes. Medieval actually did used to have way more than two pages in old catalogues.

Medieval would for me be the main theme to expand on with houses, civilians, merchants and all that. I think I'd maybe divide it by faction though, loosely.
Like for example, two pages could be for the Red Falcons.
The Red Falcons would now have two military structures. Could be a big and a small castle, a medium castle and a tower, a fortified bridge and a small castle, a wooden and a stone castle, barracks and a city wall, etc. Plenty of options for variation and when using Steck it could easily be combined too.
They would also have a court set, featuring royalty, servants and maybe a personal guard. And an army builder set of like a knight and three soldiers.
In other civilian sets, an occasional red falcon soldier could show up but not always. Or maybe just a shield or other reference to their Kingdom. Like maybe a noble hunting party with falcons, a statue of the monarch at a town square set, etc.
Some factions could still be more or less military and not each faction might be a Kingdom.
Robin Hood style bandits could be a faction too, or evil bandits, or merchants. Could just be a theme of shops.

Western seems to have fallen out of favour some, I do think I'd want to try and expand it a bit, at least bring back a new western train. It certainly has room for plenty of subthemes but it would depend on demand.

Pirates I would certainly expand a bit to also show towns, nobles, taverns, harbours and have bigger forts and ships for the soldiers. There would be civilians, maybe merchant ships too filled with goods and few weapons.

[Ismene]

Medieval is definitely a keeper for a signature world. IMO the worlds could allow for travel.

I would bring Western forward a few decades and make it a sub-theme of 1900. You'd have a European city, the American West, and possibly other locations. Collectors already use the Victorian house in western dioramas.

My state was a territory in 1900, and they mashed all the architecture together. I saw this photo of a hogan in front of an adobe building in front of a three-story brick(?) building that wouldn't be out of place in Europe. Spanish colonial and western buildings similar to the PM ones can also be seen in photos of the era. We had a trolley on a track. The first car was brought into the territory in the year 1900. Of course, there was the railroad.

Pirates too could be a sub-theme of a late 1600s to 1700 theme. There could be the pirate ships, a port city to ransack, Louis XIV's court with ladies in big dresses . . .

[Klickteryx]

Much of the western theme could be repurposed for a 'pulp action' theme 1920s/30s.

[Macruran]

Even more great ideas. These are visions for success imho.

- Institute a company-wide standard of ethics. It's hard to have a branding of childhood happiness when your employees are working under a reign of terror.

Disagree on this. It's about people. Just get someone in charge who actually gives a tinker's cuss about the toy. Good things would flow from that.

- Pick four or five core themes and expand them into worlds or eras with sub-themes - similar to what exists with the modern sets, but being more blatant that these sets are compatible.

Excellent idea. Interchangeability is utterly core to the PM concept, this balkanization going on is a fatal error. Princesses and knights should be meeting on common ground.


And they really need to be leaning into the Real History angle. I would have thought that would be a no-brainer (Neingehirner in German) after the success of Martin Luther. There are already more than a dozen figures from German history - do that for other countries. Americans would snap up an Abe Lincoln for example. Some risk in that local political sensitivities would have to be navigated but that's not impossible.