What's wrong with Playmobil? 2

[JPSA]

Well, plenty, apparently.  In case you missed it, here is a video that came out a month ago ( turn on captions for English subtitles ).  Geobra seems to be in trouble, both financially and culturally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQwUMQ1hc38

[Klickteryx]

It's being run by idiots in other words. The lack of anything interesting in the 50 year theme is proof of that. Something simple like a Horst and Hans set; a display box showing the changes in design of a  single character like a fireman from the 70s through to the present; a bunch of city life people with 50 jahre or similar on their clothing; lots of ideas spring to mind that would only require parts being done in different colours and some prints to provide unique klickys. Did the deciders approach anyone in the collecting community before making a final decision on what to include for a half century celebration?

[Alex4420]

WOW PM is now LOSING money?!? Holy cow... The only silver lining I see is in the example of Lego -- they came right to the brink of bankruptcy before they made the necessary changes to save the company. Whether PM can do the same, only the future knows.
On a side note, for a country as highly regarded as Germany is in the field of manufacturing, they sure have a hard time producing decent management talent. The degradation of the company's image and profits is entirely the fault of top management, period.

[playmofire]

WOW PM is now LOSING money?!? Holy cow... The only silver lining I see is in the example of Lego -- they came right to the brink of bankruptcy before they made the necessary changes to save the company. Whether PM can do the same, only the future knows.
On a side note, for a country as highly regarded as Germany is in the field of manufacturing, they sure have a hard time producing decent management talent. The degradation of the company's image and profits is entirely the fault of top management, period.

Many German businesses are family owned and though it is not exactly so in this there is an old British Victorian in relation to such firms "Clogs to clogs in three generations", meaning the first generation start the business and build sound foundations, the second generation build on these and expand the business successfully while the third generation run the business down.  Broadly speaking, this seems to be what has happened with Playmobil, not in terms of family generations but in terms of management generations.

[Klickteryx]

WOW PM is now LOSING money?!? Holy cow... The only silver lining I see is in the example of Lego -- they came right to the brink of bankruptcy before they made the necessary changes to save the company. Whether PM can do the same, only the future knows.
On a side note, for a country as highly regarded as Germany is in the field of manufacturing, they sure have a hard time producing decent management talent. The degradation of the company's image and profits is entirely the fault of top management, period.

It's been a problem for a long time. German collectors fought hard to get the adult fanbase a foot in the door several years ago but the resultant club was treated with disdain by those at the top and very little interaction took place. The vast majority of the members were interested in history but instead the club provided modern themes for sale and the lack of interest in those coupled with the disgruntled comments due to lack of wanted merchandise ended the club after about four years.
I don't know about Germany, but as another article mentioned a quarter of toy sales in Spain are to adult collectors. That's a huge customer base being ignored currently.

[Rasputin]

They did it to themselves , Germany ate the goose that laid the golden eggs . It’s not just a Playmobil problem, the whole German manufacturing industry is apparently suicidal

Hope some one with a brain gets voted in and steers the ship away from the rocks


As for the PCC , it was just a pet project of a few and had no company wide backing , it was doomed to fail from its inception unfortunately .

Mr B didn’t want to leave the brand to his kids so he left it in the hands of a secretary. Great
I guess he tried to out smart Clogs to Clogs in 3 and failed

English subtitles did not work for me , only in German

[Rasputin]

German collectors fought hard to get the adult fanbase a foot in the door several years ago but the resultant club was treated with disdain by those at the top and very little interaction took place. The vast majority of the members were interested in history

This is not entirely true

There were a lot of collectors from all over who not only worked and petitioned but actually spent their personal money to make it happen from all over the globe. There are quite a few in here actually. I am still thankful to them for all the extra work they did. Some even flew to Germany

The high up were the ones who allowed it to happen at Playmobil. With out their blessing it never would have had 1 month let alone 3 years

The people at Playmobil who were tasked with babysitting irrational, sensitive, emotional & crazy collectors tired of all the drama

Go ask the Green Goblin who resides in a swamp of all the special treatment he demanded

[Klickteryx]

This is not entirely true

There were a lot of collectors from all over who not only worked and petitioned but actually spent their personal money to make it happen from all over the globe. There are quite a few in here actually. I am still thankful to them for all the extra work they did. Some even flew to Germany

The high up were the ones who allowed it to happen at Playmobil. With out their blessing it never would have had 1 month let alone 3 years

The people at Playmobil who were tasked with babysitting irrational, sensitive, emotional & crazy collectors tired of all the drama

Go ask the Green Goblin who resides in a swamp of all the special treatment he demanded

I'm aware of your spat with The Green Musketeer? but the total lack of interest beyond the contact person who wasn't able to provide any information made the whole thing a waste of time. It felt like the club was set up for children, other than the yearly sale practically nothing happened for the rest of the year, it was disappointing.
Thanks for the bit about the international fans input into setting up, I just assumed it would have been people who were closer.

[Oliver]

I don't know about Germany, but as another article mentioned a quarter of toy sales in Spain are to adult collectors. That's a huge customer base being ignored currently.

I don't really think that's accurate. What service it was meant to provide, I've never quite understood. But the simple fact is, without the Collectors Club in place we have more sets aimed at the 'adult' market than ever.

[Rasputin]

I’d also agree that there have been quite a few classic sets re-released lately that I’m very pleased with. I’m thinking western and Victorian

Then you have all the modern cars that seem to be more adult oriented

Then the Star Treck

The anima

Then the Scooby Do, ghost busters, Ateam type sets

There’s actually quite a few that happened well after the PCC disintegrated