Author Topic: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021  (Read 6682 times)

Offline StJohn

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #20 on: February 22, 2021, 23:09:27 »
businessinsider.de offers just a rewrite of the earlier article published in manager magazin. No new input, just generating contents. Still, thanks for the link, JLMatterer. :wave:

Offline JLMatterer

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Offline playmofire

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #22 on: February 23, 2021, 19:48:15 »
Report causes unrest: Bad mood at Playmobil
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Offline GrahamB

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2021, 00:01:25 »
It's the same stuff, but now the Brandstätter group are threatening Manager Magazine with legal action for publishing the story...
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline StJohn

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #24 on: February 24, 2021, 00:34:25 »
Thanks for posting, JLMatterer, and reading, GrahamB!

It's the same stuff, but now the Brandstätter group are threatening Manager Magazine with legal action for publishing the story...

Apparently so: the Nürnberger Presse says to have seen the firm's legal letter to that effect. Mind-boggling: do they really want to challenge a news story based on company records and interviews? Persevere and ultimately contest it in a public court of law? Of course not. This claim can only be withdrawn. The insanity just shows that Manager Magazin was drawing a realistic portrait.

One new bit of information that I found was that "Playmobil - The Movie" has cost the firm several tens of millions of $...

Offline Macruran

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #25 on: February 28, 2021, 01:56:37 »
They still make home runs, like the recent Space Station that got the toy of the year award. Not surprising as it looks like a modern version of the classic Playmospace station.

That's a theme they could really own: Science/Space. The Mars sets were great and classic. Compare the recent Polar sets though: giant laser cannons  >:( Why not do a proper Exploration theme? Laboratories for different sciences? There's endless possibility. Could tie into historical themes as well - famous explorers from history.

SO MUCH POSSIBILITY
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Offline GrahamB

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #26 on: February 28, 2021, 10:09:00 »
Sadly, the Gnomes of Zirndorf don't seem to be listening, Macky!
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline Redmao

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Re: Deep pockets but no plan: the Horst Brandstätter Holding in 2021
« Reply #27 on: February 28, 2021, 14:42:34 »
I just found some Rex Dasher with parachute sets (70070) for only 4.90$ cdn which is about 3€.
The upside of the movie not being the expected success is nice pieces for cheap.

The Polar Expedition set had great potential. They could be linked with the recent Explorers or Treasure Hunters themes, but yeah, more scientific equipment instead of laser canons would have been nice.

Offline StJohn

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It keeps festering. At the time that the story in manager magazin broke, Geobra was taking action against negative employee reviews posted at the popular German site kununu. On May 3rd, JLMatterer linked in this forum to a report (in lebensmittelzeitung.net) that this pursuit has only strengthened the company's negative image as an employer. Typical.

Offline Bolingbroke

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My daughter (six) has been done with PM for a few years already - I do buy her the occasional set, but playability seems extremely poor. What she likes - like most girls her age - is Lego. Lego friends has been a winner with girls for years now, it’s such a massive brand. My daughter plays with her Lego Friends sets, she plays the Lego Friends games on the IPad and watches the cartoon on Netflix. In general the quality - of the games, and the tv show - are quite good, and better than the PM games and cartoons she’s consumed (I sometimes watch them with her).

Never ceases to amaze me how Lego is so in touch with the zeitgeist. They’ve recently released a kind of ‘braceletes’ lines, a bracelet you decorate with nice little lego bits, and then you wear, and which, again, is a massive hit with my daughter and her friends.

Not sure what PM could do, or have done, differently to be honest. More modularity to their doll houses could have been a start, and better quality media-wise. A good cartoon goes a long way with kids, but what there was was always very pedestrian and silly.

Oh well.
"Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me."