The BoF Podcast | Richard Dickson on Find out how to Recapture the Magic of Hole

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Background:

This 12 months, Barbie-mania swept the globe. A key architect of that phenomenon was Richard Dickson, who served as president and chief working officer of Barbie’s father or mother firm, Mattel, for nearly a decade. There, he revived Barbie, a reputation that had misplaced its cultural relevance, and introduced it firmly again into the zeitgeist. Now, Dickson is taking his expertise for revitalising fading icons to Hole, the place he was appointed CEO in July 2023.

“Evolution retains the model related, however function makes a model immortal,” says Dickson.

This week on The BoF Podcast, Dickson joins BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to debate the facility of manufacturers and his imaginative and prescient for rebooting Hole in a stay dialog from BoF VOICES 2023.

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Key Insights:

• When Dickson arrived at Mattel, the Barbie model was at a low level, with lagging gross sales and diminished relevance. Dickson pushed the model to embrace dolls with completely different physique sorts and ethnicities. “The method itself was actually going again to the roots, going again to the aim … What made it so nice to start with? The origin story of the model was that it was designed to encourage the limitless potential of ladies,” he explains.
• Figuring out function is what fuelled his work at Mattel; now, he’s making use of the identical mindset at Hole. “There could be nothing extra inspiring than taking that cue and determining the best way to create that cultural dialog at the moment, utilizing our manufacturers as a platform to really create a greater world.”
• Dickson recognises that Hole wants a stronger perspective. “We’re not going to get to the place we would like in a single day. However now we have extraordinary individuals. We now have a tradition that’s going to be unlocked with extraordinary creativity… and I’m privileged and honoured to be the chief at this explicit time,” he says.

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