Hot Wheels Treasure Hunts - Rare Gems or Mattel's Marketing Genius?*NOT BY ME*

[Raymond 0]

One should really shower applause on the marketing team of Mattel for their ingenuity and shrewd tactics. It all started way back in the year of 1995, when Mattel introduced the treasure hunt series; it was a strong marketing tactic. Even Mattel was into production of only 10,000 units worldwide. But the treasure hunt series was an instant hit and the production was hiked up to 25,000 units in the subsequent years.

The beauty behind such clever marketing is none of the treasure hunt cars are in any way different from the existing small cars. These cars are similar in look and feel.

By creating demand for these cars initially by releasing only one design for the subsequent 12 months, they created an artificial demand which worked out into the favor of Mattel. It has carved itself a niche in the toys market for this series of small cars. It got to be noted that there is a rise in price and recently Mattel has once again kick started the good old strong campaign by introducing the two tiered treasure hunt series of cars. Mattel has pinned high hopes on this specific series and it is rumored to produce a record number by this year end. Mattel will firmly ride on the success wave as it this T-Hunt series is a sure winner in every way. By creating a new type of specialized set of cars in the existing line, it has got the fan following. Any serious collector would pop into a toy store for selecting these rare cars and he would never find one, as the production is very limited. Out of desperation, he would select any one of the existing cars and as both these types of cars are made of the same material, there would not be any change in revenue for Mattel. Another strange phenomenon is the skyrocketing of prices for this series of cars. One major component is the internet boom, as the availability is very low; these cars find a premium in the crazy hot wheel fan market.

If you are clever enough to understand the marketing gimmick behind this treasure hunt, you would opt for Mattel shares and not for its hot wheels series. The company has been growing steadily through some clever marketing and through a strong sales team.

Found On a Blog

So what u guys think is there a point behind this................................

TH Diehard collectors don't get angry with me since this is not by me


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[elgee 0]

Thats a good article stating a very good point. However, Mattel does not profit from the high resale price of the Hunt or Hunt$. In a bigger picture, it does bring in more people into collecting Hot Wheels and buying more of their cars. People are also riding the wave taking opportunity to make money out of this Treasure Hunt series. But then on the positive side, it does create a lot of excitement in collecting these cars. I do agree that overall its a brilliant marketing move.

[MarieJuliette 0]

I agree with Elgee...
TH are sold at the same price as the regular HW.
The hype over those come from the collectors themselves.
Why some are more desirable than others?
We, as a collective, do that.
And it makes the toys sell.

[enyomic 0]

actually mattel is losing money everytime they make thunts coz of their cost to make each is much more expensive than their wholesale price. The main reason is to promote and create an enviroment where people will collect more diecast in whole ...

Some collectors may think ... oh i miss out this years thunt.. I can buy next year reg release car ... it's the same thing but cheaper ... this will help push future release of that particular car ...

for an example .. 07 there was an enzo release as thunt .. 08 .. release under team exotics .. regular car... do u c any hanging on the pegs .. u know the answer.

Nuff said ...

[hokuan 0]

Haha, but enzo as Thunt or not, it's still an Enzo..I see Blimp, but blimp was in TH series also.

[elgee 0]

blimp is a bit of an extreme, but this year's TH is making people sit up and take notice of some models. for example because of BB, the OCC splitback gets more attention. you can say that the TH line is also sort of an advert for the rest of their cars, like the original post suggests

[hokuan 0]

Haha, and TH motivate us to hunt also
By the way, why does TH from 2007 and above cost more than previous year?

[Fadli85 0]

I think it cost the same isn't it? it just started doing the Super T-Hunt with rubber tire and Regular T-Hunt with ordinary tire on 2007, haha, damn, first time I saw a T-Hunt$ Enzo on the peg I thought "aah, just another one of those boring T-Hunt plastic wheel" And I passed it, I could never forgive myself until now, huhuhu....

[hokuan 0]

Ops..What I meant was not production cost..

[Phoenix 0]

Fadli85 wrote:

I think it cost the same isn't it? it just started doing the Super T-Hunt with rubber tire and Regular T-Hunt with ordinary tire on 2007, haha, damn, first time I saw a T-Hunt$ Enzo on the peg I thought "aah, just another one of those boring T-Hunt plastic wheel" And I passed it, I could never forgive myself until now, huhuhu....

BTW, is that Ezzo is your cup of tea ?

[Fadli85 0]

Phoenix wrote:

Fadli85 wrote:

I think it cost the same isn't it? it just started doing the Super T-Hunt with rubber tire and Regular T-Hunt with ordinary tire on 2007, haha, damn, first time I saw a T-Hunt$ Enzo on the peg I thought "aah, just another one of those boring T-Hunt plastic wheel" And I passed it, I could never forgive myself until now, huhuhu....

BTW, is that Ezzo is your cup of tea ?

Haha, yup definitely rubber wheels is THE cup of tea, funny that you said that, hehehe....

[Phoenix 0]

Fadli85 wrote:

Phoenix wrote:

Fadli85 wrote:

I think it cost the same isn't it? it just started doing the Super T-Hunt with rubber tire and Regular T-Hunt with ordinary tire on 2007, haha, damn, first time I saw a T-Hunt$ Enzo on the peg I thought "aah, just another one of those boring T-Hunt plastic wheel" And I passed it, I could never forgive myself until now, huhuhu....

BTW, is that Ezzo is your cup of tea ?

Haha, yup definitely rubber wheels is THE cup of tea, funny that you said that, hehehe....

Ha ha, i though the car is the tea than the rubber wheels. the rubber wheel just the secret green ingredient in the tea. You should grap the super green tea or just that day you no thirsty, he he. Some grap bcoz is green but no the tea they prefer. Anyway, you will had more luck on rubber wheels in future.

[netmatrix 0]

Mattel don't need to use more money to make T-hunts!!

This is a fact! If you keep a good eye out, you would see the rubber wheels are available in other series and they just take the wheels from there. They don't loose money! They will never will. Its all MARKETING!!

If there wasn't any T-hunts at all. I'm sure the collectors here won't exist. Many are being SOLD by T-hunts. From there they go on to buy the regular cars.

In fact i have already stated time and time again from the many "hate" post, T-hunts does not create good collecting habits.