Tania Missad of Mattel: We’re highly committed to the U.S. Hispanic market

The American International Toy Fair in New York City, considered the world’s biggest, held its 111th edition last month and attracted around 14,000 buyers, to whom the leading brands presented this year’s novelties.Tania Missad, director of Worldwide Consumer Insights at Mattel, told PRODU that the biggest trends were toys that can be personalized, as well as classic and retro concepts. “Personalization is a trend arising from our research sessions with children, who often say they want to create their own toys. We’ve been listening, and this year we presented several products that allow kids can make their own toys,” she said.As for the U.S. Hispanic market, Mattel reaffirmed its commitment by launching several products developed specifically for this demographic. “Bilingual products like those of Fisher Price, for the age group where kids are learning to be bilingual, come with all the sounds needed for learning in both Spanish and English. And with the Dora the Explorer line, we’re launching Dora y sus amigas, based on a new show on Nickelodeon,” Missad said.“We’ve just finished a very big television campaign targeting the Hispanic market which launched in Los Angeles, Miami and Houston. It was the first time in the United States that we aired in Spanish for the Hispanic market, and because of our enormous commitment to that sector, we think we’ll continue the campaign in 2014,” she said.