Hot Wheels. I loved them as a boy, and I’m falling in love with them even more now as a brand.

This three-minute case study beautifully illustrates the paradigm shift that needs to happen within more organizations, as marketing leaders must think differently about their brand’s purpose.

Rather than rely on mass advertising and discounts to sell more toy cars to children, Mattel created a far more ambitious goal for Hot Wheels: Become an entertainment brand for boys of all ages. Then, Mattel shifted their marketing efforts from buying impressions to making impressions by creating high-quality owned media assets that result in meaningful brand-to-customer engagement.

Mattel shifted their marketing efforts from buying impressions to making impressions by creating high-quality owned media assets that result in meaningful brand-to-customer engagement.

As a father of three boys, they (and I) are going to start paying much more attention to what Hot Wheels is doing. And as an Agency Executive, I’m going to be using Hot Wheels as an example of brand marketers who really seem to “get it” by understanding what marketing is truly capable of accomplishing if we stop thinking our job is to create ads.