More Than Meets A Marketing Strategy

I'm going to put this out there: I've loved Transformers my whole life. It's been a strange relationship as being the little kid who loved the show to the big kid who has to accept why the show exists. For anyone who doesn't know, Transformers was created by Hasbro to sell toys. They created a product then used the cartoon show as their marketing plan. Of course, this was hurtful information when I first found out, but through business education I've come to accept this reality and even find it fascinating.

During the Transformers: The Movie, Hasbro was just "killing off" the old toy line to make way for their new one. They had no idea what they were messing with because tons of kids were traumatized when Optimus Prime died. This, to me, is a great example of why market research is so important before launching any major changes into the market. The point was to sell toys not scar the children you're trying to entertain. Although, it still worked. My brother had over 100 of those metal toys which were later sold in one of my family's grandiose garage sales. I know people who still have theirs today, and play with them!

We now have these new Michael Bay Transformers movies. It turns my head when people mention about all the product placing. It's very notable and an in your face marketing strategy. The contrast of the original reason Transformers was created and what these movies have come to represent is intriguing. They've put the story and characters aside to focus on how the franchise itself can make money. Its focus has been altered to become nothing more than a medium to accomplish whatever goal any willing soul who takes it on wants.

I suppose the major difference is obvious. That in order to sell toy robots you create an emotional connection with the characters and the children. To sell theater seats you have to make robots blow things up. Though sometimes, there's a right way to do things and a not so right way to do things. So to me, the real difference between the cartoon and the live action is the emotional connection. Where children and adults alike can continue to care about Transformers cartoons, including Beast Wars, they won't have a lasting relationship with explosions and whether Bumblebee was a Chrysler or that they were using Cisco Telepresence. Although, noticing a large bottle of alcohol on a conference table during the destruction of a giant office building does seem somewhat questionable.