This is the Einstein bobblehead doll. My daughter received one in her Happy Meal last week.
The toy was apparently promoting the movie “Night at the Museum.” Neither Noah, her friend Katie nor I made that connection at the time. The toy doesn’t do much (after all, it’s a bobblehead) though when you push down the head it locks in place, and can only be unlocked by inserting a card into a special slot.
Katie’s perspective: “This is the stupidist thing I’ve ever seen.”
Noah’s feelings: “Can I destroy it?” (don’t worry, I’m sending her to therapy).
My sense: this ‘prize’ went from the Happy Meal bag to the trash in about a minute. What a complete waste.
I wonder what the actual product life cycle of most McDonald’s toys is? Isn’t there something better they could come up with?
Here’s what I would do if I were in charge of Happy Meal merchandising:
- Crowdsource.
- Create an online site for kids to submit and vote on their favorite Happy Meal toy ideas
- Fund the development of the best ones.
- Offer scholarships as prizes to the winners.
- Then capture the stories and use them in PR campaigns.
The takeaways:
- Engaged customers.
- More compelling reasons to buy a Happy Meal (to see the cool prizes that other kids designed).
- Better use of resources.
AfriGadget
Kiva