The December 23, 2014, Wall Street Journal front-page article “Floundering Mattel Tries to Make Things Fun Again” by Paul Ziobro could have been a “bad case” example from Eric Ries’ book THE LEAN STARTUP: HOW TODAY’S ENTREPRENEURS USE CONTINUOUS INNOVATION TO CREATE RADICALLY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES.

The Journal article discusses how bogged down Mattel has been in traditional product development mode:

[A]ccording to a memo sent in August by the company’s head of human resources that outlined the rules, “There should be no more than a TOTAL of three meetings to make any decision.”

The new edicts are part of an effort by Mattel Chief Executive Bryan Stockton to overhaul a culture of conference rooms and PowerPoint presentations so the company can get back to thinking about toys.

“We may have been a little bashful to push on the creative side,” Mr. Stockton said in an interview. “We need to push ourselves a little further, let ourselves be a little freer, a little less formulaic.”

For anyone whose company is suffering from the same malaise, reading Ries’ book will be an eye opener.

Particularly impressive is Ries’ concept of the MVP – Minimum Viable Product – that can be built or introduced to test the waters. Rather than trying to release a full-fledged product that consumers may not want, Ries explains that it is better to release a less-extensive product and get feedback on it.

Recently I had a brief discussion about creating marketing materials for a new company. What caught my attention was the name of the company and its planned product. The name was very old-fashioned, not memorable, and not SEO-friendly.

As I had just read Ries’ book, I thought about how testing an MVP on the company name and product would be a good idea rather than immediately spending money on producing marketing materials that might turn out to be for a product that consumers do not want.

After having done a marketing communications project for a tech startup that had to pivot from its original target market (Ries explains pivoting in his book), I know how important it is to test whether what you think is a terrific new idea/product is really something the market wants and will pay for. (Note that the pay for part is usually the most important.)

What is also important in this Journal article about Mattel is how the entire toy landscape has changed, including this information:

Mattel and the toy industry have changed dramatically since … 2010, the year Apple Inc. introduced the iPad, which now vies for children’s attention. Mattel research shows younger children still spend about the same amount of time playing with traditional toys, but there has been a sharp drop among 8 to 10-year-olds.

This change in an industry affected by digital products is one that impacts a great many industries besides toys, including book publishing and music publishing. And while there is no crystal ball to see way into the future, business creators need to be aware that their product concepts can be severely impacted by market conditions not yet on the horizon.

I recommend reading Eric Ries’ book THE LEAN STARTUP and considering the lessons for your own business. If you need a nudge to read the book, consider this one paragraph from the Mattel article:

Several current and former executives said they were so inundated with meetings that they would put fake appointments on their Outlook calendars so people would think they weren’t available and could get other work done.

Now that’s really sad – and probably much more pervasive than many business chiefs realize.

© 2014 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a digital marketer as well as a fiction and nonfiction author.