A company in business for a long time has built up goodwill along the way and that is worth money. They likely have assets that they do not use very often but could. Some companies own tracts of land that have increased in value as cities change; some have ideas or products that consumers bought years ago. Sales slowed and the company introduced new products, but the old ones were put on the shelf for some time in the future. Once in while, companies will see new trends that are emerging and some of their old products seem to fit the new trends, so maybe just maybe they can become hits in the future.

In an article by Gregory Schmidt of the New York Times News Service, the toymaker Mattel best known for the Barbie doll is reintroducing 3 dormant lines that have not graced toy shelves for decades – Major Matt Mason, Big Jim and Pulsar.

If you do not them, they are action figures and Mattel has a division called Back in Action.

Mattel reported a 19% jump in sales in 2021, and part of the recent success is expansion of legacy brands.

At the moment, if you went down a toy aisle, many of the products are tied to a movie or a TV show or a video game.

Mattel’s strategy for reviving a dormant brand is to engage in hard core fans first, said Richard Dickson, the company’s president and chief operating officer. If the fans take to it, the next step is come up with tie-in content and create a line for children.

Mattel used the formula for Masters of the Universe and now is working on Monster High.

In the toy world, Comic-Con which is held in many cities around the country is an important marketing venue (if you never been to one, you should drop by and see the passion of the fans).

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all companies that celebrate high birthdays have assets somewhere. Once in the while the assets are brought to the marketplace to create even greater assets. For the companies you invest in, do you know what the hidden assets are?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.