- Mattel’s Hot Wheels has debuted a brand new purpose platform called Challenge Accepted. The challenge is for parents to allow their children to fail in order for kids to build resilience and self esteem.
- The effort, based on insights from Hot Wheels and Dr. Lisa Blackwell at Mindset Works, found that parents tend to intervene too often, which takes away a kid’s chance to develop.
- The brand platform includes the Challenger Spirit Fund, which will support Mission 44 to further its mission of uplifting young people from underserved communities through education, opportunity and empowerment.
Parents are concerned with their children’s well being and while they often try to help when kids struggle, this is actually doing a disservice to their kids, according to research from Hot Wheels and Mindset Works. Their data revealed that 71% of parents report stepping in when their children face small challenges, which hurts kids’ opportunities to foster a growth mindset.
Mattel is making a play to show parents that they care about parenting concerns in this new brand platform. By working with Mindset Works, the organization is illustrating the connection between how physical play helps kids establish a positive self esteem. And in turn, keep playing with physical toys top of mind.
“It is a critical concept for the world today, because within every challenge lies an opportunity to learn and grow,” said Roberto Stanichi, executive vice president, Hot Wheels & head of vehicles and building sets at Mattel. “We strive to ignite that challenger spirit in everyone, but especially in our younger fans that are ages three to five,” he continued. “We encourage them to exercise a growth mindset by trying to take on challenges, overcoming obstacles and having the courage to grow. Or, as we say at Hot Wheels: Try, Fail, Repeat, Grow.”
“It’s important for parents and guardians to foster this mindset in young kids as they’re playing with toys,” continued Stanichi. “Around the age of five, children are typically more vulnerable to developing fixed mindset beliefs. We’ve seen this in many instances, including play – like when a child gives up when they aren’t feeling successful building a track set or completing a loop with their favorite toy car.”
The brand will have an opportunity to activate on this message through their fund. They will join Sir Lewis Hamilton and Mission 44 at the F1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas this month, where they will bring young kids to experience the race and meet with Hot Wheels designers to learn first-hand about the physics behind the toys.
