By Rick Kaempfer
When my son Tommy told me early last year that he had some ideas for new video game designs, I encouraged him to share these ideas with the company that designs them. That’s the marketing/advertising man in me. I thought the ideas actually showed promise, and although it was a long shot, wouldn’t it be a marketing coup for a company to promote a new product actually inspired by one of the product’s devoted users?
Tommy was in third grade at the time, and this is the letter he sent to Mattel, Inc, the makers of Pixter—a hand-held video game for kids under 12. I didn’t help him with the letter at all. This is totally his own creation.
Dear Pixter Company,
I have an idea for two new Pixter software cartridges. I will be very happy if you take my ideas.
The first one is called “Architecture Masters.” It will be for kids that want to have a chance to build buildings on their Pixters. The activities will be: Build a Building, Color a Landmark, City View and Make Materials.
The other one is called “Watermarks and More.” This one will be for kids that are special effects lovers. The activities are: Free Draw, Watermarks Fun, Bleed Up, and 3-D Effects. A bonus is that it will have up to sixteen special effects.
Sincerely,
Tommy Kaempfer
Age 9
I warned Tommy that the odds of getting a response were against him, but you never know, maybe somebody will read it and consider it. They did more than that. They sent Tommy a very special letter. Here it is without corrections...
Dear Thomas Laempher,
Thank you for taking the time contact Mattel to share your idea with us. We always enjoy hearing from our young consumers and are happy to have this opportunity to respond to your letter personally.
We appreciate the time and energy you took to develop your suggestion. However, due to restrictions from our lawyers, we cannot accept unsolicited ideas from anyone outside of our company, except from professional design houses and toy brokers. We also cannot distribute or discuss your letter with others at Mattel. We have a big staff of our own designers to develop new toys and games—sometimes it takes several months or longer to develop a toy from concept to production.
We understand that you worked hard on your letter, so we are returning it to you, unexamined, so that you can share it with your friends and family.
Sincerely,
Mattel Inc.
Consumer Relations
As you might imagine, Tommy had a few questions.
"If they didn’t examine my letter how did they know I offered designs?" he asked.
"Um..." I said. "Actually, that's a good question."
"Why would lawyers tell them they couldn’t listen to kids?" he asked.
"Unfortunately," I explained, "these companies are afraid of lawsuits. If they come out with a design that is anything like a kid's design, the kid could claim it was his idea and sue them for lots of money."
"But I don't want the money," Tommy said. "I just want to play the game."
"That's just the way it is these days," I said.
Tommy was very disturbed by the letter, but he dropped the subject and never brought it up again. He also stopped caring about Pixter—his formerly favorite toy.
The Pixter sits untouched in his little brother’s room.
Oh well. I'm sure Mattel has lots of other customers. If not, at least they won’t be facing a lawsuit.
