Hey everyone-
First of all, my sincere apologies for not being around at all lately. As Amy mentioned a while back, my role with the company has changed pretty drastically. Before I get into the Muppety specifics -- those that I can address, anyway -- a little background on me, and what I do exactly (in broad terms).
Interestingly enough, my title has not changed. I am Marketing Manager, and I have been Marketing Manager as long as I have been with MR. (I was, once upon a time, in sales at Palisades, but I was in Marketing the last half of my tenure there, as well.) Here's what changed for me: when I started with MR, my role was primarily in developing promotions and planning events, as well as placing ads and communicating to the public (and the media) specifics about products and product lines, etc. Basically, I was Marketing Communications, or MarCom.
NOW, I have moved more into a PRODUCT Marketing role... which means that certain lines "belong" to me. I come up with the product plans, I create the P&L for these products, I work with Product Development & Engineering to ensure that they look right, work right, are on time, are within their budgets, etc. Everything. It all comes back to me. Getting pictures taken, copy written... I may not DO everything personally, but ultimately it's my responsibility to get this stuff done. On time. With the approved budget.
While I have been transitioning to all of this, many of the MarCom aspects of the job have moved over -- in the interim -- to our Direct Marketing team. (Which included Amy!) Ultimately, I WILL BE responsible for the promotion and marketing of my lines. (We are in the process of trying to find the right PR Agency to assist in managing the day to day...) But I won't lie -- that's one area in which my attention has not really been focused. Don't take it personally that I've not been here. I am trying to get my 2008 & 09 product plans off the ground... and I started in this role late last year, so I am WAAAY behind the 8 Ball on the 08 plan! Working very long days (and nights) right now!
(While I am making pathetic excuses for not being around btw, I wanted to let everyone know about my OTHER excuse... my newborn son Alexander "Xander" Warner Allen, who has been taking up the vast majority of my time outside of the MR office!)
So, the burning question would have to be: which lines am I managing?
The answer is: you probably don't care about the others, but I am managing the Muppets (and all of Disney, actually.) The bad news is the Gonzo and Animal were both 90% developed before I moved into this role, and so while I DID try to impact them both, my actual involvement is much less than I would have liked. Not to say that I don't think that both are phenomenal... they are. But they do have their issues. (Jamie's review of Animal I think, was spot on and completely objective! Thanks, man!) Fozzie will be my first Muppet, soup-to-nuts... so you can come after me with torches and pitchforks if he is no good...
So, I still cannot be here everyday, much as I would like to. But what I would like to do is start an "Ask Travis" Thread, which I promise to check several times weekly. I will start the thread tonight, and you guys can ask me anything you want there. (Maybe a Mod can sticky it up near the top or something..?)
As for Gonzo... the pics on the MR site are of the final factory samples. That is what the product looks like. BUT, that said, it's a bad photo... just like Animal. (Yes, we are working internally to address the photography issue...) What I will tell you is this: I have a Gonzo in my office, and I love him. My girlfriend in fact -- though admittedly not a die-hard Muppet fan like this crew -- says that Gonzo is her favorite of the four. Including Fozzie who is also in my office...
The likeness on Gonzo is phenomenal. And the structure of the nose is great too. The issue that fans will have is that the nose is solid foam, covered with a netting material. This was, in the end, our only option. Why? Well, we know that the actual material corrodes over time, so that was not an option. We tried a number of other materials, but for one reason or another, they all failed. (We even flocked it at one point, which actually looked nice... but failed age testing!) In the end that -- the net -- is the direction that Disney wanted us to go, and we had spent months upon months experimenting with nothing better to go on. And so, here we are.
I am going to try to get some better pics this week... if I have to take them myself. So I know that I am biased, but I truly believe that Gonzo is on par with Animal in terms of his accuracy. (Interesting note, the Gonzo in my office is actually not SUPPOSED to be in my office -- I couldn't resist him, and "borrowed" him from one of our engineering team!) Is he 100% accurate? No. But he's the closest thing we will ever have to getting the "real deal," and he's worth the price. (This as a fan... because I have to buy mine, too!)
Sorry for the long, rambling message... I as sleep deprived on account of the new bundle of joy. Hopefully this message is somewhat coherent. Now, off to start the "Ask Travis" thread... Later gang...
Travis