If I was the CEO I would...

April 27, 2006 10:12 AM

If you were the Management of Bazooka Gum maker Topps, what would you do differently?

I'm fascinated by proxy fights and activist shareholders. A Second proxy fight has been launched against Topps, maker of Bazooka Bubble Gum and of Baseball Card Fame.

"Over the past six years the current Board of Directors have overseen ...extremely poor operating performance, declining stock price, an inexcusable misuse of its balance sheet, poor corporate governance, excessive S,G&A expenses and the payment of egregious salaries and bonuses to executives at Topps in light of management's inability to stem chronic declining revenue and earnings.

Pembridge's nominees, if elected ...will immediately explore all strategic alternatives ...including the sale of the Company, ...or a significant share repurchase ...as well as reviewing operating initiatives and overhead reduction."

If you were the management or consultant to Topps, what would you do differently? or what angles would you come up with to improve the companies position?

I am looking for Ideas of what MeFi'ers have to say...

"If I was in charge I would....."

- Launch an accessory line?

- License Bazooka Joe Differently?

- Raise the Stakes somehow in Baseball Card Trading?

- Stop selling cards/gum/ ?

- or....?

(No, this is purely hypothetical, I am not at all affiliated with Topps. Bausch and Lomb's Problems fascinate me too, so if you have any opinion on that company and its angles, feel free to email me :) email in profile.)

posted by Izzmeister to Work & Money (11 answers total)

Not sure there's much Topps can do, really. The collectible card business has been in decline for a while now, and I don't imagine they make much from selling gum and other horrible candies.

Still, maybe give Bazooka Joe a Myspace page?
posted by schoolgirl report at 10:17 AM on April 27, 2006

I'd rethink issuing a card for each of Barry Bond's homers between now and infamy, uh, I mean passing the Babe.
posted by docgonzo at 10:22 AM on April 27, 2006

Is there not a current wave of nostalgia/irony to ride. Start making more throwback trendy gear. Use you brands in some cool ways and market toward both the hipster group and the Hot Topic crew.
posted by Dr_Octavius at 10:31 AM on April 27, 2006

Make the comics smutty. I mean, really smutty. The art is already at the level of a Tijuana Bible, why not go all the way?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:36 AM on April 27, 2006

I'd go to the chewing gum factory and let that poor bastard out. He's been stuck and sending those messages for decades.
posted by alana at 10:44 AM on April 27, 2006

IANATwelveyearold, but no one I know collects any kinds of cards anymore except perhaps Magic:TheGathering or something playable. Perhaps if Bazooka Joe made a playable game along the simple lines of FLUXX, and included specialty game-changer cards with packs of gum, they'd sell them like wildfire methinks because even college students would catch on with that, if the game is addictive enough. I think they need to get into the college student market.
posted by vanoakenfold at 10:55 AM on April 27, 2006

I'd figure out a way to make the flavor last for more than 30 seconds
posted by jalexei at 11:00 AM on April 27, 2006

Split the cards from the candy and sell one or the other business line. Why would you have a business doing both things?

On further research, I see they tried this already and couldn't get the price they wanted.
posted by patricio at 11:06 AM on April 27, 2006

I'd try to find a way to tie my baseball cards with a fantasy baseball league. Each card you get represents a single season worth of one player's stats. By collecting cards and scanning them in to your computer, you build a team. Your team could end up being a dream team of epic proportions (The Babe, McGwire, Griffey Jr, all from their peak seasons!)

Your team plays other teams in order to win fame and fortune.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:28 AM on April 27, 2006

I think they need to focus on what demographic they're trying to appeal to. From what I know of Topps their product is all over the map: bad gum with bad jokes for the 5-12 year-old group, racy comics for geeks 12 and older, sports cards for jocks 12 and older. Those are all niche markets and there doesn't seem like a lot of potential for crossover sales.

For a quick buck, they could try riding the hipster nostalgia wave (assuming they haven't already). You know, t-shirts, lunch-pails, bobbleheads, etc. They have a ton of recognizable properties.

vanoakenfold, I just had a wonderful vision of a baseball/Pokemon hybrid game where you can match two baseball legends against each other in mortal combat.
posted by lekvar at 11:48 AM on April 27, 2006

Kids are online; give the cards inherent meaning (i.e. collectable regardless), but add online value that increases their value.

How about an MMO of some kind (even something like Albatross18, a rather fun little golf MMO), where the cards have codes that give you stuff in-game.
posted by lowlife at 12:02 PM on April 27, 2006