Jennifer Connett

Jennifer is best known for producing the Official Collector's Guide CD-ROM project, Mattel's first effort in offering an encyclopedia-type reference of the Hot Wheels product line. When she was a child, Barbie was her favorite toy. Jennifer didn't give Hot Wheels much thought through the years, except to buy them for her younger brothers. Twenty years later, when she started dating her future husband Lance, her interest in Hot Wheels grew as she accompanied Lance and his son on their car hunts. In 1996, they moved to California when Jennifer was offered a job by Mattel Media. She produced a number of Barbie and Hot Wheels products during her five years with the company. Today, Jennifer is a producer with an interactive hi-tech software company, and she is more enthusiastic than ever about collecting Hot Wheels. While her husband spends his time searching for elusive variations, she likes to concentrate on seeking out Redlines -- a hobby they enjoy doing together.

CB's: Thanks for a few moments, Jennifer. Especially before jetting off on vacation!
Jennifer Connett: My pleasure. I thank you for asking me to be in your spotlight! Off to Florida to the races and to visit family. Not to worry, we are bringing a spare hard-case suitcase to lug all our new finds home in.

CB's: How did Mattel arrive at the decision to produce such a daunting project as the OCG CD-ROM? Did anyone know what a tremendous effort it would take to get a project like this out on the market?
Jennifer Connett: The decision was easy. I would not let up. They all knew I was what they called a "hardcore collector." Who else but me could have been considered to head this one up? Heck, I had to educate the marketing people on the interests of collectors! I don't think anyone really thought about how daunting it would be. I pushed real hard for it because I knew it was needed. I just let them know that there were plenty of people out there that could help us get it done. I honestly don't think they gave the project much thought. They planned a very low run and didn't market it at all. I think they were actually very surprised at how well it sold. They had to go to a second production run.

CB's: At what point were you brought in and what was the ultimate goal of the project?
Jennifer Connett: I was the originator of the project. We were brainstorming the product ideas for the next year and I would not let them forget that a collector guide would be a great product. I actually wrote up all the product specs and ideas first to present. I set up for a couple of months before we pitched the idea to the Hot Wheels team. At that time I had budgets, screen mock ups and Hot Wheels collector web sites for them to look at so they could get an idea of the seriousness of the collectors out there. The number one site they had to look at was none other than CBs!!!

CB's: How difficult was it to round up the collectors nationwide in order to photograph all of those vintage items? Was anyone at Mattel even aware of all the unique items that still existed in the hands of collectors?
Jennifer Connett: It was real easy to round up people for the photographs. It's all about the collectors. Everyone realized what the purpose of the product was and wanted to be involved. I met so many great people during this process. I still keep in touch with many of them. Now asking if Mattel was aware is a pretty funny question. A better one is why doesn't Mattel have the items to photograph? They really have no archive. Yeah, a few cars in a warehouse and some cases in the design center. That would have gotten us nowhere. Because of that fact, no, I don't think they had a clue of the unique items that existed. It was real hard talking to marketing people who could not even name a car that was in the existing line let alone something made 30 years ago. Don't get me wrong, there are a few people there that know a little, but for the most part, [they were] not interested and don't care. I was constantly getting calls from marketing people, licensing and various people for help. When they did the Final Run series, the package designer came to me and we found the cars for the package back from images taken for the OCG. They did not even have those! I don't know if I answered this question properly, but I feel better getting it off my chest (smile).

CB's: Jen, when last we met in person, it was a madhouse in Kansas City wrapping up the CD-ROM shoot. What was this like and did you expect to have this kind of cooperation from "Joe Public" Collector?
Jennifer Connett: Actually I really did. The whole goal of this project was to create a collector guide for the collectors that was really done BY the collectors. Being a collector myself, I know of the interest and motivation to create a Mattel-approved product that would contain useful and official information. I am grateful that many people went above and beyond what my expectations were. Many collectors in the local L.A. area literally brought over thousands of cars and just left them in our care to photograph and catalog. Proud to say not one car left in worse shape than when it arrived ... many left cleaner though. Several people gave up much of their personal time to come over and assist with the process. The photo shoot at my house went on for over three weeks! There were items that were contracted out to people such as the history and the car listings. If you look at the credits in the manual, you will see that all of these people were collectors, not Mattel employees. The "madhouse" in Kansas City was a great showing of collectors coming together. Chris Marshall, Lord knows how, got people from all over the country -- Canada, too -- to send some of the highest valued cars to his house. He then offered his house as a studio. Some great people drove to the shoot to assist, such as Dave [Thompson] and Jon Schwartz. It really renews your faith in the hobby to see how people came together for this. This was done with minimal backing from Mattel.

CB's: Why this type of format? Why not just do THE ultimate and final word/picture reference book by the folks who were and are responsible for the product, Mattel?
Jennifer Connett: The group I was in was Mattel Media. All we did was CD-ROMs. I also think they had some sort of book deal with a guy through Tomart.

CB's: What were your biggest hurdles and how did you overcome them?
Jennifer Connett: The biggest hurdle ... well that’s a tough one! I think the first biggest one was convincing Marketing that this was a good idea. I overcame this by doing my research and presenting all the information, in a way so they understood there were more than 500 collectors out there. The next big hurdle was finding all the cars to photograph. As many will note, in the short time we had, we could not get every color or variation. Our goal was to fill in the gaps with the second version. We overcame it Pie Chart with the help of all the collectors out there. When the word went out that we were looking, I got a ton of responses. I think the next biggest hurdle and the biggest fault of the product was the software engine. The development did not go as smoothly as planned. There was so much that was designed into the concept that never made it. Okay ... not to mention that the search engine was not bug free and that the speed was not optimized. I will not go into great detail, but I will say it did not come out exactly as planned. To the collectors out there, I apologize for that. Then the fun hurdle ... they wanted to put in a Twin Mill for the car. Okay, we like that casting, but it was being used for so much that year. We all know how popular the VW Bus is. The problem was convincing marketing -- again -- that the Bus was the way to go. The way we won this one was again, thanks to CB's and Trish. Trish posted a question on the website for me. It was a generic question -- what casting would you like to be included in a product, or something like that. She then would send me all of the responses. I then took a prototype of a gold VW Bus with 30th Anniversary logos on the sides [ABOVE RIGHT] and a pie chart [SEE BELOW] with all the results into a Hot Wheels review meeting and presented it to Matt Bousquette, Vice President of Boys Toys. How can you ignore such results? The ironic part -- they thought the Bus was too nice to put with the software. It should be used for something "more special." You will recognize it as the MVOA bus (smile). I did get approval on the Bus at that time though! The design of the actual Bus came from some casual conversation with one of the Corporate Integrity guys. He said, "how about Redlines" and from there we decided that Spectraflame was the only other match. I unfortunately could not get Marketing to buy into pink. I made mock-up images [ABOVE RIGHT] that showed different colors. From there, off to the designers. I basically just used the same color as the [30th Anniversary] Side Kick.

CB's: How were cars selected to be used on the CD and how many were not? Tell us about the hundreds of cars that were MAILED in?
Jennifer Connett: Boy is that a tough question to answer. It really is a two parter. For the cars selected to be used, it was pretty simple. We had hired collectors to help us create the database info. As everyone knows, it is virtually impossible to get all of the cars listed the first time through. It is expected to miss some. I then took all the lists and compiled them into one master database. I then, from my living room matched every car with their information -- okay, yes it was me and my error that called cars the wrong name (smile). I have thick skin -- I can take it! I was stuck in jury duty at the time and would come home, [spend] from 5pm to about 3am matching cars, then get up and go to jury duty at about 9am. The problem was that my deadline was only a few days away and I could not recruit anyone to help since I had the process down. When it came to the end, I had lots of cars without info and lots of info without cars. Without enough time or resources to have the car information written, checked for facts and then [run] through legal, we decided to save the pictures and use them in the second edition. Boy would that have been one great product!

CB's: The Redline magenta Bus was awesome, but what about the CD itself? Are you satisfied with it and did it meet your expectations?
Jennifer Connett: OUCH! Truth time. The software had some really cool features that I am proud of such as the designer interviews, all the collector information and the official history. Unfortunately the database part fell very short of my expectations. How bad is it that I cannot even use it for my own collection? We have about 7000 cars. It is not user friendly. Now I can say that was not the plan. We just didn’t get what we wanted. Band-Aid please -- this part is still sore.

CB's: I was there during a good part of the Kansas City shoot and saw a large number of Redline and Blackwall Prototypes photographed. I can't recall any being used in the final product. Why?
Jennifer Connett: This goes back to my previous answer. It was a team of one matching the images to the car data. I just ran out of time to get it all done. I still have copies of the cars. Perhaps we can run a special section on CB's featuring these cool finds!

CB's: Hindsight being 20/20, what would you change? What about public response or criticism to the project? Did Mattel higher-ups give you and your staff a favorable review of the final product?
Jennifer Connett: Having the hindsight, I would have concentrated on trying to do one thing well instead of trying to cram all of the additional features in. I would have started with the database part and made that rock before I worried about the quiz and the 30th Anniversary car section. The higher-ups are happy when you complete any project. I really don't think they pay too much attention to the software itself. They leave that up to their marketing and sales teams. I don't think there was much hope in the software to begin with. They did not think there were many collectors out there so it did not get the full support, as the kids get. When they wanted to plan a second version, they got this crazy idea of trying to market it to kids. They still don't get it.

CB's: I read a recent article in a major toy magazine chronicling a day in the life of the Hot Wheels design department. You were there -- what were it AND the people like?
Jennifer Connett: The people in the design center are GREAT! I was a welcomed nuisance. Larry Wood, Dave Weis, Nathan Proach and the rest of the guys were always helpful when I went to the design center, which was very often! It was real neat to see all the makings of the cars. If only collectors knew how many cars were designed that were never really made.

CB's: What is the feeling at Mattel towards the adult collectors? We've heard for so many years that we don't account for enough of their business to matter. Is that true?
Jennifer Connett: Mattel is finally starting to understand collectors. I'm not saying they have completely, but they're getting better. I think the Cool Collectibles are a great example. I don't think it is true that we [the collectors] don't account for enough business. I think they're finally realizing that we are a large portion of the business. An example of that is the tampo refreshes that they seem to be doing more often.

CB's: Mattel has tried their hand in being the main sponsor of the Convention. Why did they drop out?
Jennifer Connett: All I know is that Mattel is going to get involved every five years instead of every year.

CB's: You are not with Mattel any more. Do you still collect and are you in contact with your old buddies at Mattel?
Jennifer Connett: Of course! It is only five miles down the road from my new job. I stay in contact with some of the people in my old division [Mattel Media] as well as Larry [Wood]. He is one of the coolest people around. Very down to earth ... and he likes my margaritas. If you were to ever stop by for one of my Hot Wheels parties, you would most likely find him there! We’re having one the beginning of March -- any takers ...? Even now I feel like I still have a piece of Hot Wheels history when I go to work now. I work with Ira Gilford at my new job. Now there is a crazy fellow! I could tell stories, but he will read this interview (smile).

CB's: Are you as a collector comfortable with the status and future of the so-called Hot Wheels Convention, or do you think it has become stale and should take a different direction? I'll admit I'm a little biased here!
Jennifer Connett: Very simple. The last convention I bought a ticket for the sale of the cars, and then room pops [visits]. That is what I like -- meeting the collectors and buying cars, so yes, it's stale.

CB's: What were some of the non-Wheels products you worked on while at Mattel?
Jennifer Connett: Well, at Mattel, I only worked on software. The latest stuff I worked on was the Barbie line. The last one I was the producer on before I left was the Barbie Magic Genie Bottle and CD-ROM.

CB's: As a young girl, you loved Barbie dolls and barely gave Hot Wheels a second thought. As an adult, working with both, which product line jazzed you the most?
Jennifer Connett: Let's see ... Hot Wheels! Barbie who?

CB's: Do you think Mattel will ever try a project like the CD-ROM again and would you go back and take the reins if asked?
Jennifer Connett: Mattel did some deal when they were selling the Learning Company. They cannot publish software for another seven years. Although, they did license off the Hot Wheels software to the company I'm now working for. I don't think I would go back. I really like what I'm doing now, [but] who knows what I'll be doing in seven years? I will still be collecting though!

CB's: Thanks again for your time Jennifer. You are a good friend and a real Redline collector. I wish you many more years of success -- just don't grab all the Purples!!!!
Jennifer Connett: Thanks for thinking of me, it's an honor. Dave, I will think of you when I snag up the purples!

(Interview conducted by Charger68 and `65Skylark)

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