Marketing and all things related

Marketing Blurb loves to finger our son’s collection of Hot Wheels cars. We are a vicarious collector, of sorts. But 10,000 serious Hot Wheels collectors have actually over-run the small town of Speed, Kansas for a Mattel-sponsored event called The Need for Speed. The confab of adult collectors is gathered to buy, sell, traded, and talk Hot Wheels with actual Mattel designers flown in from headquarters in El Segundo, CA. And there is plenty to talk about—since Mattel has sold over three billion Hot Wheels cars since their 1968 debut. There are 800 different models available in 11,000 variations. Some models are rare. According to The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required,) collector Bruce Pascal bought a pink 1969 rear-loading Volkswagen "Beach Bomb" bus for a rumored $72,000 in the year 2000. Marketing Blurb loves these 1:64 scale gems because they require less upkeep than the real vehicle, and we can own as many as our son lets us borrow.