Mattel sold model car construction kits on Australia’s largest automotive listings platform to gain a foothold into a category dominated by Lego.
Mattel unveiled its new Brick Shop sets in May 2025 with a range of Hot Wheels model cars.
While the toys were to be distributed by large retailers, the company knew that it faced strong competition from Lego on the shelves.
To steal a march on a more established rival in Australia, Mattel listed its new sets like real vehicles on the country’s largest automotive marketplace, Carsales, with images created by professional car photographers.
The toymaker also injected the stunt with celebrity appeal by hiring former racing driver Craig Lowndes to build and then sell his own Brick Shop model Mercedes on Carsales.
According to Thinkerbell, the agency that created the campaign, the idea generated 147 pieces of media coverage and Lowndes’ car sold 18 seconds after it was listed on Carsales. Within 14 weeks of the campaign launch, Mattel had sold all of its initial stock of Hot Wheels Brick Shop sets, totalling 14,300 units. The agency has stated that this represented a 7% share of the market*.
Since the launch of the Hot Wheels models, Mattel has expanded its range of Brick Shop products, to include He-Man sets, as well as those in partnership with Xbox.
The launch of Mattel’s Brick Shop products comes as more adults are buying toys for themselves, creating a lucrative opportunity for manufacturers. A Harris Poll published in October, for example, found that 65% of American adults who had participated in play within the past year — which was about 80% of those surveyed —had spent more than $100 on toys and crafts.
But despite the buoyant market, Mattel must still overcome significant challenges to succeed with a product that goes toe-to-toe with Lego, which is the dominant brand in construction kits. The Little Listings campaign helps Mattel win attention for its products by being novel, but it also creates an advantage by moving consideration and purchase to a platform that it does not have to share with its larger and more established rival.
Selling the Hot Wheels Brick Shop kits on Carsales also reinforced the proposition of the products: that they are so realistic that they should be sold as cars, not toys.
*Thinkerbell did not state in its case study how ‘market’ was defined in this instance
