To elevate marketing strategy for the national toy brand Little Tikes, Minnesota Carlson students tapped into their own childhood memories.
“Getting to reflect on my own experiences with Little Tikes toys that I loved as a child and bringing some elements of that into this project gives it a very personal meaning,” says MBA student Taylor Tarrolly, ’22 MHRIR, who led a team of six University of Minnesota students to assess Little Tikes’ brand strategy during the fall 2025 semester.
The project occurred through a partnership between Carlson Brand Enterprise and Josh Hackbarth, ’08 MBA, who is the chief marketing officer of MGA Entertainment, the parent company of Little Tikes. Each semester, Carlson Brand Enterprise connects teams of students with real-world companies, giving the students an opportunity to work as marketing strategy consultants. With guidance from Minnesota Carlson faculty, the students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to help the client companies solve complex business problems.
For Little Tikes, the students’ goal was to help the brand reach Millennial and Gen Z parents.
“From a process standpoint, we approached this project in three different phases,” Tarrolly says. “There’s a bigger component that exists with the overarching brand. There’s another component that exists around competition, and then a third component around restructuring.”
The team completed a comprehensive analysis using both primary and secondary research methods.
“We’re looking at competitive benchmarking and case studies,” says Austin Lind, another MBA student who worked on the project. “We’ve also done a couple of surveys, going out and asking consumers real questions. And then we also did some in-depth interviews with people working at Little Tikes.”
In their final presentation, the students offered the client their findings and recommendations — with a personalized touch. The students included childhood photos of themselves playing with Little Tikes toys, illustrating a full-circle moment from kid to consultant.
“Little Tikes is a well-known brand across generations,” Lind says. “It was exciting for me to work with a brand that I know, and it really means a lot for us to work with real companies as students. It provides us skill-building, where we can apply these academic concepts that we’re learning to the real world.”
Lind remembers playing with his Little Tikes turtle sandbox as a kid, but both he and Tarrolly say their favorite toy was the signature red-and-yellow Little Tikes Cozy Coupe car.
“This has brought back so many great memories of being outside, being active, running around, enjoying the freedom of being a kid and playing,” Tarrolly says.
While the project felt nostalgic for the students, it also helped them envision their future careers.
“With experiences like this, we already have the foundation and the groundwork that will provide us the ability to really hit the ground running when we go on to later work for a company,” Lind says. “It just builds confidence, and working with people across the community that Carlson has is really beneficial.”
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