![]() ![]() Barbie had very high brand awareness, but people just weren't buying into her. The brand had been too focused on marketing the latest products, she explains, and needed to overhaul its strategy to focus on Barbie's brand purpose: that girls can imagine their future selves through the doll. They were questioning Barbie as a positive role model against the backdrop of societal change that was happening." "We were hearing from parents, mums in particular who grew up with and played with Barbie were hesitating about buying Barbie for their own daughters. ![]() But when we listened to the social sentiment, we didn't like the playback," McKnight says. "The brand has never seen a dramatic decline. In the third quarter to 30 September, Mattel reported a 10% increase in sales of Barbie – outpacing its wider doll portfolio, which grew 5%. Nothing about this overhaul has been easy, though. Manufacturing and design had to ensure all new doll shapes could fit within existing Barbie playsets, such as houses and vehicles. It even counts an astrophysicist, builder, beekeeper, political candidate and entomologist among the range, as well as a more physically diverse range of dolls featuring different skin tones, hair fibres, body sizes and body types, including a wheelchair user.īarbie is being given a 21st-century makeover – even if she is still, for the most part, unattainably beautiful.ĭiversifying Barbie looks to be paying off. 'Parents were questioning Barbie as a positive role model against the backdrop of societal change' Today, the range includes career dolls – parents can snap up anything from a judge to a news anchor to an astronaut. Following a 20% drop in sales between 20, brand owner Mattel overhauled the Barbie collection to focus on a more diverse and aspirational range of dolls. Barbie has had to take steps to address this.
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