Paper Brainstorm: Barbie

For my paper, I’m planning on writing a case study on the Barbie brand. The reason I’m interested in this topic is because I’ve always loved Barbie and I collected vintage Barbies when I was younger. I’m also very interested in this brand because I think it is one of the best examples of art imitating life. By this I mean that Barbie has been around for 50 years (in fact she just celebrated her 50th birthday) but she is contentiously changing with the times. I’m also interested in the fact that even her occupations and hobbies change based on the status of women change. When she first came about in the 1959, it was not as acceptable for women to be a part of the workforce as it is now. However, as times have changed, there have been Barbie doctors, veterinarians, scuba divers, ect.
Within my paper, I’m going to examine these changes Barbie has undergone over her 50 years of existence. I will look into how Mattel has researched the trends and values of its current customer base and created a Barbie fit for the times. I’m thinking about breaking up the time periods into decades or major social movements. I will also examine how Mattel has positioned Barbie in the market compared to the other toys and try to find out the secret for their great success at making Barbie not just a toy but an iconic figure recognizable to people in every age group and in every country.
Another main part of my paper will be looking at the Barbie brand’s current status. I will examine more thoroughly the current marketing strategies of Barbie and what Mattel is changing to satisfy the needs of the current customer base. For example, I will look at how Barbie is becoming a bit sexier to keep up with kids who are growing up a lot faster than they did 20 years ago. I will also look into how Barbie is competing with new brands of dolls like Bratz. This competition is interesting because for the most part, Barbie has maintained a classy image even though she has gone through edgier phases. On the contrary, Bratz dolls send a completely different message to children (just look at the brand name). Thus, I will examine how Mattel is dealing with this competition as Bratz dolls have been widely popular. Is Mattel going to follow Bratz’s lead and become more like them, or retain their image? Also, because Mattel is currently in a lawsuit with the owner of the Bratz brand, I may look at this too (however, I’m not sure if this will completely flow with the focus of my paper).
Another interesting part of Barbie’s current status in the market is how she is competing with the other types of toys children and tweens are using. When Barbie first started, she was the “it” toy because she was more modern than the cloth baby dolls of the time periods before. However, now kids have so many more options on the types of toys they play with because technology has advanced so much. With the internet, video games, and other high-tech games of today, how will Mattel continue to grab the attention of kids? It seems like it will be a challenge for Mattel to do this as kids are using their imagination less and less as they have access to so many toys that imitate life so well. Are kids in 10 years going to want to play pretend with plastic dolls that can’t even move or speak on their own?
I think I need to narrow my focus down a bit more because I think I will be able to do this better once I’ve researched more. However, I have found one really interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how Mattel is giving its marketing strategies a makeover for Barbie’s 50th birthday. The article is called “Building an Edgier Barbie to Revive Franchise Sales” and can be found on the Wall Street Journal website.

Even the Name Needs a Change...

Like clockwork every year, my sister and I dress up in our most conservative clothes we own, roll our eyes, and jump in the car with our parents to drive to the Petroleum Club for a Christmas time feast with the grandparents. The Petroleum Club is the restaurant/banquet center on the top of skyscraper in Houston. The name says it all—it is a club for current and ex-oil businessmen. It started as a club where men in the 1950’s could take their associates and clients out for a nice business lunch or woo them at a fancy dinner party. The decor is classic but a little old and the food is fancy but boring. My grandparents love it though. Why? Because it is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. It’s the same group of good ‘ole boys on the board and their favorite part is there is a dance floor. Of course this is not the dance floors of my generation, it is very PG. There is always a man with a synthesizer playing some sort of waltz or foxtrot, or if things are getting really spicy, he may play a samba. All the old ladies set down their fur coats and join their husbands on the floor.
The majority of the clubs members are at least legally seniors, however there are a few younger ones. I believe this is only because they want the ability to kiss up to their bosses. Thus, this type of business club is only really liked by a (sadly) dying generation. The generation now is used to a plethora of choices for their clubs, restaurants, bars, social activities and so on. A young business man or woman now with newly disposable income does not want to pay a club fee every month to go to a restaurant that serves the same steak and buttery potatoes every night. This generation wants to try out all the new, hip restaurants. This generation is willing to stand in line for an hour to get into the hottest club. And most importantly, this generation (again, sadly) does not know how to do the fox trot.
So where does that leave the Petroleum Club and other social clubs like it? They must change with the times and market a new kind of club. However, this will not be easy as the club has been doing the same thing for the last 40 years. Also, I think the management of the Petroleum Club is not even aware that their customer base is rapidly declining. It is common for business to be so caught up in how much they like their product, they forget to really check into their customers and see if they are satisfied.
As a member of the younger generation myself, I have a couple suggestions for the club. First, they need to change the decor. I’m not suggesting a completed overhaul that would leave the club looking like a wannabe hipster establishment. I’m just suggesting that it remove the gaudy gold and red theme and create something a little younger. Also, they need to change the menu and change it often. My grandparents generation objects to choices and always talks about returning to the good ‘ole days when there was only one type of laundry detergent and the neighborhood butcher picked out their cuts of meat for them. On the contrary, the new generation does not like to be stuck in a rut. The Petroleum clubs needs to offer more innovative menus that change often and cater to the newbie member’s taste buds. Thirdly, they need to create a different line of events for its members. Instead of dance club parties, they could host wine tasting events and cater golf tournaments. Finally, they need to slowly try to market themselves in a new way. It’s important that they advertise that they are not just a stuffy club for men of ages past. Hopefully, the management of the Petroleum Club can see the changes coming their way and can see the big picture.

Too many choices?

The Barry Schwarz pod cast discusses how our modern world is significantly different than the world of previous generations because of the vast amount of choices available to everyone. One of his examples was that before there was only one type of jean, but now you have boot cut, straight leg, zipper, buttons, stone wash, acid wash, ect. He notes that while some choice is good, many choices are not necessarily good. The two negative effects are that these numerous choices produce paralysis rather than liberation, meaning that there are so many choices that people find it hard to choose at all. Also, even if we manage to make a choice, we will end up unhappy with our choice because we can imagine that we might have made a better choice. This idea relates strongly to consumers making decisions about products and services. If we go into an upscale department store to purchase a watch, we are faced with hundreds of options. There are sports watches, fine watches, medium quality watches. There are many different brands with many different styles. We must also choice whether we want gold, silver, a combination, or if we want to add precious stones. Often a consumer will look at all the watches but not be able to make a decision because there are too many choices. From what I have witnessed, people usually will leave and come back to make a decision. I believe this is especially true for when purchasing expensive items like watches because there is more money at stake. When a mother is purchasing diapers for her baby she may have to spend more time looking at all the diaper brands before choosing. However, she will probably not walk away from the decision because diapers are something she really needs right at that moment. She will not get so overwhelmed that she will leave and not purchase the diapers at all because in this case, she is not investing a large amount of money in her purchase. Therefore, in this case, I do not believe that Schwarz’s theory applies completely. I believe that only in situations where a lot of money or time is at stake will people perhaps avoid making a choice if they are presented with too many choices.
I do, however, agree with Schwarz's theory that we have so many choices, we often end up less satisfied with the option we chose. The California Management Review stages that people don’t often come into a store with a clear idea of what they want, even when they have a clear idea of the characteristics of the alternatives. Instead, people often construct their preferences when faced with a specific purchase decision. With this assumption in place, it is easy to see how Schwarz’ theory applies to consumer purchases. Without a clear idea of what they want, a consumer will have to personally choose a product out of the variety of choices. The choice is completely theirs so they will have to accept the responsibility if their chosen products isn’t perfect.
So how can marketers get past this dilemma to satisfy their customers? The role of a market is to discover and satisfy. The most general need marketers can satisfy is happiness. Therefore, is crucial that marketers avoid giving consumers too many choices. If they give too many choices, a consumer may be too overwhelmed to even make a choice that could possibly bring them the happiness they need. Even if they do manage to make a choice, with too many options, they will regret the choice they make and therefore will again miss out of the happiness. Large superstores, for example, should then avoid giving too many options of products and perhaps look at market segments and decide for them what they believe the best product would be for each segment. Perhaps they could have one diaper for the money conscious mom, one for the quality seeking mom, and one for the mom seeking a good combination.
One time in my life when I experienced the paradox of choice was when I was choosing a college. Back in my parent’s time, if you were lucky enough to go to college you just went to your state college, no questions asked. Students at the very top of the social rank may go to ivy leagues, but it was very rare that a Texan would go to the University of Virginia. However, when it came time for me to apply to college, I was given an endless list of possible college to apply too. Not only was I needing to choose what state to go to college in but I had the option of liberal arts colleges, colleges with excellent business schools, colleges with great social scenes, small colleges, all-women colleges, and just about everything in between. It was very overwhelming and I put off applying to the colleges because I didn’t know where to start. I believe that had I not had parents and an upbringing that greatly valued a college education, I may have even given up all together because the task of choosing seemed too daunting. However, I did eventually choose to apply to 6 different colleges and I ended up getting into 5 of them. Then, I had the task of choosing which of the five. I eventually chose the University of Texas; however, I faced the fear of choosing the wrong college. Because I had so many options, I knew that perhaps this college wasn’t the perfect one for me. I spent my entire freshman year examining my experience and comparing it to my friends at other colleges. Whenever something was unsatisfactory, I would fear that I had made the wrong choice even though overall I was really enjoying UT. Thus, although it was great that I was given more options of colleges because this meant that I could probably find a college that best suited me, I still was not able to be completely satisfied with my choice.