Outline-Barbie

Ÿ Introduction
o Thesis: Mattel used various methods to gain insight into what their customers wanted from Barbie as their wants and needs changed through new social movements, ideas, and increasing competition.
o Tracing the changes through different eras
§ The beginning: 1950’s
§ Feminist Movement
§ Civil Rights Movement
§ Current time
Ÿ Gaining insights: Barbie's beginnings
o Ruth Handler saw her daughter liked giving her dolls adult roles but most dolls for infants so found a gap in the market
o Found a German doll that represented what she wanted to produceàgave it to her daughter for a test
Ÿ The Conservative 50’s
o Types of insights gained
§ Very conservative society but found women had the urge to be empowered
§ Barbie was a working woman but still very fashionable and alluring to me
o Faced problems that society wasn’t ready for this
§ Too promiscuous
§ Had breasts and sexy eyes (before dolls had no womanly form)
§ Barbie had a job (empowered)
o First toy with marketing strategy based mostly in TV
Ÿ Feminist Movement
o Barbie had many new occupations (empowered women)
§ Girls and their mothers had the need to have a role model of a strong woman who could make a living for herself
o Body shape changed
Ÿ Minority’s fight for equality and its effect
o Realized they had to fulfill a need from the minority community
o Introduce a black and Hispanic Barbie
Ÿ Current time:
o Competing with sexier Bratz Dolls
§ Keep their image? Or grow from the success of these edgier dolls
§ They won’t the lawsuit so what are they going to do next?
o Competing with increasing types of toys and electronic toys
§ Dolls with no special features so no longer catching the attention of customers
· Harder to capture the imagination of this generation
§ How try to fix this?
· Add new electronic/web based accessories to keep up with the times
o Barbie Girl’s virtual world
o Video/Computer games
· Barbie accessories and dolls related to Barbie movies
Ÿ Conclusion
o Mattel has changed Barbie’s marketing strategy throughout the times to reach the customers of new generations
o What I have learned from this study?
§ Impact of social movement on brand strategy
§ Mistakes a company can make in its research of customers needs
o Application to customer insights
§ The importance of understanding the every-changing needs and wants of a customer base in order to keep a brand strong for more than 50 years
Ÿ Questions
o Is it geared enough towards gaining insights—I’m afraid that it is just about their marketing strategy
o I’m worried that I won’t be able to find enough sources on this. There was one book at the library that looked good but that was about it. Do you know of anyplace I can look?
o Do you think this set up is okay? I just think there were so many changes and additions to Barbie over the past 50 years so I didn’t know how to categorize these changes