Comments, not a complaint

[JMCDS]

Hi, Mattel folks! Got some things on my mind I've been wanting to share w/ you, so figured I'd do it here.

 

So this is about doll heads and bodies.

 

So first there's your basic standard (or traditional) Barbie and head. Even though her looks have changed a lot over the year, her basic shape and size remained the same for a long, long time.

 

Then there's the new body--some call it the goddess body. Ok, fine. Change is good.

 

Then comes Bratz (boo, hiss, rude noises). And apparently panic on the part of Mattel.

 

Ok, so first it was My Scene. I like My Scene dolls--they're pretty. And they are so obviously a "new breed", an alternative, not a replacement, that even though I don't collect them, they're ok w/ me. Fun to check out and I do buy the fashions (ESPECIALLY the guy fashions, if I may digress. THANK YOU so much for finally making some COOL clothes for Ken--even though the My Scene guys are complete dorks--sorry, it's true. But their clothes are GREAT! More please, LOTS more!).

 

Ok, fine so far.

 

But then in come the Big head dolls. First Kelly, which thankfully died a quick death. Now Barbie.

 

Ok, anyone who's got a brain must know that the vast bulk of your sales comes from kids, as opposed to adults. So it's no surprise that there's so much focus on that demographic and trying to figure out what they want.

 

BUT, why cut off your nose to spite your face? Why ignore one group while trying to win another? You can do it all, easily. You're already doing it. Why not just do it better?

 

Right now on the shelves of the doll aisles, there are Barbies w/ the new body and the traditional body. These are NOT dolls from years past. A new batch of Ballerina Barbies is on the shelves right now and they have the traditional body. And there are also, of course, the Fashion Fever dolls and the My Scene dolls. Even in the collectible line, you've got the Traditional body, the Model Muse body and the bendy cartoon body for American Idol and some of the cartoon/comic dolls. And there's still the jointed body and the soft body, etc. etc.

 

So, why, if you've obviously got the manufacturing capability to make more than one or two different bodies and heads at a time, would you STOP making one type, losing one area of sales, while trying to gain another? It doesn't make sense.

 

Bratz is never gonna have the adult market that Barbie does. There are definitely adults that collect Bratz, but not near the numbers. It's a fad doll. Bratz won't be around forever and probably not for all that long.

 

So make the My Scenes. Make the Fashion Fevers. Those can be your two Big Head/big kid/anti-Bratz lines.

 

Then make the Princess/Fairy/Ballerina lines for the younger kids, like you're doing, but give 'em back the small heads. It's one more way to make the Fashion Fevers and My Scenes stand out as being cool and for the older kids, not the very young ones. Besides, the folks buying those Princess/Fairy/Ballerina dolls are the parents. It's good marketing to make a doll that they like themselves and can relate to from their own childhood. A kid gets older, she WANTS to have something different from Mom and little sis. But while Mom's doing the shopping, she will very often go w/ what she knows, what she's used to. No, not ALWAYS, of course, but a LOT!

 

And, since a lot of adults collect playline dolls and there are still a large group of adults that also prefer the older traditional body, and since you can make them at the same time, why NOT do it??

 

(And please don't underestimate that group--adults who collect playline--they are there! Some collect Playline only or simply ALL playlines along w/ everything else. Some, like me, buy the pretty/unique ones in between Collectibles, when I need a quick Barbie fix --or want a new doll to model an outfit or be part of a scene.)

 

And the same w/ the heads: since you CAN make both the newer, larger head and the smaller traditional head at the same time, why in the world would you NOT want to do that when there's a market and demand for both?

 

Why would you NOT want to tap into every market you could???

 

Another thing: from a marketing point of view, even though you've identified these Princess/Fairy/Ballerina dolls as "what (little) kids want", everyone gets bored w/ the same thing eventually. EVEN little kids and again, even more so, the moms of those little kids (and grandmas and aunts, etc.) who are shopping for them.

 

So...where ARE the career dolls and gardening dolls and baking dolls and playing sports dolls and all the other kinds of dolls you use to make for little kids? They came w/ great little accessories, kids loved 'em and adults did, too. You've cut off that whole area of sales. Even if it wasn't your biggest seller, it was certainly an area you were beating Bratz in, so why drop it?

 

Personally, I think you should identify and emphasize the differences. Something for everyone. The Traditional doll for the adult or the mom who doesn't feel her li'l darlin' is quite ready for hot times w/ the Fashion Fever crowd.

 

Maybe as a "bridge doll", in comes the goddess body line, but they've still got the Traditional head.

 

Then, there's the segue to My Scene, who loses the Traditional head but keeps the now-familiar goddess body and finally, for the oldest child who's got one foot in the nursery and one foot in junior high, there's the Fashion Fever w/ the "new" (goddess) body and the BRAND NEW Fashon Fever brand head that sure ain't your little sister's Barbie doll!

 

It would work, everyone would win. Especially, I would think, Mattel.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

I give you all rights to any ideas herein. No claims, no compensation owed, no nothin'. Just make the dolls!

 

Thanks.

 

Joann