By: Mattel's world-class competitive intelligence system crunches sales reports, children's play-pattern studies, and even findings on where kids go online.
The system picked up signals that young girls, heavily influenced by the gyrations of pop star Britney Spears, wanted a doll bolder and brasher than Mattel's pert-and-pale Barbie. Yet, today, MGA's hip-hop cool Bratz threaten Barbie's reign as queen of the dolls.
Worldwide sales of Bratz reached $700 million last year - growing more than 45% over the previous 12 months, while sales of Barbie have stagnated.
Barbie's share of the fashion doll market has shrunk from 75% in 2000 to roughly 60% today, and new rivals - Janay and Friends from Integrity Toys, Girls on the Go from Tolly Tots, and the Princess line from Disney - are all crowding into the doll aisle.
Mattel had the means to see it coming and act decisively to protect its franchise. What happened?
Story Guide: How Barbie Lost Her Groove Great product; historical franchise; huge market share; unbelievable customer affinity. And rapidly dropping popularity
Operational Details on the Barbie Situation:
Barbie's Heroes: Mattel's intelligence agents, their bosses, and who played what role in the problematic reinvention of Barbie.
Roadblock: CEOs can be the Greatest Obstacle to Success. Mattel's intelligence told it kids wanted hipper Barbies; CEO Robert Eckert and Mattel reacted slowly, and paid the price.
World Class Tool Box: Mattel uses a sophisticated set of data and intelligence tools to steer the Barbie franchise.
Near-Sighted Corporate Intelligence Can Be as Deadly as the Competition. Rival companies with successful toys put Barbie in a tough spot. Politics, social pressures and fashion changes can sink you or - as Japanese car-makers demonstrated - make you a winner.
ACNielsen: Retail Riches. Every day, ACNielsen gathers data associated with millions of retail purchases, from apples in Arizona and Barbies in Boston. It charges a bundle for the results. Is it worth it?
