Barbie: Battle of the doll divas hits cyberspaceMattel unveils its newest Barbie venture BarbieGirls.com and a Barbie MP3 player.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If Barbie can't fend off bitter rival Bratz in the "real" world, then she's going to take the battle to the "virtual" world and hopefully have better luck there. Barbie's parent Mattel (Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest toymaker, on Thursday unveiled its newest Barbie initiative called "Barbie Girls" which meshes together the online and offline play experience for girls.
Mattel had released some details about the new venture last week. However, the toymaker kept a few other surprises closely under wraps. Barbie Girls actually is a two-part concept. It's a Web site which comes to life on BarbieGirls.com, which launched on April 26. Mattel executives told reporters during a preview Thursday in New York City that the company hoped to create a "first-ever global online community designed exclusively for girls." At BarbieGirls.com, girls can create their own virtual characters, design their own rooms, shop at the mall using virtual money called "BBucks," go to the pet shop or to the movies or just hang out with their other virtual friends and chat live with other girls. "We're revolutionizing the way girls play to make it more fun and exciting," Chuck Scothon, senior vice president for Mattel's girls brands said during the event. "We are bringing together three things that girls love - music, fashion and the online world." He added that Mattel wanted to make the site a safe place for kids to play. To that end, the Web site features word filters that prevent kids from exchanging personal information such as phone numbers, names or addresses. Moreover, kids can also block other users or prevent others from contacting them on the Web site. The second component of Barbie Girls is the "Barbie Girl" device, which is a doll-shaped MP3 player that comes with its own accessories. The MP3 player launches in July and can hold up to 120 MP3 songs, with expandable memory. The doll-shaped MP3 player contains its own character, games, virtual pets and other features that are "unlocked" on BarbieGirls.com when the device is connected to the computer. Mattel is certainly hoping that its latest innovation helps turn things around for Barbie this year, especially since the brand continues to struggle against growing competition from the ever-popular Bratz dolls, produced by MGA Entertainment. Last week Mattel announced that worldwide sales for its flagship doll dropped a steep 21 percent in the United States. This is a big problem for the toymaker since industry analysts estimate that Barbie accounts for more than 20 percent of the company's sales and over 30 percent of its profits. The company does not break out sales and profits for its different toy brands. Moreover, market research firm NPD Group said in February that Bratz for the first time toppled Barbie as the No. 1 fashion-themed doll property during the final quarter of 2006. Mattel's CEO Robert Eckert told analysts last week that Barbie Girls was one of many ideas that the company has been working on to improve the brand's attractiveness to kids who are increasingly shunning traditional toys in favor of gadgets like MP3 players, cell phones and the the new generation of videogame consoles. So what do kids think about Barbie Girls? Julianna and Georgia, aged 11, belong to a select group of kids picked by Mattel to test-run the Web site. Both were at the Thursday event and helped this reporter to understand the site's various features. "I really like that I can chat with my friends. I also like all the fashion," said Julianna. Georgia was equally and "predictably" enthusiastic about Barbie Girls, although she couldn't help her honest response to this one question. "So do you think Barbie is cooler than Bratz now?" "I like Bratz. Bratz are cool. But this is cool too," she rushed in. Note to Mattel: Kids are a tougher crowd to sell to these days. |
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