Revitalizing Barbie: A Comprehensive Marketing Strategy Report

This report provides a comprehensive marketing strategy for Mattel's Barbie doll, addressing key business problems such as increased competition, unrealistic body image concerns, privacy issues, and gender stereotypes. It analyzes the competitive landscape using Porter's Five Forces model ...Read More

Running Head: MARKETING STRATEGY 0
2019
System04115
3/29/2019
MARKETING STRATEGY

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Executive summary
Barbie doll is one of the most popular toys in toys and games manufacturer industry created
by Mattel Inc. Initially, the Barbie doll was marketed through a saying that each little girl
requires a doll for projecting herself to dream of her future.The company has been facing
various issues that have also lead to a decrease in sales of Barbie Doll. One of the major
issues identified for Mattel’s was increase in competition in the industry. Other relevant
issues associated with the brand included unrealistic body image, privacy concern, and
gender stereotypes
Considering the porter’s generic competitive strategy the company needs to sustain in the
increasing competition, for which one of the relevant strategies would be a differentiation
strategy. In order to resolve the problem identified of targeting only young females by the
brand. This can overcome through changing brand perception, which could be done by a
marketing campaign by the company encouraging heroes to target boys as well. Moreover,
the most approachable strategy for the company to overcome the decreasing sales of the
company would be a product development strategy.

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Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Business problem.......................................................................................................................4
Issue analysis..............................................................................................................................5
Strategic marketing alternatives.................................................................................................9
Porters generic marketing strategy: Differentiation –..........................................................10
Target group –......................................................................................................................10
Marketing mix strategies......................................................................................................11
Product strategy................................................................................................................11
Promotional strategy: Aggressive marketing...................................................................12
Pricing strategy - Affordability........................................................................................13
Brand repositioning..............................................................................................................13
Marketing recommendations....................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Barbie doll is one of the most popular toys in toys and games manufacturer industry created
by Mattel Inc. Since the social trends and another external environment have changed, the
consumer preferences are changing at a rapid pace. Initially, the Barbie doll was marketed
through a saying that each little girl requires a doll for projecting herself to dream of her
future. Since years, the doll was marketed with various outfits that also depict the career of a
girl. The company has been facing various issues that have also lead to a decrease in sales of
Barbie Doll (Adam & Kotler, 2014). The report will include major issues for the company
and marketing strategies to overcome those issues.

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Business problem
One of the major issues identified for Mattel’s would increase in competition in the industry.
There are some other relevant issues associated with this issue that includes:
 Unrealistic body image – One of the major issues regarding this that the company has
faced includes the criticism by the customers and the industry about the brand
reflecting unrealistic body image of a girl through this doll. Initially, the Barbie doll
was developed with a very small waistline. The girls tend to imagine themselves in
that body shape, which is practically not possible and led to unrealistic efforts by girls
(Jarman, 2016).
 Privacy concern – With some of the Barbie’s models the issue of privacy was
identified. For example, video girl Barbie had an inbuilt camera for which federal
bureau of investigation had issue warning considering the breach of privacy and the
risk of using the toy by the predators for a criminal purpose (Bach, 2017).
 Gender stereotypes - Another major issue regarding the product was it is toy made
for girls. However, which change in market retailers and customer preferences the
unisex toys was preferred. The retailers market the goods not according to gender
anymore. They marketed the goods as per the theme instead of gender stereotypes.
For instance, the wider toy retailing industry had brought major change and it was
observed that the customer attention has rapidly enhanced over gender stereotypes in
this industry and pointed fingers on gender marketing concern. In the United States
the second biggest retailer decide to avoid departments for boys and girls separately
(Balmer & Abratt, 2016).
From this, it can be said that competition is one of the major problems that the business is
facing. There are various companies coming up with new products in the industry, which

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result in major competitors and effective the company’s revenue. Management has to
bring innovation and major changes in the marketing of goods to gain competitive
advantage and sustain in the industry further (Chari & Feng, 2018).
Issue analysis
These issues can be analyzed through the various model. For instance for analyzing the
competitor's industry analysis needs to be done for which porters five force models can be
applied. According to Porter's five-force model, the major five forces that are affecting the
Mattel business decision would include
 Competitors – From the case, it was identified that the major competitors were LEGO
and Hasbro which introduced to toys like my little pony, transformers, and Jenga. The
competition is very high in the market. Moreover, indirect competition has also been
increased with the change in technology. For example, tablets, mobile devices or
other electronic games like PlayStation have taken over the market to a greater extent
(Dobbs, 2014).
 The threat of new entrants – The entry to the industry is not that difficult for the
companies and the companies entering the industry are coming up with an innovative
idea and bring along the technological advancement. This affects the pricing policy
for the company as the company becomes unreasonable to ask for premium prices by
the customers. Considering this Mattel has to manage the challenges and issues
related to new entrants and develops barriers to save its competitive edge (Hsu, 2016).
 Bargaining power of suppliers – According to this force the bargain powers are not in
hands of suppliers the reason being the company is procuring raw material from
various suppliers and not rely on a single source. However, some of the dominant

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positioned suppliers can affect the profit margins for the company that Mattel must
consider as it may influence the company’s profitability.
 Bargaining power of buyers – With an increase in options for the customer the
demand from the customer has also increased largely. They are asking for best offers
and wish to pay the minimum for the product and the customer has become smarter,
search for various substitute product, and compare rationally. Therefore, the threat of
bargaining power to the buyers is higher for the company.
 The threat of substitute goods – This is one of the major force that is influencing the
business of Mattel as there is a various substitute to Barbie like fashion dolls in the
local market or online doll decoration games. Therefore, it can be said that this threat
to the company is high (Ogutu & Mathooko, 2015).
Another model that can be helpful to analyze Mattel internal and external environment
analysis would include SWOT analysis
Strengths
 Brand name – The brand name is one of eth biggest strength of the company that is
responsible for the recognition by the customer around the globe and increase the
brand goodwill.
 Wide range – The range of goods by the brand is very wide that could be one of the
reasons for the company to sustain in the market yet and brand recognition.
 Global market leader – Mattel has been market leader according to toy industry
offering goods worldwide. This also effect the brand recognition and brand image.
 Good retailing network – The retailing network of the company has been due to which
the company is able to reach out to maximum customers in various nations (Hunt &
Bicen, 2017).

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 Customized product as per the nation’s culture – the company has customized the
product according to each nation it is offering goods. For example, in Arabic
countries their traditional dress has been used while creating a product.
Weakness
 Limited product portfolio – The Company is limited to Barbie dolls as product
portfolio. This could be one of the disadvantages for the company as they would be
unable to offer different types of products to customers.
 Fake imitations – In the local market, the imitability of the product is one of the major
weakness of the company. The prices for these goods are very low than the original
product that affects the company’s revenue to a greater extent (Jarman, 2016).
Opportunities
 Product innovation – The company can bring rapid innovation through product range
a new product development could be done by the company.
 Increase in Barbie activities – The activities associated with Barbie can be increased
like events or television shows for kids to attract children.
 Regain dominance in the industry – The Company has lost the market share since
some years due to increase in competition and change is customer preference, which
can be taken as an opportunity by the company and regain the dominance in the
industry (Chatzoglou & Chatzoudes, 2018).
Threats
 Change in the taste of the customer
 Change in technology
 The threat of new entrants

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 Increased competition (Bruns, 2013)
Moreover, the issues identified can be analyzed through the STP of the company.
Segmentation
The company has segmented the goods through customized and innovative dolls that can be
involved in various activities.
Target
The company is targeting the young females of the upper and middle-class group. This could
be one of the reasons for the issues of gender stereotypes identified in the previous section.
Positioning
The positioning of the product was different since years but one of the major positioning
includes Barbie serving as a role model for a teenage girl. This has been one of the major
causes of unrealistic body shape issue identified previously. This has affected the teenage
girls to believe that they need to have a very small waistline and similar body shape to look
beautiful, which was completely unrealistic (barbie.mattel, 2019).
These issues could be the reason for the decrease in gross sales of the company.

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Figure 1: Mattel’s (Barbie) gross sales from 2012 to 2018 (Source: (statista, 2019)
From the figure it can be analyzed that the company has faced a various decline in sales
volume since years.
Strategic marketing alternatives
Some of the alternative strategies that the company could have adopted in order to overcome
the issues that are competitive strategies of the company could include:

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Porters generic marketing strategy: Differentiation –
Figure 2: (Source: (Betton, 2017)
Considering the porter’s generic competitive strategy the company needs to sustain in the
increasing competition, for which one of the relevant strategies would be a differentiation
strategy. According to this strategy, the company will consider approaching a broad customer
base with innovation through the product. This could include a new range of products that
would increase in activities by Barbie.
Target group –
 Hero’s – In order to resolve the problem identified previous was targeting only young
females by the brand. This needs to be overcome through creating a brand perception,
which could be done by a marketing campaign by the company encouraging heroes.
Through this, the company can reflect playing with Barbie by a boy as well. This

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would also reflect a campaign against gender stereotypes or encourage equality
(Andersson, 2016).
 Mothers – Mothers prefer their children to have a safe and high-quality product for
their kids. The mother would be the perfect target customer who could influence and
be the purchase decision maker for the product. The campaign could show the Barbie
that a child’s mother uses to play with and now making her children play with the
same brand with innovation in them.
Marketing mix strategies
Product strategy
Ansoff’s matrix: New product development
Figure 3: (source: (Aksoy, 2018)
For the product strategy of the company, Ansoff’s matrix could be used. There are various
strategies that a company can be adopted according to the market to be targeted and products

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to be offered to the customer. This may include offering existing products in an existing
market or existing product to a new market. Other two grinds indicate a strategy that includes
offering new product to a completely new or untapped market or new product to be offered to
the existing market. Barbie has already tapped most of the market worldwide due to which
the scope for tapping into a new market is not been identified (Baker & Bowen, 2015).
The most approachable strategy for the company to overcome the decreasing sales of the
company would be a product development strategy. The company could introduce toys with
technological advancement and a new product line. This could be investing in technology to
be integrated with the product or completely new product range like online Barbie games
original to be played through paid applications or video games.
The major advantages of this strategy would be overcoming the saturated market issue. The
market for the Barbie dolls has been saturated and the need for some new product by the
brand has been identified. Another advantage would be an increase in customer database and
would help to target boys along with girls with new products to offer. However, the major
disadvantage would be an increase in the risk of the success factor of the product due to
existing customer perception as Barbie being a popular brand for girls. Moreover the
investment would be huge for this strategy to be implemented and for new product
development some changes have to be adopted by the company according to the nation in
which it must be offering new products (Betton, 2017).
Promotional strategy: Aggressive marketing
 Attractive for kids – The promotional campaign must be attractive to the kids at first
place and then target parents for the products.
 Advertisement to change customer perception that is reflecting boys using Barbie toys
as well (Fan & Lau, 2015).

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Pricing strategy - Affordability
The current pricing strategy of the company is premium pricing. However, the company can
adopt a competitive pricing strategy and price skimming strategy that is reducing the cost of
the price when new model being launched (Chu & Liu, 2017).
Brand repositioning
There is a need for the brand to reposition its self in the market. Considering the figure below
one of the major competitor of Mattel is LEGO, who follows this strategy that is existing in
the educational grid. Barbie can move towards the educational use of toys and gain
Educational opportunity as the parents or mother would prefer to go for the educational toys
for their kids at priority (Doole & Lowe, 2008).
Figure 4: (Source: (Hsu, 2016)

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Marketing recommendations
Some of the recommendations made to the brand manager of the company would be
 Keep updating – One of the key recommendations for the brand would be to keeping
the products and brand up to date. Be aware of the change in the environment and
accordingly bring changes to the brand (Finne, 2017).
 Technological updating – Keeping the use of technology to a higher rate and keep
updating the technology to sustain in the competitive market (Porter, 2014).
 Improved quality – The quality of the product is USP of the brand that needs to be
attained in the future as well. The brand must keep improving the quality and keep the
quality to the best so that they could ask for premium prices from the customers
(Gong & Yi, 2018)
 Innovation – Innovation in the product and product differentiation is very important,
which the company must work for regularly, getting new ideas to innovate the product
and process (Reid, 2015).
 Customer relationship management – The brand manager must maintain CRM and
enhance the customer base and customer loyalty; especially developing direct
relationships with mothers (Jaworski, 2018).
 Customer feedback – The customer feedback must be taken by the company to
understand the weak points of the product and improving the product while
understanding the customer needs and expectation from the brand (Hudson & Roth,
2016).

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Conclusion
From this piece of research, it can be concluded that the toy industry is changing since years
and due to increase in competition one of the largest toy manufacturer, Mattel’s Barbie brand
has faced various issues for which the report included developing a strategic marketing
strategy for the company. One of the major issues identified was the increase in a competition
associated with some other issues like unrealistic body image, privacy concern, and gender
stereotypes. These issues were analyzed using some of the models like the porters five force
model, SWOT analysis, and understand the STP of the brand.
The strategic marketing strategies included product differentiation, new product
development, price skimming strategy, and aggressive promotional strategy.

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