AG should have a "Collector Line"

[ubarose]

I have a friend who works in marketing for a toy company. She has been telling me about how bad sales have been over the past few years. The Baby Boom Echo is aging out of the toy market, which means there are simply fewer children. Her company is trying to expand their market to teens and adults. I believe that AG is trying to do this as well with their attempt to brand non-doll products and their failed GOML line.

I was thinking that AG might be able to expand their market just by marketing some of their existing items as a "Collector's Line" and putting an age recommendation of say 10 - adult on it. Items such as Felicity's party treats and Kaya's jingle dress come to mind.

I think that one of the effects of such a marketing strategy would be that they might be able to hang onto their pre-teen market a bit longer. Girls, particularly pre-teens, emulate older girls. Just by changing the recommended age on a line of products, sends the message to pre-teens that teens still collect AG. It also encourages teens and young adults to continue to collect AG without "losing face." They can tell people, " Oh, these aren't toys. This is the 'AG Collector Line.' " It also wouldn't hurt sales to younger girls, because as soon as you mark a higher age recommendation on something, younger kids want it. Parents are always buying above their child's age recommendation because all parents believe that their child is smarter and more mature than the average child. (Raise your hand if you have a child under 8 with AG stuff).

*edited for grammer and spelling

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 08, 2005 11:47 AM: Message edited by: ubarose ]</font>

[jaydon724]

Raising my hand here.

Good idea. I hope AG is listening.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 08, 2005 11:43 AM: Message edited by: smoredrama ]</font>

[monimarine]

Raising my hand too!

And I agree with that suggestion ubarose! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

[AGMommy]

My 10 year-old DD was 6 when she received Samantha and Molly for her birthday and Christmas, and 7 when she received Kit.

I think it would help if AG continued to show older (12-14) year-old girls in the catalogues. I've noticed in the past 2-3 years My Twinn shows older girls than they used to.

[americangirlsrus]

Another hand up!!
I admit, I'm very comfortable with my daughter playing with all the AG stuff we have, but get a little nervous with her friends! [img]redface.gif[/img]

[MorningStarsGirl]

Raising my hand as well. Great Idea. Oh, AGeeeee [img]smile.gif[/img]

[KimberBee]

That?s a great idea! A lot of the historicals accessories and some outfits are very delicate, so it makes sense that they could be sold as collectables. I think that would be a great marketing technique, keeping the AGT as more play-able dolls and targeting younger children with them, and then selling the historicals as collectables for older girls and teens. Also it?s much easier to defend dolls when you say they are collectables [img]wink.gif[/img]

[ponydreamer]

When my daughter got her first AG, the recommended age was 9. She was 6. [img]wink.gif[/img]

I agree very much with your ideas, Ubarose.

I also think it would give so many adults the "go ahead" to collect.

I still get a wee bit embarrassed sometimes. [img]redface.gif[/img]

[lynet44]

Nicole will be getting her first AGT this year and she will only be four. She is so excited to get AGT21. She is actually saving for her and Jipp (Samantha's dog) right now. We keep giving her our change when she behaves well and she puts it all in her piggy bank. It's so cute.

But depending on how things go with her first AGT, that is, if she plays with her and takes good care of her, we might end up getting Samantha and Nellie for her for Christmas. We'll see. I am not buying stuff in advance for her anymore. I have gotten burnt with that several times.

But I would love a collector's line. That would be great.

[christhedolllady]

I am a little wary for Mattel to start a "collectors line". I'm just not real confident that they could handle this. And here's why...

Back in the 90's I collected Barbie. Some were "play" dolls purchased at Toys 'R' Us, alot came from specialty doll shops. Then, all of a sudden, the Barbie craze hit and I found dolls that used to be carried exclusively at specialty shops were now being sold at Venture (a discount store, like K-Mart) at the same specialty shop price! Toy's 'R' Us had a "limited edition" doll that sold for $900! I also noticed the quality began to slip in the costumes. The fabric was "cheaper" and dolls that were once dressed with removable stockings and shoes now came with their legs painted white and their feet painted black. Those that still came with removable shoes had feet with out any toe detail (these dolls looked like the should have been in that movie, The Witches)!

My understanding, too, is that AG was created to fill a particular void in play dolls for a certain age group, but this was perhaps 15 years ago(?)and times have changed since then. One one hand, I think it is a good idea to expand the "age limit" though I wonder if it would conflict with the "spirit" of which AG was created, but like I said, times have changed.

I agree with your views, I just don't have that much confidence in Mattel. Perhaps they have learned their lesson.