Interesting article featuring AG

[Dancingfewl423]

American Girl: A Brand that Girls Love and Mom's Trust
Mike Grasee
Vice President of Marketing, American Girl
By Jen Barnum, MTM Inc

"We were very fortunate to be joined at our first breakfast meeting by Mike Grasee, Vice President of Marketing for American Girl. Mike's responsibilities include the American Girl catalog, website (www.americangirl.com), and the very successful book publishing channels.



Mike started off the discussion with a heartwarming home video of a young girl opening up her birthday gift. Complete with a hyperactive dog and a meddling sister that wanted nothing more than to help her older sibling rip open her gift, the clip showed a young girl screaming, crying tears of joy, and jumping around after realizing she received the gift she wanted most. It gave everyone the feeling of what it is like for young girls to receive an American Girl doll.



American Girl's mission is to "Celebrate Girls", which shines through in every aspect of their business. With their Vision in mind to build a brand that girls love and mom's trust, they developed the philosophy of "The Vitamins in The Chocolate Cake"--The cake being what girls love about American Girl dolls and the vitamins being what moms learn to trust about the wholesomeness of the American Girl history and spirit.



As Mike discussed the different strategies and channels used by American Girl, including catalogs & web (their two largest channels), retail, magazines, and books, he also went into detail on the experiential retail store. In the American Girl stores in both Chicago and New York, girls and moms alike can share a "Girls Day Out" experience, complete with a theatre showing, dining and tea party caf where favorite doll treats are served and doll chairs fit at the dining table, a doll hair salon to give your doll an up-do, "dress like your doll" changing stations, and museum-like snapshots of what each doll's room would've looked like during that time period. Just to give us all perspective, the average shopper spends two hours in the store.

While their historical target market has been 8-12 year-old girls, they have launched into an even younger crowd with their Bitty Baby and Angelina Ballerina collections. American Girl continues to find new ways to expand that still allow them to live out their mission. Their most recent adventure has been into the cinema. Julia Roberts approached American Girl about directing a film about Samantha, one of their leading dolls. After careful consideration, they decided to go ahead with production and the movie should be coming out this Christmas, with the potential to roll a new one out each year.

American Girl is not just about the doll--it's about the experience that surrounds it. They have done an amazing job creating a story around each doll through books and editorial provided, and have spent a lot of time connecting with young girls through positive channels. American Girl provides magazines that focus on contemporary issues that young girls face today, a library that includes books around adolescent changes for young girls, and they have spent time connecting girls with other girls."

[monimarine]

Thanks for posting that article! [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 18, 2005 05:37 PM: Message edited by: monimarine ]</font>

[vew-tori]

I enjoyed the article. Thanks.