Reply from AG on Felicity letter

[ponydreamer]

I know I have shared this before...but here I go again:

I have a dear friend that used to work for AG. About a year before they started retiring Felicity's things, she told me that it was going to happen. She told me that the plan was to wait a while after Felicity had been retired, and then re-introduce her with something new.

Now...they decided not to retire Felicity because of the customer uproar. However...bringing back the school dress and other things...they wouldn't do this if they planned to retire her completely. That would be much too costly.

And don't think AG didn't expect to get complaints about retiring her or her things. They weren't one bit surprised by our reaction. It's what they wanted. And they will keep telling us that she's not coming back into the catalog...because if or when she does...we will flip out, and go on an ordering frenzy. Especially if they repintroduce her to the catalog with her friend Elizabeth!

Also...what they tell the CS people to tell us...is just fluff. Why would they tell the employees who come in contact with us every day things that they don't want us to know?

I have a feeling that no one but the powers that be know what is going on with dear Felicity. And I, for one, am going to sit back and wait and see what happens. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[courtneysunshine]

Jecca, I tend to agree with you on all points. It does seem like AG at least has started to be more intersted in a child's view point. Even some of the questions in a survey from a month ago prove this point. They were asking about jewelry styles. One of the questions was "Would you ask your parents to buy this for you?". I think Mattel realizes that parents now-a-days will buy what the child asks for. (I realize this might not be fair for those whose parents can't afford a lot, but a company survives by people buying from them) Anyway, it was really neat, because they sent dual surveys. One for the child and one for the parent. (I really liked this idea!) As I said before, one of the items that was on the survey appeared as the charm braceet for the new Club if I'm not mistaken. My daughter tells them on every survey to please bring back Felicity's items and offer more items for her so maybe they are listening. Marketing Felicity and her friend Elizabeth would be a great way to reintroduce her to the next generation of AG fans. Amy that is a great idea for all you girls in the target age group to do!

Kim [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 29, 2004 06:39 PM: Message edited by: courtneysunshine ]</font>

[courtneysunshine]

Now...they decided not to retire Felicity because of the customer uproar.

Thanks for sharing this [img]smile.gif[/img] I hadn't heard it before, but it does make sense. We had a PS tell us that Felicity was slated from retirement, but it was this sharp increase in her sales with the opening of the NY store and not customer outcry that stopped her retirement. In any case, I agree it doesn't make sense to reintroduce some of her items and them get rid of her for good. We have been told before they are aware of what goes on on ebay and I can't see a company not doing something about it like reintroducing the retired items. Has anyone else noticed the sharp decline in prices on the School Outfit, Shoes & Garters, etc?

Kim [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Monika]

Ok, as a mom of two very powerful spenders - I can't even go to the craft store without buying them more than I have (at least I enjoy using all the stuff too [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img] ) & spent a second day spending close to $200 at the BAB store (there should be a fainting graemlin). I agree that mom's with children often spend more on what their children want than what they want for themselves - especially if it is something the mom likes too.

But a quick question-- when was Felicity originally introduced? Could there be an anniversory of some type? Plus, at least Hallmark still makes her Xmas ornament...

[KariS]

I know Elizabeth is English and wouldn't necessarily fit it with an anniversary of the Revolutionary War, but 2006 would be 230 years ago that America was "founded." It would be nice if there was some big to-do for Felicity in 2006 including her English friend Elizabeth maybe becoming an American or something like that. I can hope anyway! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[annkirstin]

Originally posted by courtneysunshine:
Now...they decided not to retire Felicity because of the customer uproar.

Thanks for sharing this [img]smile.gif[/img] I hadn't heard it before, but it does make sense. We had a PS tell us that Felicity was slated from retirement, but it was this sharp increase in her sales with the opening of the NY store and not customer outcry that stopped her retirement.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I know I've only said this a million times before and people are probably tired of hearing it, but Felicity was not slated for total retirement. Even though they had plans to reduce her collection, not add anything more to her collection, and relegate her to the web, she was not going to retire totally, as in stop being sold completely. This comes straight from Ms. Prohaska, Brand Manager at AG--pretty high up in the company. The PS's generally hardly know *anything* about AG's big plans--we've seen it time and time again that often times we know more than they do! Ms. Prohaska said they did *consider* discontinuing Felicity entirely, but it was only a consideration and not a decision.

It doesn't sound unlikely that, as Jenny related, AG *now* plans to use customer outcry to their advantage by making a big to-do out of Felicity's reintroduction someday, even though of course we won't know for sure until it happens. But Ms. Prohaska also told me in April 2003 that they had no *current* plans to reintroduce items in the future, although she would take my suggestion under advisement and would not rule anything out. So it's definitely possible that the slated cancellation of about 3/4 of Felicity's collection was a bit of a test, where if customers protested en masse, they would benefit from bringing her back someday, and if customers didn't protest, well, then they'd benefit from having eliminated some of their lowest sellers from their warehouse space and budget.

Here is the link to my thread about the phone conversation with Ms. Prohaska, and I figure if anyone knows what she was talking about, it's her.

[Sakurako]

I received a letter back from American Girl in response to the one I wrote about giving Felicity half of Coconut's space in the last catalog. It doesn't look like Felicity will ever be returned to the catalog. The jist of the letter was that nothing is forever, the company needs to move on and that items which don't appeal to the masses will be replaced by those which might prove more popular. I meant to bring the letter to work so I could quote from it directly -- partly because the service rep tried so hard to include appropriate references to "those who remain young at heart" whenever she mentioned children. It was funny in a slightly insulting sort of way. The only positive bit was that they would pass along my suggestion to the AG Place stores. I had mentioned that there should be a space set up in each AGP store which was sized for the dolls so you could take a picture of your doll visiting AG Place in a to-scale setting. My correspondent seemed to like that idea but was pretty unbending about yielding to the pressure of the "Society of American Girl Collectors" to restore Felicity to her natural place in the catalog. Which was interesting because I didn't mention that Society and don't belong to it!

[lieu2]

I am glad that I started Kaitlin's Felicity's collection. Even though she will probably never get the retired outfits; unless they are reintroduced, at least she will have some. I wonder if they never reintroduce her through the catalogue will she become enchanted with Felicity. I think girls like to have the toys that their friends have. I have a question. All of you keep saying Elizabeth is English. Wasn't Felicity English too because the US wasn't established yet. I am a little confused. I have to admit, I read the books several years ago and don't remember all the details.

[auri]

Originally posted by lieu2:
... I have a question. All of you keep saying Elizabeth is English. Wasn't Felicity English too because the US wasn't established yet. I am a little confused. I have to admit, I read the books several years ago and don't remember all the details.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Elizabeth's family are Tories, that is they support the Crown, whereas most of Felicity's family--but not her grandfather--sympathize with the rebels. I think that's why Elizabeth is referred to as "English" and Felicity is not.

[kitschywoman]

That does it! My Felicity is really peeved. [img]mad.gif[/img] I'm planning a visit to AGP Chicago some time around my birthday in November. I was going to bring Anastasia, but Felicity talked me into bringing her along to. She wants me to make her a protest sign so she can "march" on AGP to express her displeasure. If you see a lady in AGP holding a Felicity with a protest sign in early November, that will be me! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Hmmm...I think Anastasia will want a protest sign. And I can probably talk the girls into giving their dolls signs, too. We can have a five doll march!

Anne (who is quite serious)

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 30, 2004 10:05 AM: Message edited by: kitschywoman ]</font>