Barbie: The American Girl Goes Global

Barbie: The American Girl Goes Global

1. Describe Mattel’s global marketing strategy for Barbie and assess its success.

Mattel pushed Barbie in to Global market by adapting fashion and culture trends to it product. Difficulties for Mattel to enter global market are culture, barriers and competitors. Mattel faced problem in the Middle East about religious and social grounds. Parents and religious leaders think Barbie is odd with their culture value and Arab girl’s reality is different from Barbie. In Brazil, Barbie has competition from local rival which has lower price and more realistic. However, Mettel found that they did not need a total overhaul their product to be successful, For example, Mettel launched Barbie with a painted head spot and dressed in Sari with universal Barbie in India.

Moreover, Mettel fought competitors in Japan by joining forces with Bandai, Japan’s largest toy company. They adapted Barbie to Japanese culture and realized that Japan’s market prefers well known American Barbie. Finally, partnership strategies had been eliminated but still Mettel had a huge success with 31% of total revenue. In brief, Global strategies are partnerships that adapt it product to local taste, economic condition and pricing. I think that Mettel is doing Fair in Middle East and well in the Asian market. Overall, Mettel is doing well, but they will need to adapt a strategy to make more market share in the Middle East.

2. Mattel has experience problems in entering the Japanese market. How could Mattel have achieved greater success in Japan?

Mattel faced the complex distribution system and intense competition from Japanese brands. At first, consumers did not know much about Barbie so Mettel enlisted the service of Takara, a Japanese toy specialist. Mettel learned that Barbie’s legs are too long and her chest is too large: They changed Barbie to look appealing to the Japanese aesthetics. Mattel also noticed that Japanese girls preferred American Barbie which became top selling doll in Japan. Mattel achieved success by attempting to adapt Barbie to Japanese culture and made American Barbie get more market share. From what I have read from the case, I think that the original American Barbie still has high demand in markets even in countries with strict religion and culture. It would have a strong advantage for Mattel in market place.

3. What strategy