Barbie
OVERVIEW:
For more than six decades, the Barbie brand has become a cultural institution, evolving to reflect changing societal values and facing numerous controversies along the way.
Barbie was originally created by businesswoman Ruth Handler, a co-founder of the toy company Mattel. The inspiration came from watching her daughter, Barbara, and her friends play with paper dolls, giving them adult roles. At the time, most dolls on the market were modeled after babies. Handler realized there was a gap in the market for a doll that would allow girls to imagine their future possibilities.
ROLES:
XD
Visual Design
INTRODUCTION & APPROACH:
The Barbie website redesign was a central part of the brand's major overhaul to stay industry-relevant and combat years of declining sales.
The website redesign was also tied directly to the release of the new Fashionistas doll line, which introduced many advances in the brand, including new body types (curvy, tall, and petite), seven skin tones, and a variety of eye colors and hairstyles.
Working in partnership with the team at Mattel, we recommended leveraging an OPEN BRAND strategy which emphasized ON-DEMAND, PERSONAL, ENGAGING, and completely NETWORKED customer reach.
Applying the OPEN BRAND approach the agency was able to create an omni-channel experience, helping Mattel and Barbie obtain their goals and objectives.
This was complimented with building out a robust Omni-Commerce team of multi-disciplined individuals.
INSIGHTS:
WHAT WE LEARNED: THINK LIKE A RETAILER
The importance of a defined value proposition in the context of Barbie being a part of the Mattel brand ecosystem is crucial in delivering value of the following key dimensions:
PRICE
ASSORTMENT
SERVICE
EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY:
BEGIN WITH A PURPOSE:
Following an intensive competitive analysis, the team's primary objective was to define a comprehensive digital strategy to seamlessly integrate the Hot Wheels sub-brand within the overarching Mattel corporate identity. This required asking critical questions to develop a strategy focused on extrapolating key operational and brand objectives necessary for maximizing both individual brand equity and enterprise synergy.
Master & Brand/Sub-Brand Connections
Content Connection
Commerce Connection
Pricing & Indirect Retailer Integration
Brand Overviews
Shipping & Returns
External Drivers
WHY DO WE EXIST?
To get the world to play
HOW DO WE DO IT?
By making toys and games that bring a child’s imagination to the physical world
WHAT IS THE RESULT?
Fulfilled kids and parents that feel like heroes
ROLE OF THE SITE:
To become the go-to destination for a child’s imagination and play while becoming the definitive source for everything that falls under the Mattel umbrella.
BRAND OVERVIEW:
To maximize brand influence and revenue in the digital landscape, this review provides a critical evaluation of the entire Digital Ecosystem, assessing the complex relationship between all of the brand's touchpoints, including branded content and engagement sites, mobile experiences, and dedicated applications.
Digital Ecosystem Review:
An evaluation of the relationship between a brand’s digital channels, including branded content & engagement sites, mobile, & appsContent Structure:
An evaluation of how its positioned & integrates engagement content in relationship to its e-commerce counterpartsChannel Connection:
An evaluation of how seamlessly consumers can move between digital experiences & touchpointsE-commerce Structure:
An evaluation of the path to product and ultimately purchase (considered both D2C and indirect commerce)
CHALLENGE:
FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN CONTENT & COMMERCE:
Even with successful branded content experiences identified throughout the Barbie customer journey, we discovered an imbalance in the overall connection with commerce. The team mapped out several solutions to improve upon the total experience through our customer feedback/interviews in order to help up learn more and optimize for an improved experience.
CONTENT STRUCTURE
llow product list building on content/engagement experiences before leaving for another Mattel e-commerce site (ie: carry over Barbie products that peaked a child’s interest on Barbie.com)
Integrate the proper balance of supporting content on the e-commerce experience to serve as extended decision support and help build confidence in each purchasing decision
ECOMMERCE STRUCTURE
Avoid mimicking e-commerce features on non-commerce focused sites unless there is a clear and seamless manner in which to connect activity (ie: build a wish list)
Allow parents to import child’s product favorites/lists from content sites (ie: child marks favorites via product story pages)
CHALLENGE:
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
Elevate and actively promote the extensive list of Barbie branded apps for smartphones and tablets and integrate into the engagement sites
Build awareness for the Mattel OneStore across all channels and highlight the compelling features & benefits it offers to help build customer confidence and ensure that when they think of shopping any of Barbies’ products they think about starting at the Mattel OneStore
CHANNEL CONNECTION
Promote and celebrate Barbie’s e-commerce experience & its unique benefits on product packaging and branded content sites
Within organic search, assume adult audience and prioritize unpaid e-commerce results over branded engagement/content sites
Clearly communicate and set expectations for the customer as to which channels are shopping focused
In the e-commerce experience, clearly communicate the reasons to believe and shop directly from Barbie
GOALS:
ACHIEVING GROWTH VIA ECOMMERCE
A much more improved flow is proposed, to introduce a more elegant interconnection between content and commerce, to become the go-to destination:
Deliver a consumer-centric shopping experience no matter where they want to buy
Inspire and build customer confidence in every toy purchase that is on-trend, always-in-stock, offering the most complete Hot Wheels assortment
Be the destination for product exclusives, hard-to-find products and bundles not offered anywhere else
Be the richest source of product and brand information, tools & services at critical steps of the toy shopping journey
BETTER ASSORTMENT:
Strategic Imperative:
Be THE single source, go-to destination for Barbie—drive cross brand/category discovery by representing the full Mattel portfolio of brands in one easy-to-shop destination.
IMPROVED SERVICE:
Strategic Imperative:
Activate Barbie toy discovery tools and meaningful services to deliver the confidence that consumers need to be assured they’ll be getting THE right toy every time they shop.
ENHANCED EXPERIENCE:
Strategic Imperative:
Connecting to consumers with a meaningful experience platform, not just product and promotions, fosters a more genuine relationship and enables Barbie to be more relevant, more often.
RESULTS:
BREADTH OF BARBIE PRODUCT:
Exclusives & Bundles:
Delivered the ability to fuel shopping and drive more frequent visits through things like highlighted toys / product exclusives / unique items / exclusive bundles
Every Toy / All the Time:
An evolved experience to now present a full product assortment, hard to find products, and out-of-stock in an easier manner
Reaction Guaranteed:
Created a “ring the register” experience with confidence-building discovery tools / content and added an upgrade in filtering to ensure buyers get the right toy for the right moment
Toys On-Trend:
“What’s Trending” content now has the ability to assist consumers so they know they’re getting the hottest, most popular toys that their families are looking for
DELIVER UNIQUE EXPERIENCES:
Great Toys - Delivered:
Enhanced the purchasing experience for consumers—showcasing the best toys, delivered to doorsteps (on a schedule) leveraging the Barbie “Play” subscription
Rewarding Every Time:
Established a more robust experience through upgraded interactions and placing consumers in control of their rewards to fuel toy-buying loyalty
The Power of Personalization:
Deliberate presentation of the right toys, at the right time, to the right audiences based on the powerful combination of owned data, social-data and customer-provided preferences
The First to Get the Fun:
More exclusives, early consumer access to the hottest and newest toys and products paved the way for repeat visits, creating more reasons to shop at Barbie.com
MAKE BARBIE THE FIRST STOP:
Universal Wishlist:
Massive upgrades to shareable wishlists through social media, across the portfolio of OTHER Mattel sites—from the One Store to all the content / collector sites—helping gift buyers
Shoppable Videos:
Activated the moment of inspiration by enabling every Barbie or Mattel-branded video to be instantly shoppable opportunities
Ideas for Play:
Established a renewed confidence with parents for all their toy-buying needs through presenting content that helps inspire ideas for healthy and imaginative play
The Mattel Allowance:
Improved parent interaction by giving them tools, like an allowance function, that now provides them with an ability to reward children for a job well done
