Running head: AMERICAN GIRL CASE STUDY

Introduction Imagine a world with no worries, a world that you can spend countless hours using your imagination. As we grow into adults we shortly forget this world of childhood that we once lived. Looking back at my childhood I recall found memories of my American Girl dolls. They werent just dolls to me; to me my dolls gave me inspiration and the confidence to develop into a young woman with dreams and aspirations. American Girl is a company that doesnt just offer products but a culture that celebrates girls and all that they could be. Background of American Girl American Girl was established in 1986 by Pleasant T. Rowland in Middleton, Wisconsin as an independent company. Her ambitions were to create a line of highquality dolls based on historically correct characters, and then bring them to life in a series of kid-friendly novels. Now American
Eight Original Historical Characters

Girl is a division of Mattel, Inc. which is one of the worlds most influential toy companies, selling toys such as Hot Wheels, Barbie, and the Fisher Price line. American Girls mission is to celebrate girls. We embrace who they are today and look forward to who they will become tomorrow. Since the first catalogue debuted in 1986, American Girl has provided inspiring products for each stage of a young girls development from her preschool days of baby dolls and fantasy play through her tween years of selfexpression and individuality. Through an array of premium-quality books, dolls, clothes, toys,

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and accessories, American Girl has earned the loyalty of millions of girls and the praise and trust of parents and educators (Our Company 2012). American Girl first introduced a line of historical characters which consisted of eight 18 inch dolls that came to life through extraordinary six book series, accessories, and much more. The nine year old fictional heroines lived during important times in Americas past history providing young girls views of significant events that helped shape America and bring history alive for millions of children. For an example the historic doll Kit is from the depression era and her story entails the hardships of what her family had to sacrifice during that time. Target Market and Approach There are two main market segments that American Girl targets making the company have a differentiated targeting approach. One of their target markets is geared towards younger girls ages three to six. American Girl introduced the Bitty
American Girl Event-Josefinas Tea Party-My friends and I

Baby and Bitty twin lines that were soft and

huggable for this target market. They are baby and toddler dolls that encourage nurturing behavior in these young girls. Secondly, are the American Girl dolls that are for girls ages eight through thirteen. These include the historical line, and the line My-American Girl which lets them create their own doll.

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Brand American Girl has created a strong brand that represents more than just its intrinsic attributes of the product itself. It has extrinsic attributes that have enable consumers to form associations that give meaning to the brand. The search for the true meaning of brands or the brand essence, as it is often called gradually took the agencies away from individual products and their attributes and toward a psychological/anthropological examination of what brands mean to the culture and to peoples lives. This was seen to be of crucial importance, since corporations may manufacture products, but what consumers buy are brands (Klein 2000, p.7). This brand entails multitude of meanings to create successful products and services. A purchase of a doll is only the beginning of this brand experience. The next step to the brand experience is having it come through life stories where the consumer experiences the footsteps that their doll had encounter in the past. The books story lines address more or less universally relevant issues: maintaining supportive and loving relationships with families and friends, engendering trust, perseverance, and dealing with embarrassment and disappointment. As such, they are barely cloaked morality tales, each with a different ethnic and temporal/historical spin, a young girls version of the Harlequin romance (Borghini 2009: p. 122). These stories provide young girls a learning experience of Americas past history. Not only do these girls improve their reading skills but they are simultaneously learning and playing at the same time. The whole concept of this is to incorporate play with learning, but at the same time American Girl is encouraging the consumer to purchase additional merchandise that will represent the dolls era or the girls personal style.

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American Girl products are marketed and distributed through the companys award-winning catalogue, website americangirl.com, and proprietary retail stores. Having multi-channels allows there consumers to have several options to shop and purchase products and services.
My American Doll Josefina and I

Products and their presentation at American Girl become projective fields for the embodiment of fantasy and ideology. The provision of merchandise as conversational props encourage play is key to the brands presence (Sherry 2009, p.200). American Girl Doll website states, Dress Like Your Doll clothing gives girls the chance to match their dolls with outfits perfect for schooltime, playtime, bedtime, and more. Each piece is designed with unique detailsfrom intricate embroidery to authentic patternsthat bring out your girls personality. All these accessories help bring the doll to life by having props that creates a setting for the consumers doll to play in. Additionally, the merchandise for the historical characters represent the time period that the doll is in, adding another aspect of learning into play. In addition, the American Girl library offers junior etiquette and self-help primers with titles such as Oops! The Manners Guide for Girls and A Smart Girls Guide to Boys: Surviving Crushes, Staying True to Yourself, and Other Love Stuff. The company publishes a bimonthly magazine titled American Girl, which it describes as the age-appropriate alternative to teen magazines. These product lines receive no traditional advertising support, and marketing communication channels are limited to the catalogues, Web site, television films, and retail outlets. This brand extension offers more ways to help a girl adjust to growing up and making sense of the ever changing world around them. It was about pushing the envelope in

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sponsorship deals, dreaming up new areas in which to extend the brand, as well as perpetually probing the zeitgeist to ensure that the essence selected for ones brand would resonate karmically with its target market (Klein 2000, p. 8). Also, they came up with a personal approach for the consumers if they didnt want the historical dolls by introducing the line My American Girl Doll in 1995. This option allows the consumer to design a doll that caters to the consumers personal taste. They can choose the skin colour, eye colour, hair colour & style, and can ultimately create a doll that looks like them. Extension of this brand reinforces its added value by providing consumers multiple options that will satisfy their needs and wants.

Retail Environment American Girls proprietary retail stores have welcomed nearly 40 million visitors. The stores tie everything together, and the consumers imagination come alive through the stores exciting, visual environments. The stores not only offer a museum of merchandise, but provide experiences through services and entertainment like the Caf, Circle of Friends Theater, Photo Studio, and even Hair Salons for the dolls. As we approached this museum-like area, we notice that the larger-scale dioramas provide a literal window onto the interior cultural-historical persona of each American Girl doll. A traditional cooking fire, a Victorian parlor, a classroom, a bedroom and other contexts are meticulously reproduced. My impression, standing and ruminating on these views from the past, is that they act as a sort of projective field for me. They contextualize the dolls in their historical period, yes, but I can also see how they would encourage children and adults to imagine themselves living in the era of the dolls. Over time, we have found that it is not unusual to find adult women, unaccompanied by

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children, browsing in this area with no reason or intention to shop. The place is exactly like a museum. There's a learning process going on here that transcends the shopping experience, and even the brand Another shopping group composed of grandmother, mother and daughter is looking at the museum collections. They talk about the objects displayed and how life was different for girls at that age. The content of their banter shows that they are very familiar with the names and stories of the dolls. They talk about Samantha, Molly and Josephina as if they were real persons, like close friends (Borghini Various Fieldnotes, American Girl Place Chicago, 2003).

The services and entertainment provide another opportunity to be a part of the culture at American Girl. The Caf allows consumers to have a semi-formal dining experience in rooms with pink stripes and an abundance of pink decoration. Of course the doll accompanies the girls in a booster chair. The restaurant advertises that dolls eat free but only authentic American Girl dolls are allowed to dine in the Caf because it is an exclusive club to be a part of. The Cafe is designed to provide an experience where the consumers feel as they are being treated like royal. In addition Circle of Friends Theatre puts on high production play performances featuring actual girls playing the parts of the doll characters reacting scenes from favourite American Girl stories and books. This enables consumers to be a part of an entertainment experience that sends a positive message to build a positive self-identity and to dream big because anything can happen if you work hard at it.

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American Girl Virtual Community Culture Not only is the culture experienced through the retail environment, but it is experienced through an online community. Consumers can join a virtual community of American Girl doll consumers. Doll play is tied to a culture of online and out-of-home activities, where interest in dolls is shared virtually with mothers and other girls. Traditional dress-up, home doll play is expanded to include online marketing and play communities in a larger play world and on the Internet (Reifel 2009, p. 345). There are online clubs for telling personal stories from older teens to adult women who played with the dolls who express memories of how play influenced their childhood. These web pages appear to be a significant place for players to tell their stories and connect with one another over a common interest. As of publication, the website also lists American Girl Special Events like fashion shows that may take place in a store or be located elsewhere by means of a web link. The fashion shows feature doll costumes that can also be purchased and worn by girls. Fashion shows appear to offer opportunities to market their doll products in areas away from American Girl Place stores. American Girl can be described as a culture unto itself. From its website information, it is clear that American Girl doll play is about much more than dressing up dolls sand pretending with them. Fashion shows that feature girls in doll costume are part of a much larger commercial project which includes accessories, magazines, clubs, theme stores, and extensive online opportunities (Reifel 2009, p. 347). This company has a strong culture that creates brand loyalty with their consumers, which then creates repeat purchase buyer behavior. The products or services bought at American Girl provide psychological reassurance that will result in the consumers feeling that they will get meaningful user experiences

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Ethnographic Exploration of my American Girl Childhood Growing up American Girl played a huge role in my childhood. Not only was I consumed in this brand, but my mother was too. I have a total of nine American Girl dolls with any accessory you can think of ranging from clothes to a bicycle to a horse. The dolls provided a bonding experience between my mother and me. We would read the books together, which taught
American Girl Event - Kit's Tea Party - My Mother and I

me valuable lessons and also gave me the opportunity to be a better reader. Our obsession grew into a huge collection of American Girl doll merchandise which today is probably worth over 2000 dollars. American Girl provides mothers and grandmothers with what can be regarded as a model for the comportment of young girls and a manual for their socialization. To a significant extent, the American Girl stories represent vehicles for conveying values. Although they have elaborate plotlines, they also reference and reinforce values, such as hard work, civility, politeness, attention to the needs of others, and respect for adults. They are brand allegories, symbolic narratives or extended metaphors that provide instruction in the resolution of moral conflict. For this reason, they are particularly useful to parents and other adults who willingly acknowledge their debt to the American Girl brand (Diamond 2009, p.126). We became a part of the culture, and this company was very influential in our lives. Every month I would get the magazines and read it from front to back being influenced by the inspirational stories told in the magazine. For my 10th birthday my mother took me to the American Girl doll store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago to experience the wonders of the

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American Girl doll hospital, hair salon, and the vast display cases of the newest American Girl doll merchandise. We even went to tea parties that were themed and I would dress up like one of my American Girl dolls and socialize with other American Girl doll consumers. Looking back at all the experiences we had with American Girl brings back such happy memories of how much fun it was to be a part of something that created an educational and inspirational meaning to my life. Till this day I still have all my dolls and the merchandise I have acquired for them along the way. My emotional brand loyalty to American Girl is very strong and I do believe that this company creates a culture to empower young girls. My emotional bond with my dolls symbolizes a great part of my childhood that I will never forget. Conclusion Founder Pleasant Rowland asserts that The dolls are relatively generic, but the visual and verbal stories wrapped around them told through the books, clothing, and accessories are the phenomenon's lifeblood (Lavin 2003, p. 79). This is where marketing comes into play to create a brand that evokes emotion. American Girls success was achieved through careful marketing strategies that included psychological tactics to provide consumers unforgettable user experiences.

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References Baines, Paul and Chris Fill, Kelly Page (2011). Marketing, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Borghini, Stefania, and Nina Diamond, Robert Kozinets, Mary Ann McGrath, Albert Muniz, John Sherry Jr. (2009). Why Are Themed Brandstores So Powerful? Retail Brand Ideology at American Girl Place, New York University: Elsevier Inc. Klein, Namoi (2000). No Logo: Taking Aim at Brand Bullies, Canada: Vintage Canada Lavin, Maud (2003). Where the Girls Go, Print, 57, 1: 7883. Reifel, Stuart (2009). Girls Doll Play in Educational, Virtual, Ideological and Market Contexts: a case analysis of controversy, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 10, 4: 343-352 Sherry Junior, John F. (2009). The Work at Play at American Girl Place, Social Psychology Quarterly, 72, 199: 199-202 (2012). Our Company, American Girl Available: http://www.americangirl.com/corp/corporate.php?section=about&id=1, accessed 20 March 2012