I have a 7 year old daughter and sometimes we take the time to surf the web together. Recently she acquired a new doll. It is a brilliant product extension from Ty…of beanie baby fame. Ty Girlz is a series of dolls that are beautifully blended with the Ty Girlz online experience. Her visceral level of engagement is produced by the combination of real world doll and virtual world experience. My daughter connected completely. The analog and digital experience merged into a new whole.
I was curious about the popularity of the Ty Girlz website so I compared it with other doll brands on Alexa. The results were interesting. The evil Bratz franchise is far ahead of Ty Girlz. American Girl is hanging on. Does anyone remember Cabbage Patch Kids? And Barbie wins Miss Popularity.
Barbie is the market dominatrix, by a long shot… The next step is to understand the correlation between holiday sales and digital presence. A before and after holiday comparison will probably show a jump in website traffic as presents are unwrapped on the 25th and kids surf to their toy’s site. Are there any strategies than can digitally unseat an incumbent like Barbie?
Disclosure: The only contact I have with any of the companies mentioned in this post is through the goodwill of my two daughters.
Dogpatch Dispatch 
