Bratz World: February 2005

Bratz Rock Angelz !
Wall Street Journal first over the line with hints on the new stuff *yay* I'll try to add to this when I see them tomorrow..
:)
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Barbie, Bratz to compete with movies, tunes
Stephanie Kang and Kate Kelly
Wall Street Journal
Feb. 17, 2005 10:52 AM
Barbie and the Bratz dolls are already bitter rivals in the toy aisle. Now they're about to duke it out on the entertainment industry's red carpet.
At next week's International Toy Fair in New York, Mattel Inc. and closely held MGA Entertainment Inc. will introduce a rush of new products that cast their respective doll characters as rock stars or Hollywood actresses. Both toy companies are intent on using music, movies and DVDs to broaden their franchises into bona fide entertainment platforms.
Mattel will introduce a new animated direct-to-video movie called "My Scene Goes to Hollywood," an attempt to cast Barbie and her friends in an 8-10-year-old version of "Friends." The gang will hang out in a coffeehouse, shop, and swoon over post-Ken-era guys with names like "Ryan Ridley." MGA will counter with new Bratz dolls and an album under the name of the "Bratz Rock Angelz," in which five of the big-headed, high-heel wearing Bratz form a rock band and set off on a world tour.
The moves represent a shift in the toy industry as companies look for ways to create sustained interested in their key kids' brands against the backdrop of a broader slump. According to market research firm NPD Funworld, sales for the traditional toy industry fell 3 percent in 2004, to $20.1 billion from $20.7 billion the year earlier
Brand extensions, from clothes to songs, used to play second fiddle to the toys themselves. But now, such derivatives are seen as core to an overall franchise. The two companies in this case have different motives: Mattel is trying to resuscitate interest in Barbie, which has fallen off in recent years, while MGA is looking to extend the success it has enjoyed with the upstart Bratz. Young girls are a "hard demographic to please," says MGA chief executive Isaac Larian. "You can't just sell toys, you have to sell a whole lifestyle."
Mattel Brands President Matt Bousquette sees entertainment as part of the company's strategy to give new relevance to its buxom Barbie, whose world-wide sales slipped by roughly 8 percent last year; U.S. sales of the icon declined 15 percent. "How you experience the brand has to be more than just the doll," he says, ticking off fashion, music and other entertainment as key areas for girls. "We want to be everywhere the girl is."
That may not be easy. Popular comic book, film and TV characters for kids inevitably spin off into toys, but it's less often that traditional toys transition the other way, particularly for girls' toys. Going "upstream," as analysts call it, is difficult because the market for entertainment is usually geared toward an audience that has outgrown toys. The payoff for toymakers is that kids who are too old for dolls or other toys may still want to watch videos or play games based on the characters.
Mattel launched Barbie Entertainment five years ago with a "Nutcracker" direct-to-video. Since then, the company says its four releases have together sold more than 10 million units, and analysts estimate that the videos have become a $200 million business for the toymaker. Mattel's My Scene video is the toymaker's latest attempt at capturing the coveted tween market of girls 8 to 11.
In August, Walt Disney Co.'s Miramax Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release "My Scene Goes to Hollywood," meant to bolster interest among girls who normally might be casting Barbie aside. In the story, Barbie and company win parts in a Lindsay Lohan movie, culminating in the girls attending the teen idol's film's premiere in Los Angeles. Many of the affiliated toys that Mattel will try to sell, including doll outfits, dressing room playsets and a dark-purple limousine, are taken straight from the video.
Mattel is also adding to its line of Barbie animated movies aimed at younger girls, with two other direct-to-videos, "Fairytopia" and "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus," distributed by Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
To further tap into the pop culture zeitgeist, Mattel is launching a new line of "American Idol" Barbie dolls that play snippets of original music and come with a microphone that records sound. It's part of a partnership Mattel entered into with FremantleMedia North America Inc. and 19 TV Limited, which together produce the television show. Real-life American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino plans to offer performing advice to Barbie fans at an event today.
Barbie's modern appeal has even been fodder for "Saturday Night Live." During a recent skit, Maya Rudolph, posing as a Bratz, spars with Paris Hilton, who plays a "Fashion Fever" Barbie.
In real life, the new Barbie lines will indeed find tough competition form the scrappy Bratz. Along with traditional dolls and playsets, MGA is releasing the full-length "Bratz Rock Angelz" music album through Universal Music Enterprises, a division of Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group. Separately, the main Bratz gang will get their own animated theatrical release and a direct-to-video series, which will be released through News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Home Entertainment. A TV show is also in the works.
Executives at the Fox movie studio see a built-in audience waiting to be tapped. "We're interested in anything that has an audience, and Bratz has a franchise (that's) growing," says Mike Dunn, president of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, which will distribute the second Bratz movie later this year.
To launch "Bratz Rock Angelz," MGA and Universal will in July release a single from its music album, a month before the toys - which include a private jet, recording studio and concert stage playsets - hit stores. Universal Music Enterprises President Bruce Resnikoff says that several hit-making Swedish songwriters behind pop groups like N 'Sync and Backstreet Boys are working on the original music.
Mr. Resnikoff says the album, which he describes as a "rich teen pop sound," is a way for Universal to tap into a new niche. "The music is intended to appeal to the Bratz fan, but the potential audience is wider," he says. MGA, and along with Fox and Universal, will spend about $50 million to promote Bratz Rock Angelz. The toy company says that represents its most expensive marketing and advertising effort.
Both companies, meanwhile, are also pursuing parallel strategies with their boy brands. Mattel has created "AcceleRacers," four one-hour Cartoon Network specials based on its Hot Wheels toys that will compete with a television series based on MGA's Alien Racers toys. Cartoon Network's Web site will feature 16 AcceleRacer "webisodes" and gaming Web site Shockwave.com will run a game based on the toys called "BattleX" in a bid to grab older boys.