When Westwood-based Popstar Club launched its line of Beatrix Girls fashion dolls last fall, it had to crank up the volume to be heard over the noise from such competitors as Barbie and Bratz.
But less than a year after their debut, the Beatrix Girls, a four-girl doll “band” of musicians, has elbowed its way into the ears of young girls and onto shelves of major retailers. Popstar is a long way from taking significant share from the long-established brands, but its aggressive marketing campaign to build awareness in its target market of young girls has helped the company extend its branding relationships and move into more than a dozen overseas markets.
“We were often lost on the shelf in a sea of others,” said Sherry Gunther-Shugerman, Popstar Club’s chief executive. “But I think there’s clearly a growing fan base and brand awareness.”
One strategy Popstar used to build its fan base was by heavily marketing its product through social media, online, television commercials and radio promotions.
Its advertising campaign on streaming music app Pandora in December was designed to air ads when a consumer listened to music in the same genre as Beatrix Girls, such as Katy Perry or the band One Direction. It also created a branded Pandora station that reached 20,000 downloads in two weeks. Gunther-Shugerman said the campaign included running 15 million commercials on the streaming music site.
That traction has helped Popstar sign a series of licensing deals with companies such as Peavey Electronics Corp. for musical instruments, Berkshire Fashions Inc. for clothing accessories and Skyhigh International for back-to-school supplies. She said more deals are scheduled to be completed at the Licensing Expo this week in Las Vegas.
Tony Moscal, general manager of business development for musical instrument manufacturer Peavey in Meridian, Miss., said partnering with Popstar offered the company an opportunity to expand its audience.
“A lot of the licenses that we have are boy-related instruments,” he said. “Marvel, DC Comics and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – those are clearly more male-oriented, and we were looking for a partnership to appeal to young girls.”
Popstar will receive a royalty based on sales of the instruments.
Still, the success of its licensed products will depend on how well the dolls sell.
“I don’t think a retailer is going to buy our instruments if they’re not stocking the dolls,” he said. “We’re just riding along with them.”
Richard Gottlieb, chief executive of New York-based toy industry consultancy Global Toy Experts, said it seems early in the company’s business to have licensing deals but it’s a good sign.
“There’s obviously a following,” said Gottlieb. “And it is apparently a following that’s more than about the doll. They’re trying to become a lifestyle brand.”
Tuned in
The idea for the dolls came to Zack Zalon, managing partner at the Westwood incubator We See Dragons, formerly Elevator Labs, after watching his two daughters play.
He noticed they were not satisfied with simple dolls. The Beatrix Girls offer a cross-platform experience with original music, YouTube videos and a blog.
Zalon tapped Gunther-Shugerman to head Popstar and develop the brand. Gunther-Shugerman, a 20-year veteran of the TV animation business, has served as producer for animated TV shows such as “Family Guy,” “Rugrats” and “The Simpsons.”
The company has grown to 16 employees from four, including six staffing a subsidiary in Hong Kong that serves as a point of contact for its Chinese manufacturers.
Gunther-Shugerman declined to discuss sales figures, but said the company is manufacturing four times the number of dolls it produced last year. The company told the Business Journal last year that it planned to manufacture between 75,000 and 100,000 dolls.
The increase in volume has helped bring the price of the dolls down to $20 each from their initial price of $25.
“Without changing a thing, we’ve been able to get our pricing to be more cost efficient because of the larger volume,” Gunther-Shugerman said.
Bratz dolls, made by MGA Entertainment Inc. of Van Nuys, and Mattel Inc.’s Barbies, retail from $12 to $27 and both brands have branched into Web videos and online content.
The size of the U.S. doll market is about $2.6 billion, and it’s dominated by Mattel and Hasbro Inc. in Pawtucket, R.I., with market share of 16 percent and 9 percent respectively, according to market research firm IBISWorld.
Like its competition, Popstar spends a significant amount on marketing and advertising. Last year, the company had a second round of funding to help cover marketing costs. Gunther-Shugerman declined to state how much was raised but said she’s now in a position where extra capital is not needed to move the company forward.
Its licensing deals are a good indication of the dolls’ success and that Beatrix Girls are on their way to establishing an entertainment brand, Gunther-Shugerman said.
“Most toy products don’t make it past the first year,” she said. “That was our biggest challenge: creating the fan base, reaching out to the consumer, creating sell-through and surviving that first season to be able to grow and leverage from there.”
