Good news: Barbie, Moxie Girlz and Liv make news

I was very pleased to see the Wall Street Journal devoting a major article in its October 21, 2009 edition to the battle between Barbe, Moxie Girlz and Liv. The article, written by Ann Zimmerman and entitled “Mattel Hopes Barbie Facelift Will Show up Younger Rivals," provides a good analysis of what each company is doing. There are some good insights on the various strategies and product differentiators as well as some interesting spin from each company’s spokesperson.

This is the second big article on a toy company (Lego got a major article in the New York Times last month) by a major newspaper to appear recently and it bodes well for the toy industry. After years of playing second fiddle to the video game industry, it is nice to see the toy industry being the hot topic. 

This kind of news is obviously good for Mattel, MGA, Spin Master and Lego. Let’s see if good news turns into good business. If it does, the second half of the year could turn out better than we think.