Thanks for the clarification. I thought so. A Walmart mom started to tell me that she only buys non-Mattel fashion dolls for her little girls because Mattel's dolls are so expensive. This comment prompted me to regale her with my "expansive" doll knowledge and about the Integrity dolls and of course, Jason.
Oh, she ooed and ahed at how much I knew...(it got me impressed, too, LOL!). But she sure didn't seem too impressed with the multi-ethnicity notion of the Integrity dolls. I think the idea of multi-ethnicity in a play doll was too high-falutin' a concept for the lady. A Barbie is a Barbie is a white doll--right? Then again, my Walmart stocks it shelves mostly for white customers, whereas the other Walmart in Spotsyvania usually has more variety of dolls. I wish I could hang out more in the fashion doll aisles because I do encounter some very interesting "marketing" choices and the customers who seem to dictate the terms. I'm not sure if you could use this anecdotal evidence as truly representative of the demographics of fashion doll consumers, though. But I 'spose my Walmart does...Regards, Pat
----- Original Message ----- From: SuzW397026@aol.com To: candichat@dolls.de Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 8:29 PM Subject: Re: Question for Suzanne or the List - reply from Suzanne
Yes, Jason is making the "creative" decisions for the Integrity play line. He has the official title of "head designer". The 2000 play line dolls featured facial screening by Jason with fashion design done by an in house individual. The 2001 play line featured both facial screening and fashion design by Jason.
LOL, I know you want me to say who did the 2002 play line now and I'll
have
to get some clarification on that. I know that Jason did all the facial screenings for all the dolls and the fashions for the collector edition Janays. I am not positive though that he did all the fashions for the
2002
line. I know I saw one line in January that ended up scrapped and I know that those fashions weren't done by Jason but an in house designer. I'll have to find out if this other designer did any of the other fashions or
not
because I don't see anything in my notes from the meeting that answers
this
question.
No, Integrity is not trying out a marketing scenario. The buyers from the major chains just don't purchase enough play line to furnish all their
stores
with product. Consequently, the Integrity play line dolls will remain scarce, or even non-existent, in some areas.
Even though you aren't buying right now, I'm glad to hear that you liked
what
you saw, :-).
Suzanne
In a message dated 6/12/2002 9:35:21 AM Central Daylight Time, nqsqurtz@staffnet.com writes:
<< I just saw in my local Walmart a new Janay and Jade--each are in the
capri
pants outfit. Not new to most of you, but for my Walmart, anything that
is
not pink is new. I don't buy dolls anymore, but do follow them, still.
I
think it's curious that a handful of Integrity dolls wind up on the
Walmart
shelves alongside the Kid Kore dolls, but never more than a few. Why do they bother with them at all? Or is there a marketing secret that
Integrity
is testing? I did like the updated facial screenings on both dolls and
the
contemporary fashion look.
Okay, 'splain this to me, Suzanne, is Jason also making creative
decisions
on the the Integrity playline fashion dolls in addition to the Veronique
and
Adele dolls line that is being created from scratch? Thanks, Pat Brown