17
2006
Barbie v. Bratz – Differences in Lifestyle
Reading the Sunday paper (San Francisco Chronicle) this morning, I came across a great article by Reyhan Harmanci about the increased interest in Bratz dolls v. the traditional Barbie (see LeeAnn Prescott’s post here comparing searches in the top dolls this holiday season).
I decided to see if I could detect a difference in interest in the two dolls based on our Hitwise Lifestyle tool, which is based on the Claritias Prizm NE segmentation. The chart below shows the swing of visits to two sites, the official Barbie site (barbie.everythinggirl.com) represented above the line and Bratz (www.bratz.com) represented below.
Lifestyle Swing Barbie.com v. Bratz.com
Interest in the two dolls demonstrates a division in socio-economic classes.
The groupings are based on urbanicity, with U’s representing urban visits, S = suberban, C= small city T = towns and rural areas. The numbers are a measure of affluence from 1 (most affluent) to 4 (least affluent). The comparison shows us that Barbie is popular in affluent segments and Bratz with less affluents. This difference is most pronounced in urban and small city groups, less so in rural areas.
And how do the two toys compare in volume of searches?
Your analysis makes sense and also resonates with mentions of Barbie and Bratz dolls in the blogosphere (going under the assumption that the active-bloggers segment is still more affluent.
See here: http://www.blogpulse.com/trend?query1=barbie+AND+doll&label1=&query2=bratz+AND+doll&label2=&query3=&label3=&days=180&x=28&y=9
I think it would be really fun to add American Girl Dolls to the mix. My offhand guess would be that the wealthiest suburbanites prefer American Girl Dolls to either Barbie or Bratz.
Your analysis makes sense and also resonates with mentions of Barbie and Bratz dolls in the blogosphere (going under the assumption that the active-bloggers segment is still more affluent.
I think it would be really fun to add American Girl Dolls to the mix. My offhand guess would be that the wealthiest suburbanites prefer American Girl Dolls to either Barbie or Bratz.
megan