Wednesday, May 13, 2015

One World Holdings, Inc. (OWOO) Capturing Market Share in Dolls via Highly Unique & Ethnically Diverse Role Model Designs

Dolls make up one of the largest chunks of the roughly $22 billion U.S. market for traditional toys at around 10.5% of the overall space. Dolls did roughly $2.22 billion in 2013 and approximately $2.32 billion last year, representing a four percent growth rate according to market research company NPD Group’s (formerly National Purchase Diary) consumer panel tracking data, which is published by the Toy Industry Association. NPD Group is consistently ranked as one of the top 25 companies on the annual Honomichl Top 50 report covering Fortune 500 market research firms and thus the above data, which represents roughly 80% of the U.S. retail toy market, gives investors a very clear picture of the market’s size and growth.

While Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT) has historically been the dominant player in the doll market – owing to established brands like Barbie and newer, still-growing brands like Monster High, as well as temporarily hot but nevertheless exciting successes linked to Disney Princess brands like Frozen – their mainstay brand Barbie has been in significant decline since 2012 according to retailer panel data compiled by mass retail analyst firm Klosters Trading Corporation. Private company MGA Entertainment, known for their Bratz, Moxie Girlz, Rescue Pets plushies and lifelike baby dolls marketed through a partnership with Zapf Creation (ETR/FRA: ZPFK), has also seen substantial decline in recent years according to the Klosters data, clearly telegraphing how fragmented the doll market has become, a phenomena which has opened up substantial room for newer brands and concepts to grow and flourish.

One such company is One World Holdings, Inc. (OTC: OWOO), whose Prettie Girls! brand, developed and marketed under their subsidiary known as The One World Doll Project, continues to capture attention and retail space in the attractive and still niche market for ethnically diverse dolls, a segment that has been routinely, yet unsuccessfully courted by major sector players. The most recent example of how ham-fisted major players like Mattel have been in this area is the PR nightmare surrounding their Mexico-inspired Barbie for their “Dolls of the World” collection, which was lampooned by the media and consumers alike as essentially being a cynical cash-grab that reinforces a negative stereotype of Mexican women, with the doll wearing a fiesta dress, sporting a pink passport, and carrying a pet Chihuahua. The subsequent attempt to salvage their reputation by changing the doll to Mariachi Barbie has not met with the hoped-for success and this fiasco demonstrates the lack of savvy major doll market players have had when it comes to appealing to not only an increasingly ethnically diverse American population, but to global markets, where young girls seek role models they can identify with.

The Prettie Girls! brand on the other hand has won fast favor with consumers and industry players alike, stealing the show at the 112th North American International Toy Fair due to the well-defined characteristics and personalities of each doll, which, while being ethnically diverse, are not focused on that ethnicity so much as on the wonderful and inspiring personalities crafted for each doll. This ingenious and adept approach was masterminded by OWOO’s Stacey McBride-Irby, who used to be a project designer at Mattel and developed the sorority Barbie modeled on the first African-American Greek Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, before leaving Mattel after a 15-year run in order to make dolls which fully live up to her motto that a “happy, inspired childhood creates happy, inspired, and powerful women.”

Part of the success at Toy Fair 2015 for OWOO was the introduction of the tween versions of the company’s Prettie Girls! brand, the Tween Scene dolls, which are aimed at directly representing preteen girls and bringing an array of even more approachable, ethnically diverse role models to younger girls. Also at the Toy Fair, OWOO received confirmation from the Walmart.com buying team that sales performance of their Prettie Girls! brand was quite positive and that the brand would be featured in Walmart’s Easter sales promotion, as well as via the Walmart.com special offers program for approved members. Similar retail deals have given the company a sizeable retail footprint already, with a distribution agreement between OWOO and online sales giant Amazon.com having recently been signed, and the Prettie Girls! brand finding their way onto shelves at such popular brick and mortar retailers as Toys “R” Us, which has over 870 stores in the U.S. and more than 725 stores worldwide, as well as at Texas-based H-E-B Grocery, which has over 350 stores across Texas and northern Mexico.

Rather than cynically pandering to various ethnicities, the Prettie Girls! and Prettie Girls! Tween Scene brands lovingly cater to the ambitions, career goals and positive values all girls should aspire to, celebrating the ethnic diversity and fashion style of each highly unique doll, but not in a heavy-handed way that ultimately turns consumers off. With characteristics like an emphasis on participating in after-school activities and clubs, or desire to help their communities, as well as getting good grades and taking their futures seriously, this brand of dolls is light years beyond the state of design on offer from the major players in the industry. These revolutionary design elements make OWOO a company investors should keep their eye on, especially as the company moves to further flesh out their growing retail footprint with promotional efforts like games and cartoon shows based on the dolls.

With a 532% YoY jump in revenues reported for fiscal year 2014, OWOO has proven that their mix of intelligent brand design and marketing efforts focused on media venues frequented by their core target demographics is a successful blend of product and presence.

Take a closer look by visiting www.oneworlddolls.com

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