Posted on 12/01/2005 4:52:44 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MIDDLETON, WI - Walking through American Girl's Middleton headquarters in December is like getting a peek into the land of Santa's elves - and young girls' fantasies.
Upstairs, there's a constant buzz in the call center, as workers field a steady stream of calls to order Samantha, Molly and the rest of the American Girl clan.
"You don't have a catalog? That's OK, we can work around that," one call wrangler amiably says to a customer from New Hampshire, who wants an American Girl Today doll with specific features - in this case, blond hair and blue eyes.
". . . And we do have that available, for $87," says the employee, entering the order details into her computer.
This is prime time for the doll, clothing, accessories, and publishing company, which turns 20 years old next year.
From Nov. 28 to Christmas, American Girl's call centers in Middleton and Wilmot (just north of the Illinois border near Lake Geneva), will handle 700,00 calls and 45,000 e-mails. Its distribution centers in DeForest and Wilmot will ship 1.2 million packages.
Public relations director Julie Parks says 55 percent of American Girl's business comes in the last three months of the year.
"It's an incredibly critical time of year," she says.
Online toy sales are expected to reach $900 million nationwide this year - not counting video games - a 7 percent increase over 2004, according to JupiterResearch in New York. That's due mainly to a shift away from in- store buying, senior analyst Vikram Sehgal said.
While some say the Monday after Thanksgiving is one of the nation's biggest days for online shopping, American Girl's bull's-eye day is expected to be next Monday both for online and telephone orders, Parks says. That's partly because a movie about Felicity, the Revolutionary War- era character doll, aired Tuesday night on the WB network.
Not only did that give Felicity - the doll - extra attention and wardrobe embellishments, it prompted American Girl to introduce her new best friend, Elizabeth - also, a doll - complete with her own line of clothing, accessories and books.
There's even a horse-drawn carriage, big enough for the two friends to ride in together, with velvet tie-back curtains inside and stenciled pink tulips along the exterior. (Cost: $175, without the horse or the dolls.)
Last year, around this time, American Girl aired a movie about another historical doll, Samantha. "The Samantha movie certainly increased awareness among new customers as well as existing fans and drove sales beyond our expectations for that product line," Parks says.
At the call center, operators are fielding orders from states such as Ohio, Illinois, Connecticut and California. The Middleton center also takes reservations for performances at American Girl's retail and entertainment stores in New York and Chicago as well as orders for Fisher- Price catalog items, while Wilmot's call center handles all of those in addition to orders from the Barbie collector catalog and Hot Wheels club. The latter three represent other divisions of their parent company, Mattel.
Screens show how many calls are waiting, how long they have been waiting and which product lines customers are ordering. The lines are open from 6 a.m. to midnight. "These two weeks are as fast-paced as it gets around here," Parks says.
Downstairs, meanwhile, teams of about half a dozen American Girl employees each are working, assembly-line fashion, to prepare merchandise for holiday gift-giving.
In one group, employees open packing cartons from China, pulling out boxes of Elizabeth dolls. As each one passes along a slowly moving conveyor belt, the dolls and their packaging get a good once-over.
One worker lifts the doll, checking her face for any flaws, making sure her eyes open and close. Another inspects the gift box, replacing any dented or ripped boxes. The next employee inserts an Elizabeth book and a packet of trading cards, then a coworker slips on a maroon gift box cover with a clear, plastic window, displaying the doll's face, framed by golden ringlets, her shiny blue eyes gazing out.
They work to the tune of the forklifts, beeping and sweeping through aisles with piles of cartoned toys, and the squeaky scrunch of plastic shrink- wrap being wound around other stacks of playthings. Their destination: American Girl's distribution centers in DeForest or Wilmot, from where they'll head for customer homes. And they may have their own character beds, ranging from Kaya's $24 bedroll to Elizabeth's $118 four-poster with blue bedding.
Yes, these can be costly presents. But the dolls are made to last, American Girl officials stress.
"I think people think of this line as an investment," Parks says.
"How much is an X-box, $400?" Ginny Janssen, vice president of customer sales and service, asks rhetorically. "Girls will play with these dolls for years. Such wonderful, imaginative play that really helps them learn and grow."
American Girl products appeal particularly to grandparents, many of whom have waited a long time for grandchildren and have done "a lot of psychic saving-up for this kind of thing," said Gary Cross, a history professor at Pennsylvania State University and author of two books on children's culture, "Kids' Stuff" and "The Cute and the Cool."
This holiday season, in addition to Elizabeth and her array of accessories, the company is debuting American Girl Truly Me, a fragrance line developed with Bath & Body Works, aimed at girls ages 8-12 and sold in a star-shaped bottle designed to encourage girls to follow their "inner star."
There are also "chocolate cherry" colored outfits with faux cheetah trim among the new offerings and new "Smart Girl's Guide" books that sell for less than $10 each.
Christmas orders are due by Dec. 20, to make sure all the presents reach their destination on time.
"We're definitely in the girl business," Janssen said. "We're here to make dreams come true and we will do what it takes."
American Girl creator Pleasant Rowland, a former teacher, is married to W. Jerome Frautschi, who contributed $205 million to build Madison's Overture Center. Rowland sold the former Pleasant Co. to Mattel in 1998 and retired in 2000.
Ping-a-ling for you and your troops.
I wouldn't expect to hear of the boycott in a 'puff piece' like this.
Why would they be boycotted? Forgive my ignorance. They just got about $350 of my money for Christmas.
Yes, it is the "Feel Good Story of the Year," isn't it? I just thought NYer and the gang would be interested and could clue a few more people in as to why they were being boycotted in the first place.
Just spreadin' the love. :)
As long as they're giving money to Girls Inc. they will never see one penny of mine.
And to promote lesbianism to girls.
Read a bit of this and click on a few links and decide for yourself. Personally? I don't think any of these "boycotts" against huge businesses work, other than to create some bad press, which a company can normally spin into gold.
I have no horse in this race. I have three boys, none of which were the least interested in dolls. Maybe I'm wierd, but I find it very interesting to learn about who owns who and who contributes money to who and for what causes in this world.
http://www.earnedmedia.org/plal1024.htm
Here's a handy reference as to which Big Ag Companies own "Organics" labels (don't get me started on this one, because THIS one matters to me, LOL!)
http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/services/corporate-ownership.html
Works in this household. I now throw out their catalogs.
I do not need to back a group that would have allowed the girls in this family to have been opted out.
I like the way they encapsulate a lot in that terse description. They really want you to think that a) a former teacher built this empire, and b) she's married to a really generous fellow. Those are both true statements - but there is so much more to the story.
Back in the day - about late 1991 - I was working my way through UW Law School by working as a financial analyst for a Fortune 50 firm that happened to have a small branch in Madison. When my job with that company was exported to Iowa I interviewed with a number of firms in the Madison area - including what was then Pleasant Company. It did seem a little strange to be considering working for a firm that made dolls - shockingly high-end dolls at that. But I went through a couple of rounds of interviews and was given a video to watch before coming back for a final interview with Pleasant Rowland herself. The video was the classic inspirational business propaganda effort - done with very high production values, and reflecting the fact that Rowland had once been a TV anchor or reporter (in San Diego, if my memory serves me). The mythic version of the creation of the firm was that it was a business created "over the kitchen table" suggesting that she hatched the concept literally at her kitchen table from modest resources. After the interview, which was a enjoyable experience, I elected to go with another firm - and for about 5 years afterward I had in mind that Pleasant Rowland had started this firm from nothing - to build it into the business that Mattel CEO (for a little while, at least) Jill Barad thought was worth $750M in 1998. In the aftermath of the sale I saw for the first time in print that Rowland had been married to one of the wealthiest individuals in Madison - Jerome Frautschi - for decades at the time of the sale. It cast the "over the kitchen table" formation scene in a different light - as in "Honey, could you write me a check for $3M to start up my business venture? Thanks!".
This is not criticism of Rowland or Frautschi - certainly their gift to Madison is an incredibly generous one. But it reminds me to take with a grain of salt many of the legendary "start-up" stories.
Excellent summary, Wally. And their "generous gift" of The Overture Center is going to end up costing the city of Madison millions over the years. They currently want to sell it to the city for $1 and the city then takes over all maintenance and taxes, upkeep, etc.
Ridiculous. Of course, Mayor Dave thinks this is the best thing since sliced bread. These people live on another planet, I swear!
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