In Australia and around the world, the toy market has continued to grow in size and variety over the years.  The introduction of many new toy categories such as multi media has addressed the high computer usage of young children today.  However, even with all the toys and novelties that compete for the attention of girls aged between 3 and 11, fashion dolls remain dominant. Fashion dolls as a segment continue to be driven by the Barbie doll and over the four decades since her launch, approximately one billion Barbie dolls have been sold. It’s an extraordinary testimony to the enduring personality and appeal of Barbie that, at a time when girls have more play options than ever before, Barbie rules. Competing leisure alternatives such as video games, computers, pay TV and an increasing level of participation in sporting activities seem to have little effect on Barbie doll sales. Girls are reluctant to forfeit or compromise the time they spend with her.
	1999 marks the 40th anniversary of Barbie, the original dream doll, and as each year passes the Barbie brand continues to grow. Since 1987, worldwide sales of Barbie have quadrupled to almost $2 billion. In 1996, Barbie’s 95% ownership penetration in Australia reflected her true superbrand status. Such is the popularity of the Barbie brand that a typical Australian girl aged between 3 and 11 now owns an average of seven Barbie dolls, rivalling doll ownership in the U.S. Barbie continues to hold the number one girls toy brand position with a unique market dominance. This is not surprising, considering that Barbie is currently sold at the rate of two units per second in more than 140 countries. What began as a single doll is now an entire fantasy play world for little girls. Evolving into many different personas, Barbie allows girls to live out their dreams and aspirations.
	Back in the 1950s, baby boomers were coming of age. Teenagers were discovering their own fashions, lifestyles and fun. Children aged under 10 had always aspired to be older and looked to their siblings and relatives in the early teens as role models. In the 1950s, what they saw was a generation of kids expanding their horizons of opportunity and self-expression in the booming American post-war economy. Within this time Barbie was born. The inspiration for Barbie came as Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler watched her young daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls. She and her friends liked to play adult or teenage make-believe, imagining the dolls as friends, students or adults with careers. Ruth immediately recognised that pretend play was an important part of growing up, and that there was a marketing void for a three dimensional fashion doll. In 1959, several years and several designs later, Mattel introduced Barbie, the teen-age fashion model, at the annual Toy Fair in New York. Toy buyers were skeptical, but the reaction from the mothers of little girls was entirely different. They loved Barbie from the very beginning. Forty years later this $2 billion a year brand is stronger than ever. Mattel’s design and development staff spend a lot of time in the dream world of little girls. Over the years, they have monitored and capitalised on the growth of the trend towards younger girls’ role-playing teenagers and adults. The dawn of the information age, with the growth of television and films, increasingly brought a window on the world into the lives of little girls. They spent many hours sitting cross-legged, chin in hands, dreaming of what could be. Barbie became a friend and confidante to an entire generation, who saw her as the ultimate “girl next door”. Changing social, domestic and career trends have created the magic carpet upon which Barbie has taken off. We can only imagine how much the early influence of Barbie might have helped to shape the values that today’s young women attach to career aspirations. Teacher, doctor, astronaut... Barbie has been a role model for all these careers and more. Early Barbie dolls, with their roots in the 1960s, reflected the Paris couture and high fashion image of top fashion models. In the 1970s, Barbie wore up-to-the-minute designs reflecting the ‘prairie’ look, the ‘granny’ dress, the ‘California Girl’ suntan look and the “disco queen” image with glittery styles.  For the first time Barbie became a heroine of more than just the fashion world as a ballerina and an Olympic gold medal winner. In the 1980’s Barbie was an aerobics instructor and a credit card carrying executive, a sophisticated fashion icon. And finally in the 1990s, Barbie has stepped into the age of Information Technology. Now, girls use their computer to program and personalise their Barbie doll to design, create, play and dream using Barbie software. Without doubt the key to Barbie’s phenomenal success is her ability to cross borders, to appeal to different cultures all over the world. In Australia, she has continued to inspire the dreams and aspirations of millions of little girls.
	First and foremost Barbie has never been viewed as simply a doll or a product by the people at Mattel, nor by the millions of young girls who purchase her every year. To people associated with the brand, Barbie has always been a real person. Someone larger than life. This simple philosophy and indeed state of mind, is evident right throughout the company. From management, product development to marketing, it has been a significant reason why this icon of fashion, beauty and fun has endured for so many years. Perhaps Barbie’s most redeeming feature is her consistency in design. Her success has come not from altering her basic shape but from her ability to regularly adapt to changing times. She has continually remained contemporary through changes in clothing, styles, hair, accessories and the varied roles she portrays. Barbie has always been multi-cultural and available in a variety of ethnicities - Black, Asian, Caucasian and Latina.  Barbie also has African-American, Hispanic and Asian friends. Barbie continually reinvents herself, while maintaining her core brand personality.  A personality that has charmed an audience with a combination of beauty, happiness, fun, confidence and imagination.
	In recent times Barbie has assumed a new cool, fresh positioning in the market place, designed to further strengthen her place as a true brand leader. The Barbie doll has only had four face sculptings since it was introduced in 1959. The first change was in 1967, the second in 1977 and in 1998 Barbie undertook another sculpting change.  Her fresh new look includes minimal make-up, and softer hair in fashionable blended colours including blonde, brunette and red to create a more natural appearance. She will continue to be identifiable, realistic and both a great friend and companion to children. Barbie’s growth and indeed the growth of the majority of the Mattel brands has seen the company recently open new Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Melbourne. A new warehouse with state-of-the-art computerised management systems will not only prove a boon for local employment, it will allow Mattel to increase manufacturing and export to the Asian region where 57% of the world’s children currently reside.
	Huge celebrations are planned all over the world during 1999, to mark Barbie’s 40th anniversary. Using the theme “Little Girls Need Big Dreams. Celebrating 40 Years with Barbie”, the promotion will involve a global PR effort and many other special events. A key component of the Anniversary promotion will be the naming of  “Women of Achievement” who will be selected from a distinguished group of highly successful women from a wide range of professional disciplines.  Each woman will convey her appreciation for things that inspire big dreams for little girls.
	Barbie is a personality who embodies beauty and glamour. The glamour of Barbie is fresh, today, optimistic and idealistic. She is at the forefront of mainstream contemporary fashion and constantly adds her own touch and flair. Barbie is always successful and happy. With Barbie, a little girl can feel and share that success - it’s aspirational. Barbie is also admirable, approachable and importantly she is always fun. Barbie lets a girl choose her own form of self-expression outside parental control. Barbie opens the door so that girls can make their fantasies of being older, independent, popular and successful come true. Barbie’s world has expanded including family, homes, cars and pets. With Barbie, a little girl can be anything she wants to be!

BARBIE .
		Barbie is the number one selling girls’ toy in the world.
		Two Barbie dolls are sold each second.
		Barbie has 95% ownership penetration among Australian girls ages 3-11.
		The best selling Barbie ever, Totally Hair Barbie, sold more than 10 million units, generating worldwide sales of $100 million.
		Barbie is currently sold in more than 140 countries.
		Barbie has had more than a billion pairs of shoes.
		According to toy collectors, an original mint condition 1959 Barbie can be valued at more than $A5,000.