BRATZ versus BARBIE How to compete with a global brand

BRATZ versus BARBIE
How to compete with a global brand
Intermediate Level:
•
Grammar: Prepositions of time
•
Functional Vocabulary: Meetings: Agreeing & Disagreeing
•
Listening: Bratz and Barbie company history
•
Reading: Owner of Bratz
•
Cultural Awareness Point: Styles of disagreement
•
Pronunciation: Silent letters
•
Role Play: Meeting: Decide future company strategy
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INTRODUCTION:
Discuss these questions: what do you know about Barbie? Have you heard of
Bratz? What is the market position?
Do you know the meaning of these words? You will hear them in the listening:
Fashion – doll – lips – make-up
LISTENING 1:
A spokesman talks about Bratz and Barbie. Answer the questions below.
1. Which company manufactures Barbie?
2. What is Barbie modelled on?
3. How are Bratz dolls different to Barbie?
4. Who produces Bratz?
5. How many Bratz dolls were sold in the first five years?
Pronunciation: Silent Letters In English
Some English words contain silent letters. Pronounce them with your tutor:
B: (in these words the ‘b’ is silent): climb, bomb, lamb, plumber, debt, doubt
I doubt the plumber made a bomb, because he was in debt.
H: honest, hour
"In one hour we will have happy apples," Henry said. However, he is not honest.
L: salmon, calm, could, should, walk, talk, half
Tom talked calmly about salmon for half an hour, and could walk twelve miles.
P: pneumatic, psychiatrist, cupboard, receipt
“The cupboard was full of receipts and this was symbolic,” the psychiatrist said.
W: answer, write, wrong, whose, who, sword
“What went wrong? Whose sword is this?” Walter did not answer.
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Grammar Practice - Prepositions of Time:
Still, Yet, Always, No Longer, During, By, After, Before, Until
Still emphasises continuity:
Do they still produce that doll or have you stopped?
Yet indicates that something has not happened but is expected to happen soon.
They haven’t signed the contract yet, but they will sign it soon.
Always means ‘on all occasions,’ and is the opposite of ‘never’.
We always use this taxi company.
No Longer explains that something does not happen any more.
We no longer export to China.
During signifies ‘between two points of time’.
The factory is closed during the holiday period.
By is used for actions completed on or before a certain time limit.
We need to know the decision by Friday at the latest.
After is used for actions that happen later than another action.
After the meeting we had lunch.
Before describes events that happen earlier than another action
We called the office before we arrived.
Until or till means ‘continuing up to a particular time.’
We will work here until / till next week
EXERCISE: Complete the following with a suitable time preposition.
1. We will finish the order
2. There are
3. Are you
Friday.
more orders at Christmas than in the summer.
working at Mattel? Yes, I haven’t changed jobs
4. The company is hoping for record sales
5.
.
the holiday period.
the manager agreed to the idea we opened the champagne.
6. We ordered the dolls
7. The store
the price went up and saved a lot of money.
sells the dolls at discount. The offer finished last week.
Supplement this task with more exercises from a good grammar book.
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Read the text & put a preposition of time into the gaps
During – By – Until – After – Always - No Longer
THE MAN WHO LAUNCHED BRATZ
Isaac Larian is the founder of MGA Entertainments, the company that produces Bratz
dolls.
Larian grew up in Iran, where his father owned a textile shop. When he was
seventeen, he told his parents he wanted to go to the United States. They sent him to
Los Angeles with $750, all the money the family had.
In his first job, he washed dishes from eleven at night
seven in the morning
at a coffee shop. Later, he was a waiter tables and with his salary he studied civil
engineering at California State University, Los Angeles.
this period he
became interested in being an entrepreneur.
graduating, he began importing cheap products from South Korea, starting
a company called Surprise Gift Wagon.
In the late eighties, he persuaded Nintendo to give him the American rights to their
handheld games. "
the end of the first year, we had sold twenty-two million
dollars in games, and we had a thirty-five-percent profit," he said. "But the next year
we had ten million dollars’ worth of Nintendo games that were
fashionable.
The kids wanted something new."
He concluded from that experience that a company marketing to children has to be
quick to recognise when fashion changes.
"With Bratz, we
need to change them every three, four months," he
explained. "What you see in the stores today was not in the stores last year and will
not be there in three months time.
The key is to be fresh, to listen to the kids carefully, because they change their ideas
every week. And you have to think, ‘what are they interested in now?’ And we have
to design products that they want and their friends will want.
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FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY – Agreeing & Disagreeing
Sample sentences:
I agree with most of what you say, but I think we need to do more research.
I totally disagree with the new expansion plan.
Form and Uses:
Agreement
Partial
Agreement
Disagreement
Agreeing with Someone
I totally agree with you
I fully / completely agree
I am in total / complete agreement
with you
I agree up to a point but …
I agree, but …
In part I agree, but …
I agree with you, but …
You might be right, but …
I can’t agree with you
I don’t agree at all
Sorry, but I think you are mistaken
Agreeing to Something
I totally agree
I completely / fully agree
I am in favour
I accept that, but …
That might be right, but …
I can’t agree to that
I don’t accept that
Sorry, but I think it is a
mistake
Exercise: Provide a suitable word or phrase to complete the sentences.
1. I don’t
2. You
3. You’re right, I
4. Do we
5. Yes, I
the proposal. It’s completely wrong.
, but we still need to improve customer service.
with everything you say.
that the Dolls are good?
that, but the marketing is a problem.
Speaking Practice: Provide a response to these statements:
•
•
•
The price of the products is too high
The logo should be redesigned
The economy has a big impact on sales
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Cultural Awareness Point: Styles of disagreement
Generally, the British do not openly disagree in meetings. This style is too direct
The British like to hide disagreement in what sounds like agreement.
E.g. ‘That’s a very interesting idea, but …’
Americans are often more direct and will openly disagree.
E.g. No, we cannot agree to that
Discussion
• How does your culture / nationality express disagreement in meetings?
•
Is humour important in a business meeting?
Do you know the meaning of these words? You will hear them in the listening:
Capture – to face – banned – appeal – dispute - judge
LISTENING 2:
Listen to the second part of the recording and answer the questions.
1. By 2006 how much of the market did Bratz have?
2. What did Mattel do in 2007?
3. What does Mattel say about the design of Bratz?
4. What did a judge do in December 2008?
5. What is MGA’s reaction to the decision?
ROLE-PLAY
The meeting: The management team at Mattel meets to discuss how they can
compete with Bratz.
First group wants to expand the doll range.
Second group wants to fight them in the courts with legal challenges
Discuss the options and try to come up with a compromise solution.
Practice using the grammar (still, yet, by, etc.) and the functional vocabulary
(Agreeing/Disagreeing) you have learnt in this unit.
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AUDIO 1 – intermediate Bratz
Bratz versus Barbie – intermediate level.
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, and launched in America in 1959.
She is based on a German doll called the Bild Lilli, which was popular with children
who liked to dress her in different clothes.
The doll is modelled on a woman, because Mattel realised that small girls prefer to
role-play adult action, not children’s activity.
Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over fifty years.
More than one billion Barbie dolls have been sold around the world, with Mattel
claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.
So how do you compete with this market domination?
You create a different doll. One based on teenagers not women. One with a large
head, big eyes, lots of make-up, and big lips. Bratz are more sexual than Barbie,
more fashionable.
They are the "girls with a passion for fashion," as their slogan says.
Bratz dolls were launched by MGA Entertainment in 2004 and in their first five years,
sold over 125 million Bratz dolls, and, in 2005, global sales reached two billion
dollars.
Since 2006 sales of Barbie dolls has fallen by 30%, because of Bratz.
Audio 2 – Intermediate – Bratz versus Barbie
Barbie is still a recognizable brand name, like Microsoft or Coke, but the competition
has changed.
The Bratz range of dolls has seriously affected the sale of Mattel's leading fashion
doll, Barbie.
By 2006, Bratz had captured about forty per cent of the fashion-doll market,
compared with Barbie's sixty per cent.
So how does a leading brand fight back when it faces strong competition?
In 2007 Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million.
Mattel claimed that the creator of Bratz was working for Mattel when he developed
the idea for Bratz.
MGA says this is not true. In the past he worked for Mattel but had finished when he
designed the Bratz doll.
In December 2008, an American judge banned MGA from selling Bratz. MGA
appealed against the ban and the companies continue to dispute the origins of the
doll.
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LESSON PLAN – BRATZ versus BARBIE - INTERMEDIATE
Key objectives – to practise aural and oral Business English
INTRODUCTION: Start by asking students what they know about Bratz, good and
bad points. Ask they agree with each other. Teacher (T) - Students (SS) 5 mins
LISTENING 1: Next tell students they are going to hear a spokesman talking about
Bratz’ origins. They need to answer the questions at the end. Play the listening and
ask students the questions. (T) - (SS) 10 mins
GRAMMAR: Ask the grammar question.
Go through the rules and do the exercises that follow.
Ask students to read the questions and answers out loud. (S) – (T) 10 mins
PRONUNCIATION: Write down the word “Bomb” on the board and ask the students
to pronounce it. Cross out the 2nd B and tell them it’s silent. Go through the silent
letters and ask students to repeat after you. Teacher (T) - Students (SS) 5 mins
READING: Find out what the students think makes Bratz so successful. Ask they
agree with each other. Go through reading and ask students to read out loud, fill the
gaps with the correct word. (S) – (T) 10 mins
FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY: Point out the final sentence of the reading passage.
Ways of agreeing and disagreeing. Ask the students if they know of any way to
partially agree. Elicit ans wers. Go through the examples and do the role-play exercise
that follows. (S) – (T) 10 mins
CULTURAL AWARENESS POINT: Talk about the British style of disagreement and
discuss the questions that follow. (S) – (T) 10 mins
LISTENING 2: Ask the question, has Bratz changed our concept of toys. What
should a doll have? Ask they agree with each other. Tell students they are
going to hear the 2nd part of the listening. They need to answer the questions at
the end. Play the listening (SS) – (T) 10 mins
ROLE PLAY: Split students into groups and get them to read their role cards and
prepare to discuss the situation. Make sure they practice the grammar and
vocabulary learnt in the lesson and to try and use the case study material in their
argument. (SS) - (SS) 10 mins
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EXERCISE ANSWERS
LISTENING 1:
1. Mattel
2. A German doll called Bild Lili
3. large head, big eyes, lots of make-up, and big lips. Bratz are more sexual than
Barbie, more fashionable.
4. MGA Entertainment
5. 125 million
GRAMMAR EXERCISE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
We will finish the order by Friday.
There are always more orders at Christmas than in the summer.
Are you still working at Mattel? Yes, I haven’t changed jobs yet.
The company is hoping for record sales during the holiday period.
After the manager agreed to the idea we opened the champagne.
We ordered the dolls before the price went up and saved a lot of money.
The store no longer sells the dolls at discount. The offer finished last week.
READING EXERCISE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Until
During
After
By
No longer
Always
FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY – possible answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I don’t accept the proposal. It’s completely wrong.
You might be right, but we still need to improve customer service.
You’re right, I agree with everything you say.
Do we agree that the Dolls are good?
Yes, I accept that, but the marketing is a problem.
LISTENING 2:
1. About 40%?
2. Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million
3. Mattel claimed that the creator of Bratz was working for Mattel when he
developed the idea for Bratz.
4. He banned MGA from selling Bratz
5. MGA appealed against the ban
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