Innovation Series: Barbie and the Boy Scouts?
Think about Barbie and the Boy Scouts. While not many similarities come to mind, the guys can learn a lot from the girls. That’s right: Scouting can take notes from the No. 1 toy in the world.
At least 90 percent of girls between the ages of 3 and 10 own at least one Barbie. Conversely, how many boys of the same age are in Scouting? How many know what it means to be a Scout? Or how to join?
A Focus on Continuous Improvement
These questions aren’t asked to be discouraging, but rather to point out some opportunities that all of us need to seize. After all, it isn’t like Barbie simply put the top down on her pink Corvette, set the cruise control, and arrived at success.
She turned 50 last year. Yup. The big 5-0. Not that us girls like to talk about our age, of course. But rather than sit back and wait to join the AARP crowd, Barbie has been busy reinventing herself over the decades.
- In 1965, the first black Barbie was introduced.
- In 1997, Barbie received a wider waist in an effort to be more “real” and to address concerns that her “dimensions” were nearly impossible for a female to achieve.
- In 2004, Barbie ended things with Ken. Don’t let those tabloids fool you. She dumped him.
Success for Barbie hasn’t been guaranteed. Similar to the Boy Scouts, Barbie has had increasing difficulty maintaining the interest of kids. When the likes of Dora the Explorer dolls, American Girl, and Disney Princess Dolls took center stage among girls, Barbie didn’t sit back. She put up a fight.
She’s now interacting with her consumers differently, which includes her own blog translated into 11 languages.
Call it plastic surgery: a nip here and a tuck there. But it’s more. Barbie has spent her time focusing on continuous improvement, a practice the Boy Scouts of America should emulate.
Giving Kids What They Want
As a result of these changes, Barbie is experiencing a resurgence similar to what the BSA seeks. Earlier this year, Barbie manufacturer Mattel reported that sales of the doll increased for the first time in nearly two years.
That contrasts sharply from March 1959, when Barbie had her debut and was a novelty. At the time, dolls only looked like babies. Barbie, by contrast, was an adult! A woman. She represented something girls could aspire to, beyond having babies.
Later she left the pink Dream House and headed to work. This year, she hit career number 125: television anchor, as selected by girls online. Wow—letting kids give input that will create the toys they ultimately decide to buy.
Scouting, too, isn’t the only game in town. We need to listen to our consumers—kids!
This is a very real challenge for Scouting. While we’re starting to ask members what they want, we may be quick to overlook their ideas and instead rely on what we—the adults—think is the right solution.
That’s dangerous. It dismisses the input of kids and overlooks the fact that they are a key decision-maker in households.
Don’t believe me? Kids are already telling us the same thing—with their feet—when they leave the program, or never join in the first place.
Over time, the aesthetics of Barbie changed. However, her motto has stayed the same: “We girls can do anything.”
The BSA, too, can evolve without losing sight of its values. We all know the program prepares young men to become the men they aspire to be, even if the program includes an ATV.
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