Allure recently had a rather fascinating article about Barbie. Have you read it yet? Sure, it covers some information that most of us are familiar with and yes, it is once again a celebratory summary of Barbie's 'life'. But here's where it gets to the aforementioned fascinating bit. When I read the details of how Mattel, throughout time, has developed, promoted and marketed Barbie, I could not help but admire their dedication to this popular doll. Admittedly there was a gasp or two, perhaps a wishful sigh even.

My word! If product creators / service providers paid this much attention to other favorite brands / products, I would be a happy customer indeed. As it is, other apathetic, not to mention nefarious, organizations could learn a thing or two about customer satisfaction and maintaining a brand name. Consider all these details. Apparently Mattel has a huge, no gargantuan, team dedicated not just to developing excellent designing but to investigate, explore and seek out the latest trends. To this end, these eager folk leave no stone unturned. From the sounds of it, they visit the famous fashion exhibitions, keep an eye out for trends amongst youngsters and peruse fashion magazines. Translate this to mean that they wish to know what people actually like and want. This is opposed to briskly trying to adopt a formula that worked for Joe Something but might fail horribly in your mismatched attempt. Now that's what I call commitment!

Here's a quote from the Vice President of product design, Evelyn Viohl:

?"We talk about her as if she were a real person," says Viohl. "We find ourselves getting into deep conversations about stuff like what colors she would never wear in a million years."

There was also that rather telling account of how the blond Barbie doll might have gained prominence because of customer demand. Admittedly a few product makers do adhere to customer needs in this manner. But not many. And not to this extent. No, sir. No matter how much you harp on about your favorite figurine, book or cartoon being unavailable or being out of stock/print, a supposedly indifferent figurehead somewhere simply raises an eyebrow and mutters "No!". And now Mattel is coming up with a detangler for Barbie's 50th! This is my cue to mimic Smeagal.