Mattel Turns To Latina Mothers This Holiday Season With 'Toy Feliz' Campaign

(Toyfeliz.com)

For the first time Mattel is targeting Latina mothers this holiday season with an ad campaign called "Toy Feliz" or "Toy Happy" in English, a play on the Spanish phrase "Estoy feliz" or "I'm happy."

According to the New York Times, the campaign will be used for Mattel brands including Barbie, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, Monster High, 'Sofia the First' and WWE toys.

“When we look across the toy industry, it’s been fairly sluggish for the past couple of years,” said Lisa McKnight, the senior vice president for marketing in North America at Mattel, to the Times. “When we look at the Hispanic market, they represent about 15 percent of toy sales. If we spoke more directly, more deliberately and more authentically to Latina moms, we could really elevate the business and drive growth."

The new ad campaign, which began to air on television and radio Friday, is expected to continue through early January. According to the Times, the company hopes they can sell more toys up to Three Kings Day on January 6. The ads will run in major Latino markets: Los Angeles, Houston and Miami. The hope is Latino parents will go to toyfeliz.com where they can download coupons to be used at Walmart.

Mattel's "Toy Feliz" campaign comes a few months after Nielsen published a report highlighting Hispanic women as the "growth engine of the U.S. female population."

Hispanic women are expected to represent 30 percent of the total female population by 2060 and the non-Hispanic white female population is expected to drop to 43 percent, according to the report. More importantly for the toy industry, 86 percent of Latinas today are in charge of purchasing decisions in the household.

“Latinas are a key driver of economic influence, giving marketers an opportunity to establish new and loyal consumer relationships by acknowledging the needs and following the unique behavior trends of Hispanic women,” said Mónica Gil, Nielsen's senior vice president of public affairs and government relations.