Mon 14 Jul 2008
Olsen Twins Still Have Hold on Tween Market
Posted by Megan Dorn under Random thoughts
Last Friday Business Pundit published a story about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, calling them washed-up celebrities scratching and clawing their way back into the spot light with the launch of a new jewelry line. The author claims that it will be difficult for them to turn a profit with a name that no longer has any brand power, but as a closet fan of tween (kids ages 8-12) entertainment, I’d say that there’s really no need to claw your way back into something that you never left. Normally I’m in complete agreement with BusinessPundit, but on this particular post I think they missed the fact that the Olsen twins have actually maintained their tween stardom throughout the years.
Their names and faces may not be as visible as they once were, but their brand is still strong. Dualstar Entertainment Group, the company that the girls founded when they were 6, has since grown into a billion dollar consumer-goods empire. Throughout the past few years, the girls have made the Forbes list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities and Fortune’s list of the richest people under age 40. The money isn’t coming from reruns of Full House on ABC Family or Nick at Nite; it’s coming from the sale of their clothes, fragrances, accessories, etc. They pioneered a tween market that now grosses more than $300 billion a year, and even though the market has more recently been dominated by Hannah Montana and High School Musical, Dualstar still holds a large chunk of the market share.
The girls must have realized that as they grew older they would need to make a shift in marketing, so with the launch of their bedroom-furniture line about a year ago, they deemphasized their names and faces as the focus of the Dualstar brand. I have no idea if their new jewelry line will be successful, but if history is any indication I’m sure it will do just fine. Whether you think they’re totally cool or totally lame, you can’t say that they aren’t smart, business-savvy young women. Chances are they make WAY more money than you do.
