Slumber-Party-In-a-Box

Finding Out What Teen Girls Are Really Thinking

As profiled on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Girls Intelligence Agency’s Slumber-Party-In-A-Box is a marketing tool that enables businesses to reach and understand up to 600,000 teen girls. It’s a twist on the idea of “focus groups.”

The Slumber-Party-In-A-Box concept is designed for girls to invite G.I.A. – and a new product -- into their bedrooms for a slumber party. “Secret agents” report findings to GIAheadquarters.com that same evening.

“The Slumber-Party-In-A-Box program was a great opportunity to get the word out for our Bratz product.” Says Laura Waniuk, Product Manager, BRATZ. While the slumber party lasts one night, G.I.A. tracks the new product, introduced at the party, in the field. A confidential GIA summary report offers clients suggestions on what marketing action to proceed. “After the Slumber Parties we received strong feedback and suggestions straight from our target demographic,” says Waniuk.

Company founder and G.I.A. Chief Executive Laura Groppe designed Slumber-Party-In-A-Box to appeal to today’s young women, who are inundated with media messages. They’re a critical consumer, spending upwards of $80B a year on products ranging from fashion to technology. Last year, G.I.A. hosted thousands of Slumber Parties across the country for clients such as Disney, Mattel, Sony, Vanity Fair, Neutrogena and Oglivy & Mather.

Basically, at one of these slumber parties, teen girls are doing what they normally would be doing, hanging out in their bedrooms with their closest friends and trying out a new lip gloss or listening to a CD. It makes sense that this is probably the most effective way to decipher what the response of the mass market is going to be. In traditional “focus groups,” there’s a more formal sense, it’s administrative and responses aren’t often spontaneous as they are in this setting. www.girlsintelligenceagency.com