Marketing Co. Throws Parties for Teen Research
For companies that are vying to increase their sales and stake in the $75 billion market for girls and young women, Girls Intelligence Agency LLC (GIA) is offering a marketing tool that it dubs the Slumber-Party-In-A-Box.
Los Angeles–based GIA said the peer-to-peer marketing tool helps companies launch a new product or build brand awareness. GIA taps its database of 40,000 preteen to college-aged participants, whom it calls “secret agents.” These secret agents meet with other girls at parties, where GIA designs games and activities revolving around the theme of a brand or product line. GIA said it provides some sample products from the client that the girls can wear or share. The girls also go online together and complete a survey on the Web.
GIA Chief Executive Officer Laura Groppe said her company organizes, at a minimum, 500 parties involving 6,000 girlfriends for each of its clients. The word-of-mouth generated from these parties can reach 60,000 girls and young women, Groppe said. Companies that have used Slumber-Party-In-A-Box, which costs $20,000 for 500 kits, include Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Mattel Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and Gap Inc. She added that other apparel companies have used GIA’s tool for trend research.
Founded in 2003, GIA is a marketing research and brand development company focusing on 8- to 29-year-old female consumers. It began offering the Slumber-Party-In-A-Box two years ago.
—Khanh T.L. Tran
