Mattel Skip-Bo. Mattel purchased Fisher-Price, Inc. in 1993, Tyco Toys, Inc. (owners of the Matchbox and Dinky Toys brands) in 1997, and Pleasant Company (maker of the American Girl brand) in 1998. Mattel purchased The Learning Company in 1999 for $3.5 billion, but sold it in 2000 at a loss. The company had a $430.9 million net loss that year. Mattel earned the first grant for Disney Princess doll licenses in 2000. In December 2000, Mattel sued the band Aqua, saying their song "Barbie Girl" violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a
Umbrella brand of brand extension. The practice of umbrella branding does not disallow a firm to implement different branding approaches for different product lines (e.g. brand extension). Marketers may increase the chance of success for a new product launch by using a sub-brand name and a parent brand name simultaneously. In the article by Howard Pong Yuen LAM and other co-authors, they report the successful case of using two brand names--dual branding strategy--by practitioners in China for the Minute Maid Orange Pulp juice drink launch. "A suggestive sub-brand name helps consumers recall the key benefits and features of the new product. A