EL SEGUNDO, Calif. and
BEIJING, Feb. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mattel, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MAT) and Babytree, China's largest online parenting community,
today announced the formation of a strategic partnership to
co-develop a first-of-its-kind early childhood learning and
development online platform. Integrating world-class parenting
content and developmental framework to serve millions of Chinese
families' needs, the partnership aims to establish the best early
childhood education brand in China.
Mattel and Babytree will bring to market a suite of resources
for families, including child development assessment tools and
customized parenting content and development curriculum, inspired
by Mattel's trusted and globally-recognized early childhood
development brand, Fisher-Price®.
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Babytree in such an
impactful way," said Margo
Georgiadis, CEO of Mattel. "Mattel and Fisher-Price have
been inspiring childhood development and learning for more than 85
years. By combining our expertise in early childhood development
with Babytree's dominant scale and extraordinary ability to engage
with Chinese moms, we are uniquely positioned to serve parents and
families in China."
Under the terms of this partnership, Mattel and Babytree will
co-create a robust online platform designed to promote and coach
parents on maximizing early childhood development with their
kids. Drawing on Fisher-Price's unique expertise in childhood
development, the platform will host a wealth of content and
curriculum designed to enable many parenting styles and address the
unique development paths of their child.
"It is Babytree's focus to help the next generation of children
in China achieve their personal
best. This has been our primary mission throughout the life of
Babytree. Until now, early education resources have been scarce and
unequal in different tiers of cities," said Allen Wang, Founder and CEO of BabyTree.
"Partnering with Mattel, a recognized and trusted leader in
childhood development, represents an important step toward
achieving our goals."
With nearly 200 million unique monthly visitors, Babytree is
China's largest and most trusted
online parenting community and kids and family platform.
Established ten years ago, Babytree now reaches more than 90% of
Chinese parents who have access to the internet, through its
digital portals including Babytree.com and a suite of mobile
apps. Babytree has witnessed the development journey of more
than 100 million children in China, and accumulated tremendous amount of
insights enabling Babytree to help ease pain points of existing
early childhood education in China
and continuously develop innovative solutions.
Mr. Wang continued, "Our new strategic partnership with Mattel
enables us to engage with parents and families in new ways,
providing parenting coaching and solutions across numerous
metropolitan areas in China, and
augmenting our existing robust digital and online communities with
high-impact content."
About Babytree
As China's leading family portal, Babytree is
building a VIP service that supports China's young mothers and families.
Babytree resources support families across a wide range of topics,
including, education, social interaction, child development
tracking, and nutrition. Babytree's goal is to provide young
mothers with resources that enable them to better enjoy their
family life.
Babytree has built a massive online ecosystem encompassing its
internet platform, user community, original content, and key
opinion leader matrix.
The success of this ecosystem is the result of a focus on
understanding and continuously addressing users' core needs.
Babytree's offering extends beyond the online platform with
innovative products and services including early education,
healthcare, finance, tourism and family services. Babytree has
built leading brands that include babytree.com, Happy Pregnancy
app, Babytree Wetime app, Meitunmama, and Mika.
About Fisher-Price
In 1931, Herman Fisher and Irving
Price embarked on a journey to change the toy industry.
Their goal: creating playthings that inspire a child's development.
More than 85 years later, Fisher-Price remains deeply rooted in the
belief that play is the way children learn best. To this day,
understanding the importance of play in building a child's skills
is the fundamental principle, as the company strives to enrich the
lives of families with young children around the globe. United by
the passion for a child's safe care and development at each age and
stage, the people of Fisher-Price work tirelessly to bring families
the best toys and baby products in the world. Some of the company's
best-known brands include Laugh & Learn®, Little People®, Power
Wheels®, and Imaginext®, and it's also a leading developer of
character-based toys for children's programming such as Thomas
& Friends™, Blaze and the Monster Machines™ and Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse. Fisher-Price is a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. For
more information, visit www.fisher-price.com.
About Mattel
Mattel is a creations company that
inspires the wonder of childhood. Our mission is to be the
recognized leader in play, learning and development
worldwide. Mattel's portfolio of global consumer brands
includes American Girl®, Barbie®, Fisher-Price®, Hot Wheels®,
Monster High® and Thomas & Friends®, among many others.
Mattel also creates a wealth of lines and products made in
collaboration with leading entertainment and technology
companies. With a global workforce of approximately 31,000
people, Mattel operates in 40 countries and sells products in more
than 150 nations. Visit us online at www.mattel.com.
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SOURCE Mattel, Inc.