Toymaker Mattel reported Thursday that the Barbie brand suffered a staggering 21 per cent slump in sales during the third quarter, compared with the period last year. The slide came on the heels of a two rough quarters in which Barbie sales decreased by at least 14 percent in each.

Barbie is still one of the top doll brands in the world, but girls are increasingly enticed by other characters and games that work on a tablet or smartphone.

In a conference call Thursday morning, Mattel executives told investors that the company was working to get Barbie back on track.

"We've invested in the doll. The dolls look better than last year," said Mattel boss Bryan Stockton. "We have more activities going on in terms of the accessory part of the business."

For all of its toy brands, including Barbie, Mattel is focusing its marketing and advertising muscle on the crucial final quarter of the year, a strategy the company hopes will pull in more dollars from Christmas shoppers.

The weakness in the Barbie brand was partially offset by strong sales in Mattel's line of Disney toys, especially those tied to the blockbuster movie "Frozen."

But the popularity of Queen Elsa, Princess Anna and Olaf the Snowman is not going to be a tail wind for Mattel much longer. Disney will take the license for its Disney Princess and Frozen toys to Hasbro in 2016, which means that Mattel will have to fill a massive revenue hole.

To make matters worse, Mattel also said sales of its American Girl brand dolls and accessories slipped 7 percent in the quarter. The company said the number looks worse than it was because last year's third quarter was unusually strong, with shoppers rushing to buy the beloved Molly doll before the brand retired it.

This year, Mattel lost its longtime standing as the world's largest toymaker to Lego, whose sales rocketed amid the success of "The Lego Movie."

Although Mattel will be wounded by the loss of some of its Disney licenses, the toymaker has plenty of other licenses for screen characters that its hopes will boost demand. In the fourth quarter, its Hot Wheels brand will release a line of Star Wars cars. Mattel also has partnerships with Warner Bros., which this week announced plans for 10 films based on such DC Comics characters as Wonder Woman.

The Washington Post