Hannah Montana Dolls Now Catching Up to the Popularity of Barbie Dolls
The appeal is the huge success with this market that Disney has enjoyed with its Hannah Montana stage shows and movie.
The brand has attracted a vast fan following.
The show's story is about a pre-teen aged girl who wants to become a rock star.
The star of the show is Miley Cyrus, and the curious phenomenon of the whole affair is that Miley has achieved rock star status and international fame through the show, and, in a way, has turned the original fictional story into full blown reality - and on a grand scale.
This enormous personal success for Miley has not been lost on her fans, and her story, and that of the Hannah Montana character, have become inspirational for girls around the age she was when starting out.
They can identify easily with many of the issues, feelings and emotions that come out in the shows and music that tell the story.
Whether it has been clever marketing or just the way it has turned out, in just a few years the Hannah Montana brand has become a household name and won over much of the pre-teen girls' market.
Like the highly successful Barbie doll, a Hannah Montana doll can be purchased in a growing range of styles, from concert performers of various kinds to dress up dolls that reflect the celebrity status of the star in different ways.
There are numerous accessory sets available, also much as for the Barbie range, including play home furniture settings for different rooms, stage dressing room props and even another doll representing sweetheart boyfriend Jake.
The similarity of the Hannah and Barbie doll ranges in concept has, in effect, re-branded the older range with the newer face and story, and created a range of products with instant appeal to the many fans of the brand in the young girls' doll market.
With such a powerful fan base behind the brand of the new range of dolls, it is no surprise that the Hannah dolls are rivaling the long established Barbie dolls in popularity right now.
The Hannah Montana dress up dolls are just one of the range of branded product ranges that have been produced to capitalize on the astonishing success of the Hannah Montana show.
Branded guitars are another example, and, of course, the huge music and movie DVD markets.