It’s a Barbie world — even the advertising and marketing one.
The Barbie film is just some days away from its official launch on July twenty first, and its promotion continues to be a shining advertising and marketing instance.
The marketing campaign has all of the elements to shine your eyes. I’m speaking in regards to the intelligent utilization of one of the crucial recognizable model colours worldwide, tons and tons of product partnerships, and even using AI and interactivity.
Possibly you have been a child who performed with Barbies, possibly not. But it surely’s a undeniable fact that the advertising and marketing marketing campaign has struck the appropriate chord to pique the curiosity of this new and anticipated viewers for Warner Bros’ upcoming movie: us, adults.
As individuals say, “The satan works exhausting, however the Barbie film advertising and marketing crew works more durable.” And we will be taught lots from them.
So, I invite you to affix me on a go to to the Barbie world and take a better have a look at the advertising and marketing behind the brand new film.
Barbie is likely one of the strongest manufacturers on the planet – and it is aware of it
Are you able to think about the satisfaction of figuring out that your model will be acknowledged and convey a message with out utilizing any written language? Only a single shade.
You don’t should be a client of the model to acknowledge {that a} particular shade of pink represents Mattel’s iconic doll. The Barbie film advertising and marketing crew understands this and has cleverly exploited it.
I keep in mind a specific occasion when my two-year-old niece noticed a pink keychain hanging from my purse. She pointed and mentioned, “Look, it’s from Barbie!”
It wasn’t truly a Barbie keychain. It was merely pink (the appropriate shade of pink). And that alone was sufficient to create model recognition in a two-year-old.
After all, this technique might by no means have been employed within the advertising and marketing of the 2023 Barbie film with out the doll’s greater than 60-year historical past.
As Eliana Dockterman, a journalist from TIME, aptly said throughout an interview with the movie’s lead actress, Margot Robbie: “The phrase ‘Barbie’ has the type of globally acknowledged standing that solely manufacturers like Coca-Cola obtain. Since her debut in 1959, she has been a cultural staple.”
Not solely the colours but in addition each distinctive attribute of Barbie has been meticulously explored, from the form of the foot to the intricacies of the units and costumes. All to really deliver the pink toys of our childhood to life in a live-action setting. Quoting the well-known Aqua music: Life in plastic, it’s incredible.
There’s positively a nostalgic appeal to it as nicely, and it’s extremely efficient.
Mattel’s ups and downs
You possibly can’t be a model with over six a long time of historical past and count on to sail by means of your journey with out dealing with any challenges.
Barbie, particularly, is a model that carries complexity.
Whereas it goals to encourage kids to think about themselves as astronauts and politicians, it has confronted important (and legitimate) criticism for selling unrealistic physique requirements and probably impacting the vanity of youngsters, with its historically thin-waisted, blond, doll-like look.
In 2016, Mattel launched a brand new line that includes Barbies with various physique varieties. Nevertheless, it took a while to recuperate. In accordance with Statista, Mattel skilled a decline in annual web gross sales from $6.5 billion to $4.5 billion between 2013 and 2018.
As I discussed, Barbie is a model that sparks controversy. So, how did the advertising and marketing for the Barbie film sort out this difficulty? By embracing the controversy itself. Because the trailer boldly declares, “For those who love Barbie, this film is for you. For those who hate Barbie, this film is for you.”
AI and interactivity
In April, our social media feeds have been flooded with individuals sharing pictures of themselves on the Barbie film poster.
Clearly, this buzz didn’t occur by likelihood. The Barbie film advertising and marketing crew created a synthetic intelligence software that permits anybody to add their photograph and generate a film poster with the customizable tagline “This Barbie is a ____.”
After all, the web did what the web does and created limitless memes of the outcomes:
From a advertising and marketing standpoint, this was good for at the least three causes: synthetic intelligence, interactivity, and widespread sharing.
Integrating synthetic intelligence into the movie’s promotion was a genius transfer. Let’s be trustworthy: persons are captivated by something that includes “AI” these days.
And executing it on an interactive platform that permits user-generated content material and encourages natural sharing is the right recipe for producing buzz and selling any firm.
Partnerships within the Metaverse and the sport universe
Not even the metaverse escaped from the Barbie film. Without end 21, in partnership with the long-lasting doll, not solely launched a clothes line in bodily shops but in addition replicated it throughout the digital realm of Roblox.
And there’s extra: the partnership additionally included a contest the place the winner and their vogue fashion have been recreated within the on-line recreation platform.
Xbox can also be bringing Barbie into its universe.
The gaming console, owned by Microsoft, isn’t solely internet hosting a contest the place one fortunate winner will obtain a pink console housed in a mini reproduction of Barbie’s Dreamhouse, however gamers of Forza Horizon 5 may even be handled to an in-game reproduction of Barbie and Ken’s vehicles from the film.
The partnership additionally features a contest to award winners Barbie dolls wearing Xbox-branded gear.
Barbie merchandise, however not only for kids anymore
Final, however definitely not least, let’s speak about essentially the most timeless and traditional facet of the Barbie phenomenon: merchandise. Numerous merchandise, created in collaboration with a big number of manufacturers.
What’s fascinating to notice is that, in contrast to the normal deal with kids that has characterised Barbie’s legacy for the previous 60 years, these merchandise at the moment are focused in direction of adults, catering to the movie’s meant viewers.
I’m positive the ‘Barbie woman’ inside you’d be thrilled to have the chance to remain at Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse alongside Ken. Effectively, due to Airbnb, that dream can truly come true.
The checklist of partnership merchandise appears to be endless, starting from the anticipated, like make-up and clothes, to the surprising, akin to a Barbie-themed toothbrush and even a Barbie Cruise expertise.
You’ll discover that a good portion of the Barbie film advertising and marketing wasn’t truly for and from the live-action advertising and marketing crew.
It comes from the care that Mattel has taken with the model, permitting it to be very well-established for many years (though now we have to confess, the film crew did a wonderful job of embracing all of the facets, even the controversial ones).
It additionally comes from protecting numerous factors of promotion, together with the most recent traits like AI, the Metaverse, and the world of gaming—completely positioned to focus on the movie-specific viewers, which, I have to point out, isn’t the identical as the normal Barbie doll viewers, including an additional problem.
And, nicely… from the world. It’s fueled by the excitement generated by individuals and strategic partnerships with different manufacturers.
Like I mentioned, it’s a Barbie world — even the advertising and marketing one.
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Cowl photograph: Jennifer Killens
