It’s a Barbie world — even the advertising and marketing one.
The Barbie film is only a few 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 probably the most recognizable model colours worldwide, tons and tons of product partnerships, and even using AI and interactivity.
Perhaps you have been a child who performed with Barbies, perhaps not. But it surely’s a undeniable fact that the advertising and marketing marketing campaign has struck the fitting chord to pique the curiosity of this new and anticipated viewers for Warner Bros’ upcoming movie: us, adults.
As folks say, “The satan works onerous, however the Barbie film advertising and marketing group works more durable.” And we are able to be taught lots from them.
So, I invite you to hitch 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 understanding that your model might be acknowledged and convey a message with out utilizing any written language? Only a single colour.
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 group understands this and has cleverly exploited it.
I keep in mind a selected 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 fitting shade of pink). And that alone was sufficient to create model recognition in a two-year-old.
After all, this technique may 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 acknowledged throughout an interview with the movie’s lead actress, Margot Robbie: “The phrase ‘Barbie’ has the sort 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 convey the pink toys of our childhood to life in a live-action setting. Quoting the well-known Aqua tune: Life in plastic, it’s improbable.
There’s undoubtedly a nostalgic allure to it as nicely, and it’s extremely efficient.
Mattel’s ups and downs
You may’t be a model with over six a long time of historical past and anticipate to sail by way of your journey with out going through any challenges.
Barbie, specifically, 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 get well. In line 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 deal with this situation? 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 folks sharing photographs of themselves on the Barbie film poster.
Clearly, this buzz didn’t occur by probability. The Barbie film advertising and marketing group created a synthetic intelligence software that permits anybody to add their picture 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 sensible for at the very 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 allows 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. Perpetually 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 trend type have been recreated within the on-line sport platform.
Xbox can also be bringing Barbie into its universe.
The gaming console, owned by Microsoft, just 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 probably the most timeless and basic facet of the Barbie phenomenon: merchandise. Numerous merchandise, created in collaboration with a big number of manufacturers.
What’s attention-grabbing to notice is that, in contrast to the standard concentrate on kids that has characterised Barbie’s legacy for the previous 60 years, these merchandise are actually focused in the direction of adults, catering to the movie’s meant viewers.
I’m certain the ‘Barbie woman’ inside you’ll be thrilled to have the chance to remain at Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse alongside Ken. Effectively, because of Airbnb, that dream can truly come true.
The listing of partnership merchandise appears to be endless, starting from the anticipated, like make-up and clothes, to the surprising, resembling 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 group.
It comes from the care that Mattel has taken with the model, permitting it to be very well-established for many years (though we’ve to confess, the film group did a superb job of embracing all of the facets, even the controversial ones).
It additionally comes from overlaying numerous factors of promotion, together with the newest tendencies 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 standard Barbie doll viewers, including an additional problem.
And, nicely… from the world. It’s fueled by the thrill generated by folks 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 picture: Jennifer Killens
