1: Omnichannel means all media

What is making Barbie successful, and what advertisers should take away from this hot pink experience, is how truly omnichannel campaigns include more than just paid media channels. Everyone is talking about Barbie because everyone is interacting with the movie in some way. Your media agency should offer omnichannel options that go beyond the usual suspects if you want to stand out. 

2: A magnetic media strategy begins with an audience strategy

Barbie is everywhere, and that is exactly what Mattel’s EVP and Global Head of Barbie and dolls, Lisa McKnight, set out to accomplish. When production began, Director Greta Gerwig said the movie was designed to give audiences “the thing you didn’t know you wanted”. Suddenly, it seems we’re all living in the Barbie-verse of media, offering some key lessons to marketers, brands, and media agencies. 

3: Nostalgia marketing in the Barbie-verse to reinvigorate the brand

Barbie’s marketing team is making successful use of both nostalgia marketing and experiential marketing. Millennials (a generation that boasts a purchasing power of $2.5 trillion) grew up with Barbie as a mainstay in the toybox or the top of a birthday wishlist. The Barbie media campaign directly touches on that nostalgia, offering not only an opportunity to see the Barbie-verse in a live-action film, but to become a part of it.

4: A fun campaign is for everyone: Experiential marketing and endless brand partnerships

With all the Barbie buzz, countless brands jumped on experiential marketing opportunities, incorporating the hype into their products and events. In paid media, we see this in the use of Snapchat Lenses, allowing users to dress like Barbie characters. The experiences go as far as renting Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse out as an Airbnb. This offers consumers an experience that goes beyond the screen, tapping into desires and not just entertainment. In essence, if they can dress like Barbie and live in Barbie’s house, they can become Barbie, rather than just watching her on the silver screen. 

Collaborations have been on the rise as well, ranging from food to fashion to decor. Some examples of brand collabs include: 

• XBox x Barbie
• Croc x Barbie 
• AirBNB x Barbie
• Gap x Barbie 
• Kendra Scott x Barbie 
• Build a Bear x Barbie 
• Ruggable x Barbie 
• Alex and Ani x Barbie 
• Burger King Brazil x Barbie

What Can Brands Learn from the Barbie Movie Media Strategy?

We’ve been living in pink clouds for the entirety of the month. When it seems like all the major brands are capitalizing on the hype how do you cut through the noise? 

A few key reminders for brands:

• Your media agency must tap into your audience and identify what they desire and want to experience, not just see or hear. Successful experiential marketing means understanding what your consumer truly wants – often before they do themselves. (See Greta Gerwig’s quote above!)
• Your campaign can leverage paid media AND earned media for multiplier effect to engage with consumers. Not only can an omnichannel approach reach a broader audience, but engaging with consumers and what they want to talk about can exponentially increase the impact of a campaign. Especially when it takes off into viral, user-generated content.
• Have fun! Part of the buzz-worthy nature of this campaign is the unadulterated, nostalgic joy of the brand. The marketers behind this media plan aren’t taking themselves too seriously – and we can all learn from that. After all, it’s probably why most of us work in marketing!

This Barbie can tell you about media impact!

The Barbie Movie provides a master class to all advertisers for how to be unavoidable, known to the masses, and all-encompassing with experiential marketing. (And yes, a large global advertising budget certainly helps!)

From the Barbie global campaign’s media playbook, we’ll review how: 

• a truly omnichannel media strategy includes more than just media channels (Hellooo, earned media!)
• tapping into consumer desires and mindset achieves measurable campaign goals 
• experiential marketing and brand partnerships offer media campaigns a lasting impact and customer engagement and revitalization

1: Omnichannel means all media

What is making Barbie successful, and what advertisers should take away from this hot pink experience, is how truly omnichannel campaigns include more than just paid media channels. Everyone is talking about Barbie because everyone is interacting with the movie in some way. Your media agency should offer omnichannel options that go beyond the usual suspects if you want to stand out. 

2: A magnetic media strategy begins with audience strategy

Barbie is everywhere, and that is exactly what Mattel’s EVP and Global Head of Barbie and dolls, Lisa McKnight, set out to accomplish. When production began, Director Greta Gerwig said the movie was designed to give audiences “the thing you didn’t know you wanted”. Suddenly, it seems we’re all living in the Barbie-verse of media, offering some key lessons to marketers, brands, and media agencies. 

3: Nostalgia marketing in the Barbie-verse to reinvigorate the brand

Barbie’s marketing team is making successful use of both nostalgia marketing and experiential marketing. Millennials (a generation that boasts a purchasing power of $2.5 trillion) grew up with Barbie as a mainstay in the toybox or the top of a birthday wishlist. The Barbie media campaign directly touches on that nostalgia, offering not only an opportunity to see the Barbie-verse in a live-action film, but to become a part of it.

4: A fun campaign is for everyone: Experiential marketing and endless brand partnerships

With all the Barbie buzz, countless brands jumped on experiential marketing opportunities, incorporating the hype into their products and events. In paid media, we see this in the use of Snapchat Lenses, allowing users to dress like Barbie characters. The experiences go as far as renting Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse out as an Airbnb. This offers consumers an experience that goes beyond the screen, tapping into desires and not just entertainment. In essence, if they can dress like Barbie and live in Barbie’s house, they can become Barbie, rather than just watching her on the silver screen. 

Collaborations have been on the rise as well, ranging from food to fashion to decor. Some examples of brand collabs include: 

• XBox x Barbie
• Croc x Barbie 
• AirBNB x Barbie
• Gap x Barbie 
• Kendra Scott x Barbie 
• Build a Bear x Barbie 
• Ruggable x Barbie 
• Alex and Ani x Barbie 
• Burger King Brazil x Barbie

What Can Brands Learn from the Barbie Movie Media Strategy?

We’ve been living in pink clouds for the entirety of the month. When it seems like all the major brands are capitalizing on the hype how do you cut through the noise? 

A few key reminders for brands:

• Your media agency must tap into your audience and identify what they desire and want to experience, not just see or hear. Successful experiential marketing means understanding what your consumer truly wants – often before they do themselves. (See Greta Gerwig’s quote above!)
• Your campaign can leverage paid media AND earned media for multiplier effect to engage with consumers. Not only can an omnichannel approach reach a broader audience, but engaging with consumers and what they want to talk about can exponentially increase the impact of a campaign. Especially when it takes off into viral, user-generated content.
• Have fun! Part of the buzz-worthy nature of this campaign is the unadulterated, nostalgic joy of the brand. The marketers behind this media plan aren’t taking themselves too seriously – and we can all learn from that. After all, it’s probably why most of us work in marketing!