One Year of Barbie: The Lessons you can Learn from the Sensation’s Marketing Campaigns

The release of the Barbie Movie in July 2023 took the world by storm, with Barbie mania everywhere you looked. As we approach the one-year anniversary of this iconic movie, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what the exceptionally talented marketing team did right and what lessons can be applied to your own brand’s marketing success.

The Power of a Strong Brand Name:

Barbie is a household name, recognized and loved by many. Mattel has a long history of building Barbie’s reputation and recognition by listening to customers and delivering what they desired. This undoubtedly played a significant role in the movie’s hype. The takeaway here is that a strong brand reputation and recognition is invaluable. Investing time in creating a consistent brand identity with recognisable logos, slogans, and colours can also make your brand stand out from the crowd.

Masterful Storytelling and Emotional Engagement:

Barbie’s marketing campaign excelled at storytelling across various platforms, whether it was TikTok, Instagram, or other channels. Storytelling is a powerful way to make your audience connect with your brand on an emotional level. Creating emotions such as joy,empathy, love, and even sadness makes your content relatable and engaging. For example, a picture of an older woman taking cookies out of the oven with a child eagerly waiting will resonate more emotionally than a simple product shot with a “buy me” message. Emotional storytelling is crucial for engagement.

Creating Engaging Content

From hashtags like #barbiechallenge to “What Barbie Are You?” filters, Barbie’s marketing team mastered the art of engagement. They encouraged people to interact with the campaigns, creating a buzz naturally. The “What Barbie Are You?” filter, for example, allowed users to add their own image with premade personality traits and job descriptions, making the campaign highly personalised and shareable. Inviting your audience to add personal touches or share their positive opinions can create a massive campaign with minimal investment.

Perfect Timing

The Barbie marketing team understood the fast pace of the digital world and how quickly trends change. Although the movie was released in July, the online campaigns started 3-4 months in advance. They didn’t rely on just one or two extended campaigns; instead, they rolled out new, trendy campaigns every few weeks. From TikTok filters one week to Instagram hashtag trends the next, followed by challenges like imitating the “Barbie foot” walk, they constantly kept the audience’s attention. The key lesson here is to have a new plan to capture attention regularly, especially in the lead-up to a big release.

The Barbie Movie became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, not just because of nostalgia but due to the exceptional marketing campaigns that resonated with a broad audience. By learning from their effective use of TikTok trends, powerful hashtags, and engaging imagery, you can take your brand’s marketing campaign to the next level. As a brand owner, analyzing their success and adapting these strategies can help you achieve remarkable results.

Laura Karaliute

Digital Marketing Assistant

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