Barbie: A masterclass in strategic brand evolution
You can't escape the pink-saturated marketing campaign for the new Barbie movie, which is a masterclass in the art of strategic brand evolution, creativity and leveraging culture, Sayers Group brand momentum associate Rachel Tucker writes.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, #Barbiecore is having a serious moment, as buzz builds ahead of the launch of the film starring Margot Robbie, which looks certain to break cinema attendance records.
Why? Well, in the words of Barbie herself: “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world.”
The ‘world’ Barbie lives in has evolved significantly since first being launched in 1959, driven by radical shifts in culture, denormalisation of outdated stereotypes and a modern world that values diversity (amongst so many other things).
Yet, Barbie, as a product and a brand reacted to culture to remain relevant and in demand throughout time.
Barbie as a brand, product and character has been a cultural icon for almost 65 years. When first released, Barbie was a 19-year-old girl with unattainable and ‘idealised’ aesthetic features including a snatched waist, legs for days, tanned Anglo skin, the blondest of hair, perfect makeup and a pearly white smile.
She was and still is a symbol of imaginative play for children, most specifically and traditionally for little girls, all around the world.
But as the popularity of Barbie continued to grow, so did the criticism of what she represented and perpetuated, especially for young girls in their most formative years; a period in which a child experiences rapid social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Many argued that Barbie perpetuated impossible beauty standards. In fact, if Barbie were a real person, she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up with her tiny proportions.
She was also seen as a symbol of negative gender stereotypes because ‘career Barbies’ were only available to purchase in traditionally ‘female-only’ careers such as a ballerina, flight attendant, Nurse or fashion designer.
Mattel, the co-founders of Barbie, have made several attempts to contemporise Barbie, including the introduction of Barbie’s ‘first African-American friend’ in the late 1960s, and new career dolls such as the ‘entrepreneur Barbie’ or ‘panda rescuer Barbie’, and more diverse Barbies in terms of age, ability, background, weight and ethnicity.
They introduced new storylines in their branded fiction series and movies to show that a woman has choices and can do anything.
Though what Barbie stands for has evolved throughout time, the Barbie brand has remained strong. A brand with eternally recognisable brand assets, a distinctive and consistent tone of voice and an ability to connect to a wide audience through emotive levers of nostalgia, imagination, and play.
It truly is a brand that has nailed the three components of a successful brand: distinctiveness, relevancy, and consistency. It’s no wonder Barbie has 98% global recognition. That’s more than Coca-Cola, the President of the United States and the late Queen Elizabeth II, by the way.
Barbie has created memory structures through distinct brand assets, particularly the iconic Barbie pink hue, that drive strong recognition. In the words of Barbie herself: “What makes you different makes you special.”
As a brand, Barbie has acted as cultural stimulus, deliberately evolving to resonate and connect with customers in a way that is social and current.
The brand, other than new product developments and some required repositioning, has remained relatively consistent over time with repetitive messaging, identity and tone of voice, surely to be continued in the 2023 film adaptation.
But, before we address that massive, pink, Margot Robbie-shaped elephant in the room, it’s worth noting Barbie’s relevance in culture over the past 10 to 15 years.
As expected, some feminist critique has dubbed Barbie an emblem of unrealistic and patriarchal beauty standards. However, others have heralded her as the ultimate feminist; through her diverse personas, sexualities and style, her ability to slay any career, and the fact that she is the bimbo GOAT.
“What is Bimboism?” you ask.
Well, a modern-day Bimbo is all about reclamation, subverting traditional expectations, purposefully embracing ultra-femininity, and taking ownership over one’s way of life, mindset, style and sexuality.
Over time, we have seen the pop culture demise and rise (in that order) of ultra-feminine, ‘air-headed’ bimbos – namely Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson – who although were once dismissed as ‘attractive but stupid and inept’, are now being praised for reflecting society’s unfair assumption and expectations of women right back at them for so many years.
With this in mind, Legally Blonde, the Spice Girls and Cher from Clueless are to be considered revolutionary feminist icons of the 90s and naughties. They possessed a “self-aware inquiry of femininity as a choice, rather than patriarchal coercion… (showing how) meaningful playfulness is to the construction of gender and how gender can be an arena of exploration” (Maya Padan, 2023).
The reality is, the Barbie brand has been a tool for people, young and old, of all genders, to express, play and experiment with their femininity without the constraints of misogynistic and patriarchal expectations that have held us back for decades.
The past month, especially if you’re based in Sydney, which hosted the first leg of the global launch tour, you will have felt as if your whole world was turning a bright shade of pink.
The Barbie brand has contemporised yet again in anticipation for the upcoming film, leveraging the current appreciation for Bimboism, and inserting itself into the cultural conversation about gender stereotypes by using Barbie as a metaphor to represent the modern woman who is celebrated for more than her looks.
Though the plot is still under wraps, the movie is anticipated to delve into themes of identity, feminism, outdated expectations of beauty and inner beauty.
To hype the launch of the upcoming live action movie, the franchise has popped up everywhere – from Barbie-themed hotels to the takeover of Sydney’s Icebergs pool.
But this hype started months ago – and it’s absolute genius.
An Airbnb property modified to look like Barbie’s dream house.
First, crisp shots of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in bright yellow roller-skates to give us all a little taste. Then, the public introduction of every Barbie and Ken. Next, the ability for fans to use the movie design identity and advertising templates to create their own Barbie posters, and ultimately memes, that became a UGC led marketing effort in itself. We were then gifted with Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ and the rest of the soundtrack. Finally, Margot Robbie dressed in replicas of iconic historical Barbie outfits.
The launch campaign is truly a masterclass in hype, tease, and fame, but it doesn’t stop there.
Mattel has signed licensing deals with more than 100 brands globally, with some partnerships being the best we’ve seen in the entertainment space in years. The brand collaborations have been strategic in so many ways; not only for generating excitement for the movie’s launch, but for accessing new audiences and markets, extending reach, and continuing to build brand advocacy for Barbie.
There have been several ‘Berries and cream’ partnerships, where the collaboration has a natural synergy, symbiosis and permissibility, with examples of these being new product developments from OPI x Barbie, NYX Make-up x Barbie, and Impala Skates x Barbie. Other partnerships have been more about tapping into incremental audiences by critically analysing potential adjacent audiences that might be deemed difficult to access or attract through the Barbie brand alone.
Some examples of these brand collaborations include the development of a custom Xbox x Barbie console and controller, or the introduction of Barbie inspired cars in racing video game, Forza Horizon 5. Through these collaborations, Barbie has been able to target a broad adult audience across several categories, interests, and price points.
It appears the investment in brand, marketing and licensing has paid off for Barbie, as sources, including The New Yorker, believe Mattel plans to “raid its entire toy box”, cooking up plot lines, stories and more commercial opportunities for brands like Thomas and Friends and Bob the Builder.
Though the Barbie movie is said to have had a production budget of US$100 million, the marketing budget comes out of an entirely different bucket. Last year, the Hollywood Reporter noted the possibility that studios may “set aside $150 million or more on global marketing spend for [each of their] biggest titles”.
Considering 2022’s Elvis, Nope and Bullet Train were each rumoured to have a global marketing budget of about US$75million USD, it is quite possible the movie launch campaign and subsequent brand marketing for Barbie is double that figure.
But the strategy behind this spend is something all marketers can learn from: Diversifying your media and creative mix to focus less on pay-to-play advertising channels, and more on earned-media-led, interactive, and analogue ideas and activations to ensure long-lasting brand talkability, shareability and advocacy.
Also, never underestimate the power of leveraging talent to drive interest.
It’s perfectly clear that Barbies marketing has been led by a team of hype- and fame-creating geniuses – taking entertainment and launch creativity to the next level over the past few months, with a ‘more is more’ approach, smart campaign phasing and a strong approach to earned-media which will no doubt drive cinema attendance.
But in doing so, they’ve also reinvigorated and contemporised advocacy and brand love for the Barbie brand, whilst ensuring distinctiveness, relevancy, and consistency of expression.
The launch of the Barbie movie has been a marketing masterclass – in approach to strategic brand evolution, creativity and leveraging culture.
And yes, you best believe I’ve got a big, pink, sparkly date with a cinema screen next week to see what the hype is about for myself.
Rachel Tucker is a brand momentum associate at Sayers Group.
