Barbie earned $496 Million (CAD) its opening weekend – that’s HUGE!

This is of course due to directior Greta Gerwing’s incredible work, stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and the Barbie plot itself – but the real MVP is the Barbie Marketing Team, and here’s why:

In the ever-changing world of films and shows – only a handful manage to ace the also ever-changing marketing game. And guess what? Many studios have ditched the old-school tactics and are now implementing viral, innovative, and interactive strategies that not only fun to implement – but they actually work.

The Barbie marketing team is a prime example of this. They’ve taken movie marketing to a whole new level! July has practically become a ✨ pink wonderland ✨ – all thanks to their superior marketing strategies, which my team is definitely taking note of.

So, what exactly are they? Let’s go over a few of our favourites! 👇

THEY CRUSHED IT WITH COLLABS

The Barbie marketing team definitely had a large marketing budget, which allowed them to have over 100+ products – created in collaboration with a huge variety of brands.

From beauty products, BÉIS luggage, a Barbie Xbox, a Pink Burger collab with Burger King, even an Airbnb Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse that went viral in June – the collaborations are endless!

*There are 100+ actually – check out a full list of Barbie’s collaborations here

The goal of these collaborations was that Barbie and Mattel wanted to get “everyone playing with Barbie,” said president and COO of Mattel Richard Dickson, “and that doesn’t necessarily mean playing with a doll.”

In my opinion, they crushed that goal.

These collaborations between Barbie and other popular brands or influential figures create a strong cross-brand synergy. Consumers who are loyal to a particular brand or who admire a specific personality may be enticed to explore Barbie collaborations, which extends the reach of both Barbie and the partnering brand. It’s a win-win!

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Even just this past weekend, Tim Hortons was offering a sweet treat and FREE drink to commemorate the new Barbie movie to anyone whose name started with KEN (sadly nothing for the Barbie’s or Barbaras, though).

While this wasn’t an official Barbie collab, Tim Horton’s jumped on the trend with this promotion because they ultimately knew how popular Barbie was going to be that weekend.

BARBIE PINK EVERYWHERE

Could you imagine if your brand colour was recognized and conveyed a message without having to use any written language?

You don’t have to be a consumer of Barbie products to recognize that their infamous shade of pink represents the iconic Mattel doll. The Barbie marketing team knew this, and exploited it perfectly.

Of course, this strategy could never have been employed in the marketing of the 2023 Barbie movie without the doll’s more than 60-year history. But again – Barbie’s marketing team figured out such a clever yet simple way to use as a solid pink billboard as a tool to feed the hype of the movie release.

LEVERAGING AI & INTERACTING WITH THEIR AUDIENCE

I remember back in April when my social media feed was flooded with people sharing photos of themselves as Barbie on the movie poster.

The Barbie marketing team created an artificial intelligence tool that allowed anyone to upload their photo to their custom landing page (which is still live if you want to give it a try) that would create a movie poster with the customizable tagline “This Barbie is a ____.”

We even got Mason to try it.

In my opinion, this was genius. Here’s why: 

✔️ They used artificial intelligence to their advantage (because let’s be honest, people are captivated by anything that involves AI these days).
✔️ They created something interactive on an interactive platform that enabled user-generated content and encouraged organic sharing – which in this case, spread across the internet and social media like crazy.

All in all, I just want to give kudos to Mattel for nurturing this iconic brand over the decades, providing a strong foundation that played a significant role in the movie’s success. And hey, let’s give credit where it’s due – the movie team did a fantastic job embracing every aspect, even the controversial ones.

They really pulled out all the stops for the marketing of this movie. From riding the waves of AI, an insane amount of collaborations, and creating their own trends – they nailed their target audience’s interests.

It’ll be interesting to see the impact that Barbie’s marketing has on our industry moving forward.