Five Takeaways from the Barbie Movie Marketing Strategy
For the last few months, none of us have been able to escape Warner Bros. and Mattel’s Barbie movie marketing campaign. Barbie has been everywhere this summer, from Xbox to countless fashion and beauty partnerships and even a Progressive insurance commercial. Normally, I would be bothered by this strategy, but since Barbie’s slogan is “You can be anything”, it made sense to me.
In an INSIDER article, Abigail Shapiro, a US marketing manager at Crimtan, estimated that the Barbie movie marketing budget ranged “from $125 million to $150 million” in addition to its “reported production budget of $145 million”. Whew, up to $150 million just for marketing?! As a marketing specialist, that would be a dream number to work with.
So, now that the movie has been released and we’ve all shown up to the theater dressed head-to-toe in hot pink (and my sequined Betsey Johnson boots), what can we learn from this no-doubt successful, yet overwhelming, marketing strategy?
Plan Strategically
Planning is crucial for any successful marketing campaign to go off without a hitch. If you run a business, you know “just winging it” won’t cut it. It’s important to plan out your strategy from top to bottom. Here are a few things to consider:
What are you launching?
How will your customers be able to purchase? (in-store or online)
Can your team manage customer service duties?
Is your team ready to handle the wave of engagement on social media?
Pro Tip: Work backward. When I build strategies for my clients, I have a system that I use to plan ahead by working backward from the end of the campaign to the initial planning stages. That way, I know exactly how long the campaign needs to be and I can set my project management system up according to the deadlines I need to hit.
Collaborate with Complementary Brands and Influencers
One of the best ways to build a successful brand is to find ways to incorporate your products and services into your customers’ lifestyles. You can do that by offering items in different categories or partnering with brands that offer products and services that complement yours.
For example, you’re preparing to launch your swimsuit collection and you’ve scheduled a photoshoot to get some fresh content for your digital channels. A stylist can assist you in creating complete looks with eyewear, jewelry, and footwear brands. Influencers can help with this too. Share a few pieces with your trusted content creators and allow them to style the pieces as they wish on their next beach getaway.
In Barbie’s case, seemingly any brand partnership can work with the right planning. Here are a few partnerships I came across.
The devil works hard, but @Barbie’s marketing team is INSANE
— Moshe Isaacian (@MosheIsaacian) June 26, 2023
Small visual thread of all their awesome work as of late:
Create Shareable Branded Social Content
Creating something as simple as a unique hashtag can do the job of rounding up all the hype around your brand. Of course, the movie’s campaign took it to a higher level with the ability for fans and followers to generate their own selfie graphics to post on their social media channels. What a great way to incorporate user-generated content into your strategy!
Interested in trying something similar? Work with your team or even scan your most recent tagged posts from your followers and see if there are any unique hashtags you can start incorporating into your brand. And if you want to get some creative visuals going, use a service like Canva to create a branded social media post template and share it with your email subscribers and social media followers encouraging them to use it in future posts.
Take Advantage of Unique Holidays
As you can imagine, the Barbie campaign took advantage of National Pink Day (June 23rd).
The color of the day (and this summer 😉) is 💖BARBIE PINK💖. Happy #NationalPinkDay Barbies and Kens!
— Barbie Movie (@barbiethemovie) June 23, 2023
Get tickets now for #BarbieTheMovie, Only in Theaters July 21: https://t.co/3WZ1okXdmF pic.twitter.com/hRwNB7l696
You can make use of these fun holidays for your business, too. Find novelty holidays that align with your brand and organize unique campaigns around them. Here are a few examples using recent holidays. Find more novelty holidays at nationaltoday.com.
National Lipstick Day (July 29th)
Feature your top-selling lipsticks for sale on your website. Encourage customers to subscribe to your email list for a discount if they purchase that day.
Take your audience on a behind-the-scenes tour of how your lip products are made, or how you came up with their unique names.
Share a carousel or slideshow of your favorite celebrities wearing red lipstick and promote similar shades of your own products.
International Day of Friendship (July 30th) or National Girlfriend Day (August 1st)
Offer a special one-day BOGO discount on select products or services.
Offer a discount for two or more people to attend your next fashion event when they use a specific discount code.
National Wellness Month (August)
Share weekly social media posts about the wellness or self-care routines of your team members.
Offer a discount on memberships at your spa for the month.
Offer a free product when customers make regular price purchases during a specific period of time or while supplies last.
Blogger Day (August 5th)
Thank the bloggers you’ve worked with in the past by highlighting them on your social channels. Encourage them to share short videos and reels about why they love your brand for you to post on your stories.
Send an email out to your subscribers with a complete list of links to blog posts from content creators.
Write a blog post on your website highlighting some of your favorite looks created by your followers and ask your readers what type of blog content they’d like to see from you in the future.
Organize an Event
Whether it be to celebrate the launch of your latest collection, your business anniversary, or an exclusive get-together with your team and your VIP customers, make the most of it. Set a fun theme and encourage your attendees to come dressed to the nines in their favorite pieces from your collections. Take a cue from Barbie, herself (Margot Robbie).
Don’t forget to create opportunities for everyone to take photos and videos to share on their social channels, like using step-and-repeat or renting a photo booth for the night. Use the event as an opportunity to get some face time with your customers, thank them for supporting your business, and ask them how you can keep them coming back.
I don’t think we’ll see another campaign like Barbie’s for a while. I’m honestly exhausted, but this movie definitely encouraged me to make the most of this summer. Make sure to incorporate a few of these takeaways into your future campaigns.
Comment Below
What’s the most interesting Barbie promotion you came across this summer?
