Barbie Is a Masterclass in Reaching New Audiences

All of a sudden, everything is pink.

It feels like Barbiecore comes back into fashion every six or seven years or so. But last summer, when stills from the upcoming movie featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were released, the internet went into overdrive. Brand Barbie, despite an admirable push towards inclusivity, had been fading fast. Suddenly, it was more relevant than ever.

A lot of brands getting that kind of organic hype would chalk things up as a huge success. However, for Warner Bros. and Mattel it was just the beginning.

We passionately believe that today brands are built on social. Now, that doesn’t mean that we only make social media content or that any other medium is pointless - not at all - they’re all spaces for creativity and different audiences. But as an insights engine, as a place where brands can listen to how people view their brand, social is unparalleled. You can build more from the millions of 'hot takes' on social than you can from the wisdom of a solitary creative director.

The thing is ensuring brands are aware of this. Were Mattel and Warner aware of how people were responding to the fashion, the gender roles, the question of whether a Barbie movie would land well with audiences of different ages and interests? Could they use that information to continue marketing the movie?

The answer to all of the above has been an emphatic yes. The marketing teams behind the new Barbie Movie launch have led a masterclass in understanding consumer attention and using it to choose brand partnerships.

From selfie generators to Barbie Dreamhouse tours with Margot Robbie, the brand has shown they know who their many audience segmentations are.

We call them 'cohorts' - hyper-detailed, realistic and often objectively funny groups that we create when identifying audiences. For decades, the use of generic location, age, wealth and disposable income based demographics have been wildly ineffective. Not fully understanding audiences has led to bland work that tries to be everything to everyone.

It’s clear that everyone working on the Barbie Movie understood that to make it work they had to have to accept a lot of people were going to turn their noses up. They’ve been in on the joke. Is it garish and ridiculous? Yes. Is it fun? Hell yes. Is it too pink? ...Is there such a thing?

By dropping the ego and accepting Barbie needed something new to arrest its decline, they’ve created a gobsmacking list of brand partnerships, experiences and memes, appealing to dozens of cohorts and raising an eyebrow amongst even the least interested bypasser.  

Now, even before the movie has launched, we’re seeing there are hundreds of ways for the brand to reach new audiences.

How to keep it going? Well, keep listening to audiences. The more you make, the more you get feedback on and the loop continues.

They’ve already revelled in the consumer attention. Once the film is released there’ll be even more on social, the customary memes and excited chatter that comes with any modern film premiere. While writing this, I noticed Amelia Dimz has donned her pink ‘fit for the red, sorry, pink, carpet.

All the movie has to do now is be as good as the marketing campaign. Not something our industry says very often.