Inside Barbie’s Genius Marketing Campaign

The Barbie Movie had one of the best marketing campaigns the film industry has ever seen. Up until its premiere in July, it completely dominated the conversation. Not just on social media where it was trending all the time, but in the real world with some ingenious branding, countless partnerships and a release strategy so smart, that it snowballed into a massive event of it’s own.

I spent some time looking into it, and broke down its success into the five main components that made it work: earned media, startegic partnerships, branding, barbenheimer and tone of voice.

Earned media is a marketing term for any organic content generated by external sources, including articles in news outlets. They had a huge success with their AI tool, TikTok trends and viral stories surrounding the movie.

In terms of strategic partnerships, they collaborated with at least 60 brands around the world, including Fossil Jewellery, ZARA, Truly Beauty, ALDO, Crocks, IMPALA Skates , MOON Oral Care, BEIS Travel, NYX Professional Makeup, Xbox, Kitsch, PacSun, Superga, FUNBOY, Ruggable, Burger King, Barefoot Dreams, rue21, Kendra Scott, Krispy Kreme, PROPER Snacks, DRAGON GLASSWARE and many more. They also collaborated with artists such as Nicki Minaj and Dua Lipa.

Their branding was also on another level. They essentially took ownership of the colour pink. Landmarks, cities and shops from all around the world would decorate themselves in pink leading to the premiere.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon was a true lightning in a bottle and certainly not a coincidence. It was a perfect example of film counterprogramming, and the meme lead to theatres and moviegoers from all around the world to see the double feature.

Lastly, they had a fantastic tone of voice, which is the style they used to communicate. They didn't take themselves to seriously and that resonated with the fans.

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Toni Vesdream

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Toni's Film Club

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Chapters:
0:00 Analysing Barbie's Marketing Strategy
0:39 Earned Media
2:06 Brand Collaborations
3:08 Branding
3:55 Barbenheimer
5:23 Tone of Voice

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Toni's Film Club is all about interesting film history, movies, directing, writing, editing and everything else that goes into this wonderful art form. Oh yeah, and bad jokes. You've been warned.

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[TonisFilmClub]

After all those years... finally a use for my degree.... a YouTube video.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Thoughts on movie marketing in general? I really love this topic so I could totally see myself diving deeper into it.

P.S. Thanks for 1000 subscribers! We can now fill the biggest movie theatre in Copenhagen!

[kelechi_]

I have a good feeling this video will get big man! One of your best yet, really good editing

[nycto]

As a marketing student myself, this analysis was so good!

[bodemecanoanimations]

Leave it to Burger King to come up with a burger for literally everything. Still can't believe there's no Whoppenheimer with extra radiation on the side.

[giangeegibb]

The Barbenheimer phenomenon is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I’m glad it got people to go see both movies!

[cinemaretrospective]

Such a good video! The marketing team for the Barbie movie can retire now. Nothing will beat the job they did on this one haha

[Pioneers_Of_Cinema]

Congratulations on 1000+ subscribers. Your relationship now rests secure. (until the 5000 sub itch anyway)

[bodemecanoanimations]

It’s been half a year Toni, we really really miss you😔