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‘Barbie’ Stole Disney’s Marketing Strategies And Created A Frenzy

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Barbie movie is coming to theaters on July 21. That’s right; it hasn’t even been released yet. You would have thought Barbie was already a smash hit by all the buzz and product placements. But the marketing team behind that buzz was able to borrow some of the techniques that Disney uses for its movies; only the Barbie team did it better.

The strategy is one that Disney has employed for years: blanket your new movie across various products and create buzz for the film and the product. Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars have used this strategy for decades, especially with toys. If you can get the kids to buy the toys, the parents must take them to the movie. It makes perfect sense.

But now, the movie is the toyBarbie has adapted this strategy to create a new buzz for today’s audience. Barbie has become a living meme. But besides that, Barbie has teamed with more than 100 products to create a blanket effect. You cannot go anywhere without seeing something from the movie.

Lisa McKnight, Mattel’s global head of Barbie and dolls portfolio, told Axios:

Our goal for this summer and this year is for Barbie to be everywhere and for her to be ubiquitous. We want to re-engage fans who may not have been with us — the 20-something crowd and older.

Barbie has created partnerships with everyone from Cold Stone Creamery to X-Box. The film worked with Airbnb to stay at Barbie’s Malibu Dream House. These partnerships have generated buzz for the film and are financially lucrative. Mattel receives a flat licensing fee for every corporate partnership or 5 to 15 percent of all sales. It’s a win-win.

So, why has this been successful while Disney has employed similar techniques and failed in recent years? Hard to say for sure, but it mostly has to do with the product Barbie is marketing. The movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is just fun. And the media has bought into the buzz. Since January, more than 500,000 articles have been written about Barbie, with 86,000 coming in the last 30 days.

So now the doll that makes pink cool again is heading to the big screen. The upcoming film, directed by Greta Gerwig, is set to be the summer event. Who knew that the Barbie doll would one day be a movie star? Get your tickets now. Barbie is in theaters on July 21.

 

Rick Lye

Rick is an avid Disney fan. He first went to Disney World in 1986 with his parents and has been hooked ever since. Rick is married to another Disney fan and is in the process of turning his two children into fans as well. When he is not creating new Disney adventures, he loves to watch the New York Yankees and hang out with his dog, Buster. In the fall, you will catch him cheering for his beloved NY Giants.

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