







With their toes dipped in all sorts of industries, like gaming, Italian food, or live events, Mattel’s Barbie campaign is a multicultural masterclass. Hell they even have my Uncles, who have never even held a Barbie doll, talking about how they are going to go see the new movie. And it’s because of three main factors.
The first, using color psychology to their advantage. When you think of Barbie, you think pink. When you see the color pink in the wild, you think Barbie (or The Marketing Millennials). Whether it’s on a burger or on your favorite pair of shoes (Crocs) if Barbie is involved, so is the color pink. Mattel has pretty much trademarked the color pink, if they want to run an OOH ad, they don’t even need copy, they can simply use the color for people to understand who the ad is for. Believe it or not, this is possible for your brand too, it takes years of staying top of mind and relying on your color palette to tell a story.
The second factor is their use of an old fashioned jingle. In the case of Barbie it’s the famed Barbie Girl theme song that was the soundtrack to all of our childhoods. Thanks to their collab with Coldplay, Barbie Girl was brought back to life LIVE in front of thousands of fans and generated millions of views on social media. A good jingle will keep your brand top of mind (because you can’t get the song stuck out of your head) and increase brand retention. All I have to say is, I’m a Barbie gir– nvmd lol.
And lastly, Barbie is crushing their Marketing campaign because of their willingness to take risks. If you truly want to make a splash in this world, you can’t take the safe route. What other brands are collaborating with dating apps? None. What other brands are making a pink sauce to put on burgers? None.
If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, then you’ll end up like everyone else. Mattel has pitched a perfect game so far with their $100M Marketing budget.