It’s Barbie’s world, and we’re just living in it. That’s how it’s felt for the past few weeks, anyway.
As I sat last night winding down from a full-on day, I logged into Candy Crush on my iPad whilst catching up on Netflix’s Queer Eye, navigated my way to level 1,700 and something (I’m quite the Candy Crush master), and noticed the purple candies had a different look.
King, the developer of the popular game, has always done an admirable job of using its platform to generate commercial opportunities, so it should have come as no surprise to see that the Barbie logo was the new face of the purple candy in my game.
The new live-action Barbie film starring Aussie actress, Margot Robbie, and talented heartthrob, Ryan Gosling, is today released in the UK and their marketing agency have been working overtime to ensure that not one person is unaware of its launch.
We’ve seen everything from social media filters, to apparel, to Barbie themed Air BnB’s, and it seems that more brands than not have been approached by Barbie’s parent company, Mattel, to be included in their marketing campaign.
Whilst the campaign has been a notable success in generating brand awareness with all audiences, I wanted to take a look at how marketers with budgets smaller than the estimated $100 million spent on the Barbie movie can create the same impact.
As a society, we react to anything which makes us feel. If we see something which makes us feel happy, we talk about it; confused, we talk about it; angry, we talk about it. Barbie has perfectly tapped into this inherent part of human nature, and as a result has further capitalised on their marketing investment through organic growth.
Whilst Barbie was first launched in 1959, the toys blew up in the 80’s and 90’s with more versions and accessories available than ever before. As an early 90’s baby, I myself remember the elation at receiving not one, but TWO barbies as a gift for being a bridesmaid in 1998 and thinking how perfect they would look in my Barbie Dream House and driving in my Barbie car.
Whilst I am not necessarily the primary target audience, the nostalgia I feel when seeing Barbie Pink everywhere lately has had me anxiously awaiting this day, where I can finally sit down and watch Barbie as a live-action, star studded film.
As a marketer, this got me thinking: how can brands create the same effect with audiences at a fraction of the cost?
The key answer I’ve landed on is to create sharable moments.
If your business isn’t on social media, it should be. Without a social media presence your brand is blind to the cultural moments and trends happening all day, every day, and is missing out on jumping on trends to elevate your voice.
Creating content which is sharable is easier than ever. Like, criminally easy. Providing you know your audience, can tell a story, and have the tools or team available to you to create visually appealing content, your ability to encourage audiences to share your content is at its highest.
To go viral on social media, brands need to remain authentic, time their content well, and leverage trending topics. Currently, for example, Barbie is trending. It is everywhere. And I am confident that every single brand can find a way of leveraging Barbie’s present popularity to create a meaningful, sharable moment with their audience.
What trend is next? Well, that’s the exciting part… who knows?! Be ready to adapt, create and tap into cultural shifts in order to elevate your marketing like Barbie, but without the Barbie budget.
Need help with your content? Get in touch with us to receive a free consultation!
hannah@thefluentagency.co.uk
Comments