How many people got hit with nostalgia when they saw the AI Barbie meme campaign come out in April? Our team hopped on it instantly, along with many brands, celebrities, and social media users. Below is a list of a few things they’ve done with their marketing that stood out to me and what you can do for your brand. Yes, their budget seems like it’s a bajillion dollars, but you can get crafty!
Meme/UGC
The infamous meme/UGC. Ah, yes. We are all Barbie Girls living in a Barbie meme world. And THRIVING. The way Barbie activated their audience and drove engagement across social media was genius. This was a great way to activate your brand using AI because the internet took this trend by storm when cast members dropped their versions. They increased their reach and brand awareness by tapping into their cast and their influence. If you can, reach out to influencers, your community, team, to share your product or service! This is usually overlooked or people overthink it. There are numerous different ways to collaborate with people for your brand than just paid promotions.
What you can do: reach out to your community and influencers to collaborate in ways (paid or other), to get your products or services in front of your ideal target audience. UGC content is a great way to get your audience involved in your brand. By sharing their content across your channels, it can act as reviews as well!
Nostalgia
Nothing like a good nostalgic hit to the brain and what better brand to do that than Barbie?! It took me back to my childhood and how excited I got when I got a new Barbie or added one to my collection. It then got personal! Nostalgia has been used in marketing time and time again. Barbie took the concept and incorporated 2023 marketing concepts: UGC with the meme generator. I was the Barbie I didn’t know I could dream of being – a marketing Barbie!
What you can do: If you are planning on playing up nostalgia within your marketing, incorporate it in a way that will not only take people back to a memory activated for them, but do it in a way that they would be excited for it to be a part of their lives somehow now.
Influencer/Celebrity Integration for Reach
Dropping an epic cast lineup of big names outside of Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. Up until now, we have no idea what to expect with this movie. We might think we can assume the plot, but from the other cast members to the storyline, everything has been kept on the down-low. The curiosity is REAL.
They have kept their audience engaged and interested. Who else saw that photo of Ryan Gosling (let’s be real, we all screamed out loud and our Notebook hearts fluttered a bit quicker) and Margot Robbie and instantly wanted to know more? Yeah, me too! Since then, they’ve continuously kept their audience wanting more and more by sharing bits at a time. It grabbed everyone’s attention and the Barbie girl in me has been hooked ever since.
What you can do: tease your new product or services in creative ways! Get the audience to guess what’s dropping and drive engagement, along with brand awareness at the same time!
Brand Recognition
Undeniable brand recognition. This didn’t happen overnight, it’s been happening over the last few decades. Barbie has continuously done a great job at developing their brand and evolving overtime. The moment you see their font, you instantly recognize the brand it is associated with. Between storytelling, collaborations, licensing it’s name to different brands and their products, they got in front of their ideal target audience however they could. They evolve their brand and their products as the times change, which includes listening to their consumers and what they want.
What you can do: Building a brand takes time, don’t give up. Tell your brands story, the why, the who, how will it help people, how can they incorporate it into their lives. People should picture your brand incorporated in their lives through your marketing messaging.
All in all, hitting on nostalgia, trends, leveraging a massively influential cast, and continuously strengthening it’s brand identity, Barbie (and their undeniable massive marketing budget) has us anticipating the release on July 21st!
Also, this Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse Airbnb has me singing “come on, Barbie! Let’s go party!”
