Margot Robbie welcomes us to Barbie's dream house. Photo: AD/YouTube
Margot Robbie smiles into the camera as she welcomes me into her home. «That's my breakfast table,» she chirps as she sweeps across the ground floor of a Malibu mansion bathed in sunlight and painted in various shades of pink. “Here's a fun little bar and a slide that leads from the bedroom to the pool. […] It's just fun and great.”
For fans of Architectural Digest's viral home tours (available to view on YouTube) — where celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and the Kardashian band open their show houses, point out the «old European influence» they've bestowed on Beverly Hills gated complexes, and show off marble countertops brought from Milan — so far this is normal. «It's transparent so we can see each other,» Robbie continues. Sounds a little revealing, but perhaps the Australian actress is especially close to her neighbors? «All the Barbies in their dream Barbie homes wake up in the morning and can wave to each other.» A.
In every corner of popular culture right now, from video games to travel, fashion, food and interior design, the pink tide is gaining speed and strength. It's been 17 days before Barbie, the Greta Gerwig-directed film produced and starred by Robbie, hits theaters.
The film (estimated to gross $55 million on its opening weekend, a figure not seen in films since before the pandemic, and more than half the money spent to make it) should be the biggest ever. a troubled doll in the 21st century, and with it a marketing campaign like no other.
Ever since the first trailer was released in December, Barbie has been on a rebranding journey. She has the social media presence that most influencers dream of, a portfolio of brand introductions that have provided her with insight into every corner of the zeitgeist, and a product list that seems to get longer every day.
Most of the campaign, as you might expect, is not aimed at children (although given the number of new toys released with the film, some parents may wonder if Mattel is going to bankrupt them) — rather, they are all aimed at a new wave Gen Z fans who are discovering Barbie World on TikTok and millennials who still have their old dolls in boxes somewhere in their parents' houses.
Today you could, if you wanted to, buy a surprisingly stylish candle for Barbie (scent: Dreamhouse, naturally); You can match OPI's Barbie nail polish shade, order a pair of adult Barbie rollerblades, a fuchsia Barbie bathing suit, a Mid-Century Barbie martini glass set, or a Barbie inflatable pool toy to secure your summer shots. as Instagrammable as it gets. You can connect with Brand Barbie outdoors — Mattel opened the Malibu Barbie Cafe in New York and Chicago — or let your wardrobe change the shade of bubble gum (Barbiecore is one of the key looks of this summer).
You can even book a stay at the Barbie Dreamhouse itself through Airbnb (in Malibu, California), take a cruise with Barbie, or check into a Barbie Hotel (in Malaysia). For all of this, you'll need a new Barbie suitcase, which, thankfully, you can also find for the low price of $328 (£258).
It all points to the unlikely truth that after so many years, Barbie looks cool again.
A couple of years ago, no one would have predicted this. Despite efforts to make Barbie dolls more varied since she was first released in 1959, the original impossibly thin version—undoubtedly a fearsome physical role model for little girls around the world—is the dominant Barbie in the world. public imagination. And something about a story based on a perfect doll with a perfect life just doesn't fit in the #MeToo post-world. The updated children's cartoons were popular, but they were never enough to make Barbie trendy.
So why did the brand suddenly take off?
Barbie's dream home in Malibu, rented on Airbnb Credit: REUTERS/Barbie's dream home in Malibu, rented on Airbnb
This is partly because the kids who begged their parents for a Dream Home in 1998 are now just the right age to be nostalgic for that second circle — and they have disposable income to use in all stores. Last week, fans gathered at the mall in Sydney to catch a glimpse of Robbie and America Ferrera (who also stars in the film) at the tour's first fan event. Many of them were women who came with their old Barbie dolls. “This has been promoted on social media for a very long time,” one of The Guardian said. «A brief look at the roller skating scene is a milestone.»
This is also thanks to the campaign that was built around the film. In six months, Barbie has gone from a legacy brand to a modern social media icon.
This Gerwig (known for coming-of-age films like Lady Bird and a feminist retelling of Little Woman) behind the film, perhaps , helped her legitimize her life by making it more pink and plastic.
But it wasn't just the enticing trailer and stellar cast that caused the buzz. «If you love Barbie, this movie is for you,» the trailer says. «If you hate Barbies, this movie is for you.» Robbie added: «If you don't care about Barbie or haven't thought about Barbie in years, this movie is for you too.»
That's the genius of this campaign,” says Alex Wilson, global executive director of global creative agency Amplify. It sends a message that Barbie is for everyone these days. “They took the DNA of what made this toy so successful and put it into marketing to make it appear in games, Architectural Digest, food, fashion, interior design and everything,” says Wilson.
< br /> Campaigns like this one, says Wilson, are part of a growing trend in Hollywood where a movie franchise will now be built around «product or intellectual property» rather than the other way around. As the appetite for superhero movies wanes, studios are vying for new IP by hunting down IP with a ready fan base.
Guess who just showed up in Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox? Barbie and Ken from #BarbieTheMovie! https://t.co/RmCEJihufI pic.twitter.com/ebK0uLJ9o0
— Barbie Movie (@barbiethemovie) June 26, 2023 14 more movies based on his toys, including a movie about Barney with Daniel Kaluuya and a Hot Wheels movie directed by J. J. Abrams. Streaming shows and video games are also in full swing, as is the Mattel theme park.
Social media plays a key role in Barbie's campaign, Wilson said. Barbie TikTok has received 13.3 million likes since launching in October 2021. It's not clearly part of a movie campaign, but it's all part of a plan cleverly positioned by Mattel not as a way to sell toys, but to remake Barbie as an influencer.
The film serves the same purpose. “This is not about making movies to sell more toys,” Mattel CEO Ainon Kreutz said recently. «We're good at selling toys without movies.» That may be true, but the day Margot Robbie's Barbie hit stores, she hit #1 on Amazon.
@prettyyinpink222 girlllll all pink and shiny, RUNNNN 🤭💖🛍️✨ #forever21xbarbie #forever21finds #barbie # barbiefinds #pinkfinds #girlyaesthetic ♬ Barbie Girl — Aqua
The lines get even blurrier when you see photos of Margot Robbie on the movie's promotional tour and realize she's wearing an outfit almost identical to Barbie's on Instagram (Followers: 2.6 million) posing that day (her team skilfully placed her in front of the Sydney Opera House).
The film, according to Wilson, is proof that the industry has «transitioned from product placement to protagonist.» .
Will the campaign succeed in attracting people to the movies? A group of influencers who were recently invited to watch the trailer sold out. “I want to be in the world of Barbie,” said one of them, dressed head to toe in the signature pink. She's lucky — already lucky.
Barbie comes out July 21
Readers' Memories of Barbie
Свежие комментарии