The 5 lessons every marketer can learn from Barbie

“This Barbie is exhausted,” Lisa McKnight, Chief Brand Officer at Mattel, told us the same week the summer’s biggest blockbuster passed the billion-dollar mark. And after architecting and executing one of the most successful brand reinventions in recent history, any Barbie would be.

Barbie is much more than a movie—the same way “Barbie” has always been much more than a toy—and what today looks like an inevitable triumph actually began ten years ago during a moment of profound uncertainty. The Barbie brand team was staring down disappointing sales and “some really alarming” customer research. “We had lost our way,” Lisa said. “We were motivated to dramatically overhaul the brand.”

But how did they do it? How did Lisa and her team transform a struggling symbol into a modern, relevant, relatable icon? And what can we all learn from Barbie’s path back to “Go-to Brand” status?

That’s what we sat down to learn.

Created by a working mom to “inspire the limitless potential in every girl,” Barbie was the “original girl empowerment brand,” Lisa told us. But somewhere along the way, that purpose got lost. “Millennial parents in particular weren’t connecting to her like they did as children.” Barbie was no longer viewed as a positive role model, “and the most glaring feedback and indicator that we had a brand health issue was when parents said they didn’t feel good about giving Barbie as a birthday gift when their child was invited to a birthday party.”

The team swiftly realized: “We hadn’t done a good enough job communicating the purpose of Barbie, why Barbie matters.” They’d messaged product benefits without laddering up to a larger message. They’d sold features to the exclusion of purpose, and they had a long way to go to get back to that original vision. “We knew we needed to really address every aspect of the brand.”

For each of us, a few brands have real meaning. The brands that form a true connection with who we are and who we want to be, helping us make progress in ways we previously couldn’t. They’re not cold institutions that push their way into our world, but companions that we decide to pull in. At Lippincott, we call these “Go-to Brands.”

Go-to Brands live by five principles, and Barbie’s path back to “Go-to” status can be considered a masterclass in all five.

Barbie was never supposed to be about Barbie. The brand was always meant to be a vehicle for “female leadership, female empowerment, and female agency.” Barbie had her own house when women couldn’t even have their own credit cards. She had fascinating jobs, great friends, cool clothes, an even cooler car, and a big message: You could have all this, too.

But that inspirational core had been lost. For many parents, it seemed, Barbie had become a symbol of something else: unrealistic beauty standards, impossible waist sizes, and rampant consumerism. First and foremost, the team realized, they had to recontextualize Barbie. “The doll needed to be a better reflection of the world that kids saw around them” and the goals that parents had for their children.

So Mattel created new context by diversifying body types and backgrounds. They started honoring “role model women”—from space scientists to prominent CEOs to electrical engineers. And they started to position Barbie as “more than a doll” and even “more than a lifestyle brand,” rather, “a state of mind.” By amping up storytelling programs that could “inspire girls to see that they really can be anything,” Barbie became a “vast idea that everybody wants to embrace and connect to in some way.” Dressing in head-to-toe pink could now be a symbol of power.

Inspiring connection to this “vast idea” was not something Mattel could do alone. If Barbie were to become more than a toy, leaders had to look outside the toy company. They found the right partners in Warner Brothers to help tell the story. In line with that story, Lisa told us, “We always intended to paint the world pink.”

And paint they did. Barbie Xboxes and Barbie hoodies, Barbie burgers and BarbieBnBs, Barbie toothbrushes and Barbie boat cruises. Such a dizzying array of partnerships can, at first blush, appear indiscriminate. In reality, it was the result of a calculated and “rigorous filtering process.”

“It needs to be one plus one equals three,” Lisa told us. The partner brands must be “supportive of our values,” promoting inclusivity and celebrating female empowerment. When telling this bigger Barbie story, “we also look to companies that are leaders in their space, trend-right, and culturally relevant.” That adds up to 165 partners around the world, across all categories of business, from footwear to home décor, and it was integral in turning Barbie from a toy into an idea that everyone could participate in.

“We all agreed that we needed to do something unexpected for this to be successful,” Lisa told us. A movie that just celebrated Barbie and her pink paradise would likely not have engendered so much dialogue. But a movie that elevated Barbie’s heritage—while at the same time, pointedly challenging Barbie’s impact—coming from the Barbie brand, but employing an independent (almost subversive) storyteller … well, this combination of contrasts was enough to spark a conversation.

From that first picture of Margot Robbie in Barbie’s pink Corvette, it’s a conversation that’s got lots of Kenergy, weaving together movie buzz with brand dialogue that has everyone identifying as Barbie.

This Barbie is _________, and the __________ can be whatever you need it to be.

“As long as we stay close to our consumer and connect to culture,” Lisa told us, “Barbie will remain incredibly relevant and continue as the incredibly powerful global icon that she is.”

“Barbiecore” doesn’t just happen. It’s about staying in touch with what customers need and where they are, staying true to the world you want to inspire, embracing the buzzworthy elements of your heritage while pushing for a new understanding. It’s neon rollerblades and tongue-in-cheek taglines and a message that parents can root for.

Because it’s been so successful, it’s easy to forget how risky this brand transformation was. Mattel completely changed its strategy to focus on inclusivity (and embraced the operational complexities that more diverse dolls entailed). They took risks, brought in bold partners, and opened up the brand to be criticized. The movie trailer itself promised, “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”

Hate is a bold word for a brand to embrace. But the brand likely couldn’t evolve if it didn’t honestly reckon with its past. That self-deprecating humor that respected mixed feelings about Barbie was also likely what opened the audience up to her deeper message.

There’s a powerful moment in the movie when America Ferrera proclaims, “It’s literally impossible to be a woman.” Now, Barbie could be seen as an ally in the fight against those impossible standards, rather than an enemy that helped make it so impossible to begin with. Barbie is back on our side—and it took some bold risks to get her there.

“You know, there’s a point in time where you’re never going to have complete clarity on the right decision to make, and you know that you’re never going to address every issue and every consumer need at once. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Progress, not perfection, is a great way forward,” Lisa said. “Let’s acknowledge that we’re not done yet. This is only the beginning, but let’s start the evolution.”

The principles that enabled Barbie to rebrand and reclaim its spot as a beloved “Go-to Brand” are lessons that any marketer can be inspired by. Create new contexts, embrace collaboration, spark conversation, embed in customer culture, and prepare for constant evolution.

Lessons from Barbieland, ready for the real world.

Listen to our full conversation with Lisa McKnight on Icons in the Making here.