COVER FEATURE MATTEL
Dream BIG ! TnP gets an update from Julie Jackson, Barbie Senior Brand Manager at Mattel Last year was Barbie’s 60th anniversary year – and there was a huge amount of activity to celebrate her birthday. Can you give us a snapshot of some of the highlights and biggest success stories? For 60 years, Barbie has spanned three generations of girls, inspired them with more than 200 careers and sold more than a billion dolls in the process! The 60th anniversary was such a milestone for the brand in the UK. We provided consumers with the 60th anniversary Career Doll collection, bringing back some of Barbie’s most-loved careers from her history, such as Astronaut, Athlete and Political Candidate. These are all careers underrepresented by women and really connect with both our purpose as a brand that empowers girls, and our history of doing so. We worked hard to close the Dream Gap by showing girls more role models as we announced the UK’s Adwoa Aboah Shero, along with 20 inspirational women across multiple countries and continents. The aim was to showcase positive role models to inspire the next generation in an effort to #CloseTheDreamGap. Barbie also teamed-up with Makers UK, a Verizon media platform that champions women, on a wide-reaching partnership that included girl panel workshops, content, editorial and digital advertising. We lit landmarks pink around the world on Barbie’s Birthday, including the Empire State Building, and we threw a huge pop-up celebration in New York. And some of our biggest retailers got in on the festivities, with Smyths’ Barbie Celebration parties, our first ever interactive ‘You Can Be Anything’ Hamleys window on Regent Street, 60th career doll Asda’s shopper campaign, Argos’ popup exhibition of Barbie’s History, and Amazon’s 60th anniversary Career Finder. We also launched a 60th
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Barbie is working hard to create a more equal world with girls
fashion store pop-up in Liverpool One and established a host of exciting licensing partnerships.
How is Barbie faring in terms of closing the Dream Gap? Barbie is working hard to create a more equal world with girls. We create product that inspires girls through inclusion, diversity and underrepresented careers. We spotlight real-life role models to inspire girls, as we know you can’t be what you can’t see. In October, we announced a $250,000 donation to girls’ organisations through the Dream Gap Project Fund on GoFundMe, and we have worked with partners globally to help spread our mission. To help shine a spotlight on underrepresentation, with just four per cent of pilots being female in the UK, we have worked with Virgin Atlantic to create career dolls of pilots, engineers and crew. And women in these careers have gone into schools to #SeeHerFly.
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What are you most excited about in 2020? We are doing so much amazing work that connects our products with our purpose, and
our enormous commercial growth is in direct trajectory with our You Can Be Anything brand campaign. Barbie is inspiring girls across content, product and dynamic marketing campaigns, but we also have a long history of disrupting and innovating within the toy category. That is exactly what we’re doing with Colour Reveal. Complete with an amazing water reveal moment, this doll is a game-changer, bringing the number one fashion doll and girls’ favourite Barbie firmly into the unboxing surprise space! This doll is unlike anything on the market and we’re excited to see our partners have a huge appetite for this – it sold out immediately in the US online when it launched in December. We can’t wait to launch Colour Reveal in the UK from Boxing Day to see the reaction! The bright, tube-shaped packaging disrupts in the toy aisle, and each wave’s packaging comes in a distinct new colour. The play pattern has girls super excited with a completely ‘wow’ water transformation moment, followed by surprise unboxing. The new segment will be supported with a 360-degree support plan and investment to drive mass awareness via TV and catch-up, and we will be driving girl engagement with impactful digital content working with some of the top UK girl influencers. For retail, we will also be supporting shopper conversion in store and online. Stock up now!
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