Never Before Barbie
Mattel
Issue 47 | June 2018
Agency
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Creative Team
Creative Chairman James McGrath Creative Directors Ant Phillips, Richard Williams
Production Team
Head of Print and Studio Craig Bulman Print Studio Artist Patrick Rivera Designer Juan Rodriguez Content Producer Joel Morgan
Other Credits
Group Business Director Paige Prettyman Project Director Kelly Brigham Planning Director Matt Pearce Head of Social Brie Stewart Social Strategist Giselle Boxer Social Media Manager Casey Henderson Client Marketing Director Chedney Rodgers Senior Brand Manager Andrew Graham Brand Manager Amanda Flynn Marketing Coordinator Amelia Lachal
Date
March 2018
Background
Barbie is an icon. Since she made her first appearance in 1959, she has been at the forefront of fashion, career, and social movements. She was the staple of every little girl’s toy box.
Though forever popular amongst kids, she was less popular with Australian mums. 40% were neutral towards the brand and 17% disliked it. This sentiment stemmed from the fact that one in four mothers believed that Barbie could send the wrong message to young girls.
Such attitude translated into behaviour, with 43% only buying Barbie for their daughters if asked. They wouldn’t actively go out of their way to include it in their child’s life.
The brief was to build back respect with Mum and prove that Barbie plays a positive role in girls lives.
Idea
As the saying goes: you can’t be what you can’t see.
To bring back respect for the brand and prove Barbie could play a positive role in the lives of girls, Never Before Barbie was introduced, a bespoke, limited-edition range of dolls aimed at inspiring girls to believe they could be anything.
The dolls were based on six high-profile roles that had never been occupied by a woman in Australia, shining a light on the lack of gender diversity in leadership positions across the country.
The six new dolls were Chairperson of the AFL Barbie, Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Barbie, Governor of the Australian Reserve Bank Barbie, Head of ASIO Barbie, President of the Australian Olympic Committee Barbie, and First Woman on the Moon Barbie.
What they did was to encourage young girls to visualise themselves in these roles. Never Before Barbie was launched on International Woman’s Day (IWD).
Giving Barbie a voice, the trailblazing Ita Buttrose, Australia’s First Female News Editor, shared her story as one of Australia’s first Never Befores.
Her interview, with the new dolls, were shared with media desks and seeded across social media.
Other influential women were mailed bespoke kits including letters and dolls so they could add their voices to Ita’s.
Dolls were sent to kids across Australia so that the visible role models were in the hands of those that mattered most.
Results
The campaign reached over 28 million people across traditional and social media, generating PR to a media value of $1,159,371.
From a budget of $296,328, that was ROI of 4:1.
Our Thoughts
On pages 68-69 you can see McDonald’s initiative to mark International Women’s Day. That was a PR story as much as anything in that over 14,000 restaurants across the States did not have their signage changed. Just as this is a PR story rather than an attempt to get a new kind of Barbie into the toyshops of Australia. But that’s not to take anything away from the brand for putting a stake in the ground and declaring itself to be all-in for a fairer future in which women will play their full part in senior leadership positions. Including running the AFL, whose 2018 campaign we feature on pages 78-79. Great to see Mattel trying to lead change rather than follow on behind it.