You can be anything! How a doll inspired girls all over the world!

Thursday: Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Guerilla Marketing lets you interact with your target audience in creative and amusing ways. Campaigns of this kind are unconventional, captivating, and not necessarily expensive. These entertaining brand activations generate buzz which helps businesses achieve their sales and marketing goals! Keep reading to learn how one of the most acclaimed toy brands encouraged young girls to be anything they dream of! CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

You can be anything! How a doll inspired girls all over the world! One of the fondest memories of our childhood was playing with our favorite toys. Stuffed animals, toy cars, action figures, bricks, and dolls. There was something for every kid to play with. For a lot of girls, this particular toy provided them with some of their fondest childhood memories. The Barbie™ Doll. Launched in 1959 by Mattel Inc., this fashion doll became one of the most popular toys of all time. Barbie wasn’t just any ordinary doll… she would become influential in the world of pop culture! The doll was featured in different kinds of media such as movies and cartoons. She even has her own set of movies! It’s been six decades and the doll remains to be a global toy icon. However, competition from other toy brands and new technology, such as smartphones and tablets have affected their sales. Kids today prefer interactive digital media like video games and apps. To keep up with the competition and trend, the brand needed a strategy to generate more sales while staying relevant and an inspiration to a new generation of children. The strategy? A guerrilla marketing campaign called “You Can Be Anything.” It started with a question: “What happens when girls are free to imagine they can be anything?” The ad, created by advertising agency BBDO San Francisco, featured little girls taking over different kinds of adult jobs.  –  A college professor  –  A veterinarian  –  A soccer coach  –  A paleontologist  –  A traveling business executive Each of these girls were doing their best, showing that they can do as well as adults too! The campaign promoted a positive and encouraging message: Girls can pursue any career they want and can achieve anything they can imagine. According to BBDO’s Executive Creator Matt Miller: “Barbie, the brand, knew that society and culture did not understand who Barbie really was or the good that Barbie really did. They watch girls play with the doll. They have seen how it is influential to them. There was this frustration, I think, to help… tell the real Barbie story.” As a brand, they not only wanted to sell dolls that girls can play with, but also inspire them to pursue their dreams. To achieve that, they released the Barbie Careers line, which featured Barbie dolls in different uniforms that represented a number of professions! Since Barbie is one of the most recognized brands in the world, their credibility helped in delivering a strong and inspiring message to young girls. This campaign was a great move and it contributed to making their brand more relevant in the 21st century. As part of the campaign, they also set up pop-up booths in malls that had boxes little girls can open. Each box had different careers written on them, like a doctor, gymnast, and even rockstar! Inside, there was a Barbie doll dressed as what was written on the box and also, accessories and uniforms that the girls can wear to match! The campaign helped Barbie’s sales increase in 2016, generating over USD 972 million—up from USD 906 million the year before. It also won Best New Media Campaign in the 2017 Toys Award. Barbie’s guerilla marketing campaign is an example of how you can use a positive message to attract and gain the loyalty of your target audience. They chose a different and light-hearted approach that inspired many and showed what their brand is all about. Barbie is considered as one of the veterans of the toy industry. Despite being a 60-year-old brand, they’ve found ways to remain relevant and appeal to different generations of their target market. Not all brands have this kind of lasting appeal. Barbie changed with the times and used strategies like guerrilla marketing to deliver their positive message. Guerrilla marketing is not only a way to diversify your strategy, but also a new way to present and promote your brand! Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing! Do you want to learn about TNT Guerilla Marketing? See it on next week’s Gorillas of the Guerilla Marketing!