C’Mon Barbie, Let’s Go Viral

Episode 190: In this episode, Lori and Ellie take a deep dive into the successful marketing campaign behind the release of the Barbie movie and discuss ways that retail florists can implement similar tactics and strategies to boost their own businesses.From innovative social campaigns to creative collaborations, we break down the recipe that allowed Barbie capture the hearts of everyone this summer and surpass $1 billion at the box office.Join us in this exciting episode as we chat about the success of the Barbie movie marketing campaign and discuss ways florists can implement these strategies to take their businesses to new heights.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:02

The next thing that they did was really tap into emotional connections and nostalgia. Nostalgia is already has been huge for the past couple years, but I mean this really was a true example.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

And Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

Come on, Barbie, let's go viral. Ellie, I'm so excited. We get to talk about the Barbie movie. Yes, we do. It's it feels like a long time coming, right? Because we've been seeing it everywhere for so long.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

For like a year, honestly. I mean, I remember, and I think one of us screenshotted it and sent it to the other because we were equally as excited. The first post on Instagram I saw of it was a picture of Barbie and Ken rollerblading in the iconic outfit. Yes, you know, and I think that was the first blip.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

You're right. And that was in Venice Beach. Yes. And we were like spotting.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

No. Oh my gosh, is this truly happening? With no idea, no, absolutely no idea. Was this going to be like for five-year-olds? Was this going to be for adults? Like, was it you know? I had no idea, and I didn't even care. Yeah. I just they maintained the mystery throughout as well. I mean, it's just crazy. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So that we're gonna talk about that today. And believe it or not, we're gonna talk about how it's it there's always our our flower industry. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Yeah. So when did you go to the movie?

SPEAKER_03 1:57

So did you finally see it? We went and saw it. My husband and I, so we had a deal because we kind of did the did you do Barbenheimer? Barbieheimer, Barbenheimer deal. So two weeks ago we went and saw, or three weeks ago, I can't remember. Two weeks ago, I think we did it. We did Barbie, and then we skipped a weekend and we did Oppenheimer last weekend, which I may or may not have dozed. Well, I didn't like legit fall asleep, but it was really, I felt like it was super long. But it was good. I'm not, yeah, it was just long, it was long.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

Yeah, I had two little cat naps during Oppenheimer. Yeah, but they were good naps. It was like good dreamy naps, but I feel like I still got the general idea of it.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

It was long, and there was absolutely zero pink in that movie.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

No pink. I'm just saying, but anyway, so yeah, when did you see the Barbie movie? So we had our little family vacation, our annual family vacation here in Florida at Bonda's. So I waited until my nieces got here and we watched it. We we went this past weekend. What was crazy actually is that I bought tickets on the AMC app. I bought them for Saturday afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

The girls were like, we have to all wear pink. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So we got there, we ordered our popcorn ahead, we got there, and I had an email that I had missed from a few hours previous that said, due to technical difficulties, the showing has been canceled. So we got all the way there. We got all the way there. We had our popcorn ordered, like we were ready to go. It was pouring rain. And so I went to the box office. I'm like, what is the deal? And they were like, Oh yeah, theater number one is not working right now. So, and then it's not like a fight where they just rebook you for the next showing, because of course the next showing was then sold out. So it was a whole ordeal. So we got tickets for the next day. So I saw it this past Sunday, and we finally finally got to see it. Did the girls like it? They did, they did, yeah, they really liked it, and they for reference are 11, almost 11 and 13. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

So I cried twice in the movie, like cried, and I could have cried a third time, but I was like, get get it. Get it together, get the movie, get it together. And there's a about a 90% chance I'm gonna go again this weekend because my daughter and niece are coming in town, and I do want to see it with them. Yeah, it's just got a lot in it. So anyway, it does. But we're not here to talk about that, like the the story of it, which is a great, and I would love to do that someday. But we're here to talk about the marketing.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

We are the entire world, it feels like, is talking about Barbie. Peeling back the curtain, kind of like a wizard of oz vibe here. We wanted to get into the marketing strategies they use, just kind of like some statistics. So to start, the Barbie marketing budget cost more than the movie itself took to make more money. So they spent a hundred roughly 150 million in marketing spend. The movie cost 145 million. As of the time of recording, the box office has surpassed one billion dollars in sales from the movie. It is the first US film directed by one woman to reach the billion dollar mark. And just for reference, Oppenheimer has had about half that success. Um I think the most fascinating thing to both of us is the partnerships that they had with consumer products.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Yeah. So I started seeing gap way before because you talk about nostalgia, you know, me gap girl through and thoroughly from the 80s on, tried and true. And so when that partnership happened between my childhood Barbie dream house and then gap partnering, like I was sucked in.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Right. So that's one target demographic, right? It's it's you. So Gap sold the Barbie and Ken t-shirts. Ulta offered hot pink Barbie electric toothbrushes. Microsoft made an Xbox that was Barbie, Barbie Xbox, like including like little dream home thing to kind of get girls into more, you know, gaming and STEM learning and all of that. Target, of course, had a bunch of stuff. They sold Barbie pool floats. And then Airbnb turned the a regular Malibu mansion into a Malibu Barbie mansion, right? Allowing the Barbie dream house to be fully realized and add to the momentum. And then, of course, they had celebrities. I remember seeing Chrissy Teegan go into it. So it's just perpetuating this user-generated content, even from a celebrity point of view, just pulling in, I feel like their net was cast so wide.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

So wide.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

So wide. Oh wide.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

Um, and then Warner Brothers hosted weekly meetings on how to create a summer of Barbie, which I thought was fascinating. I mean, it's just like, okay, what can we do this week? You know, what are we launching next? The collaborations, you know, Forever 21 had a collaboration. I mean, yes, over 160, which is just wild. And then you get into like HGTV aired a Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge show. Yes. Then on the NBA conference finals, they previewed a movie trailer. So, you know, it's sucking in the mail demographic that way. So it's just crazy. And then for the partnerships, some which I thought was fascinating, some brands paid Mattel a flat licensing fee while others paid Mattel a five to fifteen percent cut of their sales. So it's not like Mattel is paying these brands, it is quite the opposite.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Wow, I was gonna ask you. I wonder what the payout was, or was it some sort of affiliate?

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Yeah, it's like Mattel a lot. Didn't I mean right by the time that they invested their 150 million? I mean, they're really recouping that in sales through strategic partnerships with these consumer products. So yeah, they really, you know, it said that they thought of their core customers, which are little girls all the way through grandmas, who they call glamas. But, you know, even even Tyler, my boyfriend, was like intrigued. And it's just it's pretty intriguing.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Did he go to the movie or was it just he wanted it to be a girl thing?

SPEAKER_04 9:11

So he but I know he's dying to watch it. Let's be honest.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

My husband loved, I mean, he liked a lot. Yeah, he laughed a lot.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

Yeah, Ken was Ryan Gosling.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

I loved him.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

That's I I went left the movie as much as I hate talking about how the male was a standout, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:31

No, he was so endearing and lovable, and I think a lot of people that haven't seen the movie think it is a kin. I'm quoting, I do air quotes on this podcast all the time, but I have to tell people I'm doing them because I forget they can't see me. I think people that haven't seen the movie think it's a Ken bashy movie, and it's totally not. No, I mean, because you think about it, poor Ken Ken was created to only love Barbie. I mean, that's his role.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

He doesn't, it's not his not the main character main character energy at all.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Right, right, in there in Barbie's world. And so I just he was just so good, and he just, you know, he does beach. That's what he does. He does beach.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

So good.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

Okay, so there are a few strategies that were used in this whole marketing net that was cast. One of them was leveraging AI. So that was probably the first thing I saw on social that was really like catching on like wildfire between, you know, people I follow that weren't celebrities and were celebrities and all of that, which was like uploading your own photo, and then it turns it into that iconic movie poster. Um, and then of course, people spread it on social to build the hype and really build the anticipation. So that was one check in their favor. The second, which we discussed, was leveraging collaborations. So when you, you know, when you partner with all these different people, it just really reinforces an entirely different market and allowed them to cast that net super wide.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

And then next was community engagement. So this was, you know, user-generated content, which amplified their campaign reach and engaged fans as brand advocates. And what I found interesting, you know, especially the weeks leading up to the movie, was that when I go onto FlowerClick's Instagram and scroll, everybody is producing Barbie content. It was all pink. Yeah, it was it was everything. Like if they weren't in on it, they felt like they had FOMO, you know, and so that only perpetuated Barbie's reach in every little facet, all the way down.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Totally agree. And even a lot of our flower click members that do have TikToks, I loved that they took advantage of the Barbie movement, and they were doing, you know, because there are so many voiceovers on TikTok that you can use that are free, and they were doing that where they would show feature different pink arrangements that they had in the shop, and each one would say, Hi Barbie, hi Barbie, hi Barbie, or hi Ken, hi Ken, you know, and feature different things.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Um, and just tap into that. It's you know, anything pink, and then do things like hashtag hi Barbie or hashtag hi kin or it's knuff, you know, that was the whole t-shirt. I loved that, and I saw so many different flower shops tap into that type of thing. It doesn't have to be specific the word Barbie, it could just be a tagline from the movie, and that is knuff. It's enough right now because if you know, you know, and everybody wants to be in the know.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

And as a result, though, of being in the know, that perpetuated the box office sales. It all tied back to their central goal, which was get ticket sales.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

The next thing that they did was really tap into emotional connections and nostalgia. Nostalgia is already has been huge for the past couple years, but I mean, this really was a true example where the age demographic spanned from 10-year-olds who it just, you know, maybe they're still playing with Barbie, but they still are allowed to see a PG-13 movie, all the way to like, you know, those glamas, like the 90 plus, where they remember the Barbies from the 50s and the 60s. And so they, you know, within the movie, there's all those historic references. So nostalgia, no-brainer on that one.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

And then, of course, strategic upselling. We can't forget about that. And I think this one is the most relevant and actionable for you know our retail businesses or anybody within the floral industry, where you're not just buying a ticket to the movies, you're also buying the merch. You know, so it's a it's an automatic upsell on not just a $15 movie ticket, but you're buying a Barbie float, you're buying the the t-shirt at gap, you're buying whatever you want to buy. Ruggable. Ruggable had Barbie rugs. Yes. I was obsessed with those. I'm like, how can we make this work in the house? But anyway, so strategic upselling. So it's not just about selling the floral arrangement, as you guys know, it's it's all the add-ons that just really can double triple the revenue at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Yep, exactly. Well, and I mean you take that and incorporate it into your flower shop, create the whole story of tonight at the Barbie movie. You know, you right, it's not about just the ticket, it is surprising your significant other with a pink bouquet of flowers and the movie ticket. And candies that you guys have in your store and the pink, whatever, everything that's pink, you create a vignette in your store of what the Barbie ensemble is, right? That's what people are gonna buy. They're gonna buy the whole story that goes along with the movie. That's what you do.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

And so, with that, with that little tidbit from you, I want to build on that and say, you know, Barbie's gonna be gone. Yeah, right, right going back to the concept, it's all about the concept. So if I were you, I would look at a whole calendar of a year and say, here are the holidays within the next few months. Here are the pop culture things that are going on that people are into. Creating an entire story and marketing play around that one central concept, I think is huge. So even if it's Halloween, okay, for Halloween this year, we're doing whether it's nightmare before Christmas or you want to play into maybe the color green this year, like that bright slime green, just zooming in on one concept and marketing the crap out of it in every way possible. The other thing that Barbie did was the cast involvement, right? I mean, they were absolutely everywhere they did the most. So, how can you make your staff into the cast? Can you get cool shirts for them? Can you have them, you know, wear a certain something or play into it however they can? Because again, that is just really making an entire concept or brand come to life.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Absolutely. Well, the other thing about the cast, when you saw them out and you were on the they were in costume, I mean they were in their colors, but they're in character, they so had fun together.

SPEAKER_04 17:08

Like you can see they enjoyed each other. Yeah, there was no drama like the don't worry darling drama.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

That's what I was gonna say. But if you look at the don't worry darling game, there was drama, so it makes a huge difference. This energy when I see like shout out to flowers by Michelle on their team on TikTok having fun and being silly. I so want to order from their store right because they're you can tell they like one another, they enjoy doing stuff together. I'm sure there's other flower shops too, but they're the ones that come to my mind that I like watching. Yeah, because they have a good time. So think about that when you are putting yourself out there in your branding and your marketing. It matters what your custom how your customer sees your team. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

And the other thing, you know, creating that central theme or idea through the concept. The other thing is limited edition. I mean, it's simple, but create a product or a bundle or some experience uh workshop and and a product to go with it, and the little accessories that are gifts, maybe it's candle that's you know, there's so many different things you could do, but make it limited edition.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

And yeah, oh, I think you should always have something that's limited edition. If you think about an ice cream shop or Olive and June's nail polish, like they always have something that is limited edition. And so while you might buy your regular polish, you're also gonna buy the limited edition. So it's almost like the multiples, the buying in multiples concept could work.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

That's a really good idea. So I want to go back to what you said just a little bit ago about looking at a calendar for a flower to look at and see what's kind of maybe coming next because Barbie is. I mean, it's I I believe it's gonna get us through Christmas. I think Christmas is gonna be huge, there's gonna be a lot of Barbies and a lot of stuff, and I think Halloween, a lot of costumes, yeah, cheap Barbie and Ken outfits. But I did hear there's supposedly a lot of remakes in the works, so in movies. So to me, the word nostalgia is not going away. There's gonna be a lot of upcoming nostalgia things, so keep that in mind as a business owner. Marketing nostalgia is still going to be at the forefront of your marketing ideas. So when considering nostalgia, think about that, it will win your adult customers over almost every time. Take myself, for example, the first picture on Instagram, rollerblading in 1980s clothing. Yeah, that is you had me. That's me. I just wasn't on Venice Beef, but rollerblading with leg warmers on and lycra, sure, I'm in, right? They did a great job of doing that. So start being forward thinking, and what can we look towards to have in our shop, on our website, on our social media that's going to grab our customers' attention, the people that pay the money, people that want first pick, they're gonna go, oh, I want a piece of that. They have that in stock, I want to go get that. The second thing I was reading about that I thought was fascinating. You talked about ruggables, and it's funny because I had that in my example, and we had separate documents we were doing notes on. Again, our minds always connect somehow, is deliver that omni-channel experience, meaning Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, whatever you know, in store.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

Don't discount in store as one of the channels.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Make everything nuanced and clickable. Going back to your ruggable example, that's what they did in their paid partnership. They had some really cool still shots on on Instagram. You and then you clicked on them, it went over to TikTok, and they had some longer videos of the whole inside of the dream house. And that's where you're like, hmm, how can I make this work? Exactly. I want my office to be the dream house. Exactly, as did I, because they're beautiful. And then all you gotta do is click to buy. Yep, it's it's tangible. Tangible. Well, right, because we we now get to see what it looks like in in quote unquote real life.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

Real world, yeah. In real world. So And you get a piece of that nostalgia. Somebody can take that home with you. It's not just a movie you watch. It's not just a doll you used to play with. It can be incorporated into your life.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Right. And the other thing, and we say this all the time, and we we have to do it too. And I don't say it lightly because it is a lot of freaking work. You have to lean into your social media. You have to do it. You have to look at all of your current profiles. You have to be on them. You have to be consistent. You have to build them. You have to maintain them. You have to react to your customers. You have to communicate. You have to do all of the stuff. If you don't have a team, which most probably don't, you have to be that team. Lastly, you have to connect with your customers, right? They in an article that I read, I thought this was interesting. You know, Barbie is more than just a doll. She is a lifestyle, right? I mean, she represents an entire lifestyle. Creating long-lasting connections with customers means giving them opportunities to embrace your brand, to embrace your brand, to help them in their identity for their lifestyle. So opening yourself up, being vulnerable, being authentic with who you are in your brand and your store, sharing those things with your customer builds those connections with them and invites them in even more. But you have to be consistent and you have to be willing to do it. Then the last one, like you said, I mean, you already talked about it, is you got to use the leverage all of the tools, the AI stuff and the technologies and all of those things. And those can be scary, Ellie.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

I think so. I think they can, but also like you don't have to build a whole robot with it. You know, you can use it to write some captions, you can use it to think of some ideas for a display for your front. Like there are little things that you really dip your toe with in AI that I think people don't realize, you know. Just think of it like little outsourcing of your brain, of your brain power. What would you think about? What would you Google now? Type that into Chat GPT. Just try it out. I think anybody who's scared of it right now, that's the first step. Just dip your toe. Ask it to write you an Instagram caption. Ask it to give you five ideas for marketing for your small business. Like something so general, and it's it's actually really great. Yeah. I have to admit.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

No, I do too. And then that's just the thing that you use it. Yeah. Yeah. The more I use it, the more comfortable I am. And I don't I rarely use it word for word, but it does help inspire me.

SPEAKER_04 25:00

It sparks the ideas. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

So I guess the moral of the story here, Barbie crushed it. And you can too. It's just, you know, creating that central concept, having good offerings that are tangible to your customers, that tap into nostalgia, emotional connections, using upselling to further your revenue, engaging your community in that user-generated content to amplify your campaigns and involve your staff. Get your whole team on board.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

Yep. All right. Next Barbie sequel. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Yeah, we'll be back. And let us know on our Instagram, just on our latest post if you saw the movie, what you thought of it, any further thoughts. We'd love to hear from you guys.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yep. Always.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Thanks for having me on the Pod Lore. Anytime, L.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

We look forward to seeing you next week. So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.