Barbie and Margot Robbie: A Film Becomes a Marketing Event

Barbie became a marketing event because a star-producer, a director and a studio aligned on one bold idea and backed it with a long, well-funded campaign. Margot Robbie and her company LuckyChap spent years developing the film with Greta Gerwig, Warner Bros. and Mattel secured more than 100 brand collaborations, and the movie reached about $1.4 billion at the global box office, according to Variety.

How did Margot Robbie turn Barbie into a film?

Margot Robbie turned Barbie into a film by producing it through LuckyChap and pairing the doll with director Greta Gerwig. According to Fortune, whispers of a Barbie movie began in 2009 as the idea moved among writer and producer groups. Variety reports that the finished film was the culmination of six years of work by LuckyChap, which brought in Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to write the script.

Robbie served as both star and producer. She told Warner Bros. and Mattel in the pitch that pairing Barbie with Gerwig could earn a billion dollars, as she later recounted to TheWrap, and she argued for giving Gerwig full creative control.

What did the Barbie marketing campaign actually include?

The Barbie campaign combined real-world experiences, online tools and a very large partnership program. Three pieces show the range.

• Airbnb listed a real, hot-pink Barbie's Malibu Dream House, according to NPR's report carried by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
• An AI-powered Barbie selfie generator let fans put themselves into movie-poster layouts and share the results, according to the same report.
• More than 100 brand collaborations ran from fashion and frozen yogurt to home insurance and a Barbie Xbox, according to NPR and Axios.

Axios, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported that some partnership agreements paid Mattel a flat licensing fee while others gave Mattel a 5% to 15% cut of sales. The partnerships were revenue for Mattel as well as promotion for the film.

What did the Barbie campaign cost and earn?

The Barbie campaign earned about $1.4 billion at the box office on a reported marketing budget of $150 million. The table lists each measure with its source.

Why did the Barbie partnership strategy work?

The Barbie partnership strategy worked because the film had momentum and a point of view that partners wanted to join. Scripps News described a long game in which official previews got audiences talking about the film, fashion and Barbie-related products long before opening weekend, and companies approached the film rather than the other way around.

Robbie told Variety that the campaign still had a sense of discovery even though it was a Barbie movie, a quality that came from trusting the creative team. The practical point is that partnerships added to a distinctive idea and did not replace it.

What can brands learn from Barbie?

1. Agree the point of view first, as the team did when it chose to call the lead character "stereotypical Barbie," so that every partner extends the same idea.
2. Give talent a creative role, because Robbie's work as a producer shaped the project from the pitch onward.
3. Start months before release, so partners have time to build their own activations and retailers can plan displays.
4. Choose partners by fit and say no to the rest, since more than 100 collaborations only worked because the story stayed coherent.
5. Put the rights in writing. EPR's guide to celebrity ambassador agreements covers the typical terms.

Related reading

• What Is a Publicity Stunt? History, Playbook, Examples
• Mattel Public Relations: Inside the Comms Operation Behind Barbie
• Celebrity PR Case Studies: 60+ Cases by Sector