Don’t expect Barbie results on a rag-doll budget.
That's the advice Rares Stoica, a freelance creative based out of London specialising in design, art direction and copy, gave to advertisers and marketers on LinkedIn when talking about the power of the recent campaign for the Barbie movie.
In Australia and the rest of the world, the nostalgic brand has graced the stations and streets of every major metropolis, alongside the myriad brand collaborations flooding social media.
Stoica - who has previously worked for the likes of Momentum Worldwide, Ogilvy and adam&eveDDB - told his followers that scale matters in advertising, "because scale — especially when combined with effective creative — is what truly amplifies a campaign for impact".
He had three takeaways from the Barbie campaign, the first being that average creative on a grand scale gets more traction than excellent creative on a small scale.
"That is, scale makes an average idea seem better than it actually is," said Stoica.
"Effectiveness in advertising is a pay-for-play dynamic. With few exceptions, attention belongs to those who have the deepest pockets.
"A brand’s history matters, but it means nothing without continued cultural relevance."
In the comments of the post, Patricia Chan, marketing director for Asia at Entertainment One who's based out of Hong Kong, said while budget matters, the innovative ideas behind the Barbie movie campaign were "extraordinary".
"Especially the cross-brands collaboration, like the pink "Tardis". Hats off to the Mattel/Barbie marketing team!" she said.
Daniel Young, the Sydney-based MD of consumer PR & influence at Ogilvy PR AUNZ, said that another learning is to plan a channel strategy to maximise the return on investment and minimise wastage.
"If the goal of the extensive marketing for Barbie the movie is to let us know that a film is about to be released then I think that goal was achieved about 200 activations / partnerships ago!" said Young.
Kas Andz, an e-commerce marketeer also in London, said it's essential for brands to strike a balance between scale and creative excellence.
"While scale can amplify impact, relying solely on deep pockets may not guarantee long-term success or genuine cultural relevance.
Nethal Hashim, a London-based marketing strategist, agreed that scale matters, but said a good creative idea can do better even on a smaller scale than an average creative idea on a large scale.
"Especially when considering metrics other than exposure," said Hashim.
Joanne Steventon, head of marketing at everyLIFE Technologies in England, said budget is key together with the necessary people resource and power to enable the seamless and mass execution of this global campaign.
"This campaign is marking a new era for the Barbie brand," she said.
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