Title	BARBIE'S 60 SUPER STORIES
Brand	MATTEL (BARBIE)
Product/Service	BARBIE
Category	E05. Influencer / Talent
Entrant	HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement	HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
PR	HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Vivian Sneep	Het PR Bureau	Senior Creative
Maren Bruin	Het PR Bureau	Graphic Designer
Senna Ceulemans	Het PR Bureau	PR Consultant
Vivijan Steenhuis	Het PR Bureau	Senior PR Consultant
Nikki Outheusden	Het PR Bureau	Producer
Toon Van Loock	Het PR Bureau	Client Service Director, Partner
Jacqueline Bosselaar	Het PR Bureau	Strategy Director, Founding Partner

Background

Barbie’s mission is to inspire girls they can be anything. However, research shows that unfortunately girls believe their dreams have limits from the age of 5. From the age of 7 they start to think that boys are smarter and more capable than they are. The gap between what girls think is possible and what is possible is called “The Dream Gap”. And it’s Barbie’s mission to help closing it. Objectives: * Increase awareness of the brand’s purpose among parents and their daughters; inspire them to fully explore the limitless potential of every young girl. * Make the brand relevant to the target group and have them embrace the brand. * Help girls and parents closing The Dream Gap.

Describe the strategy

We found that the problem is the lack of visibility of female role models, as girls cannot become what they cannot see. In the Netherlands, the share of women portrayed in media is only 19.5% and even declining. But there are a lot of aspirational women who do exactly what they dream of. We wanted to make them visible to show young girls that what they dream of actually is possible. We therefore brought together 60 inspiring, but completely different Dutch women to openly share their stories. We opted for a combination of both well-known celebrities and influencers as well as unknown power women like a professor, beer brewer, camera woman and an apache pilot. This approach of presenting a thorough reflection of all the jobs women can do was crucial for our message.

Describe the execution

In March 2019, on International Women’s Day and during the week of Barbie’s sixtieth birthday, 60 Dutch female role models joined forces with Barbie and dominated the news and social media channels. The common goal: empowering girls by showing them they can be anything, which has been Barbie’s purpose ever since her launch in 1959. The campaign’s success completely relied on earned media tactics and dedication from all participating role models. They all did so voluntarily, for free, because they strongly believe in the fundamental importance of our message. With a fun social media package, full of visuals, GIFs and quotes, we empowered them to promote both themselves and the campaign. And they did. All 60 role models openly shared their story on their social media channels. We also bundled their stories in a book: ‘Barbie’s 60 Super Stories’.

List the results

* A total reach of 76 million earned (news & social) media in a country with 17 million inhabitants. * All 60 Dutch role models became advocates of the brand. * One of the biggest Dutch newspapers (De Telegraaf) dedicated an entire weekend special of 40 pages to Barbie. * 400 earned publications, plus the campaign was extensively discussed in numerous TV shows. * Dutch Public Libraries chose to prominently feature the book. * 99% of the publications were positive or neutral. * An increase of 42% in sales (against an average increase of 10% during a campaign).