James SpillaneIn the time since Barbie kicked her neutered boy toy to the curb, Ken has been “revamping his life—mind, body, and soul” in an attempt to win back his beloved. Ken’s 50th anniversary is happening and so is the release of an revamped “ultimate boyfriend” doll soon to hit the shelves. Mattel is boldly launching a blitzkrieg marketing campaign via a gaggle of social media platforms to make Ken popular and win Barbie’s heart.
The success of the campaign is strikingly awesome: Ken has over 7,000 Twitter followers and over 34,000 people ‘like’ his Facebook page. Ken and Barbie’s page needs 10,000 ‘likes’ in order for them to get back together. It’s a quite a toy story.
While Ken and Barbie are no longer together (at least for now), they have both been bouncing around Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and a host of other social media channels. Why? In case you missed the news, Barbie and Ken split in 2004 after 43 years together, with the iconic model Barbie leaving Ken for an Australian surfer dude named Blaine. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Ken, Blaine got the boot and now Barbie is considering returning to Ken’s chiseled jaw and welcoming smile.
Needless to say, it’s getting pretty heated in toy land (and the social sphere) and that’s exactly the way Mattel wants it. Mattel has launched a dynamic multi-channel social media campaign to bring consumers new and old into this adventure. Hundreds of thousands of Barbie and Ken fans are watching as Ken tries his darnedest to woo Barbie back via Twitter, Facebook, a live-action Hulu web series and various web efforts.
Barbie tweets coyly: http://twitter.com/#!/barbiestyle
Ken tweets back, pleading his case: http://twitter.com/#!/officialken
Mattel’s Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Youtube marketing efforts are in full swing, gathering user information, engaging audiences and pushing fans to www.barbieandken.com so they can vote on whether or not Barbie should take Ken back. However, there’s even more to this love story…Mattel has really pulled out all the stops with additional efforts including dedicated Youtube channels and even one video showing Ken creating a profile on online dating site Match.com.
The toy giant’s light hearted, playful campaign succinctly demonstrates how integrated social media efforts can be leveraged to interact with audiences, increase brand awareness and ultimately convert new customers and re-engage with old.
Come on, give Ken some love: www.barbieandken.com
PS. Mattel has harnessed the power of social media to engage customers, increase brand awareness and seen a recent 86% profit jump.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
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The 86% jump (reported: Jan. 29, 2010) happened one year before the launch of the 01/2011 social media campaign.