Hi Barbie!: A Disability Inclusive Case Study
The two words on everyone’s lips last summer have been on the tips of every young disabled child’s tongue this summer: “Hi Barbie!”
For Disability Pride Month in July, the brand launched two new barbies with disabilities: one with Down Syndrome and the other is Blind. They modeled the dolls after two real ambassadors and worked with organizations led by adults with lived experience to inform the product design of each doll.
The development of the products and dolls was a no notes example of how to work with the community, following the anthem of disabled people for over 30 years: “Nothing About Us Without Us!” They’ve received a ton of earned media and organic social mentions, but when we searched Semrush for the metrics in terms of search, CPC, and other best practices, we were a bit surprised considering how excellent the product is, and how huge the market is.
Our biggest finding: The campaign is performing in alignment with healthy industry standards.
“Okay Kelsey, how is that something that is a key insight?”
Recently, we audited every single one of the 26,700+ Cannes Lions submissions for disability inclusive campaigns. We compared healthy industry standards vs the disability inclusive campaigns that were submitted vs the disability inclusive campaigns that won. Even out of the non-winning work, the inclusive campaigns absolutely crushed their non inclusive competitors when compared to industry standards. From this research, we identified 30 key KPIs and focuses that all companies who want to get the most out of their inclusive advertising strategy need to prioritize in order to match the stellar performance of their competitors.
For more on that, you can read our article in Campaign US but in the meantime, we looked at what all the winning campaigns had in common and determined that the following would be the best possible strategies for Barbie within this product launch.
But first, here’s what we loved…
What we Loved: Positioning + Marketing
The announcement:
The campaign garnered attention from dozens of notable publications, including:
Children’s Toys Publications
Disability Centric Publications
Business Trade Publications
By targeting diverse media outlets, Mattel aimed to reach various audience segments, from parents and educators to disability advocates and the general public. Super smart, disabled people - and those who love us - are everywhere!
The positioning
When we take it a bit deeper we see that the Barbies are positioned prominently on their mainpage alongside all of the other dolls and toys, which aligns with our “gen pop” framework for inclusion where normalization is the goal.
This is smart, and something other companies like Anthropologie, Target and Victoria's Secret should learn from. So often we see companies making accessible or inclusive products, but they require searching for the products online which adds to the already 20+ extra hours disabled people and their families spend every single week getting our basic needs met.
So be like Barbie! And, make sure your website is super accessible so that we can easily navigate and give you some of the $13T in spending we hold.
One final piece we absolutely loved about the positioning was that the brand shows a nondisabled child playing with the doll. Initially, I was bummed that there weren’t other disabled children modeling the dolls, but when I remembered that the goal is normalization I actually loved it 100x more. It reminds me of my nieces when they get excited about playing with disabled toys or watching disability representation on TV because it reminds them of their Auntie.
I think this was a wise choice if they were only going to use one principle talent, but I still think there’s room for diversification here down the line.
What we’d enhance: Misfit Special Sauce
CSR Strategy:
Before launching the dolls, we would’ve recommended a comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. This would involve collaborating with the same advocacy organizations to create an open-source guide for teachers, social workers, and parents. The guide would focus on discussing disability with children and normalizing the use of disabled dolls in play, based on the age and development level of the child.
Why This Works:
The number one question we get asked by executives once we get done with workshops is: “Okay, now that I have you… what’s the best way to talk to my kid about disability so they don’t point and stare.”
Our first tip is to expose them to disability as early as possible in neutral ways. Watch children’s shows, buy books with disabilities in them, and make it a normal part of your child’s worldview.
Providing educators and parents with tools to introduce these dolls in a developmentally appropriate manner ensures that children not only normalize disability but also become advocates at home, prompting their parents to buy these inclusive dolls.
Pop-Up Events:
Sponsor pop-up events like April Lockhart's "Tiny Disabled Fashion Girlies" meetup, where disabled children can see themselves reflected in role models who look like them. The brand could’ve started with April’s event and worked with prominent influencers with the very disabilities that the dolls were modeled after. We’d recommend Madison Tevlin for the Down Syndrome Doll, and Natalie Trevonne and Catarina Rivera for the Blind Barbie.
Why This Works:
Disability has a long history of being exploited for views and inspiration porn, so we are always looking for brands who are really walking the walk, not just jumping on inclusive initiatives for once off PR. By investing in community-centric events, Mattel can demonstrate a long-term commitment to disability inclusion, fostering loyalty and credibility within the community.
Influencer Launch:
While we loved that the brand worked with real people to model the dolls after, there didn’t seem to be much of a targeted approach to capturing the enthusiastic response that came from the disability community. In our opinion, this is a waste of incredible PR! Disabled influencers were sharing the announcement of the dolls left, right and center, and because there wasn’t a focused retargeting strategy using disabled voices, they missed opportunities to redirect viewers who interacted with their content to their CSR strategy, pop ups and ultimately website.
Why This Works:
Representation matters. Disabled influencers resonate deeply with their followers. An influencer campaign can create authentic, relatable content that Mattel can leverage across various platforms. This content can then be retargeted to align with the CSR initiative, increasing visibility and trust. In fact, on average, paid campaigns with disabled influencers statistically report 20% higher ROI simply because our audiences are so engaged.
Conclusion
I would have done anything to see a Barbie who looked like me growing up, and honestly seeing a Barbie in the 2023 Blockbuster who did have an arm like me healed something inside of me I didn’t know was there. You probably barely noticed her, I think she got a grand total of 30 seconds of screen time but that is truly how low the bar is for representation. Even when it's subtle and barely there, we pick up on it. Barbie is making really awesome, authentic waves for inclusion and we celebrate them for it.
The project is great, the product is awesome, and it will change the self esteem of 1.5 million Blind children and 5.4 million children with Down Syndrome. This brings me to tears. We’d just love to see them put a bit more umph behind this campaign. It deserves it!
The good news? It’s not too late to implement any of these. There’s no such thing as too inclusive, and the thing that helps brands push the needle is a ruthless commitment to professional, personal and creative development. Barbie can build off this foundation by integrating robust CSR initiatives, leveraging the influence of disabled advocates, and engaging in community-focused events.
While healthy campaigns are great, why not shoot for the moon and win even more loyalty (cough, $$$) from the disabled community but also set a precedent for other brands to follow? If you’re here from Mattel, we’ve got one thing to say “Hi Barbie! Let’s make even more inclusive magic happen.”