BARBIE VS. OPPENHEIMER: THE BATTLE OF MARKETING STRATEGIES IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

Izvor: društvene mreže
The era of film marketing campaigns where a good trailer and a billboard were enough is long behind us. Today, film promotion is an entire art and a set of well-thought-out marketing activities that include creating content that not only promotes the film, but also entertains and informs viewers. In addition to being the most anticipated movies of 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer are peppered with plenty of carefully crafted marketing gimmicks and are excellent examples of successful yet diverse marketing strategies that demonstrate the flexibility, power and depth of marketing.
Through hashtags, memes and creative content, social networks became the main driver of the success of this film experiment. The interaction between loyal fans, curious film enthusiasts and ordinary viewers led to unprecedented excitement, resulting in massive bookings at theaters across the world.

Izvor: društvene mreže
The combination of social networks and classic film promotion proved to be so powerful and capable, not only to generate hype, but also to create a story around the films and a phenomenon that fans endearingly call Barbenheimer and which even has its own Wikipedia page.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Although Barbenheimer started as a fictitious war between two films, some fans were still interested in watching both films, and serious combinations soon appeared on social networks as to whether it was right to watch Barbie first and then Oppenheimer or vice versa. According to the National Association of Theater Owners, an American trade organization whose members are movie theater owners, over 200,000 people in North America bought tickets to see both movies on the same day, and one can only wonder what percentage of those 200,000 went to see the other movie just for fun.

Izvor: društvene mreže
The company Curious Refuge went so far as to use AI to create a Barbenheimer trailer. On the link you can see what the union of Margot and Cillian and what the pink explosion of the atomic bomb looks like.
1. Creating hype – the secrecy of Barbie and the timing of Oppenheimer
So what’s driving this media frenzy? A key role in raising the hype around Barbie was played by the mystique surrounding the plot of the film itself. Namely, unlike most trailers that reveal the key moments of the film, Warner Bros. has released just a few Barbie teaser trailers to fuel curiosity and speculation on social media. The goal was to confuse the audience and make viewers wonder until the very premiere whether Barbie is just another classic film about a merry blonde or if it has a deeper message.
On the other hand, a well thought out marketing plan and the element of surprise played a key role in raising the level of curiosity around Oppenheimer. The countdown to the launch of the first trailer took place live on Twitter and via a live video on YouTube, and they cleverly coordinated it with the very theme of the film, the testing of the atomic bomb – the end of the countdown happened on the anniversary and at the exact time of the first bomb experiment, the Trinity test on 7/16/1945 .

Izvor: društvene mreže
2. The influence of user-generated content
Through various interactive campaigns, the teams behind Barbie and Oppenheimer used the already well-known power of user-generated content and actually turned fans into ambassadors. Are your social media feeds also full of various Barbie selfies? Warner Bros. created the Barbie selfie generator – barbieselfie.ai – which has been used more than a staggering 13 million times. A personalized glitter movie poster with a blue or pink background has become so viral that Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Pedro Pascal have shared their posters on social media, garnering millions and millions of followers which adds value and organic reach. Research has shown that mentions of the film increased by more than 23,000 percent in the week when the selfie generator was released to the public.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Also, the current filter on TikTok “Which Barbie character are you?” has been used over 100 thousand times, and many popular influencers have published it on their profiles.
3. Unstoppable Barbie – more than 100 brand collaborations
Warner Bros. and Mattel launched a powerful Barbie marketing attack, with more than 100 official brand collaborations. Although the total marketing budget has not been confirmed, it is not uncommon for major studios to spend more than $100 million on major projects. Collaboration with Barbie this year is inevitable for brands of all industries, so there is simply no market that is not pink lately. Vans, Balmain, NYX Cosmetics, Burger King, Xbox, Bumble, Ruggable and Forza Horizon 5 are just some of the brands that recognized the strength of the promotion in the Barbie “wave”. But the cooperation with Google, which has 3.5 billion daily users, should be highlighted, so if you search for Barbie, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling or Greta Gerwig, prepare for plenty of pink and glitter.

Izvor: društvene mreže
The biggest and most inventive campaign is certainly the collaboration with Airbnb, through which you can stay in Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse, and you will be hosted by no less than Ken.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Cooperation with world-famous brands not only increased the film’s visibility, but shared values were created, where both parties benefited from increased brand exposure and audience engagement.
4. The power of counterprogramming
But how did Oppenheimer successfully weave itself into this pink, nostalgic story full of various possibilities for audience engagement? They used a phenomenon called counterprogramming, which has been used in the film industry for many years. It’s about broadcasting or making something available at the same time as something opposite, in the hope that it will attract an audience. Oppenheimer’s team focused on positioning it as a historical, high-quality film that emphasized the artistic and intellectual value and the prestige and quality of the actors and directors. The success of both campaigns shows that different approaches can create significant value when properly tailored to the film’s brand, audience and cultural context.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Barbie vs. Oppenheimer on social networks
TikTok and Instagram have proven to be key platforms for audience engagement, and statistics show the absolute dominance of Barbie with 7 million posts on social networks, which have garnered more than 277 million user actions. Namely, approximately 89 percent of all engagements were on posts about Barbie.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Barbie also wins in the category of mentions of the main actors – Margot Robbie was mentioned over 410 thousand times, while Cillian Murphy reached 63 thousand mentions, a high number, but still undoubtedly less than Margot.
As far as sentiment is concerned, Barbie won here as well – 40 percent of posts about Barbie are positive, while 7.4 percent of them are negative. With Oppenheimer, the difference in sentiment is smaller, i.e. 27 percent of posts are positive, and 12 percent negative, but this is to be expected considering the difficult subject matter of the film.

Izvor: društvene mreže
Although Barbie vs. Oppenheimer rivalry is trivial, and the directors and stars of the films have emphasized countless times that they support the other film and that they will definitely watch it in the cinema, Barbie still won in the eyes of the public (and according to statistics). The biggest stars of that film, according to some opinions, are not Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, but the incredible marketing team, which ensured that the doll, the film and the brand were truly inevitable this summer. With nostalgia, collaborations with famous people and interesting campaigns on social networks, the film won the hearts of audiences around the world, and the brand returned to the center of attention. Namely, according to the estimate of Axios, an American news portal, in 2023 almost half a million articles, essays, opinions and texts were published about Barbie, which only shows the strength and value of this brand in pop culture.
If technology and creativity can fuse two diametrically opposed films into one over-hyped connection, Barbenheimer is proof that the possibilities are endless for marketers in every industry. In the end, both films were a huge success and the only thing we can say is – congratulations and well done!

Izvor: društvene mreže