There’s a lot of plastic love in the air. A six-week consumer outreach campaign from Mattel Canada has resulted in an old romance being rekindled: Barbie and Ken are back together.
The fashion doll and her ever-grinning boyfriend of nearly 50 years broke it off in 2004. Their reunification has been the root of a campaign that began with Ken asking for a second chance through various retail, out-of-home and social media channels in early January. Consumers were directed to BarbieAndKen.com to advocate on Ken’s behalf in his international wooing efforts.
Canadian out-of-home efforts were focused in Toronto and Montreal. Mattel spread the word nationally with print ads in Metro and Hello!
Things came to a head today (Valentine’s Day, appropriately) when it was announced the duo were back on. An event at Toronto’s Union Station saw a “Kentourage” handing out pink flowers and buttons to passersby. Spider Marketing Solutions, Carat Canada and GCI Group handled activation, media and public relations duties respectively.
“[Public engagement] is a new dimension of how we market the Barbie brand in Canada,” said Adriana Gut, marketing manager for Mattel Canada’s girls brands, who also hopes the big announcement goes on to become part of pop culture history.
Limited edition dolls to commemorate the couple are available at select retailers this week only.
