For one night, the WNBA is living in a Barbie world.
At Friday night’s matchup between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, the Barbie brand debuted its latest campaign and slogan, “Give Limitless Possibilities.” The campaign centers around a short film introduced at the game, which shows children playing with Barbie dolls while adults reflect on the traits and opportunities they wish they could give in kids, like curiosity, imagination, confidence, and heart.
The work is meant to leverage the growing momentum behind women’s sports, and basketball in particular, to reinforce Barbie’s brand messaging ahead of the holiday shopping season, Krista Berger, SVP of Barbie and global head of dolls at parent company Mattel, told Marketing Brew.
“We know that the world is paying attention to women’s sports in general like never before,” Berger said. “The WNBA has such exciting momentum and energy behind it, and I would argue that this is one of the most anticipated sporting games, post-Olympics, of the year.”
Sky’s the limit: The full cut of the short film is running on YouTube and Barbie’s social channels, with shorter versions set to run across linear, CTV, and other digital media platforms in the coming months, Berger told us. While the Barbie brand tends to appeal to a wide range of audiences, this campaign is meant to resonate with “parents, caregivers, gift givers, and anyone who wants to inspire and empower the next generation,” especially as they start to think about shopping for holiday gifts, she said.
“It’s really grounded in this idea of, when you look at your friends, or the children in your life…you want to give them the world,” Berger said. “You want to give them limitless possibilities. You want them to know that they can be anything. By showcasing that gifting a Barbie doll can help unlock these limitless possibilities, it doubles down on the brand purpose and messaging of inspiring the next generation.”
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Baller move: The event marked the WNBA’s first Barbie-themed night, Berger said, and custom Barbie x Chicago Sky sherpa belt bags and co-branded shirts were handed out to the first 2,000 fans in Chicago’s Wintrust Arena. Fans were also treated to a Barbie-branded photo opp and hair-braiding stations.
WNBA legend Sue Bird, who was honored with a Barbie of her own earlier this summer, helped unveil the campaign at Friday’s game, which featured three of this year’s first-round draft picks—Caitlin Clark of the Fever and Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso of the Sky.
Berger said she hopes the game’s Barbie activations will result in organic social media engagement for the brand. There may be reason to believe that will come to fruition: When the Fever and the Sky met in June, the game averaged 2.25 million viewers on CBS, the most for a WNBA game on any network in more than two decades. Tickets to that game were reportedly the most expensive in league history, with some selling on the secondary market for up to $9,000.
Watch this space: Berger didn’t specify if or when Barbie might show up at a WNBA game next, but she said her team is “tickled pink, pardon the pun,” about the attention on women’s sports, and said that the brand plans to continue its work in the space.
“Society and the media at large shining a light on these women who rightfully deserve to be highlighted as the amazing athletes and legends and trailblazers that they are is only a good thing,” she said. “Barbie has been doing that, and so doing it in tandem with this momentum is something that we will continue.”