Blog / Barbie is a guerrilla: a lesson in bidding on brand

Love her or hate her, you’ve heard about Barbie and her multi-million-dollar movie that hit cinemas on 21 July. But the real Oscar goes to Barbie’s marketing team, who through clever partnerships with like-minded brands (think Airbnb and their Malibu mansion, Burger King, dedicated websites to making personalised Barbie posters, and more) created unprecedented hype before the movie was even released.

“Of course, any marketing team with the budget of a small country’s GDP could work such miracles,” laughs John Wilkes, Co-Founder at Somebody Digital. (We’re talking a budget of $150 million, versus the $145 million it cost to make the movie).

When it comes specifically to digital marketing, according to Josh Goldstein, President of Global Marketing at Warner Brothers, the movie benefitted from a mix of earned media (people on social sharing shots of them seeing the movie in pink, circulating movie memes, etc.) and paid media (trailer spots, remarketing, etc.).

“The point is, it doesn’t matter what you think about the movie itself, based on marketing efforts alone, it’s already won through profits and publicity,” notes John. The Barbie brand betted on itself and won. Here’s why you should bet on your brand too.

Bidding on your own brand: how and why

“In paid media terms, we often advise our clients to bid on their own brand. Many people balk at this idea because it seems counterintuitive, even self-indulgent, but it yields tangible returns for our clients,” says John. When bidding on your own brand feels overkill, let’s look to Barbie and her shameless self-promotion for inspiration.

“The reason we advise clients to bet on their own brand when it comes to Google paid ads and media, is because the competition is already doing so,” says John. Like Barbie’s guerrilla-style marketing, bidding on your own brand in PPC campaigns is a defensive move, putting your brand in a stronger position to get targeted traffic that truly converts.

A brand can miss out on serious page real estate when they fail to bid against themselves. “Bidding on your own name gives you better rankings in Google, especially if people are searching for you by name,” notes John. “For any brand, the more page real estate on Google they can get, the better.”

“What’s more, you’re actually reaching hot leads who are searching for you with serious intent. We’ve seen drops in conversions for clients, and it directly correlates with when they stopped bidding against their own name in PPC campaigns.”

Back your own brand, like Barbie.

While SEO has an important role to play in organically helping your brand climb the SERP ladder, PPC can catapult it, especially when you’re bidding against branded keywords. “Not only does bidding on your own brand convert better,” notes John, “but it can be more cost-effective in the long run, because you’re reducing your competition’s page real estate while attracting traffic to your own page.” It also allows your brand greater control over the ad message and the landing page you want to drive them to.

“Of course, most brands don’t have a Barbie-sized budget,” says John. “But that doesn’t exclude them from this guerrilla-type marketing. With smart tactics and the right team on their side, any business can move from good to great.”

Ready to take the next step in your marketing? Let’s talk about how Somebody Digital can help you today.