The Barbie movie was a playbook for marketers. Leading up to the film, the film’s marketing team threw out all the stops to ensure we all knew when the film was coming out and lined up to see it as soon as it hit the big screen.
With 940.7 million views on Tiktok, ‘Barbiecore’ has become a cultural phenomenon, spanning its way into every area of life, from fashion to home decor and now even stationery.
By analysing keyword growth across the Barbie film’s launch in July 2023, compared to the same period last year, we have identified that the luxury fashion brand Chanel is taking the market share of searches with an impressive 851% increase since the film premiered.
The film didn’t solely rely on the success of the film to cover the reported $150 million marketing budget. The studio and toy company have partnered up with an eye-watering number of brands. From clothing to haircare, cars and even Burger King created their ‘pink burger’ in collaboration, but which brands that were featured in the film are now seeing the biggest surge in popularity based on global search volumes?
Chanel sees staggering 851% increase in searches across different product categories in July alone!
Looking at three key fashion brands featured in the film, Chanel takes the market share with a huge 851% increase in searches. The film features a mixture of new and archived products from the fashion house, including a heart-shaped pendant from the brand's legendary spring/summer 1995 runway show.
‘Chanel Barbie Dress’ is the highest-ranking term with a whopping 190% increase in July alone. However, when looking at the largest annual increases, the ‘Chanel Barbie Bag’ scores highest with a staggering 36,000 search increases since the same period last year.
Other standout brands within the fashion space are Birkenstock, with a 684% increase and more surprisingly, Calvin Klein with a 484% increase since last year - impressive considering Calvin Klein’s iconic logo didn’t even feature on Ken’s boxers, but instead was replaced with ‘Ken’.
Looking at more generic search trends that can be attributed to the film, ‘Barbie Gingham Dress’ has shot up 5,448% and ‘Fluffy Barbie Heels’ has increased by 1,872% since August last year.
The biggest fashion-related Barbie searches globally
Count | Term | July increase | 12-month increase |
1 | Chanel Barbie Dress | 190% | 5,217% |
2 | Chanel Barbie Bag | 186% | 36,900% |
3 | Chanel Barbie Doll | 177% | 1,025% |
4 | Chanel Barbie Sunglasses | 152% | 3,253% |
5 | Barbie Gingham Dress | 148% | 5,448% |
6 | Chanel Barbie necklace | 146% | 728% |
7 | Fluffy Barbie Heels | 141% | 1,872% |
8 | Birkenstock Barbie | 138% | 684% |
9 | Pastel co-ords | 122% | 850% |
10 | Calvin Klein Ken Boxers | 127% | 484% |
Barbie drives demand for the luxury car market with a staggering 5,490% increase in searches
Despite the economic downtown, Barbie has reignited the world’s appetite for luxury cars, showing a 5,490% increase just on cars featured in the film. Breaking it down into make and model, the iconic Chevrolet Corvette experienced a 121% increase in July alone and a 1,534% uptick since the same period last year.
Ranking in second place is the Hummer EV, AKA Ken’s car, with a 3,147% increase since last year. Other more generic but notable terms are ‘pink Barbie car’ with a 292% upshoot in searches and ‘pink Corvette’ with a 121% increase.
The biggest car-related Barbie searches globally
Count | Search Item | July increase | 12-month increase |
1 | Chevrolet Corvette Barbie | 121% | 1,534% |
2 | Hummer EV Barbie | 107% | 3,147% |
3 | Volkswagen Type 2 Barbie | 109% | 311% |
4 | Chevy Suburbans Barbie | 105% | 481% |
5 | Chevy Blazer SS EV Barbie | 81% | 17% |
There was only one standout cosmetic brand featured in the film, and searches show a whopping 77% increase in ‘Lisa Eldridge Barbie’ during the film’s launch. When it came to upsurges in individual products, the lipstick Barbie channels (True Velvet Lipstick in Velvet Petal) experienced an 84% uptick in searches.
Lisa Eldridge built her career designing camera-ready looks for red carpets and Dua Lipa, who plays Mermaid Barbie in the film, is a longstanding client of hers, so it comes as no surprise that her refined formulas took centre stage in the Barbie film.
The biggest cosmetic-related Barbie searches globally
Count | Brand | July increase | 12-month increase |
1 | Lisa Eldridge True Velvet Lipstick in Velvet Petal | 84% | 59% |
2 | Lisa Eldridge Barbie | 77% | 166% |
3 | Lisa Eldridge Gloss Embrace Lip Gloss in Carnival | 31% | 104% |
It’s clear that the PR partnerships in the film have led to a significant increase in demand for the brands, and hence sales. The impact of the Barbie brand partnerships are a clear indication for the power of public relations.