A Grand Birthday Indeed
There are at least 100 ways to celebrate a centennial but as Visit Arizona's agency of record, Off Madison Ave honed in on one particularly promising influencer to highlight the beauty that the Grand Canyon and the rest of Arizona could offer.
We reached out to Mattel with a grand idea: Would Barbie commemorate her 60th birthday with an Arizona bucket list road trip? And could that trip culminate with a shared celebration at the 100th birthday of Grand Canyon National Park? The brand immediately responded with a resounding yes, and the planning of this epic celebration began.
Our Approach
The primary objectives of this campaign were to drive awareness of and encourage travel to Arizona among @BarbieStyle account’s younger audience. The strategy was simple: Let’s entice the selfie-loving segment with Arizona’s beautiful landscapes and curate an itinerary of the state’s most Instagrammable locations.
We selected renowned spots like Sedona, Scottsdale, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon and, of course, the iconic Grand Canyon – all worthy backdrops for Barbie’s milestone birthday and her audience’s future travels.
Social media behaviors are in a constant state of change. But one thing continues to hold true: Influencers live up to their name and are an effective way to prompt target audiences to try something new and different.
The @BarbieStyle account has more than 2 million followers from around the world composed mostly of millennials and Gen Z. We recognized the power this unique social media influencer had on the next generation of travelers and leveraged this to expand the Visit Arizona’s reach on Instagram by launching an influencer campaign with the world’s most famous doll.
We timed this partnership to highlight the Grand Canyon National Park’s centennial but also to promote tourism during summer, which is traditionally a slower travel time for the state. From the initial phone call with the Mattel team to the photoshoot, planning took five months. We worked collaboratively with our partner destinations to coordinate the locations for the shoot.
When the creative and social media team behind @BarbieStyle traveled to Arizona to complete the photoshoots with our team, it was the first time Mattel partnered with a destination to promote travel.
We launched the partnership with a true-to-the-platform “flat lay” featuring Barbie’s suitcase and a doll-sized version of Visit Arizona’s Official State Travel Guide. The locations selected included both urban and rural destinations, and Barbie brought two of her friends (plus a pet) with her for the ultimate girls’ getaway. These locations highlighted a range of experiences available in Arizona and provided support to rural destinations that don’t always get the spotlight while Barbie’s friends showcased diversity and inclusion.
What were the results of this social media campaign?
There was an impressive 425,000 engagements and 4.9 million Instagram impressions. The campaign’s success attracted 6 TV segments and 40 articles resulting in $207,000 in publicity value. The media impression came in at 103,355,000. Plus, AOT realized 83% growth in its Instagram net follower count and 1,830% increase in sessions to their website from Instagram. That accounted 1,878% increase in new users to AOT’s website.
