Name: MPW Summit 2023: The Phenomenon that Is the Barbie Movie
Uploaded: 2023-10-11
Duration: 12 min 59 s
Description: Robbie Brenner, President, Mattel Films Lisa McKnight, Executive Vice President, and Chief Brand Officer, Mattel, Inc. Moderator: Michal Lev-Ram, FORTUNE

Robbie Brenner, President, Mattel Films Lisa McKnight, Executive Vice President, and Chief Brand Officer, Mattel, Inc. Moderator: Michal Lev-Ram, FORTUNE

MPW Summit 2023: The Phenomenon that Is the Barbie Movie 

Conferences

OK. I'm going to channel my inner reporter Barbie. Um Why is this movie so amazing? Well, first of all, Greta Gerwig is truly just a force of nature. She's an incredible filmmaker with a authentic and original voice. And I think that was sort of the key in unlocking this incredible story was hiring somebody that was so singular and so bold in her vision, but also had such a personal connection with Barbie and a love for Barbie. OK. And we'll get more into just the creative risk that the company took here. But I'm curious to hear your, your sense from a brand perspective. Also, why did this need to be not just a box office hit, hopefully, but also a really cultural moment, a phenomenon like we said, well, as we like to say, you know, Barbie is more than a doll. She, she's a pop culture icon. She has stood the test of time. She's gonna be 65 next year. She looks pretty good. Um But so we knew that we had not only an opportunity to reach a really broad audience, but again, to tell a sophisticated story, a story that provoked conversation and a story that we had hoped would become a cultural phenomenon. And that's what we set out to do from the beginning. This is not a giant toy commercial. We wanted to create impact in society. And again, thanks to my partner Robbie, who's a genius filmmaker and of course, the amazing Greta and Margot. Robbie and the folks at Warner Brothers, they helped shepherd us on this journey and we couldn't be more thrilled by the way, we have a ARP here. So since Barbie's turning, I know there, maybe there's some synergy. So i it's, it's such a moment in time. It captured so much and it also means different things to different people. And so I'm curious to hear, you know, and, and by the way, there are also people who took it as a man hating uh you know, statement. Um But I'm, I'm curious, I think those are just people who found out that the patriarchy is not about horses and they're upset about it and that's what happened there um Clearly, but I'm curious what it means to the two of you or what you, what you hope the message is. I mean, I think for me, you know, just to see a movie that is about messiness, it's like life is messy, it's things are not perfect. We are not perfect. We have such expectations, especially as women to live up to, to be Lisa and I were just talking upstairs in the green room about how, you know, we have these zooms that, you know, very early in the morning and we're trying to get our kids out the door. And so I think we just, we all have, you know, such expectations and demands. And so I think the idea that you, that life is just perfectly imperfect, like just go with the messiness, go with the grayness, like it's ok to cry, it's ok just to be you, Ken is Ken. Barbie is Barbie. You know, we all sort of find our own journey and it's ok just to be messy. I couldn't agree more. Um And again, I think, you know, as I as a brand leader, I've done a lot of work to evolve Barbie. But what I loved about the film was, it was the ultimate evolution of Barbie because she chose to be human at the end, she chose to choose Messi over perfection living in perfect Barbie land. I also loved the takeaway at the very end where, you know, it's not about Barbie land, it's not about kom, it's about, you know, coexisting and finding that balance and that harmony and appreciation for everybody. It was a story about humanity and, and Lisa, I wanna ask you more about kind of the, the evolution of Barbie. You were a big part of the diversification, the expansion. Um It's, it's, it's really an amazing process. Um who Barbie is today. She comes in more than 175 body shaped skin tones, hairstyles abilities. I it's not just your stereotypical Barbie who was amazing in the movie, of course. But, um, but talk a little bit about how, how that evolution, I mean, did that sort of pave the path to this movie being a reality? I think. So. Um, you know, candidly, we've been dreaming about a film, a feature film, um, for decades and, um, you know, we were not ready for it until more recently, we had a lot of work to do to modernize, to evolve the brand, to build a better foundation to make the brand more reflective of the world that kids see around them to um also reinforce the true purpose behind Barbie, which we hadn't done about, you know, 67 years ago to lean into female empowerment, why she matters what she enables. And we elevated Barbie again beyond a doll to an idea. Um And, and that I think is what intrigued Margot. Robbie and Greta um to work with us. They, they saw that evolution and they were inspired and, and Robbie, can you talk a little bit more about um sort of what Greta Gerwig early vision was? I mean, what, what did she come to you with? Well, she, she loved the idea, she wanted to make this Barbie movie, but she really didn't know what it was going to be. And I remember flying to New York and sitting down with her and she said, I just have this idea. I see this Birkenstock and I see this high heel and somehow it's going to live in between the two of them. And I was like, ok, and, and she said, well, I don't know, I'll, I'll have to go figure that out, but trust me. And, uh, and so, you know, it's not very often that you go off to make a movie where you have really no idea what the movie is going to be about until it lands in your inbox, uh which it did. And of course, we were pleasantly surprised what does it mean to uh even prepare yourself to take such a creative risk. And I don't think, you know, we think of Mattel as clearly a lot of innovation in the company over many decades, but I don't think of, of, of a toy company as a big risk taker. So, so what was it in the culture or in your, your mission and your CEO S mission that really pushed you guys to make this to take this step? Well, um it, it's crazy but, you know, I started at Mattel five years ago and Enon cries, my boss, who's the CEO of Mattel started two months before I did and his um mission was to sort of unlock the IP there never had been any movies made. So that's pretty crazy. Um So when he, I think when he approached me when he co you know, when he came to hire me, um I, I, you know, just based on the type of movies that I've made in the past, he knew that I was going to be focused on really telling stories. It was not about selling toys, it was about telling the best stories with the best filmmakers, with the best actors, with the best writers. And that will drive toy sales. There's so much, you know, accessible and available in the world in terms of content. If you're not making something that feels out of the box and different and, and sticky, then you have no business making content. And so, you know, we sort of set on this mission together to um to tell these stories in an authentic, you know, way that was gonna be provocative and inspiring and, and all of that and, and that is sort of what our dream was for Barbie and, and, you know, we, we, we hit the bull's eye on that one not to say that the rest are gonna be easy. They're each gonna have their own challenges. But um I think we're very proud of at our approach and um we're, I think we're gonna make, you know, wonderful movies moving forward. Um And I want to go to you all for questions in just a second. So please be thinking of them. Um But, but on that note, you do have this really ambitious slate of movies. Um, you know, Barbie, yes. The, the attachment and sort of the associations that we have with. Barbie is nuanced and complex and, and has been there for decades, but I don't get the sense. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just me but that people have that same level of, of, you know, complex relationships with like hot Wheels or, you know, some of the other toy lines. How do you approach? I mean, do all of the Mattel movies need to like, strike this chord with, you know, with, with, with everybody and how, how do you, you've also said the bar is so high. So how are you looking at the next, the next few ones? Well, I'll speak quickly about fandom and then you absolutely should speak to the, the film strategy. But the, the Phantom for our brands is actually quite deep. Um Hot Wheels. Uh We just had a huge um collector convention and uh we've got a lot of die hards that are making life size Hot Wheels. Um It inspired actually a, a show on NBC. Um The fandom is real. People are, you know, connected emotionally to our brands, which is a really great jumping off point that said, I think we can all agree that, you know, Barbie is wildly unique. Uh She's a, she's a cultural flashpoint. The fact that the fashion trend around the color pink that took off on the runways 18 months ago really peaked last summer is called Barbie Core and not Pink Core is incredible. So there is something about Barbie that certainly transcends, but Robbie's got a million brilliant ideas across the board for all of our brands. Well, thank you. You know, as I said before, I think we're approaching all of the brands in sort of different ways. We're trying to sort of look at each brand holistically and just say what is, who is the best person? What is the best idea for Magic Eight Ball? You know, you think about Magic Eight Ball and you think I have very deep connection to that. Really? Me too. I ask you questions every day. Um um but the idea is, you know, you think that that would be like a great thriller, you know, you know, you would ask you questions and these things happen and come true or with Hot Wheels. I mean, we, we've teamed up with JJ Abrams and, and so many of our other brands Polly Pocket we're doing with Lena Dunham and Lily Collins and Rockem soccer robots with Vin Diesel. So, I mean, the list of goes on of just, you know, incredible talent and I think that people ultimately, you know, love, have nostalgia, their childhood and for the toys that they played with. And uh I think we live in a complex world and it's just so much fun to play and with all these toys and play in this universe and create great questions for Robbie and Lisa. We've got one over here bringing a microphone over to you. Hi, Laura Sam of Instacart. I'm curious about the creative process and approvals and what the balance was between the director and the company. Robbie. It was, it was very involved. Um uh There was an army behind this, this project. Um Again, I would say everything started though, as Robbie said, from a place of trust, you know, we, we knew we were getting pushed, but we also knew we were in good hands. Um Robbie was a great consigliore, you know, in a lot of instances when we're like, oh, why are we putting this out there? Remind me. Um But again, you know, no risk, no reward. So, um we, we had a lot of good counsel. Um but there was an army of people behind um every aspect of the marketing activation around the movie. And again, great partners with Warner Brothers, the filmmakers, the marketing team. But um we are a detail oriented group and we really did need to pressure test everything and we played out scenarios that something felt too risky. But 95% of the time we said, let's go for it. I mean, I think I just, you know, to dovetail to her point, I, I think that, you know, from coming from the film side of things, I, you know, we, we definitely held hands and just sort of said, OK, we're in this together. Trust, trust me. I know you've never made any movies before but you test them, people watch them if things feel too risky or too far and we're going to take them out, we're going to massage it. We're going to work the film. But I think, you know, the idea, you know, and this is something we talked about a lot is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and, and really, I just said, listen, you're going to white knuckle it the whole time and just get used to it. It's going to be fun. And that's kind of what we did. And I think, you know, when you take those big swings, that's when life rewards you. Um, thank you too so much. Uh, we II, I think, you know, I probably speak for, well, actually how many of you have watched the movie? Yeah. Ok. So I see, I think I probably speak for all of us. But, um, we thank you for brightening our summers. Really? Thank you. Thank you.