Good news for Barbie & Ken fans! One of America’s favorite couples have reunited through social media just in time for Valentine’s Day. 
Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy company, launched a digital marketing campaign around the reuniting of Barbie and Ken. If you’re not a teenage girl or a Barbie fan, word is that Barbie and Ken had a controversial split on Valentine’s Day in 2004. With help from the social universe, Ken was hoping to reunite with Barbie in time for Valentine’s Day.
The marketing campaign, which marks the Ken doll’s 50th anniversary, was heavily focused on social media using fictional accounts for Barbie and Ken. The campaign utilized Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare to spread Mattel’s message. In addition, Ken also fictionally purchased a billboard to woo over Barbie. In an attempt to tie together the social media messages online and off, Mattel purchased billboards in New York and Los Angeles featuring a photo of Ken saying “Barbie, you’re the only doll for me”. Fans were able to vote on barbieandken.com on whether Barbie should take him back.
It all started with Ken finding Barbie on Match.com. Check out Mattel’s video that launched the campaign. I love a clever social media marketing campaign.
Here’s a combination video to tell the story of how Barbie and Ken reunited. Nice work, Mattel.
