The Barbie movement to change perceptions of benefit of the brand to society, moms and girls launched today with the brand video above. Using hidden cameras we captured real reactions to girls imagining everything they might one day become and how those dreams are played out with Barbie. With over six million views in under a week, we've got people talking. Congrats to the Barbie team! Such a proud moment! And so much more to come!!!
@BarbieStyle reaches 1MM followers!
@BarbieStyle has surpassed all expectations with an engagement level and follower count that outshines major fashion labels, world-class brands and many celebrities. The accolades for the channel's narrative, careful curation and creative execution started with its inception just over a year ago with headlines like "Barbie is Officially the Most Stylish Blogger on Instagram" and "Barbie Has a Style Instagram Now and it's Probably Cooler than Yours". The feed continues to be noted as a 'follow now' account and was most recently called out by WWD as one to watch. Yesterday Barbie thanked her fans and followers with an ad-hoc post from her hotel room in Milan where she is currently on-location documenting her Fashion Month journey.
Congrats to the amazing team behind the channel - such passion, dedication and creativity!
The Barbie Gallery Gets a Makeover
Congratulations Team Barbie on the newly renovated Barbie gallery. Hats off to Mark, the MARCOM mastermind behind the renovation. Absolutely stunning!! Not only is the space fresh, modern, and amazing, so is the 2016 product line.
Hello, Barbie
Once again, Barbie is breaking plastic ceilings and igniting conversations including – RECOGNIZE! – the cover of The New York Times Style magazine. Hello Barbie is the hotly anticipated, first fashion doll with speech recognition technology. It's been no easy road as perceived threats to privacy can cause an uproar. While we all may bear the brunt of such uproar, no one said the road to evolution and progress was an easy one. Here's to continued conversations. To learrn more about Hello Barbie and to watch the video we made, click here.
Jeremy Scott, The People's Designer
Last night we got to check out the premier of the Jeremy Scott documentary, The People's Designer. What an amazing story, coming from nothing in Kansas City, Missouri, to be the chief designer of Moschino and his own line, redesign of the MTV VMA famed moonman, dressing countless celebrities, and becoming a celebrity himself. From the middle of the country to New York, Paris and Milan, Jeremy Scott is bursting with creativity, with his own take on pop culture, looking for the fun and play everywhere - including the runway.
#missadventure
Ah! I love these missadventure videos starring Anna Kendrick and her pup, Milos! The collection of short films are a celebration of adventure, spontaneity and thought-provoking women. I particularly love this one that casts away the summer heat with it's unabashed winter palette of green and red. I can feel the upcoming cozy months already! Plus the swoon-worthy fashion and shopping possibilities. Directed by Mari Heller, the latest installment of this series, The Best Company, that takes place at New York's Russian Tea Room - which has a long history of famed lunches and run-ins, including the featured icon, Gloria Steinem. For more guests, check out in the diagram below.
DIRECTOR: Marielle Heller, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ross Richardson, WRITER: Katherine Bernard, WARDROBE: Stacey Cunningham, PRODCUTION COMPANY: Caviar, EDITORIAL: Whitehouse Post, COLORIST: Adrian Seery, MCP NY, SCORE: Vince Nudo
For earlier installments, check out the two videos below:
The second installment: The Great Escape takes place at Sunset Towers in Los Angeles, co-starring Lily Tomlin.
DIRECTOR: Michael Mohan, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ross Richardson, WRITER: Katherine Bernard, WARDROBE: Stacey Cunningham, PRODUCTION: HeLo, EDITORIAL: Whitehouse Post, COLORIST: Adian, Seery, MCP NY, SCORE: Future Perfect & Freres Lumieres
The first installment: The Waiting Game takes place on a festive stoop in NYC, with a special appearance by fashion icon, Iris Apfel
DIRECTOR: Michael Mohan, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Sam Levy, STYLIST: Brad Goreski, COLOR: Box Motion, SCORE: Future Perfect,
IT'S TANK DAY!!
A mermaid shoot means TANK DAY!! Saving the most extravagant for the last of the Barbie shoot days, it’s complicated, it’s trying to get her hair flowing in just the right way, but man is it fun watching it come together! Incredible day, Incredible crew!
Raise Your Glasses
We made it through - well, too much to list! Take that, Summer 2015! We all made it through – with a glass of Rose in hand to boot! Thank you, Kristina for an awesome night out and for a hilarious round of Guess The Lie or Truth, Truth, Lie. Yes, I almost spit out my water to one of Jeff's truths, I guess that's Nebraska farm boys for ya! Such a great night! Go, Barbie MARCOM!!
Barbie becomes a Vlogger
Congrats to the Barbie team on this huge milestone! Check out her first-ever vlog above! From an astronaut, to president, to CEO, to computer engineer and now, vlogger, Barbie continues to break plastic ceilings. As always, she keeps her fans buzzing, evolving to reflect today's generation. You go, Barbie!
Who is Barbie?
Using stop-motion animation, the 'Who is Barbie?' celebrates the launch of the latest Fashionistas line featuring 8 skin tones, 14 different facial sculpts, 20 hairstyles, 23 hair colors and 8 eye colors. It's debut garnered over 970MM+ media impressions! Keep breaking boundaries, Barbie! Congrats to the Barbie MARCOM team! Such a fun shoot! Check out behind the scenes of the 10 day shoot below - little know fact, it takes one day to shoot 5 seconds of stop motion animation - crazy! Thanks to the amazing team that helped create this video!
DIRECTOR: Brumby Boylston, ANIMATION: David Braun and Micah Cordy, Open The Portal, PRODUCTION COMPANY: Brand New School
50 Years of David Bowie's Hairstyles in a Single Gif
To celebrate his 68th birthday last week, illustrator Helen Green created an animated gif of every one of David Bowie’s hairstyles from 1964-2014. Check out her amazing collection of illustrations on Instagram or purchase her work from Society6.
Barbie Gets the Designer Treatment
Photographed by Giampaolo Sgura with fashion editor Claire Dhelens & Célia Azoulay for Paris Vogue, this editorial is pretty much one of the cleverest concepts ever, with a respectful nod to our gal, Barbie. Set designer Vincent Olivieri called upon Paris-based set design and props styling workshop Neochrome, owned by husband and wife duo Nicolas and Samantha Lanteri, to build the sets for each of these luxury brands’ iconic looks.
#TBT Barbie I Can Be Launch Video
I stumbled upon this behind the scenes video for the launch of the Barbie I Can Be brand spot - my first video shoot. What an amazing experience, with several locations, plus a horse and several puppies – so incredible! As for Barbie and her message here four years ago, it's not so different from her message today – after 150 careers, Barbie continues to inspire and encourage the next generation of girls that anything is possible.
Meet the Warhol of Instagram
Meet Donald "Drawbertson" Robertson, a father of five, one of the original founders of MAC cosmetics who launched VivaGlam (which has raised more than $260 million globally for the fight against AIDS), an Estée Lauder exec and head of Creative Development at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. However, what is truly special about Donald is what he’s been creating on his personal time. For years he has been delighting everyone around him with his whimsical, humorous, fun, lighthearted, fashionable, chic, colorful, freehand artworks. He creates clever caricatures using simple materials like brown paper, bright gouache paints, and an unlimited supply of designer duct tape.
Robertson has become to Instagram what Bill Cunningham is to The New York Times Sunday Styles. Others refer to him as the Warhol of Instagram. Whatever you call him, Donald Roberston’s artworks are sheer eye candy, and exemplify whimsy, happiness and unexpected delight, something we call all aim for in our portfolio of brands. Moreover, his passion to push his creativity outside his work hours is something we can individually aspire to as well. His once passion project can be seen at Colette, on Smashbox packaging and in the Lisa Perry Fall 2014 runway show.
Follow him on Instagram.
Purchase his work on Trendabl.
Read more about him and his work here:
http://www.refinery29.com/2014/07/70855/donald-drawbertson-art#slide
Lisa Perry Runway - Donald Robertson Instagram - ELLE DECOR
Meet Donald “Drawbertson” Robertson! | Vanity Fair
Lego Presents #KeepBuilding
Like GoldieBlocks, Lego wants highlight their point of differentation for girls, rather than getting lost in the aisles of pink, they want her to inspire her imagination and smarts to #KeepBuilding.
For extra credit, check out this cool article from Fast Company about Lego.
MARCOM Holiday Wish List
Well, it's nearly that time of year again and I know you must be racking your brain...what should I give MARCOM this year? Funny you should ask, I have JUST the suggestion: merely a modest, block-long, eight-story, illuminated billboard in Times Square. We can get over the fact that Google will be the first to occupy the 2.5M space that spans the length of a football field. Their ad runs from Nov 24 until early 2015, any takers for a Q2 run? We promise, we've been good all year! Click here for shopping details. Thanks for the link, Ryan!
Mixed Media Monday
Delicioso, people. Delicioso. Louis Vuitton gets crafty with this accessories spot by Quentin Jones. Quentin Jones has used her unique style on brands from LV, to Kenzo, to HOGAN, even Miley Cyrus. Her stop motion style gives the spots energy, personality and whimsy easily showcasing multiple fashions...maybe even Fashionistas...
Extra Credit Links:
o on a studio visit with Quentin Jones courtesy of HOGAN.
Plus some work she created for Smythson, using her signature style on a heritage brand.
Above All Else, Authenticity
This week some MARCOM team members and I attended the Mattel Women's Conference. This year's theme was Authenticity. We were treated to some powerful speakers including Gina Amaro Rudan about harnessing your Practical Genius and our own Chief Brands Officer, Richard Dickson, who spoke on authentic brands. Since I'm unable to share those videos here, I decided to take some liberties and let one of my personal heroes, Dave Grohl, do the talking.
The above video is Dave Grohl's 2013 SXSW keynote speech, where he shared his take on authenticity and the power in finding your voice. Reason to watch: aside from being a rock hero, he was raised by a former DC political speechwriter and a former public speaking teacher, so he delivers a damn good speech - using humor, heartbreak, storytelling, and continuous threads. He shares the definitive moments in his life, told in vividly crisp detail, that led him to find his voice. Finding his voice placed him on his creative journey, his success since that moment is a reflection of his continued efforts to harness and nurture that voice. The video has been seen 626,558 times. I'm not gonna lie, of good number of those views were me.
Business as Usual on 10
Kyle, Eric and Roman have a mid-week blast while prepping for a BoomCo photoshoot. With guys like these, who needs to hire talent?
Zanadu Meets Barbie Meets Fifth Harmony
Check out the latest Barbie music video featuring pop sensation Fifth Harmony singing the brand anthem, Anything is Possible! The video is accompanied by the release of the Fifth Harmony Dolls now available at Justice. The launch made news in People Magazine, Just Jared, Perez Hilton, and Entertainment Tonight.
Congrats to the Barbie team on the Herculean efforts balancing cool graphics, a gaggle of girls, 5 pop stars and oh yeah, the brand benefit too! Barbie, she isn't for the faint of heart. You gotta want it. Whoa Oh Oh Oh!