evm_september-2023 - 34

Think Pink
A NEW KIND OF PRESS JUNKET
The " Barbie " premiere event tour launched with an immersive press
junket on June 24 that transformed the 14th floor of the Four Seasons
Hotel in Beverly Hills into a bona fide Barbie Dream Hotel. From the
moment members of the media stepped out of the elevator, they were
enveloped in a vivid branded environment that was a far cry from the
standard press event.
" Even though we were at our usual 'junket hotel,' we completely
changed the entire 14th floor, " says Wendy Robino, svp-marketing
events and regional publicity at Warner Bros. " When I say 'changed,' I
mean we laid pink carpet, we covered the walls with low-tack wallpaper,
all with the same aesthetic and PMS paint color that was done for the
[Los Angeles] premiere and the party... It was something that was just for
press, and the whole plan was to make everything feel extremely special
and tailored to this title. "
Following the junket in Beverly Hills, talent, media, influencers and
fans attended premieres in four other countries. But it was the largerthan-life
" pink-carpet " experience, screening and afterparty for 2,400
people at the Shrine in L.A.-Warner Bros.' biggest premiere event to
date-that took the cake.
" It was a whole storyline, starting off with that experiential press
junket, " says Robino. " The talent went to Australia, South Korea, Mexico
City and then they finally came to L.A., which was the first time the film
was shown to the public. And from there, they went to London. So it was
a global storyline with all of these events. "
Planning for the July 9 premiere in L.A. began four months out,
and like the overarching marketing campaign for the " Barbie " movie,
the experience was designed to position Mattel's Barbie brand as fresh
and inclusive while paying homage to the themes and aesthetic of the
Greta Gerwig-directed film. From soup to nuts, the affair was like Barbie
herself: high-energy, glamorous and very, very colorful.
Each segment of the event was meant to cohesively flow into the
next. It all kicked off on the branded pink carpet outside the Shrine,
where influencers were invited to grab content for two hours before
talent appeared, to help amplify the experience. And there were plenty of
touchpoints to capture-all expertly designed to mimic key scenes from
the movie, and peppered with Easter eggs.
PHOTO-WORTHY FABRICATION
" The biggest challenge we had was just pink, "
says Craig Waldman, president and chief
creative officer at 15|40 Productions
(lead partner on this leg of the experience).
" There are so many pinks
that were used within the film
that our paint department was
mixing and sending paints over
to the [Warner Bros.] team to
look through. It was a matter
of being able to use pink, but
being able to have different
tones and use of the same colors
where it made sense-so it was
pink at its finest. "
'Logistics Barbie' the devil's in the details
To get the scoop on the planning, strategy, challenges and thrills of producing the L.A. event program, we tapped the agency brain trust behind it all-Austin Johnston,
ceo and founder at AKJOHNSTON Group; Mirrored Media founder Justin Lefkovitch; and Craig Waldman, president and chief creative officer at 15|40 Productions-for
insights and anecdotes.
THE SCALE VS. INTIMACY BALANCING ACT WAS REAL.
One of the teams' unique challenges was building an event that had the scale
and magnitude of a blockbuster film premiere while simultaneously making the
experience feel intimate. The Shrine's capacity is 6,000, but only 2,400 people
attended the " Barbie " premiere, which required a delicate balancing act that would
ultimately impact the vibe of the entire experience.
INSIDER HELP ENABLED AUTHENTICITY.
The Warner Bros. event team and its partners received input from " Barbie's "
production designer, who offered tips and tricks on how to achieve certain looks
from the movie as the event's experience design strategy was being developed.
MATCHING MATERIALS WAS ESSENTIAL.
Every surface, material, color and pattern used within the event had to match the
movie's aesthetic, down to the doorknobs used for the afterparty's Dream House.
Mirrored Media even developed a reflective Plexiglass-like material to craft the
giant disco ball-because nothing of its kind already existed.
SPOILER ALERT: NO ONE LIKES SPOILERS.
There's nuance to crafting a premiere that teases the film but doesn't give it all
away, particularly during the red-carpet experience, before the movie has yet to
be screened. The strategy for " Barbie " included incorporating Easter eggs into the
arrivals line that attendees who had already seen the film would recognize, but
making the experience " approachable " and " press-worthy " for those who hadn't.
ACCESSIBILITY WAS NON-NEGOTIABLE.
Implementing an inclusive event strategy was not up for debate. Case in point:
Warner Bros. invited creators with a range of special accessibility needs to the
event and accommodated them with everything from assistive listening devices
34
EVENT MARKETER FALL 2023
used during the screening to ensuring that the carpet to the theater and afterparty
were easily accessible.
'EASY' CONCEPTS CAN BE THE HARDEST TO EXECUTE.
Warner Bros. gave each agency a specific set of scenes to " own. " In the case of
AKJOHNSTON, " disco party vibes and the cul-de-sac " was the directive. " It was
like, OK, that's pretty easy to work with, but the 'easiest'-to-work-with ideas are
actually the hardest because they can't look generic, either, " Johnston says.
EVERYONE WANTED IN ON THE FUN-PAYCHECK OR NOT.
Agency employees who weren't assigned to work on the premiere volunteered to
help out, simply to be part of the cultural movement. Johnston called the project a
" beacon for our internal staff, " while Lefkovitch says for the first time ever, his staff
rented a movie theater to watch " Barbie " as a team, and Waldman explains that
from accounting to production to art, employees from every department wanted to
participate in the project in some way.
THE EVENT FELT 'PERSONAL.'
Everyone who worked on the L.A. program reflected on the event's palpable energy,
including how delighted talent and other celebrities were to be in attendance, and
why the experience spoke to attendees in different ways.
" We've all been to a million movie premieres where there's talent and
creatives, and everyone's taking photos for the FOMO or to post something on
social, " says Lefkovitch. " But here, everyone was taking photos and sharing
because they were so excited and happy to be there. It was the vibe and the energy
in the space and that cultural moment where it was more [about] taking content for
themselves. People were dressed in pink because they wanted to be, as opposed
to because it was the cool thing to do and to post. It very much felt personal to
everyone. "
eventmarketer.com
IMAGE CREDIT: LINE 8 PHOTOGRAPHY

http://www.eventmarketer.com

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