3 Lessons Brand Can Learn from the ‘Barbenheimer’ Phenomenon

There are many reasons why #barbenheimer exploded over the internet and conversations happen wherever we go, mostly due to having two most anticipated premiering on the same day, doubling the excitement of consumers.

But the question we will address here is what can brands learn from this?

1. Competition can create more demands

Usually, it would be sensible for movie studios to spread their release dates out to avoid the cannibalisation of box office numbers and ensure that the movie can capture the available market as much as it can.

But in this case, Barbie and Oppenheimer insisted on releasing on the same day, and that exploded the internet and box office. Why?

Because we love competition

This has been happening since the old age, when two warriors fought against each other to entertain the crowd. Now we see Messi vs Ronaldo in soccer/football, MacDonald's vs KFC in the fast-food industry and Apple vs Microsoft in the tech industry. The two giants collide with each other, giving us an entertaining show to watch as the two bring out their best.

This demands both parties to push themselves even further to keep up with each other. They need to bring their top strategy and tactics, while the audience, or the judges, sit back and be entertained.

It helps frame a new question for customers

A big contest, also comes a big buzz. Instead of asking ourselves, 'should I go to the cinema?', most people will now ask 'which one should I see first? Barbie or Oppenheimer? So I know which one really is better and talk to others about it.'

This consequently created more demand for both sides which we will dive deeper into in the second point.

Nonetheless, for this to work, both need to be perceived to be at the same level and not one dominating the other, or that wouldn't really be a competition.

Spatial Competition

In addition, there is a reason why most fast food stores, supermarkets, gas stations or any other types of similar stores usually locate clustered around each other, because they know that they can capture all the demands in the local area by being close to one another. Not only could they capture all the customers around their radius, they could also help to steal some from their next-door neighbour as customers enter the area.

You can see from the picture above that in the two scenarios on the left, both brands will share the same portion of customers without cannibalising each other much. The top right scenario shows when brand A has taken more customers in the area from brand B. However, the scenario in the bottom right shows when both stores or brands are located right next to each other, not only ensuring an even split of the market but also exposing themselves to opportunities to steal from one another. You win some, you lose some.

Circling back to the context, customers will only need to walk to the cinema next door to watch the other movie after they have seen the first one (if they're up for a challenge to do both on the same day).

It's about the ease of purchase in location and time.

Because of the ease of cross-purchase and the hype that the internet has built, we can assume that some Barbie's and Christopher Nolan's (director of Oppenheimer) fans and other general movie fans would end up watching both movies just to be a part of the trend, therefore creating more demands for both, and this leads us to the next point.

2. Brand doesn’t own customers

The 'assumption' that brand owns a certain share of customers was revealed to be flawed by Professor Byron Sharp and the Ehrenburgbass Institute in How Brands Grow.?

In the book, the 'duplication of purchase law' states that

"a brand's customer base overlaps with the customer base of other brands, in line with their market share..."

In fact, you can see in the table below how all the toothpaste customers switch around between brands. Smaller brands lose more customers because the number of switchers/light buyers represents a bigger percentage of their market share (known as the double jeopardy law from the book).

Coming back to our scenario, the internet has shown us that it's not about watching just Barbie or Oppenheimer, it's about #barbenheimer as the majority of the cinema visitors would probably end up watching both.

3. The Power of Differentiation and Distinctiveness?

The other reason why these two blockbusters have the world shaken is because they're both distinctively different, This is another reason why they won't cannibalise each other as they both have clear and different and brand promises.

If you walk into the cinema during the premier period, you will see families and children with a bit (or lots) of pink on them, therefore, giving you a hint of which movie they're going to watch.

On the other hand, you may also see adults with normal or dark clothing with no shade of pink, you could also guess which one of the two they came here for.

A brand needs both differentiation and distinctiveness to earn its share within the customer's mind because these two would complement each other, to send a message to the both hemispheres of our brain.

Differentiation is how brand differentiates itself from the other

To differentiate itself, the brand needs to be clear on who they're targeting and what it stands for (positioning). This is mostly to communicate to our logical brain, our left and slow-thinking brain (from the book Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman).

Distinctiveness is how brand is able to be recognised and look like itself

It's about using brand codes/distinctive assets that are high in fame (are customers aware of what it is) and uniqueness (are customers able to associate it uniquely with the brand). This is to communicate to our emotional brain, our right and fast-thinking brain.

The more and faster the brand comes to mind during the purchase decision, the more likely it's to be bought, known as mental availability (introduced by the Ehrenburg-bass Institute).

In fact, both Barbie and Oppenheimer will help each other earn more at the box office because, while they both exist in the same category, they both give us distinctively different brand promises, becoming a treat for moviegoers to experience both.

What’s Next?

The Power of Advertising and Share of Voice

With cool advertising popping up around the globe, Barbie is rumoured to spend up to $100 million in marketing and advertising.

Speaking of advertising spend, we also need to talk about 'Share of Voice', a metric measuring brand's advertising spend relative to its competitor in the same category, which is found to have a strong correlation to its market share.

As brand grows by acquiring more customers, initially through reaching customers, the more it spends, the more it's able to reach customers, and the more it's able to grow.

On the other hand, Oppenheimer's advertising budget is yet to be revealed but we can almost be certain that it will not be as high as Barbie's. Does this mean that Barbie will attract more customers? Or would Oppenheimer end up piggybacking its rival and winning the race in the end?

Horizontal vs Vertical Growth

There are two approaches to business growth and profits.

1. Horizontal growth focuses more on driving volume to make up for the tight margin.
2. Vertical growth focuses more on increasing margins at the loss of volume.

When diving deeper, Barbie and Oppenheimer are actually in different businesses. Barbie is in the business of selling dolls and toys, while Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan are in the movie business.

Barbie could afford to spend more to reduce its margin (horizontal growth) because its primary goal is not just about selling movie tickets. It's about revitalising and introducing Barbie to its existing and new customers.

The graph from Google Trend below indicates a significant increase in search and interest in Barbie movie, which presumably as a result, also increases and build more mental availability for the Barbie brand and its dolls. And this is where the franchise can also make their money back.

Other the other hand, Oppenheimer isn't likely going to make much money from selling toys, therefore, have to maintain their margin to cover the production budget and make some profits.

A Battle with No Loser

In summary, regardless of who is able to attract more share of the pocket in the end, it's a battle that neither Barbie nor Oppenheimer will lose as they're both projected to smash their goals and possibly the box office's records.

Indeed, brand should not be shy from competition because it only demands them to improve their game to stay in the race. And as we have seen in the Barbenheimer phenomenon, most customers would indulge in both products, especially when they're both really good.