Brands That Matter

2022

Brand & Creativity

EVP & Global Head of Barbie & Dolls at Mattel Lisa McKnight speaks to USC students. This lecture focuses on Barbie as the first girl empowerment brand and chronicles its brilliant rise, devastating stumble, and celebrated comeback. Barbie’s transformation went through four segmentations – brand purpose, design-led innovation, cultural relevance, and executional excellence – which led Barbie to be the most inclusive doll brand in the world and to evolve from mass marketing to mass mattering.