The Brief

Phew. This is the story about how in the summer of 2023, I stopped thinking in words and started thinking in shades of pink.

The brief was to launch Barbie in the UK. But not like a film. Like a massive fuck-off cultural event.

It had to be fun, of course. But also elegant. Huge, but tasteful. Nostalgic without being twee. Feminine without being infantilising. And somehow legible while moving past you at 30 miles an hour on the side of a bus.

The goal was to create OOH moments in London that would ripple out across the world. Billboards that became Instagram backdrops. Teasers that broke Twitter. Ads that passed the screenshot test with flying (pink) colours.

And I—account manager, strategist, overthinker of font weights—was there from briefing to final placement. Not just herding the campaign, but helping shape its tone, visual logic, and cultural presence.

The Work (aka how to turn a city into a dreamhouse)

Barbie Buses

I worked on the bus wrap concept from its earliest sketch to final execution. I wanted the buses to feel like Barbie packaging come to life. So I researched vintage Barbie toy boxes, studying layout, trims, and colour ratios. That’s where the grey trim came from, a subtle but vital nod to classic box design. You probably didn’t notice it. But your inner seven-year-old did.

We had to make it work with TfL restrictions: safe zones for text, image placements across double-decker windows, legal line legibility—while still delivering a high-impact visual that stopped people mid-scroll and mid-street. Every bus looked like a rolling, life-size toy.

Taxi Takeovers

Our Barbie taxi’s became icons of the campaign. Again, working from initial brief and design concepts with a team of brilliant designers, I developed the creative, built and reviewed paper mock-ups of the wraps to get early approvals and ensure every star, logo, and cast face aligned properly across panels. These cars were moving conversation starters, turning every corner of central London into a photo op. I chased those poor cabbies one too many times. July 2023 was a different time, okay.

The 96-Sheet Teaser

Perhaps the most deceptively simple piece of the campaign. A giant pink poster. No tagline. No image. Just a date in Barbie font, in Barbie pink.

That was it.

It looked effortless, but behind it were multiple teaser routes, dozens of approval rounds, heated internal debates about font placement and size. We tried clever headlines, visual gags, minimal copy. In the end, it was all stripped back. Barbie doesn’t need to say much, she just shows up.

And so did this ad.

The result was endless Screenshots, TikToks, tweets, news articles and awards. It went crazy viral.

The result

It worked. God, it worked.

Barbie turned London into her playground.

This was one of the most visible UK campaigns of the year. It turned London into Barbie’s playground: pink buses in Oxford Circus, taxis outside Parliament, and a West End premiere that looked like a fever dream in fuchsia.

Awards followed (for Warner and the agency), but what mattered most was the cultural imprint. These were assets people didn’t just see—they photographed them, shared them, dressed to match them. It wasn’t a campaign. It was an era.

The campaign's pink billboards, displaying only the release date, became viral sensations, demonstrating the power of simplicity in advertising. As reported by Mediabridge Global, the "pinkification" of London's transport and landmarks created a real-life "Barbie World," blurring the lines between fiction and reality.

This was one of the most visible UK campaigns of the year. It turned London into Barbie’s playground, pink buses in Oxford Circus, taxis outside Parliament, and a Leicester Square premiere that looked like a fever dream in fuchsia.

Awards followed for Warner, but what mattered most was the cultural imprint. These were assets people saw, photographed, shared, then dressed up to match them. It wasn’t a campaign. Summer 2023 was a Barbie era.

The OOH campaign went viral and people spotted the ads like rare birds. London became part of it, and OOH hasn’t looked the same since.

This was proof that when you know your brand, back your aesthetic, and lead with bold, original thinking, you don’t need a headline to make a headline.

That’s the kind of work I want to do more of. Brave, beautifully simple, culturally undeniable.

This campaign reminded me that copywriting isn’t just about a headline; it starts with a strong brand point of view.

This project was a masterclass brand voice. I didn’t write many lines, but I helped build the world they lived in. I worked on the ideas that shaped the tone. I held the line on brand voice when the pressure was on to play it safe. I helped turn a colour into a campaign. That takes strategy, taste, and storytelling, core to everything I do as a writer.

It was a brand voice with its hair brushed, heels on, and something to say.

Barbie taught me that boldness isn’t loud—it’s clear.

That originality doesn’t beg for attention. It owns it.

That when you know exactly who you are, people stop and look.

This was the pink, blurry, blistering summer of my life. And I’d do it again in bright pink heels a heartbeat.