of the United Kingdom’s capitol city.
Now, with the initial flood of Wicked discourse behind us, we can turn our attention to the most overlooked element of the film's cultural moment: the ALDO collaboration. Beyond its emerald sparkle and Broadway callbacks, this partnership captures something deeper about how we grow up, and how certain brands mark our transitions into adulthood.
Nostalgic mall shoppers like me often feel left out when fashion critics wax poetic about the revival of Abercrombie and Hot Topic. Still, they're missing the quiet cornerstone of countless coming-of-age moments: ALDO. Long before I understood workplace dress codes or navigated my first formal event, ALDO was my gateway to grown-up glamour—a first taste of sophistication that didn't break the bank.
While other mall brands spark endless think pieces about their renaissance, ALDO has quietly persisted, weathering retail's storms without the spotlight, despite being many of our first steps into 'real' shoes.
A Corner of Oz
I grew up in a small town, not unlike the Munchkinland in which Elphaba spent her childhood days surrounded by mountains, and told stories about the flower fairies that lived in the meadows.
Maybe that’s why Wicked spoke to me as a young woman going through those awkward teenage years. Reading about Elphaba’s struggles to fit in made me feel seen. The song ‘Defying Gravity’ made me feel understood when I discovered the musical.
I grew up playing with Barbies, too. My aunties, from a previous generation, had named a small patch of sand beside a creek the “Barbie Beach.” I spent many summers at my grandparents' house, taking my Barbies to that beach and playing with my little sister.
These are formative memories of my youth. Something in those viscerally-felt experiences before adulthood makes the toys, stories, and magical wonder that surrounds them stay with you despite decades passing.
This is the power of commerce, as our culture: emotional resonance.
At their best, brand collaborations spark an energizing and meaningful revenue and customer loyalty boost. At their worst, they are a costly and underwhelming mistake.
Painting the Horse a Different Color
Marketers influence culture. We intentionally agitate pain and frustration, then paint pictures of aspirational dreams coming true as a result of what someone chooses to buy. The housewife of the 1900s buying Campbell’s soup sought an easy lunch for her children that she could feel proud of.
When the extent of the marketer’s influence is illuminated, it can make people uncomfortable. Consider the feigned outrage of the public when Andy Warhol created silk screen images of those classic red and white cans, and called it art.
He provoked a reaction. That Campbell’s Soup Cans series too closely resembled the advertisements they’d become desensitized to, courtesy of agencies like Mad Men portrays. Warhol’s art asked, "is commerce what defines modern American culture?”
Campbell’s did not choose that artistic collaboration, but their sales benefitted. Without Warhol, there would not have been "…Manhattan socialites wearing soup can-printed dresses to high-society events."
For marketers who want to increase brand awareness and loyalty, collaborations open the doors to a cultural discourse that products alone cannot generate.
Your choice in co-marketing partners should consider the storytelling opportunities just as seriously as the products you’ll create––and not every brand achieves (or should achieve) access to big stories like Barbie or Wicked
Take ALDO, for example. ALDO’s 2023 collaboration with Barbie, compared to their 2024 Wicked collab, is a case study in seizing the right opportunity, but not every opportunity.
Building the Emerald City
My childhood self gazed up at the dazzling pink boxes in Target, longing for new Barbie dolls. Most of the magical wonder that filled me with such longing was simply marketing. I didn’t know what Barbie’s allure was, but I wanted to be a part of it.
As I grew older, Wicked appealed to me on a deeper level than Barbie’s flawless pink glamour could reach. Sure, I still wanted to look like her, with an endless wardrobe of fabulous clothes, but there was a truth to the story of Wicked that was more than marketing sparkle.
“Defying Gravity” formed me into a ride or die fan because of this message:
Something has changed within me; Something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.
Elphaba’s hero’s journey resonated with my own experience of transitioning from young girl to woman. When you consider a brand collaboration like Wicked, the world-building capacity that comes built-in to the products gives your marketing archetypes, conflict, and resolution. The copy nearly writes itself.
An inherent limitation of Barbie is her origin—a 1959 creation of Ruth Handler. In that era where American consumer behavior reached unprecedented commercialism, Andy Warhol’s 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans go hand-in-hand with a doll that started as commerce and became inseparable from feminine culture for decades. Though Warhol critiqued society, eventually society critiqued Barbie.
Then the Mattel studio developed animated movies like Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses (an iconic story, btw) and opened the door for Barbie to tap into deeper cultural conversations. This adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale gave Mattel emotional resonance the picture-perfect doll was missing.
Draw upon reverent themes of sisterhood and the critiques of Barbie’s perfectly symmetrical hourglass stereotype can overshadowed, at least temporarily.
In contrast, Wicked was mostly anonymous to the public, till the Broadway musical thrust Elphaba into the spotlight. Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers and the popularity of The Wizard of Oz likely catalyzed Gregory Maguire’s Wicked book, an intertwining of commerce and culture in itself.
The right brand collaboration can take on a life of its own. Dominating the cultural discourse, till something else piques our attention, and the cycle begins once more. Consider the Yeezy shoe line, or Louis Vuitton x Supreme collections—even if you don’t like streetwear, you probably know these products.
The storytelling within these collaborations is the special sauce of any marketing endeavor. Sure, you can have a big celebrity name endorse your product, but is that enough?
In the case of Kanye West x Adidas, it’s enough, till your celebrity of choice gets canceled.
When it comes to winning people’s loyalty, bringing the IYKYK aspirational allure, and motivating enough people to tell their friends enthusiastically about the collaboration, you need more than celebrity. Otherwise, it’s just one more product drop that will spark with a flash in the pan, then lose relevance next season. Especially when it comes to fashion.
A more resilient example comes from Shay Mitchell’s BÈIS. She’s built a travel brand with a clear ethos, that separates it from the plethora of celebrity endorsed products that flood the market. This ethos made real reached a pinnacle of brilliance with the “Text me when you land” collection launched in collaboration with Lonely Ghost.
The BÈIS x Lonely Ghost collection was successful in part because the designs were evergreen. Collectibles that were only offered in limited quantities, and could be treasured for years to come. A vintage-inspired travel aesthetic called back to a whimsical version of the past.
Emotional resonance was affirmed as they told a story around the people you text when your plane lands. It’s an innocuous phrase, and something perfectly meaningful for a travel company seeking its own story to tell besides the typical “choose your next adventure” messaging.
This is where ALDO caught my eye.
Speaking Ozian
The initial reaction to the Barbie movie's announcement was skepticism. Many people expected it to be a thinly veiled two-hour ad. While Barbie explored various angles on feminism and stereotypical Western beauty standards, the hero’s journey of Barbie emerging from her Eden-like Barbie Land is shallow and disjointed.
In comparison, there’s more substance to Wicked. For one, there’s the archetypal tension between good and evil, light and dark.
Or in ALDO’s case, to directly quote copywriting for their limited edition Wicked products, “pinkalicious glamityflair” and “styles so good they’re wicked”—in black and emerald green, of course.
That’s the brilliance of creating commerce around a story; it comes built-in with a secret language.
The ultimate if you know, you know, and if you don’t… Well, you’re just confused.
But trust me—if you want to look like “the most scandalocious little fish” at the party, you’re going shopping at ALDO for the perfect shoes, and you’ll find options for you and your whole crew. Even the Elphie in your group chat will have something to wear, which’ll look way better than that black hat. I’ll take Galinda’s dress for myself if anyone has the hookup.
This coded language is familiar to the fans and lays the groundwork for specific marketing copy that makes the products seamlessly fit into that world. ALDO demonstrates a genuine connection to Wicked—more than an opportunistic product drop just for the sake of doing it.
One Short Day
Story-based merch helps us keep the experience alive. Musical theater kids remember the days you couldn’t walk into a room without seeing one person wearing a Wicked tee. I haven’t gone a day since 2023 without seeing Taylor Swift Eras Tour merch.
Merch is a visual cue to reminisce on something meaningful––for my brother and I, it’s the first time we heard Idina Menzel sing “Defying Gravity” or our first viewing of the movie just weeks ago with our besties. The products born out of a brand collab matter as much as the storytelling utilized to sell them, but not every story-based product needs to be timeless.
Exclusive, limited-edition collaborations iterate the desire to feel connected to the story for the first time again.
Superfans will appreciate how the shoes ALDO designed for the Wicked collab range from timeless with a playful twist, to flashy statement pieces that may end up displayed on a shelf, part of a sentimental collection that’s kept, but not worn anymore.
Barbie missed this opportunity. Just one more pair of pink shoes with a touch of Barbie flair might get relegated to the Halloween costume portion of a woman’s closet. The Barbie brand is a limited aesthetic, confined to pinks, trendy items, and feminine flair.
Something Wicked This Way Gifts
Gift-giving is a foolproof referral process––new customers embark on a frictionless journey to brand discovery through the trusted taste of a friend. More customer journeys begin during Christmas than at any other time of year.
My brother is notoriously particular and impossible to shop for. His taste leans luxe, and his brand preferences are often non-negotiables. I’ve nearly given up on shopping for him more Christmas seasons than I care to admit.
Enter the Wicked Men’s collection. I have two loafer options, and knowing he doesn’t love sparkle the way I do, I go for a suave velvet style featuring a subtle Oz embellishment in gold.
It is the perfect gift, resulting from shared passions and great products. And a slay moment, no doubt.
Dancing Through Life
Playful copywriting is one of my favorite marketing levers. I’ve appreciated the power of playfulness since Chubbies and Birddogs case studies sparked marketer discourse around “bland” versus “branded” copywriting.
On-brand humor is the simple act of deeply understanding your customers and mirroring their lore back to them (IYKYK). There’s no explanation needed, no wink or “lol” tagged at the end of an advertisement, when you’re fluent in your customers' language.
ALDO did this with a brilliant UGC play towards the bottom of the Wicked collection page. As your starting reference point, the evergreen subheading for this UGC section reads “You Look Great In Our Shoes.”
When you add a Wicked touch, the subhead becomes “You’re Gonna Be Popular.” And the girls that get it, get it.
Another marketing win: the copy still resonates with the people who don’t know the insider language.
Not Quite Popular
Alternatively, ALDO’s Barbie collection harnessed the one-trick “Barbie Girl” aesthetic, where “life in plastic, it’s fantastic” becomes the rallying cry.
Most of the product positioning of Barbie products read like a list of TikTok search terms––it was all Y2K and pink glam. It pushed a one-dimensional aesthetic onto a multi-dimensional audience.
Compared to Wicked’s depth and seemingly unlimited product application (can’t everyone connect with that feeling of carrying the contrast of both good and evil within us?), Barbie-fied merchandise tends to fall flat.
For Good
When brands take time to connect to the collaboration’s lore and learn the language of their customers, collabs resonate more deeply (and dodge the money-grab accusations).
ALDO took the time to pay attention to the details and make it Wicked, and as a result, their products feel like a true extension of the story's world.
—---
Gabrielle Pitman directs client strategy for her agency, ebusiness pros, and is proud to represent Klaviyo as a Community Champion since 2023. In addition to guiding brands with multi-channel retention marketing strategies, Gabrielle advises eCommerce software companies and teaches workshops.
She loves nerding out over list segmentation and designing marketing automation systems to improve the customer's experience, growing DTC and CPG brands. You can find her drinking a triple shot latte at contemporary art galleries in her spare time.
Now, with the initial flood of Wicked discourse behind us, we can turn our attention to the most overlooked element of the film's cultural moment: the ALDO collaboration. Beyond its emerald sparkle and Broadway callbacks, this partnership captures something deeper about how we grow up, and how certain brands mark our transitions into adulthood.
Nostalgic mall shoppers like me often feel left out when fashion critics wax poetic about the revival of Abercrombie and Hot Topic. Still, they're missing the quiet cornerstone of countless coming-of-age moments: ALDO. Long before I understood workplace dress codes or navigated my first formal event, ALDO was my gateway to grown-up glamour—a first taste of sophistication that didn't break the bank.
While other mall brands spark endless think pieces about their renaissance, ALDO has quietly persisted, weathering retail's storms without the spotlight, despite being many of our first steps into 'real' shoes.
A Corner of Oz
I grew up in a small town, not unlike the Munchkinland in which Elphaba spent her childhood days surrounded by mountains, and told stories about the flower fairies that lived in the meadows.
Maybe that’s why Wicked spoke to me as a young woman going through those awkward teenage years. Reading about Elphaba’s struggles to fit in made me feel seen. The song ‘Defying Gravity’ made me feel understood when I discovered the musical.
I grew up playing with Barbies, too. My aunties, from a previous generation, had named a small patch of sand beside a creek the “Barbie Beach.” I spent many summers at my grandparents' house, taking my Barbies to that beach and playing with my little sister.
These are formative memories of my youth. Something in those viscerally-felt experiences before adulthood makes the toys, stories, and magical wonder that surrounds them stay with you despite decades passing.
This is the power of commerce, as our culture: emotional resonance.
At their best, brand collaborations spark an energizing and meaningful revenue and customer loyalty boost. At their worst, they are a costly and underwhelming mistake.
Painting the Horse a Different Color
Marketers influence culture. We intentionally agitate pain and frustration, then paint pictures of aspirational dreams coming true as a result of what someone chooses to buy. The housewife of the 1900s buying Campbell’s soup sought an easy lunch for her children that she could feel proud of.
When the extent of the marketer’s influence is illuminated, it can make people uncomfortable. Consider the feigned outrage of the public when Andy Warhol created silk screen images of those classic red and white cans, and called it art.
He provoked a reaction. That Campbell’s Soup Cans series too closely resembled the advertisements they’d become desensitized to, courtesy of agencies like Mad Men portrays. Warhol’s art asked, "is commerce what defines modern American culture?”
Campbell’s did not choose that artistic collaboration, but their sales benefitted. Without Warhol, there would not have been "…Manhattan socialites wearing soup can-printed dresses to high-society events."
For marketers who want to increase brand awareness and loyalty, collaborations open the doors to a cultural discourse that products alone cannot generate.
Your choice in co-marketing partners should consider the storytelling opportunities just as seriously as the products you’ll create––and not every brand achieves (or should achieve) access to big stories like Barbie or Wicked
Take ALDO, for example. ALDO’s 2023 collaboration with Barbie, compared to their 2024 Wicked collab, is a case study in seizing the right opportunity, but not every opportunity.
Building the Emerald City
My childhood self gazed up at the dazzling pink boxes in Target, longing for new Barbie dolls. Most of the magical wonder that filled me with such longing was simply marketing. I didn’t know what Barbie’s allure was, but I wanted to be a part of it.
As I grew older, Wicked appealed to me on a deeper level than Barbie’s flawless pink glamour could reach. Sure, I still wanted to look like her, with an endless wardrobe of fabulous clothes, but there was a truth to the story of Wicked that was more than marketing sparkle.
“Defying Gravity” formed me into a ride or die fan because of this message:
Something has changed within me; Something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.
Elphaba’s hero’s journey resonated with my own experience of transitioning from young girl to woman. When you consider a brand collaboration like Wicked, the world-building capacity that comes built-in to the products gives your marketing archetypes, conflict, and resolution. The copy nearly writes itself.
An inherent limitation of Barbie is her origin—a 1959 creation of Ruth Handler. In that era where American consumer behavior reached unprecedented commercialism, Andy Warhol’s 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans go hand-in-hand with a doll that started as commerce and became inseparable from feminine culture for decades. Though Warhol critiqued society, eventually society critiqued Barbie.
Then the Mattel studio developed animated movies like Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses (an iconic story, btw) and opened the door for Barbie to tap into deeper cultural conversations. This adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale gave Mattel emotional resonance the picture-perfect doll was missing.
Draw upon reverent themes of sisterhood and the critiques of Barbie’s perfectly symmetrical hourglass stereotype can overshadowed, at least temporarily.
In contrast, Wicked was mostly anonymous to the public, till the Broadway musical thrust Elphaba into the spotlight. Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers and the popularity of The Wizard of Oz likely catalyzed Gregory Maguire’s Wicked book, an intertwining of commerce and culture in itself.
The right brand collaboration can take on a life of its own. Dominating the cultural discourse, till something else piques our attention, and the cycle begins once more. Consider the Yeezy shoe line, or Louis Vuitton x Supreme collections—even if you don’t like streetwear, you probably know these products.
The storytelling within these collaborations is the special sauce of any marketing endeavor. Sure, you can have a big celebrity name endorse your product, but is that enough?
In the case of Kanye West x Adidas, it’s enough, till your celebrity of choice gets canceled.
When it comes to winning people’s loyalty, bringing the IYKYK aspirational allure, and motivating enough people to tell their friends enthusiastically about the collaboration, you need more than celebrity. Otherwise, it’s just one more product drop that will spark with a flash in the pan, then lose relevance next season. Especially when it comes to fashion.
A more resilient example comes from Shay Mitchell’s BÈIS. She’s built a travel brand with a clear ethos, that separates it from the plethora of celebrity endorsed products that flood the market. This ethos made real reached a pinnacle of brilliance with the “Text me when you land” collection launched in collaboration with Lonely Ghost.
The BÈIS x Lonely Ghost collection was successful in part because the designs were evergreen. Collectibles that were only offered in limited quantities, and could be treasured for years to come. A vintage-inspired travel aesthetic called back to a whimsical version of the past.
Emotional resonance was affirmed as they told a story around the people you text when your plane lands. It’s an innocuous phrase, and something perfectly meaningful for a travel company seeking its own story to tell besides the typical “choose your next adventure” messaging.
This is where ALDO caught my eye.
Speaking Ozian
The initial reaction to the Barbie movie's announcement was skepticism. Many people expected it to be a thinly veiled two-hour ad. While Barbie explored various angles on feminism and stereotypical Western beauty standards, the hero’s journey of Barbie emerging from her Eden-like Barbie Land is shallow and disjointed.
In comparison, there’s more substance to Wicked. For one, there’s the archetypal tension between good and evil, light and dark.
Or in ALDO’s case, to directly quote copywriting for their limited edition Wicked products, “pinkalicious glamityflair” and “styles so good they’re wicked”—in black and emerald green, of course.
That’s the brilliance of creating commerce around a story; it comes built-in with a secret language.
The ultimate if you know, you know, and if you don’t… Well, you’re just confused.
But trust me—if you want to look like “the most scandalocious little fish” at the party, you’re going shopping at ALDO for the perfect shoes, and you’ll find options for you and your whole crew. Even the Elphie in your group chat will have something to wear, which’ll look way better than that black hat. I’ll take Galinda’s dress for myself if anyone has the hookup.
This coded language is familiar to the fans and lays the groundwork for specific marketing copy that makes the products seamlessly fit into that world. ALDO demonstrates a genuine connection to Wicked—more than an opportunistic product drop just for the sake of doing it.
One Short Day
Story-based merch helps us keep the experience alive. Musical theater kids remember the days you couldn’t walk into a room without seeing one person wearing a Wicked tee. I haven’t gone a day since 2023 without seeing Taylor Swift Eras Tour merch.
Merch is a visual cue to reminisce on something meaningful––for my brother and I, it’s the first time we heard Idina Menzel sing “Defying Gravity” or our first viewing of the movie just weeks ago with our besties. The products born out of a brand collab matter as much as the storytelling utilized to sell them, but not every story-based product needs to be timeless.
Exclusive, limited-edition collaborations iterate the desire to feel connected to the story for the first time again.
Superfans will appreciate how the shoes ALDO designed for the Wicked collab range from timeless with a playful twist, to flashy statement pieces that may end up displayed on a shelf, part of a sentimental collection that’s kept, but not worn anymore.
Barbie missed this opportunity. Just one more pair of pink shoes with a touch of Barbie flair might get relegated to the Halloween costume portion of a woman’s closet. The Barbie brand is a limited aesthetic, confined to pinks, trendy items, and feminine flair.
Something Wicked This Way Gifts
Gift-giving is a foolproof referral process––new customers embark on a frictionless journey to brand discovery through the trusted taste of a friend. More customer journeys begin during Christmas than at any other time of year.
My brother is notoriously particular and impossible to shop for. His taste leans luxe, and his brand preferences are often non-negotiables. I’ve nearly given up on shopping for him more Christmas seasons than I care to admit.
Enter the Wicked Men’s collection. I have two loafer options, and knowing he doesn’t love sparkle the way I do, I go for a suave velvet style featuring a subtle Oz embellishment in gold.
It is the perfect gift, resulting from shared passions and great products. And a slay moment, no doubt.
Dancing Through Life
Playful copywriting is one of my favorite marketing levers. I’ve appreciated the power of playfulness since Chubbies and Birddogs case studies sparked marketer discourse around “bland” versus “branded” copywriting.
On-brand humor is the simple act of deeply understanding your customers and mirroring their lore back to them (IYKYK). There’s no explanation needed, no wink or “lol” tagged at the end of an advertisement, when you’re fluent in your customers' language.
ALDO did this with a brilliant UGC play towards the bottom of the Wicked collection page. As your starting reference point, the evergreen subheading for this UGC section reads “You Look Great In Our Shoes.”
When you add a Wicked touch, the subhead becomes “You’re Gonna Be Popular.” And the girls that get it, get it.
Another marketing win: the copy still resonates with the people who don’t know the insider language.
Not Quite Popular
Alternatively, ALDO’s Barbie collection harnessed the one-trick “Barbie Girl” aesthetic, where “life in plastic, it’s fantastic” becomes the rallying cry.
Most of the product positioning of Barbie products read like a list of TikTok search terms––it was all Y2K and pink glam. It pushed a one-dimensional aesthetic onto a multi-dimensional audience.
Compared to Wicked’s depth and seemingly unlimited product application (can’t everyone connect with that feeling of carrying the contrast of both good and evil within us?), Barbie-fied merchandise tends to fall flat.
For Good
When brands take time to connect to the collaboration’s lore and learn the language of their customers, collabs resonate more deeply (and dodge the money-grab accusations).
ALDO took the time to pay attention to the details and make it Wicked, and as a result, their products feel like a true extension of the story's world.
—---
Gabrielle Pitman directs client strategy for her agency, ebusiness pros, and is proud to represent Klaviyo as a Community Champion since 2023. In addition to guiding brands with multi-channel retention marketing strategies, Gabrielle advises eCommerce software companies and teaches workshops.
She loves nerding out over list segmentation and designing marketing automation systems to improve the customer's experience, growing DTC and CPG brands. You can find her drinking a triple shot latte at contemporary art galleries in her spare time.
Now, with the initial flood of Wicked discourse behind us, we can turn our attention to the most overlooked element of the film's cultural moment: the ALDO collaboration. Beyond its emerald sparkle and Broadway callbacks, this partnership captures something deeper about how we grow up, and how certain brands mark our transitions into adulthood.
Nostalgic mall shoppers like me often feel left out when fashion critics wax poetic about the revival of Abercrombie and Hot Topic. Still, they're missing the quiet cornerstone of countless coming-of-age moments: ALDO. Long before I understood workplace dress codes or navigated my first formal event, ALDO was my gateway to grown-up glamour—a first taste of sophistication that didn't break the bank.
While other mall brands spark endless think pieces about their renaissance, ALDO has quietly persisted, weathering retail's storms without the spotlight, despite being many of our first steps into 'real' shoes.
A Corner of Oz
I grew up in a small town, not unlike the Munchkinland in which Elphaba spent her childhood days surrounded by mountains, and told stories about the flower fairies that lived in the meadows.
Maybe that’s why Wicked spoke to me as a young woman going through those awkward teenage years. Reading about Elphaba’s struggles to fit in made me feel seen. The song ‘Defying Gravity’ made me feel understood when I discovered the musical.
I grew up playing with Barbies, too. My aunties, from a previous generation, had named a small patch of sand beside a creek the “Barbie Beach.” I spent many summers at my grandparents' house, taking my Barbies to that beach and playing with my little sister.
These are formative memories of my youth. Something in those viscerally-felt experiences before adulthood makes the toys, stories, and magical wonder that surrounds them stay with you despite decades passing.
This is the power of commerce, as our culture: emotional resonance.
At their best, brand collaborations spark an energizing and meaningful revenue and customer loyalty boost. At their worst, they are a costly and underwhelming mistake.
Painting the Horse a Different Color
Marketers influence culture. We intentionally agitate pain and frustration, then paint pictures of aspirational dreams coming true as a result of what someone chooses to buy. The housewife of the 1900s buying Campbell’s soup sought an easy lunch for her children that she could feel proud of.
When the extent of the marketer’s influence is illuminated, it can make people uncomfortable. Consider the feigned outrage of the public when Andy Warhol created silk screen images of those classic red and white cans, and called it art.
He provoked a reaction. That Campbell’s Soup Cans series too closely resembled the advertisements they’d become desensitized to, courtesy of agencies like Mad Men portrays. Warhol’s art asked, "is commerce what defines modern American culture?”
Campbell’s did not choose that artistic collaboration, but their sales benefitted. Without Warhol, there would not have been "…Manhattan socialites wearing soup can-printed dresses to high-society events."
For marketers who want to increase brand awareness and loyalty, collaborations open the doors to a cultural discourse that products alone cannot generate.
Your choice in co-marketing partners should consider the storytelling opportunities just as seriously as the products you’ll create––and not every brand achieves (or should achieve) access to big stories like Barbie or Wicked
Take ALDO, for example. ALDO’s 2023 collaboration with Barbie, compared to their 2024 Wicked collab, is a case study in seizing the right opportunity, but not every opportunity.
Building the Emerald City
My childhood self gazed up at the dazzling pink boxes in Target, longing for new Barbie dolls. Most of the magical wonder that filled me with such longing was simply marketing. I didn’t know what Barbie’s allure was, but I wanted to be a part of it.
As I grew older, Wicked appealed to me on a deeper level than Barbie’s flawless pink glamour could reach. Sure, I still wanted to look like her, with an endless wardrobe of fabulous clothes, but there was a truth to the story of Wicked that was more than marketing sparkle.
“Defying Gravity” formed me into a ride or die fan because of this message:
Something has changed within me; Something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.
Elphaba’s hero’s journey resonated with my own experience of transitioning from young girl to woman. When you consider a brand collaboration like Wicked, the world-building capacity that comes built-in to the products gives your marketing archetypes, conflict, and resolution. The copy nearly writes itself.
An inherent limitation of Barbie is her origin—a 1959 creation of Ruth Handler. In that era where American consumer behavior reached unprecedented commercialism, Andy Warhol’s 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans go hand-in-hand with a doll that started as commerce and became inseparable from feminine culture for decades. Though Warhol critiqued society, eventually society critiqued Barbie.
Then the Mattel studio developed animated movies like Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses (an iconic story, btw) and opened the door for Barbie to tap into deeper cultural conversations. This adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale gave Mattel emotional resonance the picture-perfect doll was missing.
Draw upon reverent themes of sisterhood and the critiques of Barbie’s perfectly symmetrical hourglass stereotype can overshadowed, at least temporarily.
In contrast, Wicked was mostly anonymous to the public, till the Broadway musical thrust Elphaba into the spotlight. Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers and the popularity of The Wizard of Oz likely catalyzed Gregory Maguire’s Wicked book, an intertwining of commerce and culture in itself.
The right brand collaboration can take on a life of its own. Dominating the cultural discourse, till something else piques our attention, and the cycle begins once more. Consider the Yeezy shoe line, or Louis Vuitton x Supreme collections—even if you don’t like streetwear, you probably know these products.
The storytelling within these collaborations is the special sauce of any marketing endeavor. Sure, you can have a big celebrity name endorse your product, but is that enough?
In the case of Kanye West x Adidas, it’s enough, till your celebrity of choice gets canceled.
When it comes to winning people’s loyalty, bringing the IYKYK aspirational allure, and motivating enough people to tell their friends enthusiastically about the collaboration, you need more than celebrity. Otherwise, it’s just one more product drop that will spark with a flash in the pan, then lose relevance next season. Especially when it comes to fashion.
A more resilient example comes from Shay Mitchell’s BÈIS. She’s built a travel brand with a clear ethos, that separates it from the plethora of celebrity endorsed products that flood the market. This ethos made real reached a pinnacle of brilliance with the “Text me when you land” collection launched in collaboration with Lonely Ghost.
The BÈIS x Lonely Ghost collection was successful in part because the designs were evergreen. Collectibles that were only offered in limited quantities, and could be treasured for years to come. A vintage-inspired travel aesthetic called back to a whimsical version of the past.
Emotional resonance was affirmed as they told a story around the people you text when your plane lands. It’s an innocuous phrase, and something perfectly meaningful for a travel company seeking its own story to tell besides the typical “choose your next adventure” messaging.
This is where ALDO caught my eye.
Speaking Ozian
The initial reaction to the Barbie movie's announcement was skepticism. Many people expected it to be a thinly veiled two-hour ad. While Barbie explored various angles on feminism and stereotypical Western beauty standards, the hero’s journey of Barbie emerging from her Eden-like Barbie Land is shallow and disjointed.
In comparison, there’s more substance to Wicked. For one, there’s the archetypal tension between good and evil, light and dark.
Or in ALDO’s case, to directly quote copywriting for their limited edition Wicked products, “pinkalicious glamityflair” and “styles so good they’re wicked”—in black and emerald green, of course.
That’s the brilliance of creating commerce around a story; it comes built-in with a secret language.
The ultimate if you know, you know, and if you don’t… Well, you’re just confused.
But trust me—if you want to look like “the most scandalocious little fish” at the party, you’re going shopping at ALDO for the perfect shoes, and you’ll find options for you and your whole crew. Even the Elphie in your group chat will have something to wear, which’ll look way better than that black hat. I’ll take Galinda’s dress for myself if anyone has the hookup.
This coded language is familiar to the fans and lays the groundwork for specific marketing copy that makes the products seamlessly fit into that world. ALDO demonstrates a genuine connection to Wicked—more than an opportunistic product drop just for the sake of doing it.
One Short Day
Story-based merch helps us keep the experience alive. Musical theater kids remember the days you couldn’t walk into a room without seeing one person wearing a Wicked tee. I haven’t gone a day since 2023 without seeing Taylor Swift Eras Tour merch.
Merch is a visual cue to reminisce on something meaningful––for my brother and I, it’s the first time we heard Idina Menzel sing “Defying Gravity” or our first viewing of the movie just weeks ago with our besties. The products born out of a brand collab matter as much as the storytelling utilized to sell them, but not every story-based product needs to be timeless.
Exclusive, limited-edition collaborations iterate the desire to feel connected to the story for the first time again.
Superfans will appreciate how the shoes ALDO designed for the Wicked collab range from timeless with a playful twist, to flashy statement pieces that may end up displayed on a shelf, part of a sentimental collection that’s kept, but not worn anymore.
Barbie missed this opportunity. Just one more pair of pink shoes with a touch of Barbie flair might get relegated to the Halloween costume portion of a woman’s closet. The Barbie brand is a limited aesthetic, confined to pinks, trendy items, and feminine flair.
Something Wicked This Way Gifts
Gift-giving is a foolproof referral process––new customers embark on a frictionless journey to brand discovery through the trusted taste of a friend. More customer journeys begin during Christmas than at any other time of year.
My brother is notoriously particular and impossible to shop for. His taste leans luxe, and his brand preferences are often non-negotiables. I’ve nearly given up on shopping for him more Christmas seasons than I care to admit.
Enter the Wicked Men’s collection. I have two loafer options, and knowing he doesn’t love sparkle the way I do, I go for a suave velvet style featuring a subtle Oz embellishment in gold.
It is the perfect gift, resulting from shared passions and great products. And a slay moment, no doubt.
Dancing Through Life
Playful copywriting is one of my favorite marketing levers. I’ve appreciated the power of playfulness since Chubbies and Birddogs case studies sparked marketer discourse around “bland” versus “branded” copywriting.
On-brand humor is the simple act of deeply understanding your customers and mirroring their lore back to them (IYKYK). There’s no explanation needed, no wink or “lol” tagged at the end of an advertisement, when you’re fluent in your customers' language.
ALDO did this with a brilliant UGC play towards the bottom of the Wicked collection page. As your starting reference point, the evergreen subheading for this UGC section reads “You Look Great In Our Shoes.”
When you add a Wicked touch, the subhead becomes “You’re Gonna Be Popular.” And the girls that get it, get it.
Another marketing win: the copy still resonates with the people who don’t know the insider language.
Not Quite Popular
Alternatively, ALDO’s Barbie collection harnessed the one-trick “Barbie Girl” aesthetic, where “life in plastic, it’s fantastic” becomes the rallying cry.
Most of the product positioning of Barbie products read like a list of TikTok search terms––it was all Y2K and pink glam. It pushed a one-dimensional aesthetic onto a multi-dimensional audience.
Compared to Wicked’s depth and seemingly unlimited product application (can’t everyone connect with that feeling of carrying the contrast of both good and evil within us?), Barbie-fied merchandise tends to fall flat.
For Good
When brands take time to connect to the collaboration’s lore and learn the language of their customers, collabs resonate more deeply (and dodge the money-grab accusations).
ALDO took the time to pay attention to the details and make it Wicked, and as a result, their products feel like a true extension of the story's world.
—---
Gabrielle Pitman directs client strategy for her agency, ebusiness pros, and is proud to represent Klaviyo as a Community Champion since 2023. In addition to guiding brands with multi-channel retention marketing strategies, Gabrielle advises eCommerce software companies and teaches workshops.
She loves nerding out over list segmentation and designing marketing automation systems to improve the customer's experience, growing DTC and CPG brands. You can find her drinking a triple shot latte at contemporary art galleries in her spare time.
Now, with the initial flood of Wicked discourse behind us, we can turn our attention to the most overlooked element of the film's cultural moment: the ALDO collaboration. Beyond its emerald sparkle and Broadway callbacks, this partnership captures something deeper about how we grow up, and how certain brands mark our transitions into adulthood.
Nostalgic mall shoppers like me often feel left out when fashion critics wax poetic about the revival of Abercrombie and Hot Topic. Still, they're missing the quiet cornerstone of countless coming-of-age moments: ALDO. Long before I understood workplace dress codes or navigated my first formal event, ALDO was my gateway to grown-up glamour—a first taste of sophistication that didn't break the bank.
While other mall brands spark endless think pieces about their renaissance, ALDO has quietly persisted, weathering retail's storms without the spotlight, despite being many of our first steps into 'real' shoes.
A Corner of Oz
I grew up in a small town, not unlike the Munchkinland in which Elphaba spent her childhood days surrounded by mountains, and told stories about the flower fairies that lived in the meadows.
Maybe that’s why Wicked spoke to me as a young woman going through those awkward teenage years. Reading about Elphaba’s struggles to fit in made me feel seen. The song ‘Defying Gravity’ made me feel understood when I discovered the musical.
I grew up playing with Barbies, too. My aunties, from a previous generation, had named a small patch of sand beside a creek the “Barbie Beach.” I spent many summers at my grandparents' house, taking my Barbies to that beach and playing with my little sister.
These are formative memories of my youth. Something in those viscerally-felt experiences before adulthood makes the toys, stories, and magical wonder that surrounds them stay with you despite decades passing.
This is the power of commerce, as our culture: emotional resonance.
At their best, brand collaborations spark an energizing and meaningful revenue and customer loyalty boost. At their worst, they are a costly and underwhelming mistake.
Painting the Horse a Different Color
Marketers influence culture. We intentionally agitate pain and frustration, then paint pictures of aspirational dreams coming true as a result of what someone chooses to buy. The housewife of the 1900s buying Campbell’s soup sought an easy lunch for her children that she could feel proud of.
When the extent of the marketer’s influence is illuminated, it can make people uncomfortable. Consider the feigned outrage of the public when Andy Warhol created silk screen images of those classic red and white cans, and called it art.
He provoked a reaction. That Campbell’s Soup Cans series too closely resembled the advertisements they’d become desensitized to, courtesy of agencies like Mad Men portrays. Warhol’s art asked, "is commerce what defines modern American culture?”
Campbell’s did not choose that artistic collaboration, but their sales benefitted. Without Warhol, there would not have been "…Manhattan socialites wearing soup can-printed dresses to high-society events."
For marketers who want to increase brand awareness and loyalty, collaborations open the doors to a cultural discourse that products alone cannot generate.
Your choice in co-marketing partners should consider the storytelling opportunities just as seriously as the products you’ll create––and not every brand achieves (or should achieve) access to big stories like Barbie or Wicked
Take ALDO, for example. ALDO’s 2023 collaboration with Barbie, compared to their 2024 Wicked collab, is a case study in seizing the right opportunity, but not every opportunity.
Building the Emerald City
My childhood self gazed up at the dazzling pink boxes in Target, longing for new Barbie dolls. Most of the magical wonder that filled me with such longing was simply marketing. I didn’t know what Barbie’s allure was, but I wanted to be a part of it.
As I grew older, Wicked appealed to me on a deeper level than Barbie’s flawless pink glamour could reach. Sure, I still wanted to look like her, with an endless wardrobe of fabulous clothes, but there was a truth to the story of Wicked that was more than marketing sparkle.
“Defying Gravity” formed me into a ride or die fan because of this message:
Something has changed within me; Something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.
Elphaba’s hero’s journey resonated with my own experience of transitioning from young girl to woman. When you consider a brand collaboration like Wicked, the world-building capacity that comes built-in to the products gives your marketing archetypes, conflict, and resolution. The copy nearly writes itself.
An inherent limitation of Barbie is her origin—a 1959 creation of Ruth Handler. In that era where American consumer behavior reached unprecedented commercialism, Andy Warhol’s 1962 Campbell’s Soup Cans go hand-in-hand with a doll that started as commerce and became inseparable from feminine culture for decades. Though Warhol critiqued society, eventually society critiqued Barbie.
Then the Mattel studio developed animated movies like Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses (an iconic story, btw) and opened the door for Barbie to tap into deeper cultural conversations. This adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale gave Mattel emotional resonance the picture-perfect doll was missing.
Draw upon reverent themes of sisterhood and the critiques of Barbie’s perfectly symmetrical hourglass stereotype can overshadowed, at least temporarily.
In contrast, Wicked was mostly anonymous to the public, till the Broadway musical thrust Elphaba into the spotlight. Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers and the popularity of The Wizard of Oz likely catalyzed Gregory Maguire’s Wicked book, an intertwining of commerce and culture in itself.
The right brand collaboration can take on a life of its own. Dominating the cultural discourse, till something else piques our attention, and the cycle begins once more. Consider the Yeezy shoe line, or Louis Vuitton x Supreme collections—even if you don’t like streetwear, you probably know these products.
The storytelling within these collaborations is the special sauce of any marketing endeavor. Sure, you can have a big celebrity name endorse your product, but is that enough?
In the case of Kanye West x Adidas, it’s enough, till your celebrity of choice gets canceled.
When it comes to winning people’s loyalty, bringing the IYKYK aspirational allure, and motivating enough people to tell their friends enthusiastically about the collaboration, you need more than celebrity. Otherwise, it’s just one more product drop that will spark with a flash in the pan, then lose relevance next season. Especially when it comes to fashion.
A more resilient example comes from Shay Mitchell’s BÈIS. She’s built a travel brand with a clear ethos, that separates it from the plethora of celebrity endorsed products that flood the market. This ethos made real reached a pinnacle of brilliance with the “Text me when you land” collection launched in collaboration with Lonely Ghost.
The BÈIS x Lonely Ghost collection was successful in part because the designs were evergreen. Collectibles that were only offered in limited quantities, and could be treasured for years to come. A vintage-inspired travel aesthetic called back to a whimsical version of the past.
Emotional resonance was affirmed as they told a story around the people you text when your plane lands. It’s an innocuous phrase, and something perfectly meaningful for a travel company seeking its own story to tell besides the typical “choose your next adventure” messaging.
This is where ALDO caught my eye.
Speaking Ozian
The initial reaction to the Barbie movie's announcement was skepticism. Many people expected it to be a thinly veiled two-hour ad. While Barbie explored various angles on feminism and stereotypical Western beauty standards, the hero’s journey of Barbie emerging from her Eden-like Barbie Land is shallow and disjointed.
In comparison, there’s more substance to Wicked. For one, there’s the archetypal tension between good and evil, light and dark.
Or in ALDO’s case, to directly quote copywriting for their limited edition Wicked products, “pinkalicious glamityflair” and “styles so good they’re wicked”—in black and emerald green, of course.
That’s the brilliance of creating commerce around a story; it comes built-in with a secret language.
The ultimate if you know, you know, and if you don’t… Well, you’re just confused.
But trust me—if you want to look like “the most scandalocious little fish” at the party, you’re going shopping at ALDO for the perfect shoes, and you’ll find options for you and your whole crew. Even the Elphie in your group chat will have something to wear, which’ll look way better than that black hat. I’ll take Galinda’s dress for myself if anyone has the hookup.
This coded language is familiar to the fans and lays the groundwork for specific marketing copy that makes the products seamlessly fit into that world. ALDO demonstrates a genuine connection to Wicked—more than an opportunistic product drop just for the sake of doing it.
One Short Day
Story-based merch helps us keep the experience alive. Musical theater kids remember the days you couldn’t walk into a room without seeing one person wearing a Wicked tee. I haven’t gone a day since 2023 without seeing Taylor Swift Eras Tour merch.
Merch is a visual cue to reminisce on something meaningful––for my brother and I, it’s the first time we heard Idina Menzel sing “Defying Gravity” or our first viewing of the movie just weeks ago with our besties. The products born out of a brand collab matter as much as the storytelling utilized to sell them, but not every story-based product needs to be timeless.
Exclusive, limited-edition collaborations iterate the desire to feel connected to the story for the first time again.
Superfans will appreciate how the shoes ALDO designed for the Wicked collab range from timeless with a playful twist, to flashy statement pieces that may end up displayed on a shelf, part of a sentimental collection that’s kept, but not worn anymore.
Barbie missed this opportunity. Just one more pair of pink shoes with a touch of Barbie flair might get relegated to the Halloween costume portion of a woman’s closet. The Barbie brand is a limited aesthetic, confined to pinks, trendy items, and feminine flair.
Something Wicked This Way Gifts
Gift-giving is a foolproof referral process––new customers embark on a frictionless journey to brand discovery through the trusted taste of a friend. More customer journeys begin during Christmas than at any other time of year.
My brother is notoriously particular and impossible to shop for. His taste leans luxe, and his brand preferences are often non-negotiables. I’ve nearly given up on shopping for him more Christmas seasons than I care to admit.
Enter the Wicked Men’s collection. I have two loafer options, and knowing he doesn’t love sparkle the way I do, I go for a suave velvet style featuring a subtle Oz embellishment in gold.
It is the perfect gift, resulting from shared passions and great products. And a slay moment, no doubt.
Dancing Through Life
Playful copywriting is one of my favorite marketing levers. I’ve appreciated the power of playfulness since Chubbies and Birddogs case studies sparked marketer discourse around “bland” versus “branded” copywriting.
On-brand humor is the simple act of deeply understanding your customers and mirroring their lore back to them (IYKYK). There’s no explanation needed, no wink or “lol” tagged at the end of an advertisement, when you’re fluent in your customers' language.
ALDO did this with a brilliant UGC play towards the bottom of the Wicked collection page. As your starting reference point, the evergreen subheading for this UGC section reads “You Look Great In Our Shoes.”
When you add a Wicked touch, the subhead becomes “You’re Gonna Be Popular.” And the girls that get it, get it.
Another marketing win: the copy still resonates with the people who don’t know the insider language.
Not Quite Popular
Alternatively, ALDO’s Barbie collection harnessed the one-trick “Barbie Girl” aesthetic, where “life in plastic, it’s fantastic” becomes the rallying cry.
Most of the product positioning of Barbie products read like a list of TikTok search terms––it was all Y2K and pink glam. It pushed a one-dimensional aesthetic onto a multi-dimensional audience.
Compared to Wicked’s depth and seemingly unlimited product application (can’t everyone connect with that feeling of carrying the contrast of both good and evil within us?), Barbie-fied merchandise tends to fall flat.
For Good
When brands take time to connect to the collaboration’s lore and learn the language of their customers, collabs resonate more deeply (and dodge the money-grab accusations).
ALDO took the time to pay attention to the details and make it Wicked, and as a result, their products feel like a true extension of the story's world.
—---
Gabrielle Pitman directs client strategy for her agency, ebusiness pros, and is proud to represent Klaviyo as a Community Champion since 2023. In addition to guiding brands with multi-channel retention marketing strategies, Gabrielle advises eCommerce software companies and teaches workshops.
She loves nerding out over list segmentation and designing marketing automation systems to improve the customer's experience, growing DTC and CPG brands. You can find her drinking a triple shot latte at contemporary art galleries in her spare time.
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