The Barbie DreamCamper Is a Life-Sized Branding Accessory for Real-Life Camping

A good pop-up event is immersive. Everywhere you look, you should feel connected to the brand that's hosting the event. There's no room for empty space when the goal is to stay top of mind at all times.

One of the most accessorized and well-known brands ever, Barbie, just created a life-sized version of the doll's DreamCamper, where fans will be surrounded by all things Barbie, like outdoor products and decorations.

"Dazzle guests with gourmet meals prepared in a furnished kitchen, which includes a stovetop, oven and refrigerator," a Barbie spokesperson told Adweek about the RV. "The pop-up canopy creates an expanded outdoor living room, and is perfect for enjoying an al fresco picnic—or eat inside at a dream dinette table."

This reads like an Airbnb listing, not a promotional event. That's because one lucky family of four can actually rent it from April 29 to May 1.

RVshare teams up with Barbie and CAMP to provide the ultimate Barbie Dream CAMP experience in a Barbie RV while staying at a campground in San Dimas, California. https://t.co/Sd2izjzveh

— Modern Campground (@ModernCamp) April 21, 2022

These hotels-as-promotions are starting to add up.

Moe's Southwest Grill just created a fully branded hotel suite that customers could rent across four weekends in Miami. Just about every detail inside, from bedding to kitchenware, reflect the Moe's brand aesthetic in some way.

In a similar vein, Lisa Frank, the technicolor designer brand most known for school supplies, partnered with Hotels.com in 2019 for a Los Angeles penthouse display known as the Lisa Frank Flat. The room was full of the rainbow motif, giving logo placement to both the Lisa Frank brand and the Hotels.com logo.

These rentable properties go beyond the pop-up display at a festival or mall, and create a days-long marketing campaign designed specifically for fans. And, like the Barbie DreamCamper, when you create exclusivity by only offering a small amount of reservations (or even just one reservation), brands can typically tie it in with some sort of social media presence or website interaction. Heck, it might even involve actually purchasing a product to become eligible.

Most of all, the success of these promotion shows that there's no such thing as too much brand visibility. If it has room for a logo or a brand's color palette, it can become part of the experience.