Nathan Baynard

Nathan Baynard, Head of Brand Marketing – Dolls Category, Mattel, leads brand strategy and marketing for the billion dollar brand Barbie as well as the many other brands in Mattel’s Dolls Portfolio. In his 8 years at Mattel, he has led the brand and franchise marketing efforts to evolve the Barbie brand to one focused on inspiration, empowerment, and inclusivity. This has included the launch of the Barbie You Can Be Anything Brand Campaign, launching the first ever broadcast-quality series for the brand on Netflix, Dreamhouse Adventures, and building the brand’s digital presence to being the #1 Girls’ Brand on YouTube and in social conversation through unique and digitally native content, like Barbie’s Vlog Series. In 2018, he led efforts to launch the company’s first ever social mission, The Barbie Dream Gap Project, dedicated to raising awareness and combatting the Dream Gap phenomena that shows that as early as age 6, girls start showing a decline in confidence in their own gender’s abilities relative to boys. In his time working on Barbie, the brand has been recognized with multiple marketing and advertising awards, including Adweek’s Brand Genius, the Clios’ Brand Icon award, and most recently one of Ad Age’s Marketers of the Year for 2019 in recognition of a legacy making 60th anniversary year for the brand inclusive of pop-up experiences around the world, global Role Models programs celebrating women of note, and a host of activations across fashion, content, and pop culture. In his recent work also overseeing the rest of the Mattel Dolls Portfolio, he led the brand marketing efforts to launch Creatable World, the first gender-inclusive doll line in the market, named by Time as one of the best inventions of 2019.