Mattel’s Ken Makes High-Profile Super Bowl LX Debut in Expedia’s New Campaign, “Going Places with Ken”

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 2, 2026--

Expedia® and Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world, announced today that Ken (TM) is cementing his status as a cultural icon and star by stepping off the beach and onto one of the biggest stages in advertising as the star in Expedia’s Super Bowl LX spot, titled “Going Places with Ken.” The spot will run in pre- and post-game placements in the U.S., and a 30-second spot during the game in Canada and a 20-second spot in Mexico.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260202560792/en/

“Going Places with Ken” marks the start of a year-long partnership between Expedia and Mattel, celebrating the Ken brand’s 65th anniversary and positioning him as Expedia’s newest Brand Ambassador. The spot showcases Ken stepping into destinations like Italy, Japan, and Mexico City, symbolizing the confidence and simplicity travelers experience when booking with Expedia. Ken represents every first-time traveler discovering how simple it is to bundle and save on flights, hotels, vacation rentals, and cars on Expedia.

“Expedia quickly spotted Ken’s rising appeal and cast him for his big game debut,” said Mahta Eghbali, Vice President of Strategic Alliances & Partnerships, Mattel. “This year-long partnership makes a clear statement: Ken isn’t just relevant; he is premium talent with the presence, range, and reach to inspire fans across generations. Expedia’s brand spot captures his charm and shows the world Ken is going places.”

The creative spot also marks the debut of Expedia’s new brand platform, “The One Place You Go to Go Places™,” underscoring Expedia’s role as the single destination where travelers can seamlessly plan, book, and manage every aspect of their trip. The new campaign will see itself expressed through premium partnerships like Ken, to new brand films under the theme “Going Places with Expedia” that will start airing in key markets including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and more across the calendar year.

“As the one place you go to go places, Expedia makes it easy to bundle flights, hotels, vacation rentals, and cars, helping travelers save on every trip. Watching Ken navigate his first travel experience reinforces that our platform is built for travelers at any stage,” said Natalie Wills, SVP of Expedia Group Brand Marketing and Creative. “Ken’s Super Bowl debut marks a bold step as we launch our new creative platform, The One Place You Go to Go Places, pairing an iconic character with advertising’s biggest stage.”

Produced by BUCK in collaboration with stop‑motion studio Bix Pix, the project was developed in close partnership with Expedia and Mattel’s in‑house creative teams. The film was brought to life during a meticulously crafted production shoot in Los Angeles, where tiny custom-built sets were populated with real Ken dolls and handcrafted props, each frame carefully captured using stop‑motion photography and traditional techniques rooted in a craft that dates back to the 1890s, honoring Ken in his true form through a fully physical approach.

To celebrate his latest adventure, Expedia and Ken will take to Threads for a special interactive Q&A focused on travel inspiration and planning. On Sunday, February 8, Expedia will also launch a Ken-themed sweepstakes, giving away 65 prizes of $1,000 in OneKeyCash™ to help travelers “go places” just like Ken. Beginning at 6:30pm ET, Ken will engage directly with @Expedia 's account and the Threads community from Mattel’s account — answering questions, sharing travel inspiration, and inviting fans to offer their best travel tips for his upcoming journeys*.

Fans can continue to follow Ken and his global adventures on @Barbie, @Barbiestyle, and @Expedia on Instagram and TikTok as he inspires travelers to dream big by exploring destinations such as Italy, Japan, and Mexico City, with more Ken-ventures ahead.

To view the full Super Bowl spot, visit here. For additional assets, click here.

* NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the US, Canada (including Quebec) and Mexico at least 18+ years old and a One Key program member. Ends 2/08/26. To enter and for Official Rules, including odds, and prize descriptions, visitOfficial Rules. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Expedia, Inc.

About Expedia

Expedia® is an all-in-one travel shop where travelers can plan and book everything they need for their trip while saving on flights, hotels, vacation rentals, car rentals, and activities.

Expedia delivers personalized, easy‑to‑use travel tools that make it easy to build a complete trip without juggling multiple sites, while allowing travelers to search, compare, and book multiple trip elements side by side. Expedia also unlocks more value with Bundle & Save deals, giving travelers amazing savings when they book more than one part of their trip. With One Key, Expedia’s cross‑brand loyalty program, every eligible booking earns OneKeyCash™, while also giving travelers access to member‑only prices and perks, making trips even more rewarding.

In 2026, Expedia marks its 30th anniversary. As the first online travel agency, it continues to be the one place you go to go places.

© 2026 Expedia, Inc., an Expedia Group company. All rights reserved. Expedia and the Expedia logo are trademarks of Expedia, Inc. CST# 2029030-50.

About Mattel

Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends™, UNO®, Masters of the Universe®, Matchbox®, Monster High®, Polly Pocket®, and Barney® as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital, and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.

Credit: Mattel and Expedia

BOSTON (AP) — The union representing British soccer players will announce on Tuesday the first comprehensive protocol for preventing the brain disease CTE, expanding the heightened concern over concussions to include the damage that can be caused by the less forceful blows from heading the ball.

The guidelines from the Professional Footballers’ Association, which represents current and former players in the Premier League, the FA Women’s Super League and the English Football Leagues, recommend no more than 10 headers per week – including practice – for professionals. Children under 12 shouldn’t head the ball at all, the PFA said, part of a chronic traumatic encephalopathy prevention protocol designed to reduce head impacts across a player’s lifetime.

“CTE is preventable. Period,” Dr. Adam White, Director of Brain Health at the PFA, said on Monday at the first-ever Global CTE Summit, which was held in San Francisco while the NFL descended on the Bay Area for Sunday’s Super Bowl.

“It is the principles of less heading, less force, less often and later in life that matter,” White told The Associated Press. “These could apply to any sport and are the best hope we have of stopping current and future players from the same fate as former generations.”

Speakers at the summit included researchers, former athletes and lawmakers; those in the virtual and in-person audience also included family members who witnessed the dangers of CTE, which can cause memory loss, depression, violent mood swings and other cognitive and behavioral issues.

“This might be the most underreported public health challenge in the world right now," former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said. “CTE prevention requires courage – the courage to change tradition, the courage to confront denial, and the courage to put long-term health ahead of short-term gains."

The degenerative brain disease now known as CTE was studied in boxers more than a century ago as punch drunk syndrome and first diagnosed in American football players in 2005. It has since become a concern in ice hockey, soccer and other contact sports and among combat veterans and others who sustain repeated blows to the head.

A 2017 study found CTE in 110 of 111 brains donated by former NFL players. The disease can only be identified posthumously through an examination of the brain.

NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, speaking about an hour away from Levi’s Stadium on the day of the Super Bowl’s much-ballyhooed Opening Night, said attention shouldn’t just be on professionals, who are at least compensated and able to make informed decisions about the risks of playing a dangerous sport.

“It’s our obligation to the game to make it better,” he said. “It’s how we apply it to our children and the age that we give it to them.”

The NFL, college football and many other sports have instituted protocols that guide teams and athletes on returning to play after sustaining a possible concussion.

But the British soccer protocol, a copy of whish was obtained by the AP, is the first comprehensive plan to combat CTE by addressing the less dramatic, subconcussive blows that can be common in practice, according to Chris Nowinski, the founder of the Concussion and CTE Foundation.

“For contact sports, CTE prevention protocols are equally important and possibly more important than concussion protocols,” he said.

Among the more recent concerns are the routine head hits sustained by football lineman, and those from soccer players heading the ball. Research funded by the union and the Football Association found that Scottish pros have a risk of dementia that is 3.5 times greater than the general population; studies of brains from British soccer players found the majority had CTE, including Jeff Astle, Gordon McQueen and Chris Nicholl.

“With what we know today about the disease, it would be a failure to our players to do nothing,” White said in a statement. “The science and solutions are clear, it just takes willingness from the sporting bodies to put athletes’ long-term health first and I am pleased that we have been able to do that in England. I encourage all sports to put as much, if not more, effort into CTE prevention protocols as they have concussion protocols.”

The protocol also includes annual education, support for research and care for ex-players who suspect they are living with CTE. It follows the publication of a CTE prevention framework published in 2023 by researchers assembled by the Concussion and CTE Foundation and Boston University’s CTE Center.

Nowinski called on sports leagues and their medical advisors to adopt CTE prevention protocols.

“There is now overwhelming evidence that more head impacts in sports will result in more athletes with CTE,” Nowinski said. “Sports administrators aren’t risking CTE themselves, but the policies they set are sentencing some athletes to a life with CTE, a burden that will primarily be carried by their spouses and children. Enough is enough.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

FILE - In this 1974 file photo, Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler looks to pass. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2012, file photo, Chris Nowinski, head of the Sports Legacy Institute in Boston, talks about a hit count proposal to dramatically reduce youth athletes' exposure to repetitive brain trauma in multiple sports during a news conference at the Super Bowl XLVI media center in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - Miami Fusion's Tyrone Marshall (15) assists Kansas City Wizards' Scott Vermillion after the two collided while going up for a header in the first half of a soccer match Aug. 29, 1999, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga, File)