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| Image Credits: Effie |
Remember those innovative, awe-inspiring, and (sometimes tear-jerker) marketing campaigns by brands like Nike, Coke, Dove and many others alike? How they were suddenly blowing up on the news and internet while becoming the talk of the world?
Their campaign and the ideas they brought about was revolutionary at that time, and it's no surprise that the results they got were reflected with an increase in all aspects of the business. From increased profits to favorable brand engagements alongside other positive sentiments, business was booming for brands who those who pulled off their branding campaigns successfully.
So if you're thinking about branding your own business with a marketing campaign but don't know where to start, here are four unique examples to help inspire your next branding project:
1) Tile - 'Together We Find' Campaign
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| Image Credits: AdWeek |
First up, we've got Tile. A company that creates Bluetooth-tracking devices to help customers easily trace their misplaced belongings whenever and wherever.
While the products itself seem handy and all, the brand wanted to be known for more than just their innovative tracking devices. Tile's Chief Marketing Officer, Simon Fleming-Wood has always set his eyes on moving past that association by reinventing the brand's perception in the eyes of consumers.
"Our goal from the start has been to shift the perception of Tile from that of a functional tracking device to a brand with an emotional connection."
While the products itself seem handy and all, the brand wanted to be known for more than just their innovative tracking devices. Tile's Chief Marketing Officer, Simon Fleming-Wood has always set his eyes on moving past that association by reinventing the brand's perception in the eyes of consumers.
The solution to that? A campaign with a tear-jerker advertisement based on a true story by one of their customers, which ran on both TVC and online platforms in 60, 30 and 15-seconds formats while its full-length clip is available for viewing on the company's social platforms.
To save you time on searching and scrolling, here's the video:
While the spotlight on Ernie a.k.a the adorable lost panda who's trying to get back to his owner Lucy, the campaign managed to strike an emotional chord with its audience by bringing out a powerful message we can all relate to.
Through the personification and perspective of Ernie, the film presents the struggling journey in which everyone's prized possession goes through, hoping they'll be reunited with their beloved owners one fateful day.
Once that happens, I'm sure we'll all experience on an overwhelming surge of joy, excitement, comfort alongside a host of strong positive emotions like this girl here!
But the real end result?
By re-enacting a real-life scenario in which customers could find what they lost with the help of Tile and its 'Good Neighbors' community, people in the film who are motivated by helping others and inspired by being part of something that makes a difference, the brand managed to create and capture the emotional connection customers tied to it and move past their association of being more than just a tracking device.
The solution to that? A campaign with a tear-jerker advertisement based on a true story by one of their customers, which ran on both TVC and online platforms in 60, 30 and 15-seconds formats while its full-length clip is available for viewing on the company's social platforms.
To save you time on searching and scrolling, here's the video:
While the spotlight on Ernie a.k.a the adorable lost panda who's trying to get back to his owner Lucy, the campaign managed to strike an emotional chord with its audience by bringing out a powerful message we can all relate to.
"We all have an object that holds an irrational amount of meaning, and we all have a story where, through the help and kindness of strangers, our lives were made a little better."
Through the personification and perspective of Ernie, the film presents the struggling journey in which everyone's prized possession goes through, hoping they'll be reunited with their beloved owners one fateful day.
Once that happens, I'm sure we'll all experience on an overwhelming surge of joy, excitement, comfort alongside a host of strong positive emotions like this girl here!
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| Image Credits: Babble |
But the real end result?
By re-enacting a real-life scenario in which customers could find what they lost with the help of Tile and its 'Good Neighbors' community, people in the film who are motivated by helping others and inspired by being part of something that makes a difference, the brand managed to create and capture the emotional connection customers tied to it and move past their association of being more than just a tracking device.
The Takeaway:
Find out what your brand means to your customers.
- Why do they like it?
- Why do they want it?
- Why do they need it?
Keep asking questions about how your brand has made a difference in your customers’ lives (or could!) and find out how they really feel when they think of your brand.
Like Tile, you can capitalize on the strong emotions customers feel when they use your products which helps them improve their lives in a tense situation. However, the approach you'll take might differ completely as each brand has their own context to work in.
Once you arrive at an answer, you'll know the next steps to take and begin your project with a branding agency.
Like Tile, you can capitalize on the strong emotions customers feel when they use your products which helps them improve their lives in a tense situation. However, the approach you'll take might differ completely as each brand has their own context to work in.
Once you arrive at an answer, you'll know the next steps to take and begin your project with a branding agency.
2) IKEA - Virtual Weddings
You read that right. Virtual Weddings.
Now, this isn't used to completely replace the conventional marriage tradition that's held in person. But rather, a fun little re-enactment that plays around on the imagination of 'what-ifs'.
If you're married (or are thinking about tying the knot), you can be sure that planning for a wedding, all the way down to the actual cost of funding it is enough to give you a heart attack on the spot.
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| Image Credits: ABC News |
On the other hand, IKEA's virtual weddings plan to reimagine the entire scenario by creating a virtual wedding just for you. There's no money involved (which is the best part), and you can invite your guests through Facebook to let them attend the ceremony virtually using their webcam and microphone.
Here's the video to explain what I mean:
Okay, so what's the point in all this?
While these virtual weddings does not constitute a couple's legal binding as compared to traditional marriages, IKEA wanted to reinforce its brand promise of 'simplicity' in everyday situations.
Where important things such as weddings shouldn't have to be expensive nor complicated, and that the only things truly matters are the people who are around to share those moments with.
The Takeaway:
As IKEA's consumers mainly have a sensitivity to price, those traits are often found to be most prominent for those who are moving into their new place (especially newly weds who are looking for a place of their own).
By reinforcing your brand promise of being simple and inexpensive with your customers' important occasions, you will have an opportunity to strengthen and improve your brand's recall within them, making you the go-to solution whenever such events happen.
So how you apply that to your own brand?
By reinforcing your brand promise of being simple and inexpensive with your customers' important occasions, you will have an opportunity to strengthen and improve your brand's recall within them, making you the go-to solution whenever such events happen.
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| Image Credits: Wedgewood Weddings |
So how you apply that to your own brand?
For starters, consider the use of technology to aid your project, as it might present new and creative approaches to solve certain problems specific to your brand.
In IKEA’s case, brand promise wasn’t the only win, but it created an opportunity to showcase their wide range of party products by surrounding customers with them throughout the virtual wedding and the own website it was hosted on.
Putting that into perspective, think about what you can do with technology to surround your customers with your products by highlighting them for upcoming and important occasions. After all, you'll never know when they'll start turning to you as the go-to brand for those meaningful moments.
3) MailChimp - 'Did You Mean MailChimp?' Campaign
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| Image Credits: Medium |
MailChimp, also known as an alternative to the oversized and expensive email software slowly branded themselves into a marketing platform.
Their main goal is to serve small businesses and help them perform on par (and better) against corporate giants who usually have convenient access to a variety of crucial resources such as marketing, advertising, branding and so forth.
But before the brand became a popular pick amongst small businesses, it not only had to properly place itself in the industry but needed to stand out from an ever-growing sea of competition.
The answer to that was found in the mispronunciation of the brand's name (a claim from an audio ad in 2014 where 'MailChimp' was pronounced as 'MailKimp'), which turned into a marketing campaign spanned over a few months to creatively reinvent the brand with humor.
Here's the campaign compiled into a video to explain:
As you can see, the brand poked fun at the multiple ways its name could be mispronounced by creating products, videos, events and all sorts of collateral that didn't tie into what the brand's actual business in any manner.
Although the branding agency they partnered with told them that this campaign was 'borderline reckless,' implying that might be biting off more than they can chew, the results of this campaign paid off with a massive success that total up to 1 billion impressions. Moreover, their VeilHymn single alone got streamed 1.5 million times, while its three short films were played before features in almost 300 theaters across the US.
The Takeaway:
It's okay to experiment with new ideas and concepts, especially with things that might not relate to your business in the first place. In MailChimp's case, they were an email marketing software with a campaign that ventured out into anything but email marketing while targeting different sub-cultures within various SMEs.
When people got curious about those nine individual campaigns, they went online to search for the campaign that hooked them most, which eventually brought all of them back to brand's landing page.
Image Credits: Medium
So how do you incorporate that into your own strategy?
While not every brand can capitalize on being fun and not take life too seriously, you can however imitate this with a similar approach -- breaking your own rules.
Basically, forget everything you know about marketing, advertising and branding. It's risky, but always playing it safe will never get you to where you want to be. Yet, this isn't about a 'shoot first, ask questions later' scenario as you still need to understand the individual risks that comes with it as well.
After all, if your brand is going to be playful or weird like MailChimp, you're going to need a strategy.
When people got curious about those nine individual campaigns, they went online to search for the campaign that hooked them most, which eventually brought all of them back to brand's landing page.
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Image Credits: Medium
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So how do you incorporate that into your own strategy?
While not every brand can capitalize on being fun and not take life too seriously, you can however imitate this with a similar approach -- breaking your own rules.
Basically, forget everything you know about marketing, advertising and branding. It's risky, but always playing it safe will never get you to where you want to be. Yet, this isn't about a 'shoot first, ask questions later' scenario as you still need to understand the individual risks that comes with it as well.
After all, if your brand is going to be playful or weird like MailChimp, you're going to need a strategy.
Because being weird without strategy is not ingenious. It's chaos.
4) Toyota - 'Start Your Impossible' Campaign
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| Image Credits: Toyota |
Lastly, let's take a look at one of the older brands whose products are best known for reliability and safety -- Toyota.
Although they’ve had their own fair share of crises in the early 2000’s, the brand has come a long way since those troubled times, regaining the trust and support of their customers in its products.
Compared to the other three examples, this one will touch on how highlighting social issues can be beneficial brands and business during branding. And that's because the consumers we have today are completely different from the ones before, in which they are more educated and more inspired to various causes that creates positive change in the world.
After all, everyone is becoming increasingly aware and dissatisfied with the world's current state where inequality, climate change, poverty, protests, and various pressing issues resides in the society we live in.
Compared to the other three examples, this one will touch on how highlighting social issues can be beneficial brands and business during branding. And that's because the consumers we have today are completely different from the ones before, in which they are more educated and more inspired to various causes that creates positive change in the world.
After all, everyone is becoming increasingly aware and dissatisfied with the world's current state where inequality, climate change, poverty, protests, and various pressing issues resides in the society we live in.
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| Image Credits: One Young World |
Hence, people all around the globe start coming together in hopes of reshaping the world by leaving it better off than it was; which is where brands and businesses step in to inspire action amongst people of different generations.
Here's a link to Toyota's campaign 'Start Your Impossible', as well as the video:
Like the first example, Toyota redefines its brands by moving past its general association with automobiles into a different realm. But instead of capturing the emotions this time, the brand demonstrated its support for people with physical disabilities while celebrating both the Olympics and Paralympics games.
Here's a link to Toyota's campaign 'Start Your Impossible', as well as the video:
Like the first example, Toyota redefines its brands by moving past its general association with automobiles into a different realm. But instead of capturing the emotions this time, the brand demonstrated its support for people with physical disabilities while celebrating both the Olympics and Paralympics games.
The Takeaway:
Toyota’s campaign highlighted its proactive involvement in creating a better life for people by reframing mobility as a concept for human rights rather than just for automobiles.
Instead of reinventing its products, the brand changed the way they portrayed its values (humility, hard work, success through challenges, and determination) so it could break past its limits and solve the problems of tomorrow.
The lesson here?
Every brand has their individual values, but the way you define them is what sets you apart.
Will you be innovating for your business or will you be innovating for a better world? By reframing your brand's core values and what you want them to mean, you'll not only set yourself apart with a USP, but you might just end up with a lot more support and respect from those who already buy from you and those will start buying from because of you.
Instead of reinventing its products, the brand changed the way they portrayed its values (humility, hard work, success through challenges, and determination) so it could break past its limits and solve the problems of tomorrow.
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| Image Credits: Lulop |
The lesson here?
Every brand has their individual values, but the way you define them is what sets you apart.
Will you be innovating for your business or will you be innovating for a better world? By reframing your brand's core values and what you want them to mean, you'll not only set yourself apart with a USP, but you might just end up with a lot more support and respect from those who already buy from you and those will start buying from because of you.
At The End of The Day
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| Image Credits: Rikon |
Branding your business will no doubt involve a lot of planning, and executing it in the most effective manner will take up plenty of resources that newer or smaller businesses might not have to begin with.
When things start to get overwhelming (or seemingly unattainable), its better to get outside help on board (like a branding agency) so the ideas you have for your branding project or campaign won't go to waste just because you've don't know what or where
After all, even large corporations like the ones mentioned above got a branding agency to help out with their entire campaign, and look where that got them!
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