Forget marketing stunts and gimmicks. The reason great brands have been able to drastically affect how millions - if not billions - of people behave is through creative actions. Here are 10 notable examples of how brands have used this approach to spell out what they stood for in the world.
1. Red Bull Stratos (2012)
Stratos looks like a marketing stunt gone nuts. Yet it’s worth noting that Red Bull created little noise about themselves. By letting Felix Baumgartner get the plaudits, Red Bull continued its tradition of celebrating the rebellious adventurer in all of us. In our sit-back-and-comment culture, Red Bull challenges us to get-up-and-be.
2. M-Pesa (2007)
Instead of a slick marketing campaign, mobile-payment service M-Pesa launched in Kenya in 2007 by getting its hands dirty, equipping a national network of small-store owners to offer the service, one agent at a time. Today, 70% of Kenyans use M-Pesa to buy and sell all sorts of things. By doing this in a notoriously difficult market, M-Pesa has shamed banks and mobile phone companies in the West to do the hard work that makes mobile payment work for individuals, not the corporates.
3. App store (2008) / Android (2009)
Two different brands and two different creative approaches, but both have changed our lives in ways unimaginable 10 years ago. Today, one-man “teams” can compete with large organisations for that 120x120px space on your phone ushering in a golden age of creativity and design that is transforming industries across the spectrum.
4. Channel 4 Paralympics: Meet the Superhumans (2012)
It’s easy to mistake Channel 4’s work for the London 2012 Paralympic Games as another television commercial – until you see it. In your face, unapologetic and full of force, it turns our notion of disability on its head. This is not a sideshow to the main event. This is the superhuman version. And it has a cracking soundtrack too.
5. Netflix Originals (2013)
With the the arrival of House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and the resuscitation of Arrested Development, Netflix made its most creative move yet, radically changing the role of television in our lives. And while the traditional TV industry clings to viewing schedules and advertising models, Netflix is giving us more control over the what, how and when of our content.
6. WeChat (2011)
While the world focuses on Silicon Valley, WeChat continues to build and expand on its radical mobile-first platform model that the West should consider emulating. Its 484 million users help WeChat realise its core revenue from its one-stop shop offerings, which include everything from club memberships and avatars to shopping and dating services among others – not advertising.
7. The Lego Movie (2014)
Its blatant product placement is a subversive commentary on the genre. In making it, Lego flung down the gauntlet before all branded content makers to make content that – in the words of the BBC – not only sells but entertains, educates and informs.
8. Tesla Motors: Open Patents (2014)
Tesla’s jump into the open-source movement is a radical move in the world of cars. For an industry facing existential challenges, Tesla is at least helping move the needle forward, daring other car-makers to sift through the readily available intellectual property and do something meaningful with it.
9. Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (2004)
The Dove Campaign celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Dove has brilliantly inserted itself into meaningful conversations on beauty, body image and societal perceptions on women and contributed to pop culture colloquy with each execution.
10. Smarter Planet by IBM (2008)
IBM used Smarter Planet to re-position itself as a mere computer manufacturer into a technology juggernaut with a strong social conscience. More than all the new players emerging from the West Coast, it can trace its roots back to 19th-century New York City and continues to lead the field in its abilty to express in clearly accessible terms the real impact technology can have in our lives.
Ije Nwokorie is the CEO of Wolff Olins. He is a speaker at the Guardian’s Changing Media Summit 2015.
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