Provocative ideas get people talking. They divide crowds and stir up a culture like no other.
Take Beyoncé for example. brand spankin”, boots scoot incountry album, cowboy carter.
First, let me clarify that I die hard Beyoncé fan. Therefore, take all references, comparisons, and opinions with a grain of salt. I just admire her ability to take creative risks with unparalleled confidence.
If you live your life with your cell phone turned off, then yes, Beyoncé releases a country album, sparking whispered controversy and explosive conversations. Like most of her music, people call this song a masterpiece, and once you know how powerful it is in popular culture, you'd have to agree. Aside from Beyoncé's album release strategy that dramatically changes the conversation, let's focus on her bold and innovative move to branch out and disrupt a different genre.
What can the world of advertising and marketing learn from this?
Breakthrough creativity requires a healthy disregard for rules. In other words, risk. Take a look at the results of Mark Riston Those who danced with danger performed better than those who did not.
Think about where creative risk-taking has paid off. Equinox, a premium health club brand, wanted to remind the world that they don't just stand for fitness, they stand for life. In their words, “A belief isn't a belief until it costs money.” So they decided to fight back against fads and fitness trends by refusing to accept new memberships on New Year's Day, the busiest day of the year. The audacity of their “We don't speak January” campaign will be met with fierce backlash online and the marketing team will be sweating in activewear, but they'll stand their ground and stay true to the brand's DNA. continued to be.
This negative atmosphere was quickly overturned by enthusiastic positive comments, with brand conversations up 504% and January's best performance ever in terms of sales and leads.
Marketers fear failure.
But real growth comes from breaking the mold with disruptive creativity. This is often met with some reluctance, but remember that your audience will admire your confidence. A wise man once told me that if no one hates you, no one really loves you. When you jump out from under a rock and switch your phone back on, you'll find that Beyoncé is receiving hate from some of the more “redneck” country music community. But the love she receives from the wider world far exceeds that. If you want to grow, change direction, open your heart, you have to get used to words like “hate.”
As we all know, Beyoncé never ceases to amaze us. She uniquely accepts new ideas and executes them in her own unique way and with amazing confidence. Isn’t that what brands should be doing? When it comes to marketing, disrupting categories and taking risks while staying true to your brand positioning.
Exploiting social and cultural taboos is one of the many ways to do this, but one that scares most marketers. We need to accept this fear.
Who Gives A Crap is a brand that embraces this. We recently teamed up with an eco-friendly toilet paper company to alert people to the fact that more than 1 million trees are cut down every day to make traditional toilet paper. Deforestation is relatively low on most people's list of things they really care about, so a provocative idea was needed to ensure it would get noticed.
At the time, the media was abuzz over how many classic children's books had their original texts updated due to racist or sexist language. However, no book has ever been revised for environmental reasons. So Who Gives A Crap has enlisted the help of the world's most famous Winnie the Pooh (pun intended) to republish her next installment of AA Milne's 1926 classic. Winnie the Pooh: Deforestation Edition. Sustainably made with 100% recycled materials, the much-loved story remains the same, but with one big difference. That means all the trees have been cut down.
Who Gives A Crap knew that pecking a bear (another bear!) would increase “anti-wokeness” sentiment, but the campaign started a positive conversation around the world and increased brand awareness. In addition to increasing the number of trees, those who made the switch were able to save many trees. We offer 100% recycled products.
I am in no way saying that you should aim for shock value or sensationalism. You can communicate in a way that is provocative, yet emotional, relevant, and authentic. See how IKEA approached this irreverent gem with 'The Pee Ad' for pregnant women. Can you imagine a meeting where the team was told they were going to pee on the audience in an ad? Scary. Good scary.
True, there are some risks that don't pay off. They often try to be provocative without support to back up their point. Even Kim K, the most powerful PR machine in the world, can miss the mark. Perhaps trivializing the climate crisis and promoting the token gesture of Skims Nipple Bra wasn't her best move, but this too had the benefit of finding an unexpected audience.
You can't please everyone. The extraordinary campaign will still leave some cynics. Any groundbreaking, genre-defying album will have a few naysayers. Even Paddington 2, the highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, may have some negative opinions.
Thank you, George. Very helpful. What would have happened if George had been in the focus group for this movie? I hate thinking about it.
Story was it. What I'm saying is that we should all add a cowboy hat to our list of unique brand assets, hop into the sidesaddle of our horses, and make some noise. That's something Beyonce would do.
**hat tip**
Max Reed is the creative director of Eleven and TBWA Melbourne.
