August 22, 2019 In Agency Culture, Inspiration, By Media Cause Team

Thursday Thinky: Sounds, Sharks & Soccer

After a successful launch last week, we’re back for more!

It’s Thursday, the weekend is near but not quite here, and you desperately need a mental break. Don’t go anywhere–we have just what the doctor ordered… A Thursday Thinky!

This week we are featuring some heavyweights (Coca Cola & Adidas), an innovative uses of sounds by the Boys & Girls Club of America, a questionable Shark Week campaign, and amazing creativity coming from students and interns. If any of these campaigns make your wheel spin, we’d love to hear your thoughts–get in touch with us!

Happy Thursday!

 

Organizations That Caught Our Eye

 

Boys & Girls Clubs of America – A deep dive into their latest campaign to understand how to stand out in a clustered non-profit landscape despite a tight budget (Campaign Live)

This was a fascinating read for us because we have clients in the space space. The goal of their campaign is awareness and perception change. The use of sound as a device and a throughline to tell their story is very interesting (and reminded me of that classic Nike commercial). It’s focused, it’s interesting, it’s positive. Check it out!
Hat tip to Dagger.

 

 

Good & Not So Good Brand Campaigns

 

Appleton Estates – Appleton Estates Run curates a series of live-jazz events that will explore Jamaica’s influence on contemporary British jazz music  (Campaign Live)

This is a good one! They’re not professing to be the savior of some giant global issue. The arts and culture connection feels natural to their brand because of its roots. It gives consumers a way to participate that’s integral to the experience and enriches their own lives, too. Short story, it’s not a gimmick. It’s just lovely.

 

Land Shark – For Shark Week, beer brand LandShark adopts 100 sharks and offers people the chance to swim with them  (Campaign Live)

This is not a good one, at least not in our book! It really feels like a plain old opportunistic marketing stunt. Why did the 100 sharks need to be adopted? Isn’t it detrimental to the sharks to have people swimming with them? What does the money they’re giving to Shark Angels go to? How much are they giving? Could Shark Angels have gone a different way? What do you think? 🤔

 

Have you ever thought about what your tongue feels like when you’re drinking a Coke? Let me answer that for you… OF COURSE NOT! Well, this new ad aims to “spark memories of the magic associated with enjoying a Coca-Cola for the first time”. For some reason, the tongue+teeth=magic equation does not make me want a coke 🤷‍♂️.

 

 

When Creativity Meets Tech & Design

 

ITV – ITV (in England) invites students to recreate its identity through art (Creative Review)

Croudsourcing creativity at his finest! It gives a voice and a platform to new talent, it brings unshackles brands from the unintentional handcuffed thinking that evolves over time, and it puts ownership into the hands of the audience. Love it!

 

Adidas – Adidas makes a trippy soccer manifesto for its new cleats (Muse by Clio)

I’m torn on this one. It is visually striking, yet requires too much of your brain power to process everything that’s going on. The copy is crisp, yet sometimes cringy. But… they went for it. It’s weird and it fits very well with their “dare to create” rebrand. One question, though. Why is there only one female player in the ad? And, why do we only see her for a grand total of 2 seconds?

 

BONUS: Innovation, and sculpting the social consciousness of young folks, FTW.

 

22 Squared – 22squared interns launch drive to change sexist tech(Campaign  Live)

“The fact that this group of interns found the power to call out the largest technology companies in the world, on this blatantly sexist, misogynistic misuse of AI, is a beautiful thing. When our industry uses its powers for good, we can do anything,” ❤️

 

That’s it for today’s Thinky. See you next week!

PS: If any of the above made your wheel spin, we’d love to hear your thoughts–get in touch with us!

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