Dan Sheniak from Wieden + Kennedy on the future of the big idea [with 6 cool videos]
I spent the day at the Ninemsn Digital Marketing Summit – possibly the first event I’ve been to this year where I wasn’t a speaker. See my separate posts on Jeffrey Cole’s presentation and notes from other presentations at the Summit.
In the afternoon Dan Sheniak, Global Media Director at Wieden + Kennedy, talked about the future of the big idea in a world of fragmented media, liberally using examples from their recent work, notably for Nike and Old Spice. Here are some notes from his presentation together with some of the videos he showed.
We are living in a communications revolution. Complex, evolving, chasing rather than leading, more questions than answers.
We are all feeling the same things.
Tougher to impact consumers in this fragmented world.
It all starts with having a meaningful relationship between a brand and a consumer. For example, Nike’s relationship with athletes, with their mission making athletes better.
Before we had thre of four ways to tell a story. Today, we have a million ways to do it. If your ideas stinks, then is can stink in a million different ways.
It all starts with a big idea.
Dan told the story of how the original Old Spice “I’m on a horse” TV commercial was used as a springboard into perhaps the most successful social media campaign ever. The bottom line was an increase of 107% in sales of Old Spice over the course of the initial TV ad and subsequent YouTube viral campaign.
Collaboration across disciplines brings bigger ideas. Need to create mini-think-tanks of designers, technologists, creatives and more.
Collaboration = More inventive. More experiential. More open and engaging.
Lance Armstrong launched the cancer support organization Livestrong with the help of Nike, with presence across multiple mainstream and social media platforms. To the point of collaboration, one of the diverse group brainstorming the initial ideas for the campaign suggested using a robot on the Tour de France to share people’s tweets of support on the road.
Can your brand be bold? Can your brand take people being bold back?
Dan went on to talk about basketballer’ LeBron James’ decision to shift to Miami Heat from Cleveland Cavaliers. The negative response on social media was extreme, leading to Nike to engage Wieden + Kennedy to reframe the conversation.
The ad shifted sentiment to be primarily positive for LeBron, and the campaign was broadly taken up, by among others South Park.
“When you make something no one hates, no one loves it.” Tibor Kalman
Ideas have the opportunity for consumers to have a deeper experience with your brand. Setting up your point of view has to integrate with allowing consumers to engage with your brand in a natural way.
