BLACKISSUE No.2 - BBH Global
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
BLACK ISSUE No.2
Black Thinking 2 3
BBH is a world-famous creative
agency that makes jaw-dropping,
thumb-stopping, eye-opening work
for brands across the globe. Founded
in London in 1982, we now have offices
in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm,
Mumbai, Singapore and Shanghai. Our
first ad for Levi’s showed a black sheep
travelling in the opposite direction
to a flock of white ones. That’s where
we got our emblem and our guiding
philosophy: When the world zigs, zag.
Why? Because it’s easy to zig, to go with
the grain. It feels safe. It feels like the
sensible thing to do. But the greater
risk today is failing to stand out. So we
say be the blackest sheep you can be –
and reap the rewards of difference.Black CONTENTS
8 —9 52—55
Words by Sir John Hegarty Reimagining Black
Friday for Google
12—15
Respecting Gen Alpha 56—61
Breaking Glass for
16—19 Vice President Kamala Harris
Parodying Masterclass
16—19 26—31 32—35 62—67
with Marvel
In a Gender-Spectrumed Future,
20—21 Will Marketing to Women
Be a Thing of the Past?
Brand Strategy is
like the Stock Market
68—71
22—24 5 Ways Your Brand Can Champion
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
An interview
with BBH’s Global
Chief Creative Officer 72—73
Dating in a Pandemic
26—31 with Tinder India
Absolut Together #IRL:
The Campaign That 74—75
Defined a Moment New Buzzwords for a Better 2021
32—35 76—79
How to Eat the Big Fish Leading in a crisis with Tesco
36—39 80—81
Creating a Virtual Paradise Booking Tiny Tinie to perform
40—43 46—51 52—55
for Sentosa Island on a Burger King Whopper
40—43 82—84
Why Pharma Advertising 5G: The Myths & the Benefits
needs an Emotion Injection
85—87
44—45 Running Stories:
Bringing home the Audio Augmented Reality
beans for Heinz
88—91
46—51 Everything you need to
The Truth about Culture know about: Clubhouse & NFTs
56—61 62—67 68—71
7
Editor-in-chief: Adam Arnold / Contributing Editors: Tess Lowery & Mara Dettmann
Editorial Operations Director: Jo Smith / Art Director & Designer: Charley Ray / Art & Production Manager: Tom Burns
Printing: Geoff Neal Litho / Digital Edition: Richard Atkins, Joe Owen, Anisha Anand & Wellcom Studio
Front Cover: Tim Flach / Inside: Using imagery from Unsigned, a platform that spotlights up-and-coming talentBlack BBH
"PERSUASION
WORDS BY
SIR JOHN
HEGARTY
VS.
PROMOTION:
Surely you’d say this proves the ultimate value of broadcast
communication. And it does. But yet this is the element so many
brands have abandoned, all whilst they pour more and more money
into promotion.
Sir John Hegarty - the man who put
In reality, a brand has to employ both those marketing tools;
Nick Kamen into a laundrette for Levi’s,
they work off each other. And this, I suppose, is the important point.
gave Audi the immortal ‘Vorsprung Durch
Life is about complementary actions that feed off each other and
Technik’ and founded BBH - writes about
shape our appreciation of them, enhancing their effectiveness.
today’s marketing landscape.
Without day, you cannot have night. Black adds drama to white.
THEY’RE TWO
Sweet and sour heighten our appreciation of food. The juxtaposi-
tion of opposites is a powerful force in communication as indeed
in life. One without the other loses drama and impact. McEnroe
without Borg becomes less of a story. James Hunt’s rivalry with
YOU CAN'T SELL WITHOUT persuasion Niki Lauda pitted two Formula 1 drivers with opposite views of how
to win. Their rivalry, as with others, captured the imagination of the
Over the last 25 years our industry has undergone seismic change. public and became a Hollywood movie.
Digital technology disrupted everything as it has done for many
others, music, publishing, retail, the list is endless. And that And so it goes on, The Stones vs. The Beatles. Oasis and Blur,
change is still continuing. Opening up opportunities, as it has fact vs. fiction, light and dark, war and peace.
closed others down. But in this sea of constant change, which
is both frightening and exciting, we must remember: ‘Principles It’s the same with persuasion vs. promotion, they’re 2 sides of
SIDES OF THE
remain. Practices change.’ the same coin. One without the other reduces their impact and
the value they both bring. Digital technology has unleashed untold
There is a fundamental truth we need to hold on to: as technolo- opportunity. It's made it easier to launch new ideas and to gain a
gy impacts our lives, we as human beings remain fundamentally commercial foothold in the marketplace. But it rapidly runs out of
the same. We love, laugh, cry and argue over why the ending of steam as a brand grows and becomes commercially uneconomic.
Game of Thrones was so bad. Let’s face it, it was shit. And so it It needs the oxygen of fame.
is for brands. Despite all the amazing technology at our disposal,
the two components of any successful brand campaign are Anyone who doubts this should look into the sad demise of
persuasion and promotion. Always have been, always will be. Mahabis. They burst onto the scene with an innovative slipper,
Interlinked and feeding off each other, they constitute the funda- marketed on social media some 6 years ago. Success followed,
mental DNA of any marketing programme. but as they grew the cost of reaching new buyers burdened the
company with costs they couldn’t maintain and they eventually went
SAME COIN"
Yet over the last 25 years we’ve seen the abandonment of into liquidation. The founders admitted they got hooked on social
persuasion as a key element in many marketing campaigns. media and couldn’t shake off the digital drug and build their brand.
The allure of measurement, targeting and the growth of what I call They couldn’t break free. They have since been bought out and are
‘stalker marketing’ on social media has convinced many experts operating under different ownership.
that the need for ‘wasteful’ broadcast persuasion is unnecessary.
“Why spend money advertising to people who will never buy my This was a case of a brilliantly promoted idea, but one which failed
product?” is echoed around boardroom tables the world over. to broadcast the company’s values in a way that built the brand
This, of course, fails to understand that even though you may never and their fame. Of course, persuasion requires a greater input of
buy a certain product, knowing about it (and having a high regard creativity (a skill that is notoriously hard to control), but it is the skill
for its worth) adds to its value. It’s wisely said, a brand is not just that delivers untold wealth and value, a brand ignores it at its peril.
made by the people who buy it, but also by the people who know
about it. Brands like Marmite have baked that understanding This duopoly is therefore a vital component of marketing, despite
8 9
into their marketing, and in doing so have created an amazingly what social media may tell you. It proves that without Laurel, Hardy
valuable company. Their ‘love it, hate it’ campaign actively targets wouldn’t have been very funny. They needed each other. And so it
non-users while reminding loyalists why they like it so much. is without persuasion, promotion becomes less effective.Black BBH LONDON
Many agencies have mantras and sayings. Here’s the
one we’re most proud of: “Our objective is effective-
ness, our strategy is creativity.”
We love it because it shows just how creative thinking
can fuel impact, liberating the agency to think beyond
‘off-the-shelf’ routes to growth.
2 2 In practice, this mantra helped us create £32 billion
for Audi in the last 40 years, £4 billion for Tesco in the
0 0 last four and £16 million for Heinz in just the last few
1 2 months. It’s results like these that saw us crowned
8 0
IPA Effective-
ness Agency of
the Year again
last November,
THE POWER OF DIFFERENCE
for the second TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
2 2
time in a row.
0 0 We will always emphasise making a commercial
1 2
difference, but there’s a growing opportunity to do
9 Effectiveness 1
even more. So we say ‘yes’ to bolstering the bottom
line, ‘yes’ to the great numbers on the brand tracker,
9 Company 9 but also ‘yes’ to impacting communities in a positive
way and ‘yes’ to playing an active role in the biggest
of the Year issue of them all: the planet’s health.
In fact, we think that making a difference in these
new places will actually unlock even more commer-
cial potential – because ultimately, it means serving
people better with our brands.
10 11
Words by Will Lion & Simon Gregory
Joint CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICERS
BBH LondonBlack BBH
Born while we devoured Breaking Bad, applauded
Lady Gaga’s meat dress and cheered on Occupy Wall
S PECTI NG
Street, the oldest Gen Alphas are only turning 11 this year.
ER
GEN
They are going to be something very special. But alas, most com- gen x
mentators are still offering up fairly vanilla descriptions of what
makes them special. “The most tech savvy”, “the longest living AIR
SPEED
generation ever” … all true but not hugely differentiating from any
other generation. 280 0
What will set them apart and really define their time on the planet 60
240
is the sheer speed of their lives. When my son deleted the mail
app on his tablet because “email is so slow Dad,” I realised the
ALPHA
100
200
alternate reality they already exist in. Everything is either instant
or it's irrelevant. What we consider terminal velocity, they think is 140
pretty tame. They will be differentiated by their ability to work and
play at warp speed. It’s not that they will have more channels or
more devices. They might actually choose to have fewer. It’s that
they will never have known life at a slower pace and their synaps-
es will be attuned to consuming content and indeed creating it
at unprecedented pace.
geN
Our parents’ generation grew up watching Top of the Pops. ALPHA
The Beatles would walk on stage and perform for three minutes to AIR
SPEED
a locked-off camera. It was pretty easy for their eyes and brains to
follow the entertainment. Gen X grew up with Satellite TV and I can 280 0
still remember the first time I watched Thriller on MTV. There were
lots of cuts, lots of big camera moves - it was a visual riot. And we 60
240
got used to this faster pace of editing and ballooning volume of
content we could consume in one sitting in front of the telly. 100
200
Fast forward to Gen Alpha, and we are approaching warp speed. 140
The average TikTok user spends almost an hour on the app each
day, consuming a rapid succession of videos that are light on nar-
rative and thick on intricate visual codes that they can decipher
in real time. It looks way too much like The Matrix, or Clockwork
Orange, to be enjoyable to me – but it doesn’t feel this way to them.
They can handle it.
In every cockpit there’s an airspeed dial that is ignored at the
pilot’s peril. They have colour coded arcs that indicate safe
speeds for various manoeuvres. In the green arc, you are all good
for most things. But reach the yellow arc and you’re going so fast
that the plane will no longer perform the way you think it will.
Get past the red line and the manufacturer no longer guarantees
the airframe. Things start to snap off. Gen’s X’s green arc went
further than our parents’ - but we are certainly at our red line now.
Working every hour on Zoom and struggling to process the data
that beams into our eyeballs and keeps us awake at night, it feels
like our wings might break soon. Gen Alpha is learning to fly a
Words by much faster plane, with less limits. And this is why we will never be
12 13
able to catch up with them. They will be over our horizon by their
Adam Arnold late teens.
Global CHIEF MARKETING OFFICERBlack BBH
But to turn to the task in hand. How should we as
advertising professionals market to these young But to turn to the task in Mistake 1: We lumped them together
into generational groups
speedsters?
hand. How should we as
"WE OWE GEN
Personally, I think we need a moment of reflection. There’s definitely a merit to grouping people together
And we owe them a lot more consideration and re-
spect than we paid to previous Millennials. We need
advertising professionals based on age cohorts but without watershed mo-
ments like World War II, the dividing lines between
to learn from the spectacular failures we’ve made
with younger generations in our recent marketing
market to these young generations have become increasingly arbitrary.
In the UK alone, there are around 78,000 Millennials
history.
speedsters? Personally, whose children are also Millennials (GWI, Q1 2020).
We owe it to them and to ourselves to get this right.
But to turn to the task in hand. How should we as I think we need a moment What’s more, they’re not hugely cohesive as a group.
In fact, a BBH Labs study uncovered that Orangina
advertising professionals market to these young
speedsters? of reflection. And we drinkers have more in common with each other than
Gen Z, Gen X or Millennials ever did.
ALPHA A LOT
owe them a lot more So instead of simply grouping younger genera-
tions by age, we need to understand that their
consideration and respect interests and behaviours could be far better com-
mon denominators.
than we paid to previous
Millennials. We need to Mistake 2: We sold their culture back to them
learn from the spectacular When brands try to engage with the youth, it can
failures we’ve made with sometimes feel like your dad is crashing your 16th
MORE RESPECT
birthday party doing the robot dance. In the best
younger generations in our case scenarios, it can come across as tone-deaf.
In the worst, it does actual damage.
recent marketing history. Femvertising, cultural appropriation and woke-wash-
We owe it to them and to ing all come from the same place: they superficially
engage with what they see as popular culture in
ourselves to get this right. a short-cut attempt to connect with consumers.
But it’s a short-cut to a dead-end and is usually
called out.
So once the next age cohort comes of age, let’s put
THAN WE PAID
in the effort to understand the culture that shapes
them (read Timanni Walker’s brilliant article in this
issue for how to get started).
Mistake 3: We didn’t take them seriously
“To age is to deride the young.” Just as Millennials
before them, Gen Z were belittled as entitled and
demanding. So their genuine concerns (about the
TO PREVIOUS
climate crisis, their mental health and the impor-
tance of social justice) have been largely dismissed.
Even Greta, lauded for her outspokenness, com-
Group Cohesion by plains of being ignored.
Generation VS Other Groupings
This one might be the biggest mistake we made
and the one it is most urgent that we learn from.
Even before Covid-19, a mental health pandemic
+4.5
was ravaging younger generations. We are 7 years
Stronger away from the point at which the planet goes past a
Cohesion
+3.8
+3.9 tipping point. And as the events of last year show, we
+3.6 are a long way from achieving universal social equity.
MILLENNIALS."
+3 So when the next generation speaks up about what
+2.9
change they want, we would do well to really listen.
With two ears and one mouth – used in that order
and proportion.
+2.1
+1.6
+1.3 IN SHORT
The next generation will go places we can’t imagine
right now, and they’re going to get there at speeds
14
+0.2
we could never handle. It's very likely that anything
we say to them will arrive very late – so at the least,
UK average it should be said with respect.
Gen Z Millennials Gen X Boomers People Crossword Extroverts Daily Introverts Orangina
Who Fans Nut Drinkers
Floss EatersBlack BBH US
ING MASTER
DY CL
RO AS
A S
P
WITH
MARVEL
Marvel was launching a new video game for Avengers, the first of its kind for the
blockbuster franchise. But it wasn’t just a game version of the Hollywood films.
They’d created an entirely new world with its own characters that we needed fans
to fall in love with.
Meanwhile, a world in lockdown had turned to online courses like Masterclass
to learn from the experts: no matter where you looked, Martin Scorsese, Aaron
Sorkin and plenty of other specialists were speaking to camera, inviting you
to join their courses. So we spoofed the format and made our own: Superior
Seminars. In them, we introduced the personalities of these new Avengers all
while showing off the superhero thrilling gameplay: Iron Man teaches beaming,
Ms. Marvel teaches punching and the Hulk… well, he gets his smash on.
We took all three films to the heart of the conversation: social. Our campaign
helped sell more than three million units. And it made its mark in culture: a tweet
from the CEO of Masterclass himself invited the Hulk to teach a full seminar.
#1 3m+ 2nd
16
top seller units sold highest launch month dollar
at time sales for any superhero
of launch game in U.S. history18
It m
ad
e
i
t s m a r k i n c u l tu
re : a
t we
e tf r o m
th
e
CE
O
o f M as
te r
cl as s h i m s
el f.
19Black BBH US
Brand strategy is hard Brand strategy is similar
Defining a space for a brand that has to last more than five years, hold multiple The first point is on altitude: a question of how high can we go. Our task is to
campaign expressions within it and remain ownable is one of the more elevate out of the product, to see how high you can take a brand strategy into
challenging aspects of our profession. It’s a skill many attempt but few excel at. the emotional and philosophical ether without it collapsing. Too low and you have
Why is that? something uninspiring, too high and you have something unusably grandiose. It’s
a strategy truism that if you ladder the benefits up high enough from any product,
It’s a little like the stock market, you end up with enlightenment.
which is also hard
The same is true of ‘authenticity,’ democratisation’ and ‘connection’. All roads
Like many people, my foray into the stock market has been relatively recent. lead to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The balancing act of brand strategy is how
A whispered conversation in a bar led me to GME (that’s GameStop for the unini- far we can elevate out of the rational until SNL starts spoofing us.
tiated) and then subsequently led me to three weeks of overwhelming stress and
iPhone warnings about my screen-time. I YOLOed, or more accurately FOMOed, In recent years, many brands have failed this test by chasing social cause
ATEGY IS L
a small amount of money into GME and then entered the wild game of guessing marketing at all costs. The reality of the product and business, or their genu-
TR IKE
when to sell. The stock market, particularly the ‘meme stocks’, are the ultimate ine purpose for existing, are left behind in favour of world-changing missions,
S
prisoner’s dilemma. You’re attempting to buy low, sell high, but without any real entirely disconnected from the product being sold. The issue with this isn’t just
D
data on what constitutes the low or the high. that it’s less effective, or that people are calling BS, but that every brand over-
N TH
laps if they all have a higher purpose. And ultimately, they’re all diminished if
A
they’re all vying for that same mental space in consumers’ heads.
R
B
E
" THE BALANCING ACT OF BRAND STRATEGY
STOCK IS HOW FAR WE CAN ELEVATE OUT OF THE
MARKET RATIONAL UNTIL SNL STARTS SPOOFING US."
Words by
The second point is on the fallacy of social wisdom. In the stock market, If the stock market has taught me anything, it’s that no amount of crowd senti-
Tom Callard we attempt to discern the mood of the masses at our peril. Predicting the pre- ment or expert analysis is a trustworthy source for what is a good investment.
Chief Strategy Officer dilections of the crowd is difficult and risky, a common adage being that past In both brand strategy and stock picking, we’re walking a tightrope between
BBH US performance is a poor predictor of future success. The same is true of brand reading the crowd and finding an angle that gives us a leg up on the competition.
strategy. There is often a comfort that comes from a strategy that feels tried and
tested. The appeal of authenticity, connection, or democratisation isn’t just that And in that tension lies the answer. The great unlock comes when you know
they feel grandiose and elevated, but that they seem familiar. The issue is that a something about the masses that no one else does. So ask two questions:
second-hand brand strategy has already lost a lot of its value.
Am I at the right altitude?
Take Dove. Dove was the first major brand to make body positivity part of its
brand strategy, and it did this to huge success. In subsequent years, multitudes Stocks and brand strategies are both liable to rise above the point where they
of brands attempted to own the same space. Not a problem for society — make sense any more. Question whether, when you remove all confirmation bias
it’s laudable for an industry that spent so long selling unrealistic beauty stand- and BS, this altitude makes sense for the product that is being sold.
ards. But unfortunately for the brands, body positivity is no longer enough to
differentiate them. Is my POV different from what’s already out there?
A different example might be Johnnie Walker. Owning ‘striving’ in a category that Following the pack can work, to a point, but the breakout effects in stocks and
was laser-focused on looking back on past achievements was a genius move brands come when you’re the only one to know something. So if your insight’s
20
that generated billions of dollars. ‘Keep Walking’ worked because they were first been used before, if your brand’s point of view is becoming overused, then
to do it. But it meant that no whisky, cognac or spirit brand could ever own that there’s likely a more interesting mass truth out there for you to find and own.
space again. A version of this article was originally published in AW360 (April 2021)Black BBH
“IN
EVErYTHING
I DO I ASK Meet Jab – that’s Joakim Borgström, BBH’s Global
mYSELF:
Chief Creative Officer who’s now also taking on
the CCO mantle at BBH London. Here are 5 things
to know about him and what he’s got planned for
WHAT WOuLD
BBH in his new dual role.
A BlACK
22
22 SHEEP DO?” Words by
Mara Dettmann
Editor & Strategist
BBH London 23Black Thinking
01: A huge part of this is seeing how brands can
embrace interactivity. “Once we know what the
ideas (separating them from the non-amazing
ones) – and then helping to turn them into reality.
brand is going to say, how can we give it a hook
Jab’s a huge technophile – to get people excited? How would we listen to “I’m looking for people who are hungry and
but not for the sake of this story, or watch this film, in a different way? passionate to create the best work of their lives.
technology itself What is the zag? Or, put another way, ‘What People who look forward and never stop. Anyone
would a Black Sheep do?’” with that ambition and hunger to try and conquer
Throughout his five years in Singapore, Jab has the world is in the right place. That is what the
been busy redefining what an ad agency’s crea- Black Sheep should be doing.”
tive output can look like. This ambition spurred
innovations like last year’s Running Stories, an 03:
audio platform that turns jogging routes into
choose-your-own-adventure narratives.
He’s brutally democratic
04:
But though Jab’s a digital virtuoso (he was a child when it comes to the
coder before it became mainstream), he mainly creative process Working for an agency (and
sees digital media as a tool for creating better being a CCO) comes down to
ads. “The best ads don’t feel like one thing for Jab
advertising. They’re about story-
telling.” And technology means
a new, more participatory phase “I really believe that it’s all about the
for storytelling: “There are now so
many different ways to experience “I’M LOOKING work. That should be our only agen-
da. Let’s just talk about the work and
FOR PEOPLE WHO
and even be part of a story.” be excited about what we are doing.”
ARE HUNGRY &
So how can brands help shape Jab’s ambitions for achieving great
stories that people want to be a work are characteristically high: “We
PASSIONATE TO
part of? For Jab, a perfect example need to be the best in what we do,
is Exposure, the Hulu TV show all in every touchpoint. That is what I’m
about mobile photography which going to push for.”
BBH US developed for Samsung.
CREATE THE BEST The global BBH network plays an
“It’s not product placement or a
show about Samsung. It’s a show WORK OF THEIR essential role here. “I want us to be
working together, to be open and
LIVES. ANYONE WITH
about mobile photography and generous and inspiring, to be excited
learning tricks from amazing pho- about everybody’s work. I want op-
THAT AMBITION
tographers that’s a natural fit for portunities across offices.”
the brand, a way for Samsung to
& HUNGER TO TRY
communicate directly with custom- Specifically in a (near) post-Covid
ers that doesn’t feel forced.” world, Jab knows it’s also about reig-
niting people’s energy. “When we all
AND CONQUER THE worked from home, we lost a lot of
02: WORLD IS IN THE
the culture. Let’s get that back.”
He’s a BBHer to the
core – which above all
RIGHT PLACE.” 05:
means he’s supremely
irreverent Ultimately, Jab wants to
push the boundaries of
When Jab relocates to London with his two Sin- Jab doesn’t see creativity as the sole purview advertising even further –
gaporean cats (plus his human family), it’ll actu- of the Creative department: “It’s easy to have and he’s looking for partners
ally be his second stint at 60 Kingly Street: from amazing ideas. If you’re a Black Sheep, you To get there
2014 to 2016 he was a Creative Director with should have amazing ideas all the time.”
BBH London, where he worked on The Guardian, “Everything is up for grabs. We can decide what
Barclays, Google, and Samsung. One of his pet So what does matter? Execution. the future of advertising, branding, and con-
creations was ‘Samsung VR Bedtime Stories’, sumer engagement is going to look like. But to
a tech platform that allows parents to remotely “The hard part is to actually make these amaz- achieve this, we need our clients, and our clients
read bedtime stories to their kids, allowing them ing ideas happen – you need to convince the need us. So we’re inviting our clients along on
to be together even when they’re apart. people around you that the idea is worth it, in that journey, to help us write the future.”
the agency, client-side, find the right partners to
But these seven years with BBH haven’t made produce it, find the right moment in pop culture... In true Jab style, he wants to hear from you – Mantras are part of our culture but beyond that, they play
him set in his ways: for Jab, being a BBHer means there are so many things that need to go right.” what you think the future of advertising looks a role in helping us articulate and share our beliefs with
25
continuously reinventing the Black Sheep spirit. like, and what you think can (and should) our people and clients. This is one of our favourites from
“We still want to do great work, like the founders. This means that for Jab, a large part of the job be done differently. Tell him by email at the B in the middle of BBH, our founder, Sir Nigel Bogle.
But the definition of great work has changed.” is working with others to identify their amazing jab@bartleboglehegarty.com. It was true back in 1982 and it’s true today in 2021.Black BBH singapore
ABSOLUT'S
TOGETHER #IRL
THE CAMPAIGN THAT
DEFINED A MOMENT
Absolut has always been an icon. But in 2020,
and to younger people, it was just another vodka on
the shelf. Everyone still knew the brand, but nobody
really loved it. Though members of this generation
are more connected virtually than ever before,
they were reporting record levels of loneliness, even
before the pandemic locked us all in our rooms.
So we wrote a love letter to being together in real life,
reframing Absolut as the drink that connects people.
Launched across channels, #TogetherIRL included a
two-minute film that mixes animation with live action,
backstory films, posters and loads of online content.
It also featured an eclectic mix of young talent in-
cluding American actress Tessa Thompson, British
musician MNEK, eSports champion Ricki Ortiz and
Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai.
At a time when we were all looking forward to being
together again, #TogetherIRL became the campaign
of the moment.
26A GLOBAL
Black
CAMPAIGN
MADE
ACROSS 5
TIME ZONES
IN TOTAL
28 LOCKDOWN. 2930 31
Black BBH LONDON
S H
PHOTOGRAPHER: CARLOS JARAMILLO
IB G F I
EH
T h e f u l l ve r s i o n o f t
his
r tic a
ew l
TT
a
s
or
ig i
na
pub
l ly
lish
ed
in
H O W TO E A
W
AR
C(
De
cem
ber
2020 )
Words by
To help their brands grow, more multinational
John Harrison organisations, including Heinz & Diageo,
32 33
Managing Partner
Effectiveness Lead
BBH London are adopting challenger behaviour.Black BBH london
Challenging category narratives
“Being a ‘challenger brand’ is Gordon’s was a 250-year-old brand with a dominant 38% market-leading share.
In 2016, confronted with a tide of inward facing comms about ‘complex botani-
more about a mindset than about
cals’, quality ingredients, unique recipes and provenance, Gordon’s decided to
focus outwardly, on its consumers’ motivations. It concluded that its targets’ lives
were already complex enough without it adding to it, so chose
market size or brand heritage.”
the simple route, focussing on the ‘switch off and catch up’
moment that its consumers loved. The “…Shall we?” campaign
helped the brand grow by over 150% in three years, with a
profit ROI of 2.11.
Challenging market leaders
Two years after launch, Heinz SGM was plateauing at around
11% share, compared to Hellmann’s on 65%. Heinz used the
one thing Hellmann’s could never match it on – its ‘Heinzi-
ness’. It launched a series of ‘challenger’ new product lines
that ensured it remained top of mind. This shift in strategy led
to Heinz SGM growing by 70% in two years, with a profit ROI
of £1.81.
Challenging indifference
It’s something Adam Morgan has
emphasised repeatedly since he Adam Morgan says that “the biggest danger you can face
being a challenger isn’t rejection, it’s indifference”. But isn’t
released his book Eating the big indifference the biggest danger for all brands, not just those
who want to be challengers?
fish: How challenger brands can
compete against brand leaders Ehrenberg-Bass found that only 40% of all ads were remembered, and only 40%
of those were correctly branded. Whilst there are of course ways that adver-
over 20 years ago. But the prevail- tising works other than conscious recall, the uncomfortable truth is that up to
ing narrative always seemed to be 84% of what we do is irrelevant. Perhaps my point of view isn’t surprising given
that I come from an agency whose mantra is ‘when the world zigs, zag’ – but
that of a plucky little ‘David’ brand, surely challenging the status quo should be what most brands are striving to do?
What brand would actively choose indifference? So why is it so hard to avoid
using guerrilla warfare to nibble being in the 84%?
away at the market share of the
Bravery over instinct
incumbent ‘Goliath’.
I think there is something else that links the Gordon’s and Heinz case studies
– bravery. It takes real bravery to do things differently. We have been psycho-
More recently, an increasing num- Gordon’s and Heinz [Seriously] logically conditioned over millennia to do what other people do, as that is what
used to keep us alive. It’s human nature to zig. To avoid indifference we have
ber of brands, of varying ages and Good Mayonnaise (SGM) found to overcome our natural human instincts. And this is what Gordon’s and
sizes, have redefined themselves themselves in very different com- Heinz managed to do.
as challenger brands – helped petitive situations – one being a It would have been much easier for Gordon’s, as a growing
by the launch of Overthrow II: 10 ‘Goliath’ and one being a ‘David’ category leader and with a history of comms talking about
its ingredients, to just outspend the new upstart brands
strategies from the new wave of in their respective categories. Yet who were all talking about their product. But with 146
new gin brands entering the category in just two years,
challengers. Some have done this both used the principles of be- the Gordon’s brand team knew that they needed to act
to great effect, as shown by two of ing a challenger brand to deliver bravely, disrupt the status quo and reinvent the Gordon’s
brand for the future.
the winning papers from this year’s award-winning marketing effec-
IPA Effectiveness Awards. tiveness. The key principle is they It would have been much easier for Heinz to continue to
make the kind of populist, cosy campaigns it was known for,
both challenged the status quo and felt comfortable making. But it recognised that whereas Heinz
was the undisputed brand leader in the category, in mayonnaise it had to do
in a bold and imaginative way. something that didn't come naturally to one of the biggest brands in the world.
As Adam Morgan says, the key is To really get everyone out of their comfort zone and embrace being brave, the
client briefing took place in a boxing ring.
to ‘challenge something’ – not
necessarily directly challenge the And it worked. One journalist described the Heinz SGM Creme Egg variant as
“like dipping my face into a vortex of acid pudding” – remember, the enemy is
market leader. indifference, not rejection.
34 The full version of this article was originally published in WARC (December 2020) 35Black BBH Singapore
TING A VIRT
EA UA
CR L
PARADISE
How do you keep a
holiday island open
for business when
Instead of waiting for people to be able to return in
a global pandemic real life, we brought the island to the people.
closes its gates? Nintendo Switch’s ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’
is a place where bags of cash fall out of trees and a
pudgy anthropomorphic raccoon needs to approve
your mortgage. It quickly became the breakout game
of lockdowns around the world as players could
do things they couldn’t in real life: go on dates,
meet family members and enjoy ‘nature’.
In 12 days, we shifted Sentosa Island onto Animal
300+ Crossing, painstakingly replicating 50m sqft and 18
Headlines attractions of the resort from scratch.
Since Sentosa was the first large brand to use the
15,000+
platform in this way, its virtual counterpart became
Minutes
one of the most widely-reported destinations in the
of virtual world, with over 300 headlines across every conti-
dwell time nent (except Antarctica). All without any paid media.
It was picked up by TripAdvisor, travel journalists, pol-
36 37
7.5bn iticians and primetime news in Singapore and Peru
Media and players spent more than 15,000 minutes (and
impressions counting) on Virtual Sentosa.Black BBH SINGAPORE
"SENTOSA CROSSING
IS A BREAKOUT
EFFORT IN TOURISM
MARKETING."
"SENTOSA CROSSING IS
A CASE STUDY IN HOW
TOURISM MARKETING CAN
INNOVATE AND CONNECT
WITH FUTURE TRAVELLERS,
EVEN AS TRAVEL ITSELF
REMAINS CLOSED ON
A GLOBAL SCALE."
38 39Black BBH X HEALTH
WHY It’s widely recognised in consumer advertising that emotionally
driven communications are the best way to capture the hearts
Since doctors need to make huge, potentially life-changing
decisions every day, they actually rely on system 1 thinking
PHARMA
and minds of our audiences. But does this still apply in the world quite heavily. They’re also confronted with immense (and grow-
of healthcare marketing? ing) amounts of data: thanks to the internet, the amount of
medical information available to doctors doubles every 73 days
“Doctors use drugs solely based on clinical data. (PMC, 2011). This intense pressure has been further exacerbat-
Emotion isn’t relevant.” ed by the pandemic. To operate at the pace required of them,
doctors rely on habit
This statement (and and familiarity to guide
variations of it) still reg- their treatment choices.
ularly does the rounds It’s why you might ask
in pharmaceutical and three oncologists the
medical circles. There’s same question about
ADVERTISING
a baked-in belief that if the best treatment ap-
the clinical data for a proach and get three
drug is good enough, wildly different answers.
doctors will use it; It’s also why, even if
science alone should data shows a new drug
provide a sufficiently is better at treating a
convincing argument, specific condition than
without needing to ex- existing ones, these
plain why it’s relevant raw facts may not be
from a more emotive enough to change a
point of view. But it sim- doctor’s mindset after
ply isn’t true. years of habitual pre-
scribing. Like in the con-
All too often, we forget sumer world, there will
that doctors are hu- be early adopters, but
NEEDS AN
mans too. We expect there will also be those
them to make perfect who wait for months or
treatment decisions, years to try a new drug.
based on perfect pa-
tient profiles, and to be Ultimately, we can’t
EMOTION
fully updated on every change how medical
new piece of infor- professionals behave
mation available. But simply with scientific
their responses aren’t facts. Marketers need
always logical, and their to do something to get
decisions are often doctors’ attention and
driven by gut feelings or captivate them on a
subconscious emotion- deeper level, helping
al reactions based on them understand not
past experiences. just the details around
efficacy and safety,
INJECTION
It’s widely recognised in but what these truly
consumer advertising mean for them and
that emotionally driven their patients. We need
communications are to hack system 1.
the best way to capture
the hearts and minds This is where powerful
of our audiences, but communications can
the same principle is make the difference.
often neglected in the By sparking emotion,
world of healthcare we speak to their sub-
marketing. However, in conscious beliefs and
a world where healthcare systems are under more pressure than triggers. It doesn’t matter what kind of emotion we stir – fear, joy,
ever, powerful communications in the world of pharma should not excitement or humour – as long as it grabs their attention in a
be underestimated. sea of sameness of comms, which they’ve grown accustomed to
ignoring. Emotion can make them think differently about a topic
You may be familiar with Kahneman’s “System 1” theory: the that they thought they knew inside out.
idea that 80-90% of our decision making is based on subcon-
scious factors (system 1) rather than a rational evaluation of the Clinical data is still important, of course. The detail – which will be
evidence before us (system 2). It’s an evolutionary feature that processed by the more analytical “system 2” – will ultimately help
helps us make decisions without having to constantly process to provide the necessary credibility to tip the balance. However,
new information. we need to remember that emotion acts as the gateway.
Words by
40 41
FRANKIE EVERSON
STRATEGY DIRECTOR
BBH x HealthBlack BBH X HEALTH
KAHNEMAN's
THEORY
95% 5%
SYSTEM 1 SYSTEM 2
unconscious RATIONAL
fast SLOW
associative TAKES EFFORT
ERECTILE A well-known example in the industry comes from an
DYSFUNCTION: erectile dysfunction drug: Cialis. Back in the early
A CASE STUDY 2000s, Pfizer’s Viagra was dominating the mar-
ket, with close to $1.5bn of annual sales (Harvard
Business Review, 2013). When Eli Lilly’s Cialis
launched around 2003, it was the first drug in the
category with a genuine point of difference: it lasted
for 36 hours, rather than four to five like Viagra and
other competitors.
However, at the time of launch, duration wasn’t
considered by doctors to be nearly as important as
efficacy and safety. For the product to be successful,
Eli Lilly needed to find a way to get this duration on
their radar as a criterion, and clearly, it needed to do
more than just tell doctors how long it lasted.
When Eli Lilly ran market research to figure out how
best to position this drug, it became clear that while
Viagra was associated with sex, Cialis was associat-
ed with intimacy. From there, the advertising cam-
paign wrote itself: positioning Cialis in the context of
love and romance, instead of lust.
By 2012, Cialis had surpassed Viagra’s annual
sales, and duration had taken the top spot over effi-
cacy in terms of doctors’ perceived most important
criteria. All thanks to a marketing strategy that put
emotion over clinical data.
IN CONCLUSION So, the next time somebody tries to argue that pow-
erful, emotive advertising is pointless in pharma,
remind them that doctors are humans too. They
make many decisions based on instinct and not logic.
42 43
The full version of this article was It takes more than cold, hard data to truly capture
originally published in Campaign their attention and, more importantly, their hearts
(February 2021) and minds.Black BBH London
BRINGING
When the UK went into lockdown,
the government actively encouraged
shopping as infrequently as possible.
HOME The most vulnerable self-isolated and
a run on tinned food and other essen-
tials meant that when customers did
go to the shops, they were often met
with empty shelves. Key workers were
especially pressed: even with priority
THE
shopping hours, their schedules left
them with narrow windows for shopping
at supermarkets.
Enter Heinz to Home, an online service
where customers could order bundles
of Heinz staples directly to their door.
NHS staff and other frontline workers
had the added bonus of free shipping.
The first initiative of its kind for Heinz
and we turned it around in 3 weeks.
BEANZ
200% x3
Increase in The target
sales in Q1 amount of
impressions
£870k within 48
The media hours
value for an
investment
of £50k
44 45Black
When brands use culture,
it can be a great way to
connect with a certain
audience, build credibility,
and even achieve viral
fame. However, when
THE
executed poorly, it can
also lead to appropriation
and sometimes even feel
like pandering. So how can
brands avoid this trap?
TrUTH
ABOUT
CULTuRE
Photographer: LUKAS VIAR
Words by
46
Timanni Walker
Senior Strategist
BBH USPHOTOGRAPHER: ARNHEL DE SERRA 48 49
Black BBH US
Outside of hiring diverse candidates, the real key is that
they need to expand their view of culture. Most brands
simplify culture down to TikTok challenges, trending
topics, and memes. But to actually understand culture,
they really need to dig deeper into sociology – not Twitter.
The full version of this article was originally published in Muse By Clio (March 2021)
The Truth A
bout Cultur
e
Culture is a
set of values
tions, and so ,
cial practices conven-
a group of pe shared by
ople that is m
two compone ad
nts: nonmater e up of
and materia ial culture
l culture. N
culture includ
es language,
onmaterial The Keys to Connecting
rituals, values
, and beliefs
customs, with Culture
a societ y. Th that define
e
material cultu second component, So how can Brand X create a more
re, includes
society’s phys all of the distinctive and sensitive campaign?
ical objects,
tainment, food like enter- Let’s look at four major elements of
,
and celebratio ar t, music, fashion, non-material culture in the queer ball-
ns.
room community that they could focus
The big mista on: language, customs, values, and
ke many bran
in their adve ds make behaviours.
rtising is that
right to enga they jump
ging only with
culture. They
seek a cultura material Language:
celebrity part lly relevant Houses, legendary, queen, balls,
nership, use
genre of mus a
ic in their trac specific walk, realness, and passing.
a creative ap k, or take
proach to a
holiday. The pr treasured Customs:
ob
is that materia lem with this strategy Preparing to walk a category
l culture tells
important to you what’s (shopping, getting outfit together),
the audience
why it’s impo –
rtant. Using m but not trophies, battles, practicing with your See the difference? Non-material
ture without co aterial cul- house, judging, walking, voguing, self- culture gives meaning to the material
ns
the community idering the histor y of expression, and house music. culture. It’s not just dancing, it’s an
m
likely to uncons akes the brand more opportunity for this community to ex-
ci
even exploit th ously appropriate and Values: press themselves. By understanding
at culture.
Family, community, creativity, their language, the brand knows ex-
For example, and teamwork. actly what to say and how to frame it.
let’s
ular fitness co say Brand X is a pop- By learning more about the language
mpany lookin
a statement g to make Behaviours: used in that world, they are then able
during LGBT
Month. To do Q+ Pride Sticking up for one another, to safely use it in context.
so
take elements , they’ve decided to competing into the late night hours.
of ballroom cu
use them in a lture and
campaign. Re THE BOTTOM LINE
for that comm aching just By learning more about the customs of
unity’s mater
Brand X deci ial culture, ballroom culture, and specifically bat-
des to featur
of RuPaul’s D e the stars tles between houses, Brand X can see When brands take the time to study
rag Race as
for their bran influencers that people who compete in these cat- non-material culture and truly under-
d. Then, to cr
“edge,” they sh eate more egories are vigorous, physical athletes. stand the language, customs, values,
owcase voguin
social channe g on their So instead of partnering with RuPaul’s beliefs, and behaviours of a commu-
ls and call it
lingchallenge. #themode- Drag Race, they could film a com- nity of people, they can better under-
Within hours
called out by they are mercial featuring actual members of stand why they create the art, music,
cons
or appropriatin umers for pandering these houses dancing in their product. food, entertainment, and fashion that
g elements of
culture just ballroom By celebrating the strength and flexi- they do. By using this knowledge to
to sell mem
But worse th berships. bility of these fit and flexible dancers, inform their campaign, they can make
an of fending
50 51
ence, they ha thei
ve no idea w r audi- they encourage customers to “become a more meaningful and substantial
went wrong — he
meaning they re they legendary” (using some of the cul- impact and create authentic success
do it again. ’re likely to
PHOTOGRAPHER: ELSIE MATILDA ture’s own language) in their own right. with this culture.BLACK—
B
BBH US
OWNED
FRIDAY
52
Reimagining the biggest spending
day of the year into an annual event
to support Black-Owned businesses. 53Black BBH US
Covid-19 hit everyone hard —
but especially Black-Owned businesses.
An estimated 41% of them were
forced to close their doors in 2020.
We teamed up with Google and the US Black
Chambers, Inc to co-opt the biggest shopping
moment of the year, and flip the focus (and funnel
massive amounts of spending) towards small Black-
Owned businesses.
To launch our day of change, we asked Black artists
Wyclef Jean and Ari Lennox to write jingles for real
local Black-Owned businesses they loved. We turned
those into animated video odes and Spotify tracks.
Through a social campaign, GIFs, sticker packs and
statements of support, we got people everywhere to
share their favourite Black-Owned businesses.
By Black Friday, the message had travelled far and
wide that on this day and every day, show up and
show love.
300% 3000% 1/2
54
Increase in ‘Black- Sales growth for Billion
Owned business’ Grounded, a plant impressions
online conversation store we spotlightedBlack BBh US 56 57
A GLASS PORTRAIT FOR A
Black BBH US
This January, Kamala Harris broke The interactive installation came
GLASS CEILING BREAKER
multiple glass ceilings when she with its own AR, which was acti-
became the first woman, first Black vated 26,000 times in just 3 days.
American, and first Asian American to The campaign film told the story of
hold the United States’ second-high- other glass ceiling breakers with a
est office. powerful message. In Harris’s own
words: “While I may be the first wom-
To celebrate her achievements, an in this office, I will not be the last.”
we joined forces with Chief and The
National Women’s History Museum With 112m social impressions and
to create a portrait of glass, set more than 90 broadcast mentions,
up in the exact spot where Martin we hope it inspired future history
Luther King gave his “I have a dream” makers to keep on smashing those
speech. Harris herself paid a visit glass ceilings.
and the Second Gentleman called
it ‘incredible’.
6.26
Billion online
readership
112m
Social
impressions
26k
In-person AR filter
interactions in just 3 days
90+
Broadcast news mentions (local,
national & international and from
both left and right-wing media)
58 59THE VICE
Black
PRESIDENT
HERSELF VISITED
THE PORTRAIT
Douglas Emhoff @SecondGentleman 5 Feb
I had to see for myself this new art installation honoring
@VP Kamala Harris. It’s incredible. #glassceilingbreaker
& THE SECOND
GENTLEMAN
912 5.9K 77.2K
CALLED IT
60
‘INCREDIBLE’ 61Black bbh
IN A GENDER-
SPECTRUMED
FUTURE, WILL
MARKETING TO
WOMEN BE A THING
OF THE PAST?
Words by
TESS LOWERY MARA DETTMANN
CONTENT MANAGER STRATEGIST
BBH GLOBAL BBH London
PHOTOGRAPHER: ISSA TALL
62 63Black bbh
Younger demographics are bidding goodbye to the binary,
with many saying gender will be irrelevant in the future (Pew
Research, 2020). So should we stop marketing to ‘women’ if,
in the near future, no one’s actually going to identify as one?
ot quite – because regardless of the
future of gender, femininity is here
to stay.
But get ready to challenge your
preconceptions. Though it has many
faces, modern femininity is showing up in four main
ways: it’s ungendered, real, inclusive and uninhibit-
ing. Here’s our guide for how brands can navigate
femininity today (and you don’t even have to ditch
the pink).
Femininity is Ungendered
Supersize your UGC: Blur the lines between your
Old school advertising segments consumers by gen- models, talent and customers. You just have to look
der, but the male / female dichotomy is undergoing at American beauty brand Glossier to see it works.
a radical reappraisal. Luckily, there’s a solution: mar- Their UGC Instagram posts regularly exceed 52k
ket to feminine interests and behaviours, not gender. interactions and the company was valued at $1.2bn
in 2019 (Statista, 2019).
Shatter your stereotypes: Equating femininity with
passiveness or subservience is inherently problem- Go easy on the retouching: Actively work against
atic. So ask yourself: am I embedding patriarchal making your models, customers, and advocates
beliefs about femininity into the story I’m telling? feel imperfect. Diversity of body type can increase
Or the software I’m building? Consumers will thank perceptions of authenticity for online ads (Journal of
you, and so will your shareholders: progressive ad- Advertising Research, 2019).
vertising creates 37% more branded impact and
a 28% increase in purchase intent (Unilever, 2019). Femininity is Inclusive
Check your targeting: Female customers tend to A far cry from the elitist and narrow constraints of the
be over-targeted in categories like baby products, past, modern femininity is open to everyone (often
laundry and household cleaners (where they make radically so). At times, brands have helped bring
up 98% of the targeted audience) and under-target- about change – like Vice Media’s Gender Spectrum
ed by sectors like automotive (Kantar). The result? Collection. But there’s still a long way to go.
Missed opportunities to connect with customers
with interests that don’t align with the traditional Embrace the intersectional: Intersectionality is
gender binary about how “multiple forms of discrimination (such
as racism, sexism, and classism) intersect”.
Don’t forget men: Consumers with feminine interests Given that femininity has traditionally been the pre-
can also be male. Just look at the rise of male man- serve of marginalised communities, it’s important to
icures and ‘femboy’ videos on TikTok (which have bear in mind their manifold identities – essentially,
158+m views). making them feel seen.
Femininity is Real Cultivate communities: It’s the era of subcultures
and squads. When you help your consumers build
There’s a backlash against the pursuit of perfection. spaces that enable belonging, you can promote
Brands that celebrate raw transparency will offer a allyship – and it’s also a great way of getting fresh
breath of fresh air while those playing it safe risk insights, straight from the source.
falling behind.
Go beyond the surface of body positivity: There are
Keep it relatable: Rather than crafted artifice, close to 2m #bodypositive posts on Instagram. But
perceptions of authenticity have been shown to body positivity is more than one mass movement
increase brand trust, attitudes, and purchase in- embracing self-love. Instead of telling feminine con-
64 65
tentions (Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2019). sumers that the social problems they experience will
So don’t be afraid to show the realities of getting vanish if they love themselves more, demand that
older or the messiness of becoming a parent. we make space for bodies that have been sidelined.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LUKAS VIARbbh
Femininity is Uninhibiting
Once a slur against men and a byword for weakness, femininity
has been reclaimed as a source of pride: in a 2016 YouGov study,
66% of Brits said they had a ‘positive’ view of femininity. But there
are still plenty of biases to unlearn.
Normalise stigmatised conversations: Menstruation, menopause,
body hair, breastfeeding, sexual abuse... there’s still a taboo
around these topics, and they disproportionately affect the fem-
inine. Continue to push conversations about them into the main-
stream but also remember to be inclusive.
Forget ‘feminine is better’: The notion that ‘women make better
leaders’ gained special attention during the pandemic – while at
"ONCE A SLUR
the same time, ‘masculinity’ has become something of a dirty word
(think: toxic). Instead of reinforcing these and other myths, brands
can disprove that one needs to be better.
Empower to evolve: There’s often been a disconnect between fem-
ininity and fierceness – but today’s consumer knows they’re not
at odds with one another. Critique mainstream perceptions that
AGAINST MEN
femininity and athleticism are mutually exclusive.
Ultimately, there aren’t just four faces to
femininity; there are as many as there are
consumers that identify with femininity.
In
AND A BYWORD
For brands, we’re at a unique time to chal-
Conclusion lenge and move away from masculine /
feminine dualisms and the tendency to
engage in divisive conversations.
FOR WEAKNESS, 4 princ
to helpipyloes
FEMININITY
get starte u
d
1 — Get schooled from the outset:
HAS BEEN
Make sure everyone – including your brand leaders
and decision-makers – knows that marketing to the
feminine isn’t the same as marketing to women.
2 — Call out continuing inequalities:
Find out what issues, controversies and inequalities
are shaping the cultural conversation. Denounce
RECLAIMED
injustice and push for change.
3 — Dive deeper with diversity:
Diverse campaigns from diverse agencies will soon
be the bare minimum. For 2021, the watchword for
femininity will be radical inclusion.
AS A SOURCE
4 — Don’t confuse empowerment & femvertising:
The best campaigns have a brand truth at the heart.
Always enter the arena with the intention to be re-
sponsible with your marketing.
66
OF PRIDE." 67
The full version of this article was originally
PHOTOGRAPHER: DANIELE FUMMO published in LBB (March 2021)You can also read
