There has been a lot of focus lately on the success of negative social media campaigns that call out bad behaviour and target advertisers. Alan Jones has been on the receiving end of some of that.
Today, at a Cannes Lions advertising awards debrief, hosted by the B&T Breakfast Club, I saw the opposite – the power of positive advertising to bring about change for good.
Two examples of great advertising, combined with innovative design and a real spirit of positive change from companies, showcased how win-win solutions are possible if media and advertisers strategise effectively.
IKEA This Ables
The Ikea ThisAbles program won a Grand Prix and 4 Gold Lions for a campaign that uses smart design and 3D printer technology to solve problems for disabled people who find standard furniture difficult to use.
The idea came from the company’s design teams, who worked with disabled customers, aiming to find usable and “beautiful” solutions for furniture that everyone can use. Simple ideas such as chair leg extenders and special cupboard handles were amongst the design ideas developed by Ikea.
Once the innovations were ready for the market, the advertising campaign around them demonstrated the problem that needed to be solved and explained the company’s solution and customer reactions to it.
“For one in ten people, regular furniture is a problem and special needs furniture is twiuce as expensive,” explains the ad campaign. “So Ikea did what it always does best, democratised design.”
The campaign slogan was ThisAbles. See the full product calalog here.
Revenue increased by 33% and sales of the products went up by 37% in the year following the campaign, as the target audience bought the products, but significantly, able bodied people also felt positive towards the Ikea brand and created good street talk about it that led to more sales.
“Finally, everybody has a seat at the table,” says a message in the campaign, which featured one of the ad agency’s employees, who has cerebal palsy.
Commenting on the campaign at the B&T Breakfast, Karla Henwood said:
“The importance is the idea and the commitment. We see that and think ‘Ikea is awesome.’
“Doing good actually increases sales and brand value. Many brands can afford to do things like user centred design… but they don’t. Ikea is one that did.”
The Cannes entry showreel for the campaign is below.
The LIONS SHARE Fund
The Lion’s Share Fund is a unique, UN backed, charity fund initiated by an Australian, film director Christopher Nelius and colleague Rob Galluzzo.
The initiative asks advertisers to contribute much-needed funds to support wildlife conservation and animal welfare across the globe. It won a Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival.
The Fund, first announced at last year’s Cannes Festival, was recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals category for its use of creativity to help address one of the world’s greatest environmental challenges. It asks advertisers who use animals in their campaigns to put 0.5% of the campaign budget into the fund, which is then used to improve habitats and protect endangered wildlife all around the world.
Christopher Nelius spoke at the breakfast, telling a packed house that the idea came to him while watching cricket on tv.
He saw ads for Optus featuring animals and began to formulate a plan. The Mars company was the first to agree to support the fund, but only if the campaign could get UN backing. Then he got David Attenborough to front the ad campauign. Then more advertisers followed and the campaign now has millions of dollars in funding which all goes back to activities to protect endangered species.
See the David Attenborough ad below, and then click to hear Nelius explain how it all began.
The full Cannes Lions winners list from earlier this year is here. Today’s breakfast function was sponsored by Snapchat.
About the Author
Steve Ahern is the founding editor of this website.
He is a former broadcaster, programmer, senior executive and trainer who now runs his own company Ahern Media & Training Pty Ltd.
He is a regular writer and speaker about trends in media.
More info here.
