Be bold, be creative, do research!

Strong ideas are essential for advertisers to grab attention and grow powerful brands. This requires making bolder creative choices. They can effectively turn around a category and a brand’s business, yet risks to make a wrong turnvremain. The recent Gillette and Nike Kaepernick cases are examples of this. So, where to find the courage to be bold, to be decisive, and have the inspiration for breakthrough, business-building creative? Carling, Carrefour and Libresse have found the answer: Early communication research.

People and brands have never faced a more fragmented world than now. Supermarkets are flooded with brands and products, and Amazon search results offers the choice of hundreds of options. More and more content is available across more and more channels, and advertising is everywhere, struggling to catch the attention of a busy public.

Agile brands and seasoned advertising agencies have long known what it takes to shake and move people with their communication, to trigger a meaningful behavior towards the brand: delivering the right content, with the right creative execution that will be effective and trigger the right reactions. But, as the window to make an impression is dramatically reducing, it now requires something extra too: the brave spark, a bold creative expression, immediate, strong, and deep, which will reveal the brand’s relevance, make it unique and distinctive. As Captain Kirk would say, bold enough to go where no one has gone before.

Nike Dream Crazy: rebels stand out, but divide

Nike has a longstanding history of communicating its empowerment purpose with tremendous skill, illustrated by its iconic Just Do It signature and a legacy of rebellious, yet charismatic ambassadors. However, the brand had been lacking credibility recently among Millennials and Generation Z, seduced by edgier, newer brands. With Dream Crazy, they found the right spark to move a whole generation closer to the swoosh.

Dream Crazy effectively combines the right execution and the right content – a two-minute anthem full of inspiration to dream bigger, with the best spokesperson the brand could find to spark a nationwide debate. In 2016, American football player Colin Kaepernick grabbed headlines for kneeling during the US national anthem, in protest at police violence and brutality in the country. A decision which Kaepernick claims has cost him an NFL team over the last two years.

Choosing Kaepernick was extremely brave, but not crazy. Nike knew what they wanted to do and they just did it!

They just did it, first, to get noticed by generating a strong reaction to the campaign. Two months after it was first aired, an Ipsos poll found1, 72% of people correctly associated the campaign with Nike. They succeeded by generating strong reactions with around 45% of Americans being much more positive about the brand…. Or much more negative.

Indeed, the ad shook the public, to say the least, causing polarising reactions. Dozens (of American Conservatives) posted pictures and videos of themselves burning Nike shoes in anger to Kaepernick becoming the brand’s new hero. Donald Trump even tweeted to call Nike crazy and pushed for a boycott. But the campaign’s supporters, especially African Americans, Democrats and younger generations stood by Nike.

33% of Americans declare they are more negative towards Nike, while 31% are more positive, our poll finds. This positivity rises to 36% of Gen Z, 57% of African Americans, and 48% of Democrats.

Was this worth the risk? If we listen to what Nike communicated it resulted in increased brand sales and a 5% rise in Nike’s stock value.

So how do great brands not only get the inspiration to create breakthrough advertising, but also find the confidence to choose the boldest route over the safest avenue?

Contrary to the stereotype that says adventurers just trust their guts, three brands leveraged Ipsos
creative development research at an early stage, to reveal how to be bolder, and be more creative, with better business results.