ahead of the game

The ‘life’s a game’ concept is nothing new, but it seems to be particularly resonant at the moment.

Russell describes what I’m feeling beautifully in this great excerpt from his epic playful post*:

“Just like when I walk through the crowds on Oxford Street a tiny part of me is pretending I’m an assassin slipping steely-eyed through the crowds in order to shake the agents on my tail. And I bet it’s not just me. I’m not saying I’m massively deluded, just that, very often, some bit of us is always trying to play those games, to make mundane things more exciting.”

It’s one of those lovely insights that could translate really well into brand activity.

And this Nike spot hits that sweet spot beautifully:

It works because it’s engaging – even if it’s only in your own imagination.

* Yes, I know I’ve linked to it about 10 times already. But there’s a reason for that: it’s wonderful. If you haven’t read it already, I thoroughly recommend taking a look now. Thanks to Neil at Welcome to Optimism for sharing the Nike clip.

cut out and keep

Hypebeast and Today and Tomorrow have already featured this fantastic partnership between Lego and Muji, but it deserves more than a quick twitter link.

The concept is so simple that I’m sure children all over the world already have their own version.

However, there’s nothing wrong with brands celebrating existing behaviour.

The reason this partnership works so well is that it builds on the essences of both brands: Lego’s boundless creativity, and Muji’s delightful simplicity.

Here are some more images borrowed from the original Yoshikage Kajiwara post (in Japanese):

On a related note, take a look at this glorious anthropological study of Lego ‘nomenclature’, and this inspiring post from Russell Davies on the importance of imagination in play, communications, and the world in general.

Many thanks to PSFK for alerting me to the Muji partnership and nomenclature posts.
UPDATE: John seems to like this too… what is it about planners and Lego?

everything’s relative

Most of the time, success isn’t about how good you are; it’s about how good you are relative to everything else.

The toilet cleaner category is dull, but brands that stress an 0.2% improvement in efficiency just make it worse

So, while these may not be the best adverts of all time, they make me smile.

And voilà: they differentiate Ambi Pur from the rest of the category.

Job done.

Thanks to Inspire me, now! for sharing.

it’s all about the benefits

I couldn’t resist sharing this great example of how to bring a brand’s core benefit to life.

As we’ve seen before, Cadbury Dairy Milk is all about little moments of everyday happiness.

This short film brings the simple beauty of that benefit to life, with every single frame delivering ‘a glass and a half full of joy’:

Thanks to Simon for sharing the video.

implicit complicity

There’s something about this sign’s implicit complicity that establishes instant affinity.

Very simple, but highly engaging.

I think the image first appeared here, but I found it thanks to these subsequent reposts.

one of a kind

KINDED is a fantastic idea – one of those rare occasions where I want to go out and try a brand just because of its communications.

It’s organised by KIND, a “not-ONLY-for-profit” brand of hand-made, all-natural snacks from Australia.

I’ll refrain from calling this a campaign, because it’s not.

Rather, it’s a wonderful way to bring the brand philosophy to life, giving KIND relevance and making the brand a welcome part of your life.

The underlying concept of this ‘movement’ is ‘ random acts of kindness’, but it adds elements of the game ‘tag‘ and features from this fascinating initiative that tracks the movements of dollar bills in the U.S.

Here’s what the brand has to say about its ‘movement’:

“Ever wish you could do an incredible kind act for someone else, but can’t do it alone? The KIND team wants to help make it happen.

KINDED is a movement inspiring unexpected kind acts. These kind acts can be anything from helping someone carry heavy bags, sharing your umbrella, or paying for a stranger’s coffee.

“KINDED cards” serve as licenses to do kind acts for people who might otherwise be wary, making KINDED easy to pass on.

And since each card has a unique code and can be mapped online, you can track how far your chain of KINDING travels and view kind acts happening around the world.“

They go on to explain that the KINDED cards make it easier to overcome the social awkwardness that some people associate with helping a random stranger, by acting as an ice-breaker and explanation.

At the time of writing, 719 ‘KINDINGS’ have already been performed.

You don’t need to wait for someone to pass their card to you though – you can apply for one and start a chain of your own simply by popping over to the KINDED website.

So why do I think this is such a great activity?

Firstly, the concept is very simple: it focuses entirely on sharing the brand’s philosophy.

That may seem a narrow objective, but I now know exactly what the brand stands for – what makes it different, and why I should be interested. And that’s enough to make me want to try it.

Secondly, there’s no need for people to buy anything. It sees the world from the audience’s perspective, overcoming the “I know you’re trying to sell me something, so why should I even pay attention?” factor.

But most of all, this activity will bring joy and warmth to people’s lives – it will make people happy.

That’s powerful ‘CSR‘ that will inspire conversations, PR coverage, awareness, and goodwill.

All in all, a highly engaging communications proposition.

Brilliant.

Thanks so much to Springwise for the pointer. Images ‘borrowed’ from the KINDED website. And no, as far as I’m aware, I have no connection of any kind to KIND – I just think this is a great way to build a brand.

inklings

Thiago Krafzik used a quote from brand interpreters on his não esquece blog, illustrating it with a beautiful video that I couldn’t resist reposting here:

Stunning…

Many thanks to Thiago Krafzik for the intro.

learn something new every day

There’s always something new to discover and explore.

The best education never ends.

Inspired by a comment on yesterday’s post

1000 stories

Most of us are familiar with the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words.

But some pictures tell entire stories.

The illustration above, by Christoph Niemann, is certainly worth a few thousand words.

In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that it expresses more than words ever could.

And that’s the key to strategic communication – finding the most efficient and effective way to establish a common understanding.

The ideal means for a specific end.

See more of Christoph’s fantastic work here -  I especially liked this image from his children’s guide to learning Chinese characters. I discovered Christoph thanks to ffffound! – a great resource for regular inspiration. Please note that the copyright for the above image remains with its original owners – please let me know if you’d like me to remove this image and I will do so immediately.

strategy is…

In his seminal treatise, The Art of War, Sun Tzu notes that

“…the wise strategist only seeks battle
after the victory has been won.”

But what makes a winning strategy?

It focuses on the end, not the means

Strategy is not just about finding an answer; it’s about finding the most appropriate answer – the most efficient and effective route to get from where you are now, to where you want to be.

It’s more about questions than answers

Improving an existing answer delivers diminishing returns with each iteration. The best way to deliver revolutionary results is to change the question.

It prioritises efforts

There’s a big difference between what you could do and what you should do. Focus your resources at the point of maximum leverage to deliver disproportionate returns.

It employs the art of sacrifice

Strategy helps you identify when to give up something good for something even better.

It sees the forest and the trees

Effective strategies deliver synergies – when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A key part of this is recognising that the long term is made up of a series of inter-dependent shorter terms.

It bends in the wind

There’s never only one right answer – what worked before may not always work in the future. Monitor your progress, and evolve to changes you encounter along the way.

It is more about the future than the present

Strategy is all about looking before you leap.

It harnesses common sense

The best strategies are rarely complex; simple logic and reason are your allies.

It emphasises the why over the what

True strategy addresses root causes, not just symptoms.

It’s considered

Never stop at the first plausible answer, but acknowledge that it may still turn out to be the best.

It’s realistic

Always aim for perfection, but accept that you’ll never achieve it.

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What would you add?

Share your suggestions in the comments section below.

With a respectful hat-tip to John. Sun Tzu quote from here.