Moments, Milestones and Movements: How Brands Can Tap Into Cultural Conversation

This year at Cannes, there were a number of campaigns that did a great job of fusing content with context in order to successfully make a splash in culture. The majority of these campaigns tapped into a broader conversation in culture, which we believe can take on three levels of depth:

Moments: The real-time, responsive content that rides the waves of culture

Milestones: Planned out executions that add to the narrative of a key event

Movements: Brands that take a stand on a societal issue to be relevant in culture over a period of time

These three levels are our iceberg of culture, our sphere of relevance to bring virtue to advertising. At BBDO, we have prioritized this approach to bring increased value to our campaigns through the practice of Comms Planning.

Below are examples of our favorite campaigns that dove into the abyss of culture:

Moments

Real-time moments tend to be reactive and responsive, tying into audience culture as it is happening. These moments, although brief, can be leveraged and acted on to increase relevance in consumer’s lives. While these cultural interactions do fade quickly, the more brands act on these opportunities the better chance of standing out among the clutter of the market. The key thing to remember here is the cultural moment has to make sense for the brand.

Bacardi — Gov Ball Rain Out

Bacardi, being ingrained in music culture, was just as disheartened as fans to hear that the Sunday, June 5th, lineup at Governor’s Ball was cancelled. This meant that Bacardi House Party was cancelled and there wasn’t a chance to engage with fans. This cancellation also meant that artists weren’t able to perform, which prompted them to announce spontaneous shows around the city. With some clever thinking and quick responses Bacardi was able to turn this negative into a positive and tweet news about pop-up shows as they were announced. This led to many fans engaging with the brand and Bacardi building positive sentiment with more than just Gov Ball goers.

Puerto Rico Tourism Agency — Sad Husband

Kevin Blandford received a free trip to Puerto Rico through his office, unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow him to take his 7 month old daughter for liability reasons. Instead he took his long-time friend who decided to document Kevin’s vacation without his family. What transpired was one of the most popular Reddit threads of March 2015. The Puerto Rican Tourism Agency decided to join the conversation and invited Kevin to redo the entire trip, this time with his family in tow. He packed the same clothes, posed all of his photos just like the original trip and posted them on reddit, which resulted in another viral thread.

Oreo — Dunk in the Dark

Although already having an ad placed in Super Bowl XLVII, Oreo didn’t miss the opportunity to provide some real-time content through Twitter. When Beyonce literally brought the house down, Oreo took advantage of the blackout and responded with a clever tweet. Retweeted over 15,000 times and growing it’s Twitter following by 8,000, Oreo created one of the most buzz worthy ads of the night.

Milestones

Key events that are relevant to a brand’s audience can be great tentpoles to guide a campaign. By adding to the narrative or disrupting the mundane, brands can hold influence and seamlessly integrate into the conversation. Knowing the relevant events ahead of time and preparing for engagement will elevate the brand.

Netflix — FU2016

In mid-December, the Republican debate drew in 18 million views, making it one of the most viewed debates for the 2016 presidential election (and of all time). At the same time a new campaign launched, one that took the focus off the candidates on stage. Netflix found a tent pole and made it work to their advantage, becoming the top trending topic on social media during the debate. How did a fictional Democrat steal the Republican presidential debate? By knowing a key event in their audience’s journey and playing a role in expanding the story.

REI — #OptOutside

Black Friday, traditionally the largest shopping holiday in the US, was cancelled for REI. Instead of selling products at deep discounts, the brand shut its brick-and-mortar doors and paid employees to #OptOutside. Consumers took notice and took charge of their holiday to spend it with family, instead of standing in line or fighting for the products with the best deals. It also boosted online sales for the weekend, although employees weren’t processing any orders until after Black Friday. By sticking to brand values and setting up around key holidays the brand was able to stay culturally relevant and get more than 1.4 million people to use the hashtag, with thousands signing up for REI meetup events. Will 2016 be the year other brands follow suit?

Newcastle — Super Bowl Ad

It’s a Super Bowl commercial, or is it? Newcastle didn’t buy airtime for the Super Bowl but in this campaign Anna Kendrick talks about how the brand almost did. Newcastle recognized the conversation around the game has evolved to be focused more on what happens when the game isn’t playing, so it decided to poke fun at the marketing scheme. The campaign also included football stars, focus groups and other behind the scenes footage that would have been necessary had they made an ad. Knowing that the Super Bowl is a huge tentpole for beer drinkers, Newcastle leveraged what they had, or in this case what they didn’t have and played on a cultural moment to deliver a witty rant that hit all the right notes for Super Bowl watchers.

Movements

At the deepest level of communication lies those campaigns that last over a period of time, sparking thought and conversation over an underlying tension in society. Brands that do this speak to cultural movements in an organic way to continuously inspire new thinking around the topic. Sticking to movements that make sense to your brand is an essential part of remaining authentic to audiences.

DB Export — Brewtroleum

A New Zealand beer company decided to take a stand for sustainability when they used the leftover brewing yeast to make biofuel. Telling beer drinkers throughout the country they could save the world with their favorite hobby seemed to pay off. Over 8.6 million beers were sold and over 60 gas station sold the fuel providing a discount when purchased with the beer. This campaign not only addressed the business problem but offers a vision to the future of sustainability and advertising.

Barbie — Imagine the Possibilities

Part stunt, part film this campaign gives a new voice to Barbie. In the past, Barbie had been known for her looks and portraying an unrealistic image to young girls but moving forward Barbie is tackling gender stereotypes. In society today, we see a lack of role models for young girls who aspire to careers that are currently dominated by men. One way to combat that is through imagination. Barbie is showing girls that there are limitless possibilities to her future and adding to the conversation of a cultural problem but still sticking to brand values. This campaign speaks to both parents and children, empowering them to dream and aspire. I think the expressions of the people in the commercial speak for themselves, while surprised they are still understanding and accepting of the role play, furthering the ambitions of the young girls .

AT&T — Distracted Driving

Having generated millions of social impressions the ‘It Can Wait’ campaign has successfully integrated itself as a partner for eradicating distracted driving. When the campaign started in 2009 texting and driving was a prevalent issue, with Pew research citing that a third of teenagers, aged 16–17, text and drive and over 50% have talked on the phone while driving. As technology has evolved, so has the campaign expanding from just texting to posting updates, browsing social apps and other activities that revolve around distracted driving. Over 9 millions people have taken the pledge to stop texting while driving and user generated content is plentiful. People appreciate a brand that is willing to take a stand and embed themselves in a cultural issue that surrounds society. AT&T did just that and 7 years later they still speak to that truth.

All of these moments point to the importance of Comms Planning and thinking of a campaign within the context of relevant occasions. Blueprints help to outline the applicable peaks that brands can speak to within a period of time. This thinking highlights the Milestones but leaves room for opportunity to achieve appropriate Moments and to expand on Movements.

To see how the BBDO NY team is using Blueprints, see our article here.