Category Archives: Branding

Vice Goes Broad

broadly

Popular media website Vice has announced the release of its 11th channel, Broadly, which caters to female readers.

Its tongue-in-cheek tagline “For Women Who Know Their Place” is a tribute to its mission to promote broader coverage of issues with a female perspective, including “politics, culture, sex, and fashion.” While its content (reproductive health and fertility, gang activity, drug culture, etc.) maintain’s Vice‘s edge and envelope-pushing tendencies, Broadly aims to add a new dimension to such topics.

A major distinction from its other sites is the noticeable lack of comments section, in order to encourage civil discussion and a safe space. However, in true Vice fashion, it will focus on subject matter that is generally underreported by the mainstream media.

This marks an important shift in focus for Vice, capitalizing on the momentum of feminism in the media and seeking to carve out its unique place in branding culture.

What Sparks Our Fire: A digital publication expanding its brand by creating a space for candid conversation among women about prevalent modern issues.

If The Chuck Fits…

chuck II

Converse is redesigning its hugely popular Chuck Taylor All-Star shoe for the first time in almost 100 years. First introduced in 1917, the canvas shoe quickly became iconic symbol of polished-yet-casual streetwear, and Fast Company has dubbed it “the Coca-Cola of shoes,” with its sales making up a majority of the $1.7 billion annual revenue. However, with this title, a primary concern about its makeover was its potential to become the “New Coke” of shoes, a nod to the much-hated formula Coca-Cola tried to adopt in attempt at rebranding back in the ’80s.

However, Converse has shown its masterful knowledge of fashion revival by unveiling the “Chuck II,” a subtle remake of the shoe. Although at first glance it looks identical to the old design, the details are what distinguish the newer model from its predecessor.

lunarlon

The new Lunarlon insoles for added comfort

The canvas shell is made of a better quality material, the stitching is nicer, and the eyelets have been reimagined. While sales of the classic shoe have increased ten-fold since 2003, when it was saved from bankruptcy by its acquisition by Nike, a new design after almost a decade is a bold move.

What Sparks Our Fire: A beloved classic shoe gets a redesign, but stays true to its iconic brand

The World’s First “Smart” Ad

bahio

M&C Saatchi is experimenting with a new artificially intelligent advertisement for coffee brand Bahio, which uses a “Darwinian” algorithm to test different aspects of the ad like copy, layout, format, and image. The ad, monitored by a camera embedded in the poster, adjusts to the viewer’s reaction. Layouts that fail to engage are rearranged, and ads that viewers respond well to are reused and modified.

Chief Innovation Officer of M&C Saatchi David Cox says that although this software is experimental, “automated creativity” is quickly becoming the norm. The point of the exercise is to test the computer’s strength in determining the strongest creative execution, and to create layouts that may not have been conceptualized by the team.

If interactive ads become fully integrated in digital advertising, they could have huge implications in helping optimize viewer content and interaction.

What Sparks Our Fire: Brands coming up with innovative and tech-savvy ways to advertise to and engage with consumers.

Love Has No Labels

skeletons
As Pride Month comes to a close and the remnants of confetti are swept off the streets following the landmark Supreme Court marriage equality decision, brands have started showing their support for LGBTQ through mass marketing campaigns. However, the advertising industry is embracing a new kind of LGBTQ acceptance in its productions: “gay-inclusive.” Instead of drawing attention to the subject’s sexual orientation, these brands succeed in telling a story while normalizing LGBTQ relationships. From dancing skeletons to dancing wedding parties, here are five of our favorite ads that show how LGBTQ acceptance has shaped the definition of inclusivity in the media.
Taking home an unprecedented number of awards at the Cannes Lion Festival, the viral “Love Has No Labels” campaign was designed by the Ad Council to raise awareness of implicit racial, sexual, and religious bias, premiering on Valentine’s Day in Santa Monica earlier this year. The inspiring “Love Has No Labels” tagline also was prominently featured in the New York City Pride Parade, which took place a day after the campaign’s Cannes victory.
Although its debut was back in 2013, the Kindle Paperwhite commercial is still praised by critics as one of the most innovative gay-inclusive ads, using a humorous approach portray acceptance of LGBTQ couples as a social norm rather than highlighting the differences for the purpose of awareness, and avoiding all-too-common “gay male” stereotypes.
amazon kindle

The commercial for the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite was commended for its normalization of gay couples and absence of gay male stereotypes.

This heartwarming spot depicts two women preparing to adopt a deaf child, and its positive portrayal of LGBTQ relationships, adoption, and strong family values, minus the overt “pride” motif, sets the standard for diversity in advertising.
Hallmark’s “Put Your Heart to Paper” campaign is a poignant expression of love of all kinds, and emphasizes the lasting impact of the spoken word. By featuring the couple in the same fashion as it would a same-sex couple, Hallmark succeeds in demonstrating a shift away from gay-focused and toward “gay-inclusive” ads.
hallmark
If you blink, you may miss this one—the video shows several wedding parties joyously celebrating their marriages, one of them between two brides. It also features guest performers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who gained recognition for their support of the gay community with their song “Same Love” back in 2012.
What Sparks Our Fire: Brands that celebrate diversity through exceptionally creative and high-impact storytelling

Chevy <3’s Millennials

Chevy-Goes-Emoji

Visual mediums have taken a larger role in consumers’ lives and has started to trickle into brand storytelling and communication. We’ve written about the latest trend of brands creating their own emoji keyboards, and now Chevrolet has gone one step further and released a press release for the 2016 Cruze, written entirely in emoji. Released this morning, Chevy will give consumers a chance to decipher the statement written in modern glyphs before releasing the translated version this afternoon.

Chevy, not traditionally known for their ground breaking marketing initiatives, is taking a big step in the right direction. No other company has released a formal press release written almost entirely in emoji, though Domino’s did write hundreds of Tweets using just a pizza emoji a few weeks back. By embracing the “emoji” trend and adding an element of social media driven gamification to the sometimes stale press release ritual, Chevy is taking great strides in effectively engaging with the target millennial audience.

Take a look at the full press release, and see if you can piece together the full story.

chevy-cruze-emojis

What Sparks Our Fire: A unique integrated campaign targeted at millennials.