Some brands do their best to encourage us to achieve more, to shift our perspective. Obvious achievement and accomplishment narratives are old hat and the traditional territory of financial services, heavy goods industries and telecoms belong to the past. Most brand stories are becoming more interesting, more complex and more subtle than prompting us to reach for the skies.

These brands inspire us with what is possible. They urge us to do better. They prompt us to re-frame our current situation into a more positive narrative and give up any existing internal negative plots for more positive paths. Whether it’s a glib shot-in-the-arm or a more meaningful prod to follow our dreams, these brands are offering a civil dimension to their communications. Encouraging brands provide the kind of stimulus we are looking for in times like this: where pessimism is running high and we are looking for an external sign that they can get better.

Boots Wishing us well

Pepsi Relentless pursuit of a dream

London Pride Talking about their namesake

Adidas Breaking down pessimism

Honda & Amex Talk a lot about dreams. See previous post

Microsoft Prompting people to pursue

Nike Giving us the poke we need