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

Honda provides a winning example of how a strong brand narrative can adopt several forms or styles in the telling of the story. The Power of Dreams campaign launched in September 2007 is executed using a myriad of story telling devices and styles.  Yet the civil message of encouraging people to strive for their dreams, to not give up and to charge on is central to each spot.

“This Honda Power of Dreams campaign is our personal way of sharing who we are and what we stand for,” said Barbara Ponce, manager of corporate advertising for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “But, we’re not simply talking about Honda, we’re letting our actions, our products and our dreams speak for us. The home video format keeps it real, and at the same time opens new doors and perspectives that customers can discover for themselves at dreams.honda.com.”

This is a nice little ditty that Honda put together to promote their thoughts on the need to fail (many times) in order to succeed. It’s not a new idea, but it was one of the key notions imported into America and Europe from the best of Japanese business management in the 80’s.

It’s another great example of how brands can encourage people to take an authentic look at the way they lead their cultures and it hopes to spread progressive ideas that not only help their own brands, but all of society.

As marketers, we like to talk about potential, being a catalyst and enabling people. Historically, we used this type of narrative set to create a direct correlation to the product we promoted. Telecommunications, technology and financial services have utilised this narrative area more than most.

Lately, it looks as though some brands are loosening up the requirement to lock each achievement-oriented idea back to product and are simply encouraging people to reach for the bar. Further, it seems as though some brands are softening up on the senses of achievement they are promoting. This softening up on achievement might be an attempt to find common ground between raising the bar and relating to more people with a kind of achievement that they can realistically aspire to.

Alain de Botton in his popular ‘Status Anxiety’ explains how many cultures are suffering from the over-development of meritocracies. He feels that a certain level of anxiety is a good thing and helps progress everything from sciences to the arts. But if too much anxiety is broadcast in a society, many people feel disenchanted and marginalised since they feel the bar is too high to ever be achieved.

This can be an important lesson for marketers when we are developing our brand narratives. We have always known that if we set the bar too high, we end up reducing the relevance of our communications to the segments we serve. In an increasingly media savvy world, we also run the risk of alienating large swaths of society and causing long-term damage to our brands if we develop too much anxiety through the messages we promote.

Honda The power of dreams

Amex Long live dreams

During an interview with Brand Republic, Katherine Whitton, Head of dvertising at American Express, said: “The ‘Long live dreams’ theme reflects the changing aspirations, personal and professional goals of American Express’s existing and potential customers. The campaign brings to life the ways in which American Express, through its range of products and services, can support consumers in realising these dreams.”

It is difficult to see how  Batman in a trailer park ‘brings to life the Amex range of products and services’, but it certainly evokes nostalgic feelings and rings true to an acheivement narrative.