In promoting World AIDS Day, we have collected a few of the iconic ads that we have seen over the years that are provocative, funny and scary – sometimes all at the same time. Here are some websites where we and all our clients can get more involved:
What a great idea. Levis are rolling out the new ‘Care Tag’ in 2010 to promote recycling clothes and supporting charity shops – namely Goodwill shops.
“As a company built on values, we have long worked to promote sustainability in how we make our products and run our operations,” said John Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co. “This initiative uses our global voice to empower hundreds of millions of consumers around the world to join us by providing simple and actionable ways to help care for our planet.”
We see partnerships like this as a real advantage to big brands. Levis has the reputation and clout to make this campaign work and change behaviour. The Care Tag has the possibility to catch on creating more kudos for the Levi’s brand, helping promote the Goodwill cause and helping people recycle their clothes more often.
In conjunction with the Walt Whitman themed ads focusing on nationalist narratives (see previous post), Levis has issued this goodbye to Senator Ted Kennedy. This clip from his most famous speech has been broadcast all over the media so, no doubt is instantly recognisable.
It reminds me of when Volkswagen said goodbye to Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. I read this ad in Rolling Stone magazine sitting out in Stanley Park in Vancouver (so powerful, I remember where I was). The tie-in with the Grateful Dead and the Volkswagen microbus is seamless. VW even decided to use a model that last saw production during the Ted Kennedy scandal. The ad also did not tie into any campaign look and feel, slogan or anything commercial about the brand, so there is little cause for calls for exploitation.
In short, these are some of the criteria to use when thinking about whether to salute a fallen icon with your brand.
A new AdWeek/Harris poll came out last week that reported younger Amercians did not consider a ‘Made in Amercia’ label to be much of a reason to purchase.
Only 39% of respondents aged 18 to 34 said they would be likely to respond to a made-in-America pitch compared to 60% of 35- to 44-year-olds, 68% of 45- to 54-year-olds and 74% of those are at least 55
Levis recently ran their ‘Go Forth’ campaign, featuring nationalisitc imagery and the poetry of 19th century radical Walt Whitman. While sometimes contentious, promoting nationalistic ideas helps unify people: urging them to rally around the founding notions of the country and around important idiosyncrasies that define its people. When brands speak about nationalism, it’s often locked up to a history of achievment and progress: key aspects of civil branding.
Through this communication Levis is updating the ‘Amercian Way’ and helping refresh notions of what it means to be living in America through a straighforward listing of values that embody it. When watching this, I realise how much effort it takes to keep these notions relevant in our minds. With so much changing, what does it mean to be Amercian today?
I don’t suggest that Brand America is in decline. The research only suggests that consumers may not be loyal to the ‘Union-Made’ label as much as they used to. However, it does point out that nationalism and ideas of unity take work to maintain. The previous administration did a lot to reduce the American image overseas and the acceptance of outsourcing has probably diminished the appeal of the Made in America label.
But nationalism lives on through brands and can be a progressive and unifying force. American Apparel promotes it own brand of Americana. One could argue that the Canadian-born head of the company represents the radical thinking best embodied by Walt Whitman and is perhaps the open, freedom-based spokesperson for 21st century America. The retailer even found a new way to resurrect the Made in America label.
The GAP used to be known for packaging Americana and selling it to the world. But the concept of America has been moved by retailers like American Apparel, so the brand is playing catchup. As The GAP demonstrates, promoting a national identity can be a very powerful tool, but it needs to be crafted and evolved in order to remain relevant.
Here’s one of my favourite nationalism ads. Being Canadian, I love the nudge-nudge approach that this beer brand has taken in trying to define that ever-illusive beast called the Canadian identity.
In closing, I thought I would point out Johnnie Walker, a British Brand, that uses almost exclusively American images in this progress-related spot to identify great moments of achievement in the last 100-years. As ironic as it may be, it’s hard to talk about the great moments of progress for the 20th century and not keep coming back to America.
Civil Branding is about harnessing the power of brands to create social influence,
change the wider social agenda and increase brand difference. We're on a mission
to encourage marketing professionals to consider their brands' impact on society
to help us progress and to help create ever more worthy brands.
