In a world that is saturated with content and media, what does it take to make your marketing campaign stand out? What are the kinds of teams that work to put together a campaign that draws attention? How can you employ the best talent from around the world to elevate it to the next level? What is that ‘X-Factor’ that will draw public attention to your brand and message?
With innumerable marketing agencies competing to create the most impactful and eye-catching campaigns of all time, it is crucial for you as a marketer, to make yours stand above the rest. And it is no joke- the perfect marketing campaign is a careful and clever mix of writing, creativity, timing and most importantly, powerful storytelling. However, executing such a campaign is never a one-person job. It is necessary to scale your creative team when the need arises and rope in the best talents to contribute to your project. The combined capability of creative individuals collaborating is extremely potent and goes a very long way in creating impactful results.
Many brands have successfully recognised the importance of creative scaling and leveraged this superpower to drive home excellent results. Collaborating with artists and other creatives, they have managed to turn heads and draw attention to their campaigns – be it celebratory ones, social awareness campaigns or even regular advertisements.
Conveying stories through packaging
Take, for instance, Hershey’s, the iconic chocolate brand. They created the HERSHE project, a campaign to provide a platform that supports female achievers. For two consecutive years 2020 and 2021, the brand used its packaging as a space to celebrate women who were making a difference through their work.
Artists worldwide joined hands to design the wrappers for the campaign which originated in Brazil. It turned out to be a big hit in many parts of the world. The packaging contained a QR code which, when scanned, enabled users to view the work of the ‘sheroes’. The campaign garnered engagement from more than 16 million users and was covered by more than 150 media portals according to a report by Mad Over Marketing.
In a more recent instance, KFC launched the #KFCBucketCanvas campaign to celebrate the opening of 600 restaurants across 150 cities in India. Using the KFC bucket as a canvas, hundreds of young artists and designers were brought on board to create art representing each city. A regular-sized design team would struggle to handle a project of such a grand scale, given the short turnaround time. But Ogilvy, the agency that lead the project, approached IndieFolio to hire some of the top artistic talents from the country, and successfully managed to put together this incredibly innovative campaign, which was launched pan-India in March 2022.
Forming a community among the users
Creative teams aren’t required only to adorn packaging, they can also help establish a positive connection between your product and its users. If you have ever waited to download heavy files on WeTransfer, you would have noticed beautiful illustrations being displayed in the background. Being a platform that is primarily used by members of the creative community, WeTransfer not only positions itself as a creator-friendly platform but also uses the space to catch the attention of bored users, keeping them engaged as they wait for their files to download.
Or maybe, you could consider using your creative users to generate an engaging ad campaign. Whether you are an Apple nerd or not, it is hard to overlook an iPhone ad when it plays at the start of a YouTube video or in between an innings break. ‘Shot on iPhone’ has become a trending statement, thanks to the ads that showcase some exceptional videos that have been shot by real iPhone users from across the globe. It is almost impossible to believe that these shots were captured on a smartphone. And so, while promoting one of its most sought-after features, Apple has successfully managed to build its very own creative community, keeping users hooked with the aspiration to be featured in an ad someday. They have successfully managed to showcase how they fulfill users’ desire for camera clarity and editing features.
Transforming cities through creative teams
Scaling creative teams may also come in handy while trying to drive a message to the public through an awareness campaign. St+art India Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in New Delhi, is a community that aims to democratise art and bring it to public spaces. They have garnered a lot of attention by picking public spaces in cities like Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad amongst others and converting certain walls of these spaces into larger-than-life murals. St+art has brought talented artists on board with the intent of making public spaces more vibrant and interactive. Their murals have given a new identity to these spaces that were largely neglected previously and given these densely populated cities a breath of fresh air.
It takes an army to put together impactful work that will capture public attention and also instigate change. Yes, one may extend an open invitation to the public to rope in creatives, but the amount of time and effort the whole process would take would definitely be much higher. There is no dearth of creative talent out there, and with platforms like IndieFolio creating a hub of talent ready to be swiftly onboarded for your creative needs, the process is now easier and faster than ever. While creating campaigns at a large scale, it is essential to take that leap of faith and let the creativity flow, to brew results that are sure to create impact.
