There are some brandlights that we remember and refer back to. These are particular communications that are a benchmark to what we as marketeers strive to achieve and ultimately why we love our jobs. This ad from Tropicana in 2010 is one of team member Claire's favourite.
Arctic Sun is a beautifully shot, documentary style ad shows a small Canadian town's reaction to a huge helium balloon filled with light on their 31st day of darkness.
This ad received worldwide coverage and Tropicana's fans on Facebook sky rocketed. The ad therefore clearly made consumers feel a strong connection with the brand. There are a few things we can learn from this.
Firstly the brand message 'Brighter Mornings for Brighter Days' is visually and emotionally brought to life. The consistency of the message with what consumers already associate with the brand (i.e. breakfast time, good mornings etc.) is taken to a new level.
The main reason consumers connect with the ad is the random act of kindness that the brand demonstrated for this town. The happiness of the people featured transpires to the viewer and creates a feel good feeling to anyone watching.
A cynical person could say that this example is not a random act of kindness as there is clearly an ulterior motive which is to sell product; shown here by Tropicana juice being handed out towards the end of the ad. Arguably in this instance however the enormity of the gesture outweighs the commercial message and when consumers experience it they enjoy the sentiment. This is proven by the response to the brand on channels like Facebook.
We are seeing the R.A.K (random act of kindness) trend appearing more through brand communications. If you google it there are some great examples. For instance Interflora tweeted one of their followers who complained of a hard day asking whether they could send her some flowers. Kleenex offered 'get well soon' packs to people who were nominated by friends on Facebook. Dulux run a 'Let's Colour' project that chooses parts of the world to paint bright colours to improve peoples' lives (below). The list continues.
As this trend continues to grow the consumer is going to become more aware that a brand is simply using R.A.Ks as a tactic to sell product. To avoid this the acts either must look unplanned or the brand must really want to do something for the greater good. As Tropicana proved with their ad, ulterior motives can be forgiven or even forgotten when the act brings so much happiness.
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