Make Your Marketing a Force for Good

In the summer of 2018, a curious news story began to make the rounds on social media: Domino’s Pizza was filling potholes in towns across America, leaving a branded sticker on the freshly laid asphalt. The initiative, playfully named “Paving for Pizza,” was a practical response to a common nuisance — the potholes that can wreak havoc on cars, buses, and yes, pizza deliveries. The pizza company humorously explained that it was working to ensure smooth rides so its pizzas would arrive unscathed.

Domino’s campaign earned the company more than?1 billion media impressions?in its first eight months alone. The runaway success illustrates a new, under-utilized approach to brand strategy. Traditional marketing orthodoxy holds that awareness above all is fundamental to a brand’s survival. In an attention-starved media environment, brands are thus often lured into overt self-promotion to gain notice, often resorting to increasingly intense and sensational tactics. However, much like how people might react unfavorably to an individual conspicuously seeking attention, consumers often perceive similar tactics by brands as self-centered and narcissistic, and that turns consumers off. Indeed, the evidence is compelling that something isn’t working with the traditional approach to branding.

According?to?surveys?by PR giant Edelman, just 63%?of consumers trust brands to do what is right, 46% say brands are not doing enough to address issues like climate change, yet 59% of consumers will pay more if the brand does good in the world.

Brands are thus in a bind — they must draw attention to themselves but be seen to be acting selflessly. To understand how to do this successfully, I studied more than 150 award-winning campaigns from the Cannes Lions (the preeminent marketing awards for “viral” marketing campaigns) between 2018 and 2023. I found that most of the winning campaigns followed a hero’s arc, sharing three common traits:

1. Hero Brands Serve as Guardians

Fictional heroes like Superman and Batman protect people from harm and injustice. For a brand to embody this heroic trait, it must defend those who face a real disadvantage, desire relief from this threat, and suffer from a widely recognized injustice. Missing any of these criteria can disqualify a brand from achieving hero status.

Consider the European supermarket chain Carrefour. An archaic European law forbade French farmers from growing 97% of fruit and vegetable varieties. The law threatened biodiversity, unnecessarily increased the cost of agriculture, and deprived consumers of more flavorful varieties. Carrefour defied the law by opening 400 “Black Supermarket” stores across France selling the illegal varieties of fruits, vegetables, and grains. It perfectly met the three criteria for a heroic branding campaign: French citizens were clearly disadvantaged by not having access to more food varieties, they desired change, and they recognized the unfairness of the archaic laws. By demonstrating how the world would be a better place without the law, Carrefour won its battle against the European parliament, and the law was repealed. According to the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), the?campaign resulted in 377 million media impressions?and propelled Carrefour to the most preferred supermarket in Europe.

2. Hero Brands are Selfless

In comics, heroes have an unwavering commitment to prioritizing others’ needs over their own. Similarly, hero brands act selflessly, focusing on others’ well-being without seeking profit from these actions. When a brand’s initiatives seem driven by self-interest, it risks consumer backlash, undermining its heroic stance.

Consider the unfortunate case of Sellitonline – an Australian shopping website that offered to donate electrical generators to areas in Tasmania impacted by forest fires. The altruistic gesture seemed perfect for a hero brand, until they stipulated a condition: They would only donate if they got Facebook likes. This was interpreted by consumers as profiting from the suffering of others, which resulted in significant backlash against the brand.

This isn’t to suggest that brands can’t benefit from their heroic actions, but their initial motives must be genuinely altruistic and not overtly self-serving. Consider Domino’s campaign to fill potholes, which was humorous but also spoke to a deeper commitment to improving the everyday lives of people, in places where local governments had fallen short. Potholes wreak havoc on vehicles, and Domino’s came to the rescue.

3. Hero Brands are Mentors and Role Models

In action films, there is often a mentor archetype who teaches and guides the hero to overcome challenges and achieve their goals — think of Yoda in?Star Wars?or Alfred in?Batman. Similarly brands can become heroes when they seize an opportunity to educate their audience or address social issues.

Consider the lingerie brand K-Lynn. According to?a survey cited by WARC, the main reason 60% of Middle Eastern women don’t have a breast cancer screening is because they are short of time. Yet K-Lynn also knew that most of its female customers spent at least one hour a day shopping online. To address the conundrum, K-Lynn changed the typical model poses in their catalogue to instructional poses demonstrating a breast self-exam. This creative mentorship approach increased their sales by 23% and, more importantly, raised local mammogram appointments by 43%,?according to WARC.

Another way hero brands become role models is by taking the lead on an issue within the industry they operate in. As part of its move to plastic-free packaging, Corona beer ran a campaign to address ocean pollution by organizing global “plastic fishing” tournaments, incentivizing fishermen to collect and sell ocean plastic for recycling. According to WARC,?the initiative?removed more than 200 tons of plastic and dramatically increased the brand’s positive social media sentiment by 98%.

Creating a Hero Campaign

While it’s important to understand what makes a brand heroic, designing campaigns that successfully manifest these traits is a different challenge. I developed a framework to guide brands in this endeavor, ensuring their campaigns not only exhibit heroism but also resonate effectively with their audience. The framework includes four necessary conditions to ensure the success of a hero campaign.

Severity

Creating a hero campaign begins by identifying a problem in society that is severe enough for people to care about. The litmus test for identifying a sufficiently severe social or environmental issue is that consumers must view it as a genuine threat, either now or in the future.

A common problem when identifying a social issue for a hero campaign is misinterpreting or underestimating the severity of the issue. In 2017, for example, Pepsi launched a campaign that featured a mock crowd protest supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, and an influencer giving a token can of Pepsi to an armed police officer. The campaign was immediately criticized for failing to recognize the seriousness of the issues underlying the BLM movement, and was pulled within days of launching.

In contrast, the dishwasher brand Finish effectively raised perceptions of severity regarding America’s looming water shortage by using research that found that 40 out of 50 states would be affected by water shortages within the next decade. Finish helped?educate the public on saving water?by demonstrating how pre-rinsing dishes isn’t necessary with their product. The campaign?was a huge success, earning 479 million organic media impressions and increasing sales of Finish by 33%, according to WARC.

Effort

Picture a superhero attempting to save the occupants of a burning house. They won’t be seen as a hero unless they do their absolute best to save the people inside — you can’t phone in efforts to “save the day.” Hero brands must similarly demonstrate determination and dedication to avoid being seen to be paying only lip service to their noble intentions. For example, Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote diversity and inclusivity, but was?heavily criticized?when it failed to stand up to transphobic bullying against Mulvaney. Despite taking a stand, its half-hearted approach failed to convey the full effort needed for hero status.

Consistency in efforts is also crucial. H&M and Primark faced?criticism?for selling Pride collections?made?in countries where homosexuality is illegal, highlighting the need for brands to ensure their actions don’t contradict their stated intentions.

Affinity

Affinity is a feeling of warmth, respect, or deep appreciation for an activity, idea, or object. A campaign with high affinity is viewed as relevant by the target audience, while a campaign with low affinity is seen as irrelevant.

Affinity is crucial for hero brands to create, and campaigns fail when it is missing. Consider Mark Zuckerberg’s?decision?to livestream his use of the Oculus Rift to view a 360-degree virtual reality fly-through of Puerto Rico’s hurricane disaster. Although his intentions?to highlight aid relief were genuine, he drew significant backlash since it looked like he was promoting disaster tourism through his new VR tool, rather than trying to help. By failing to demonstrate how Facebook’s actions were relevant, Zuckerberg failed to create the necessary affinity required to make the campaign a success.

The most common way to increase the affinity in a hero campaign is to position the brand as a justice seeker, challenging a powerful adversary in the name of change. Take Grupo Estratégico’s campaign in Honduras to protest a ban on the morning-after pill. They creatively set up a floating dispensary just off the coast in international waters, to legally distribute the pills. The real impact, however, came from documenting the journey of women traveling to the offshore dispensary. This storytelling approach, which highlighted the personal experiences and struggles of the women,?garnered over 550 million organic impressions?and led to the collection of 2 million petition signatures, according to WARC.? This powerful campaign not only drew widespread attention but also played a pivotal role in overturning the restrictive law, exemplifying how hero brands can foster deep affinity by championing justice and sparking significant societal change.

Reach

For a hero campaign to succeed, it needs to reach enough people. Two critical factors determine sufficient reach: public awareness of the social issue and the recognition of its negative impact on society.

One effective strategy to amplify reach is to align a campaign with events or issues that are already in the public eye. For instance, Brazilian soda brand Guaraná leveraged the Tokyo Olympics to highlight gender inequality in sports. They pointed out the disparity in prize money awarded to female footballers in Brazil, in comparison to men. By dressing the national team players in 1980s apparel and re-launching their beverage in vintage bottles during the Olympics, Guaraná successfully drew attention to this issue. This strategic move led to over 180 million?organic media impressions?according to WARC and was influential in changing the rules to ensure equal prize money for all genders in Brazil, demonstrating the power of effective reach in hero branding campaigns.

. . .

The distinction between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and branding is increasingly blurred. Brands, often equipped with resources and persuasive power surpassing those of many activist groups and even governments, are uniquely positioned to address social and environmental issues. Yet this power comes with a responsibility to act not out of self-interest, but with genuine intent to contribute positively to society. In other words: to be a hero.

Brands, like people, possess distinct personalities and seek admiration and recognition. However, like responsible citizens, brands need to introspect and ask, “How can I contribute meaningfully to society?” This marks the beginning of a journey where a brand transcends traditional marketing and branding paradigms to become a cherished and respected member of the community it serves. Thus, the essence of hero branding lies in this authentic alignment of a brand’s actions with societal betterment, reflecting a deep understanding of its role and impact on the world.

About Amir

Amir Ashraf Person of the Year Awarded for Media and Communication Pioneers 2024. A distinguished marketing expert and founder of d2m media a digital marketing agency recognised for its achievements in marketing 360-solutions, videography and photography. With a strong dedication to enhancing brand visibility and driving business success by creating winning content. For further details about our service, feel free to get in touch

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