P is for... (Post-Peak) Purpose
40+ potent, poignant and playful uses of media and marketing communications that engage consumption's more conscious side - ripe for some upcycling on your next campaign
A few weeks ago I joined a Cannes De-Constructed panel chaired by Paul Kemp-Robertson, the co-founder of Contagious Magazine, to chat through some of themes coming out of what was winning this year at Cannes and what the implications are for brands moving forwards.
One of the questions posed by Paul to the panel, was whether as an industry we’d scaled, summitted and started a rapid descent from “Peak Purpose”.
Being live at Omnicom Towers it’s fair to say I got a couple of splinters from sitting on the fence, but the chat had the useful side-effect of getting me to prep this post; as whatever your persuasion, purpose-led ads and activations or those with a progressive twist have built up a back-catalogue of some of the most potent, poignant and playful uses of media and marketing communications of recent times.
Hence for this post P is for… (Post Peak) Purpose
Starting briefly with the origins of this approach within marketing communications; sharing some evidence that explains why brands and advertisers have so readily started engaging consumption’s more conscious side.
I then spend the main chunk cycling through eight different plays and forty or so different case studies from brands in recent times, with a media bend to them, that are ripe for some upcycling or re-mixing on any work you might be developing.
I’ll then leave you with how I believe we’ll see this approach mature, both externally in comms and internally across supply chains – that have the potential for the next-generation of media planner to create an even more significant legacy than all of the examples shared combined.
So where did it all start?
There’s great surprises that over time people establish increasingly elevated expectations of the brands, the products and the services that they choose to use throughout their lives.
In a modern context Adam Morgan coined this “The Rise of Uber’s Children”.
When you fired up the Uber app for the first time, it was genuinely magical.
A private driver, for the price of a mini-cab, that comes to wherever you are and doesn’t refuse to go south of the river.
Bang. You’re hooked.
Your expectations of how you might get about in the future are re-wired and re-set; black cabs suddenly seem like an out-dated relic from another era.
One of the more positive developments along these lines in recent times, is how people’s expectations of the way that businesses do business have changed too.
Not only should a purchase perform as promised, but does that product or service come at a cost to or come to think of it maybe even improve the lives and livelihoods of those that help produce it across the supply chain, present it at point of sale, or for the planet whose resources went into the creation, distribution and its ultimate disposal when that time comes around.
This isn’t necessarily a new way of doing business.
For instance Cadbury pioneered the creation of middle-class benefits for working-class factory workers as early as the 19th Century.
These considerations aren’t necessarily front of mind for every person, in every buying situation either.
Otherwise Shein wouldn’t be the world’s most popular shopping app, low-cost airlines wouldn’t be posting record profits and 50% of cars purchased wouldn’t be SUVs.
However, brands positioning themselves as good choices, by proxy enable the people who buy them to feel good and simultaneously signal any progressive values they wish to be associated with through what they wear, what they share, what they read, eat, drink, drive or wipe their bums with.
Resulting in more and more people over time willing to pay a significant premium for what they perceive to be sustainable or progressive options, with research from IBM finding in 2019 that less than 20% of consumers were willing to pay a significant premium for them; but by 2021 this had reached 70% of consumers.
These price stretching superpowers have seen marketing communications that dial up a brands sustainable credentials spread like wildfire over recent years.
Seeing plucky, mission-driven challengers doing everything they can to help the world be seen for what it is; in doing so to de-positioning and de-throning legacy incumbents along the way.
From the likes of these brands.
Creating a basis for some brilliant work that’s in tune with people’s more conscious sides.
Leading to a response by mainstream brands experimenting with various purpose-led and progressive plays to be perceived as good, or at the very least not a bad choice for potential customers to be seen using, employees to be seen working for, investors to have as part of their portfolios or for legislators to concern themselves with.
The combination of which has built-up a back catalogue of incredible work, that I’ve categorised into eight different plays, with a media (in its broadest sense) bend.
Progressive Play #1 // Funding
The first play is a relatively straight-forward one.
Diverting margin and now even media $$$s to causes people care about.
Many national and regional lotteries have long been diverting a % of ticket sales towards good causes to create a sense you’re doing good whilst having a flutter; whilst big grocers and retailers consistently run schemes to provide supplies and equipment to local clubs and communities.
A couple of examples would be the likes of Tesco’s For School’s & Clubs voucher scheme, or Waitrose’s Community Matters, who at the checkout give every customer a green token with their receipt.
By the exit you simply slot it into the cause you care about the most and the store will donate goods, services or $$$s directly to it; creating a little perk-me-up at the end of a shop that helps customers feel good about finishing a chore and helping others at the same time.
Bringing this a little closer to the media plan, vendors have started popping up to help brands incorporate these feel-good mechanisms across our advertising; with the likes of Good-Loop & WeAre8 creating incentivised ad-units that reward people’s attention with donations they can give to likeminded causes.
Heineken took the spirit of these formats out of our smartphones and into the real world during the pandemic with the creation of Shutter Ads; that diverted their OOH media budget from sites people weren’t passing by during lockdown and gave it to local bars in return for ad-space on their now closed shutters.
In doing so creating a new media channel out of what is typically dead space and a new source of income for bar owners that were struggling through the pandemic.
A lovely piece of lateral thinking.
Which neatly lends itself towards the next play…
Progressive Play #2 // Demonstrating
This is where brands and organisations are using media in novel and newsworthy ways to make the intangible, a little more tangible than it otherwise might.
The likes of Copenhagen Bench and Fearless Girl were ambient installations that respectively raised awareness of rising oceans and rising inequality across Wall Street.
Decathlon re-branded disability signs in parking bays across their retail estate into ability signs to de-stigmatise participation in sports and recreation.
More recent examples with additional layers to them come from Dole and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Dole’s Malnutrition Facts placed posters alongside fast-food vendors, printed with fruit and vegetable derived ink – to dramatically demonstrate just how little nutritional value there is in processed foods.
With some lovely little contextual plays such as posters next to vending machines…
…and more recently evolving the campaign to spotlight food waste too….
…Making the medium, very much part of the message.
Cause related organisations are inevitably pretty good at these types of dramatic demonstrations - fusing paid and P.R. to make a dent on the news cycle.
Like the WWF, who used generative A.I. to bring some of the art world’s masters back to life, to repaint their most famous landscapes, but do so looking out in the near future to spotlight the accelerated effects of climate change.
Potent stuff. However this isn’t just another OOH post.
What of people online and on platform?
Progressive Play #3 // Challenging
One of the symptoms of an algorithmically propelled media ecosystem has seen biases or bad behaviours that may have been isolated in previous eras, accelerated and then amplified across the platforms that people spend increasing amounts of time on.
Some brands have worked to challenge these at the point of creation and consumption.
Heineken are at it again here.
Where recently, in synch with the start of the UEFA Champions League they teamed up Gary Neville & Jill Scott (two famous British ex-footballers, turned TV pundits and personalities) to switch-up their Xwitter accounts to highlight the abuse that women in the spotlight face across social media.
The execution might not be to everyone’s tastes, but the intent is sound.
Other brands have challenged the platforms themselves.
For instance, Smirnoff found that algorithms across music streaming services had a bias towards and were overpromoting male artists, in doing so limiting the exposure and earning potential of other artists – so to help remedy this they created an initiative called Equalising Music.
Not just spotlighting the issue, but starting to solve it too, creating tools and utilities to help people equalise their playlists and use their financial clout to even change the headline acts at events they were sponsoring.
Thus, starting to equalise the earning potential of artists towards the top of the tree.
Dove have made calling out bad behaviours by users, or the platforms that serve them, a cornerstone of how they go about making beauty a source of confidence, rather than anxiety; with recent efforts oriented around how digital platforms are distorting young people’s views on beauty.
Most recently winning a Grand Prix at Cannes by rallying people to #TurnYourBack on Bold Glamour lens that was making waves in potentially harmful ways across TikTok – to ask for it to be removed and to stop future iterations that are distorting young people’s views on beauty.
A more recent development has seen brands starting to call out other brands who aren’t getting it right, or are only doing so at certain times of year or in certain regions with more progressive values.
Capaxia, of Mexico, created a rainbow washing detector that could help people understand whether a business’ declarations of support for pride matched their actions in the real world…
A lovely idea.
Which neatly dovetails with the next where we’re seeing brands lobby media companies, legislators and by virtue their competitors to do better for their customers and the world at large.
Progressive Play #4 // Lobbying
Whether it be Oatly challenging the dairy industry to publish their relative CO2 per serve, EBM replacing newscasters, with schoolcasters to show the positive impact of educating young girls across the region; or the heart-breaking Prescribed to Death initiative that tried to change U.S. government policy around prescription opiates – brands and organisations are using media-led provocations to lobby for “top-down” behaviour change.
As sometimes the choices that policy or lawmakers make, have more significance and can create a bigger impact than those made “bottom-up” by individuals.
A great example in this space from a little while back was UK chef/restauranteur/TV personality Jamie Oliver & UK broadcaster Channel 4 who through the TV program Jamie’s School Dinners spotlighted the high margin, highly processed, low to no nutritional value meals that were being served up by contractors to school children up and down the country.
Jamie used the same budgets contractors were being given to create new menus, packed with nutritional value across the pilot scheme’s schools.
These menus weren’t to everyone’s taste though, with some parents taking offence and handing McDonald’s Happy Meals through school gates at lunchtime (much to the delight of the tabloids, not so much McDs I imagine); but the stir Jamie’s mission created saw government officials change policies, procedures and funding to give both schools and the kids they serve a better start in life via what was being served in canteens up and down the country.
Which dovetails nicely with the next play…
Progressive Play #5 // Instigating
Where brands are using their clout, or borrowing it from others to not just build visibility, but to change attitudes and behaviour at the same time.
Be it the likes of Budweiser using their sponsorship of the NWSL to lobby other brands to join them in sponsoring and thus expanding the cultural and commercial clout of the women’s game; to Adidas & Arsenal Football Club joining forces with their No More Red initiative to combat rising knife crime across the UKs capital city.
Broadcasters and broadcast media properties have been getting in on the act as well.
A great example being ITV in the UK; who have repeatedly used their roster of talent and peak programming to compel Britain to get talking to one-another; in doing so opening up around challenges the public may face with ongoing mental health and wellbeing.
With some lovely companion ads from Uncommon alongside each on-air push of the initiative.
Broadcast media properties, that are broad-reaching, with commonly held connotations are also being used as vehicles to instigate attitudinal and behaviour change as well.
Two great examples of this come to mind.
One being Love Island, the most watched TV program amongst young people in the UK that historically peddled all things fast-fashion, who were approached by eBay to create a “Pre-Loved Island” platform that placed sustainable fashion and the solutions eBay facilitate in this space right at the heart of the Love Island program.
Partnering with the problem, to spotlight the solution, at a scale and prominence that ensures it’s making genuine dent in the problem as opposed to merely posturing in a performative way around it.
Much like a lovely play by a collective of financial-services brands in Poland that saw them purchase Poland's longest running and most read pornographic magazine and shut it down; making its last issue the beginning of a new conversation around sex education, gender portrayal, equal rights, sexism and much, much more.
Amazing work all round.
In a change of lane, the next two plays come as a pair.
Progressive Play #6 // Solving
Which is where we’re seeing brands looking to create ads and use media in ways that explicitly prevent, solve and safeguard.
Creating forms of utility, with and within the advertising itself.
Be it billboards that kill mosquitoes, help late-night revellers feel safer, or chew through toxic air pollution in their immediate vicinity.
Be it chillboards that can’t be seen, but can be felt, by the way they reflect sunlight and reduce people’s reliance on economically and ecologically expensive air conditioning.
Be it geo-triggered Spotify ads, served in-car to warn drivers of up-coming tight corners where there is an increased likelihood of accidents – to promote a more conscious insurance provider.
These are just a few of many great examples of using advertising as a utility, that sells more than just the explicit product or service, which overlaps neatly with some of the following more expansive plays brands have made in this space.
Progressive Play #7 // Building
The other side of this progressive pairing sees brands that have built bespoke software, hardware and I.P. to help solve real-world problems.
On the practical side Renault built a “charge-sharing” service to expand the electronic car charging infrastructure across France; increasing perceptions of e-car suitability, subsequent trial and adoption whilst creating a new revenue stream at the same time.
Lovely stuff.
On the physiological side, Eurofarma re-mixed widely available smartphone tech to create scrolling therapy to help stroke victims retain suppleness and exercise their facial muscles with their smartphones.
In a similar vein, the start-up Augmental created the most amazing utility in the form of a MouthPad to help those with restricted movements, better command, control and communicate with their peers.
For different reasons some of the worthiest winners of the biggest awards on offer in our domain.
Which leads to the last play, from what is by no means an exhaustive list, that starts to change lanes and point towards some of the provocations I’ll leave you with in a moment.
Progressive Play #8 // Including
Where brands are using their cultural and commercial clout to create utility, access, opportunity and representation for all consumer groups, especially those that are typically marginalised.
Be it Adidas with their phenomenal Runner 321 initiative…Google flipping people’s enthusiasm for Black Friday towards Black owned businesses…or a beer brand in LATAM collaborating with a sports broadcaster to create bespoke alternatives to the main commentary for those who speak different dialects.
Brands are using their clout to open up access, opportunity and representation.
One example with a tech infusion comes from Brazilian retailer Mercado Livre, who tooled their ad-campaign in ways that the audience could select the size of the models that featured in the campaign.
As beauty comes in all sizes. Using D.C.O capability that’s usually the preserve of lower funnel, performance marketing, in a compelling and captivating way.
A lo-fi, service-led example of inclusion in action from the U.K. is a lovely act of generosity from Timpson’s.
A chain of dry cleaners / key cutters / phone fixers / shoe repairers / all round good eggs where if you’re unemployed and need a clean outfit for an interview, they’ll dry clean it for free – which was no doubt the inspiration for a recent play by H&M to create a free 24hr suit rental service for young job-seekers.
The descent from “Peak” Purpose
What I’ve shared is just a cross-section of work that’s made its way out into the world, winning attention and the affection of both consumers and critics along the way.
Which has been a blessing, but also a curse.
As the problem with any successful approach is that others inevitably follow it; meaning we saw over half of the winners at Cannes across 2022 & 2023 coming from a similar, progressive or purposeful space, which on one level leads to fatigue, but also leaves other starting points and emphasis points for work that may be less crowded, that stands out and stands apart.
From Saturation to Maturation
What we’re likely to see moving forwards will be two things.
Outward facing -> Purpose x Product x Promotion
Inward facing -> Brand Safety Citizen Safety & Suitability
Let’s start with the communications part.
Purposeful or progressive ads, acts and activations won’t just suddenly disappear, but to continue to be effective they’ll be more grounded in a brand and business’s core products and services; with those that are de-coupled from the product and the way it’s brought to market will start to be seen for what they aren’t.
An exemplar of these 3 Ps coming together in a positive way was one of the biggest winners from Cannes this year, in the form of The Honest Egg Company’s FitChix activation across Australia that Paul spotlighted in our Cannes De-Constructed session a few weeks back.
The believe happy and healthy chickens lay healthier eggs. Not exactly rocket science.
However “free-range” as an industry based, consumer-facing term, is an arguably misleading one.
In Australia, government rules say that free-range eggs can have no more than 10 thousand chickens per hectare.
Honest Eggs has just 30 chickens per hectare.
Understandably a difference they wanted to make a shout about.
They didn’t just print those rational stats in their ads though, they thought it would be a good idea to fit their chickens with Fitbits and create profiles for a bunch of them on Strava to demonstrate and dramatize just how Fit their Chix were.
Then they printed the average step-count of those chickens each day onto every single egg they produced.
Then they used those eggs in their Out of Home ads.
An egg-celent idea that got journalists talking, where in the first three weeks according to Paul, demand for eggs from stockists grew by 40% and sales revenue went up by 25%.
Purpose, product and promotion coming together in a novel and newsworthy way.
As much as I love examples like these, the next generation of media planners and practitioners won’t have to wait for the “right brief” or the “right brand” to start making better choices for the world or its citizens.
Inward facing -> Brand Safety & Suitability Citizen Safety & Suitability
Digital advertising has funded so many great things that we enjoy and appreciate.
Entertainment and information, for free. Levelling playing fields.
Connection and communion, with those we’ll never meet. Building communities.
However, the way that many online platforms have created value for their shareholders and advertisers has been through surveillance.
Tracking people as they journey around the internet to profile them; selling elements of their identities and intentions to the highest bidder who wish to monetise them.
Algorithmically nudging people towards the most relevant / sensational versions of the content that’s available on their platform/s to keep them there and to keep loading more ad-impressions.
The latter, as Bob Hoffman has shouted from the rooftops many a time, leads to nothing but trouble.
Trouble for brands as they show up in places and spaces that are neither safe, nor suitable.
Trouble for citizens and societies that have been well documented.
I believe the next-generation of media planners have the chance to make a much more significant contribution to the world than all of the examples I’ve shared in this post, combined and multiplied.
Helping to change the emphasis of our choices from a media ecosystem that’s merely brand safe, suitable and compliant, to ones that are citizen shaped and suitable.
Re-tooling ad-tech to help make programmatic media the safest and most suitable options for both advertisers and the general public, rather than arguably the most dangerous.
But that’s a whole other post, that I’ll get to in a bit.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this one.
As ever if you feel I’ve missed anything out or have better examples to share, please drop me a DM on LinkedIN or Xwitter and I’ll do my best to add them to the post.
Until next time : )