The author shares the inspirations and daring takeaway from Spikes Asia - the largest festival that honor creative thinking in Asian 2015.

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WHY MARKETING NEEDS TO BE BRAVE IN 2016 | 1
WHY MARKETING
NEEDS TO BE BRAVE
IN 2016

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WHY MARKETING NEEDS TO BE BRAVE IN 2016 | 2
For sometime now, brand owners have been talking about taking
risks in order to grow their brands. At Spikes Asia 2015, this trend was
more than evident. Courage and risk was listed as the key ingredients
of successful branding. Spikes Asia is the largest festival that honors
creative thinking in Asia. In the 2015 edition, 4351 entries from 23
countries contested for top honors. Yet, just a handful of them actually
finished on the metals tally. The quest to create successful campaigns
is not a new one, yet why do so many campaigns fail to scale new
heights and make a lasting impact on people?
Apart from the usual maze of solving a business problem, integrated
team-work, stakeholder alignment, execution co-ordination and mid-
size budgets there were three key themes that winning campaigns
embraced. These are timeless themes, but there is enough evidence to
suggest that these work in the new world of communication
1. Bravery in branding
Bravery never fails to make an impression, however, the challenge for
brands is to make the right impression and not be brave for no reason.
Smart teams take the right risk in a campaign. This act of bravery
can come at any point of the marketing process. It could be a ‘brave
new proposition’ or a new ‘outrageous form of promotion’. These days
there is enough evidence of how the bold approach works better than
the safety first style of yesterday. This is an era of marketing where
differentiation and stand out have a higher chance of acceptance and
success. The safe brand that did not ruffle any category norms stand to
lose ground faster than the innovative ones.

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Winning campaigns tend to pave a new path through business
complexities and leave a lasting impression on the audience. They
mesmerize and touch their audience’s heart in special ways. These
campaigns are indeed acts of bravery because they challenge existing
category and cultural norms and emerge triumphant by creating new
marketing model for others to follow. An airline brand in Australia
demonstrates how bravery can make a big difference to a brand that
struggled to stand out. The campaign theme was creatively used
across a range of touch-points (including tv/online/offline/ experiential)
to make a big impression.
INFREQUENT FLYER CLUB
ACES FINALIST MARCH 2015

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2. Campaigns are not past memories but fresh approaches
Wisdom of the past is important but ideas from the brand’s past need
to be strongly discouraged. Every campaign must be a step forward
for the brand. It should add another dimension to existing brand
appeal. As categories get more competitive, brands cannot stand out
in consume minds by out-shouting each other, they can do so, only by
injecting freshness into old connections. Saying the same joke twice
does not make an audience laugh more, in-fact the audience starts
feeling sorry for the limitation on show. Retelling a brand’s past does
not merit new work. It only need more media money to rerun the
old work.
Winning campaigns opened up a range of new repositories and
avenues for brands to express their unique point of view. A new idea
helps a brand rise above its own past and script a new reality. A 43 years
old Taiwanese brand is probably the best example of this theme.
HOUSE OF LITTLE MOMENTS CAMPAIGN

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3. We are what we measure
The emphasis on campaign measurement was another key theme
across marketers and agencies. The success of online as a medium
can be attributed to the medium’s ability to measure and calculate
its worth. Brand teams often debate that campaign results are not
directly proportionate to brand results hence it is a good-to-have. That
is perfectly true and it is largely due to campaigns being temporary
by nature.
However, campaigns provide crucial learning for the future and that
is the reason why modern brands are measuring campaigns in newer
ways. They lay emphasis on social impact and not just social results.
Since campaigns are created to influence people, its effects are deeper
than immediate sales. They work in more ways than the obvious one
of driving sales.
Most of the Spikes winning campaigns reported data beyond sales
and reach. Even participation and engagement are old metrics these
days. Brands are not just thinking out of the box they are going way
beyond the box of flat ideas and bringing concepts to life. Campaigns
are being valued (beyond what can be measured). Matsukoroid is
probably a fitting example of how brands can make an impact in
popular culture.
MATSUKO ROID

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LEARNING FOR BRANDS
1. Be brave with the brief. Set objectives around the business challenges.
Memorable campaigns consistently turn challenging objectives into
creative solutions.
2. Fresh approaches lead to fresh ideas. Even old ideas can be rolled
out differently these days. Using a brand’s past to create something
new is a good trick worth trying but telling old stories can hurt.
3. Remember, predictable KPI’s produce predictive campaigns’ and
brands get stuck in the sea of sameness. The new benchmark is to
create social value and campaign acceptance across a wider segment
of society and not just the core brand targ
Sajju Ambat (MD, STRATA) is a brand strategist and
communication consultant.
The Editor
The Purpose Group
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own