A Brand Jam column highlighting strategies in innovation and consumer engagement. This edition highlights a couple of recent examples of brands using innovation to project inclusiveness and social values.
Sanrio x megology
August provided a great example of a licensor using its direct-to-consumer profile to amplify its own brand, when the Japanese powerhouse Sanrio invited a collaboration with the Down Syndrome TV personality and artist, Megan Bomgaars.
The result was a collection of affordable, life-positive pieces made under Bomgaars’ megology label, and featuring Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru.
For a brand devoted to the concept of ‘small gift, big smile’, there is much to admire about an innovation that broadens its product offering and reinforces social values in one, elegant motion.
Left-Handed Oreos
A sure-fire way for brands to get people to talk about them is to come up with a solution for a community that feels excluded. FMCG giant Oreo did just that with a neat gimmick for International Left-Handers Day on August 13.
In an age where people rally around hashtags, paths to high engagement can be lucrative and simple to execute. In this case, Nabisco’s investment involved little more than flipping its carton, while taking yet another opportunity to remind its constituency of its twist-lick-dunk eating ritual.
As a left-hander, I just hope this campaign doesn’t tip anyone off to the fact that opening bottles is rigged in our favour.