1. www.thedrum.com 10.JUN.15 THE DRUM44INDUSTRYINSIGHTS
What is charisma? It’s a word that’s frequently
used to characterise leaders. Something that’s
difficult to quantify and rationalise. It’s not
beauty. It’s not sex appeal. It’s not just power, or
strength, or vision. It’s a quality that some people
‘just have’, and that most people don’t. We are
drawn to charismatic people, without being able
to explain why.
As all eyes in the industry turn towards the south
of France for the Cannes Lions International Festival
of Creativity, at jkr we’ll be watching closely for how
the world’s most charismatic brands impress the
judges, and to see if those with charisma are also
the most creative and the most effective.
Can brands be charismatic? We believe that they
can. Just as charismatic people have a magnetism
that attracts us, so do charismatic brands. Charisma
is a highly desirable quality in a brand because it
provokes an emotional response. And as we know,
brands that appeal to our emotions are the only ones
we feel moved to care about.
We’ve been studying some of the world’s most
successful brands to find out what makes one
brand charismatic and another lacklustre. We’ve
collaborated with a zoologist, an adman, a casting
agent, a semiotician, a leadership advisor and a
youth specialist to get under the skin of charisma.
We’ve worked with a data house and evaluated
past IPA effectiveness winners to positively correlate
brand charisma with brand growth. And we’re
betting that this year at Cannes it will be the most
charismatic brands that are judged the
most creative.
We’ve identified five qualities typically exhibited by
charismatic brands. Here they are, along with some
award-winning work from brands that display them.
Vitality:
Charismatic brands feel alive. They connect with you
emotionally and instinctively. They shock you out of
your stupor, tug at your heartstrings, they kick you
in the guts. Honda’s Sound of Senna (Dentsu Tokyo,
2014 Titanium Grand Prix) is an utterly electrifying and
visceral experience – a memory made hauntingly real
and ‘vital’ by this visionary dreaming brand.
Connectivity:
Charismatic brands attract people towards them,
pulling instead of pushing. They cross over from
isolated brand to cultural commodity. The man my
man could smell like is currently on a horse (Old
Spice/Wieden & Kennedy, 2010 Grand Prix), so
wassup with that? (Budweiser/DDB Chicago, 2000
Grand Prix). Charismatic brands frequently enter
the fabric of our culture, becoming part of us, as we
become part of them.
Truth:
Charismatic brands are authentic – they have integrity
and truth. Not an absolute truth, of course, but brands
that are faithful to their own truth, provided it is a
distinctive truth, are extremely compelling. Marmite’s
‘love it or hate it’ idea locates it in a foundation of brand
truth, giving it a strong compass that governs all brand
behaviours (‘Neglect’/adam&eveDDB, 2014 Gold Lion).
Ok, so it might not be crusading for a big social good,
but Marmite still has its own kind of bravery.
HuntingcharismaatCannes:howbrand
magnetismcreateswinningideas
Tel: 0207 4288000
Email: matthewparkes@jkrglobal.com
Web: www.jkrglobal.com
Twitter: @jkrGlobal
Vision:
Charismatic brands do more than just sell stuff. They have
a point, a vision. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a social
vision, like Chipotle’s quest for ethical food (Creative Artists
Agency, 2014, 3 Gold Lions) or Dove’s Campaign for Real
Beauty (Ogilvy Brazil, 2013 Titanium Grand Prix), but it
does need to give the brand purpose. People believe in
brands that believe in something, whether it’s the ‘progress’
behind Johnnie Walker (BBH, 2010 Gold Lion), or the
moment of childhood wonder that Oreo believes we’re all
entitled to (‘Daily Twist’/Draftfcb, 2013 Cyber Grand Prix).
Depth:
Charismatic brands have personalities that feel ‘real’. They
are multi-faceted and richly storied. If you engage with
them, they reveal new dimensions. Consider Guinness
(‘Surfer’, 1999 Gold Lion and ‘Sapeurs’, 2014 Silver Lion
both AMV BBDO) a brand whose dimensionality permits
endless variations on a couple of key creative themes.
All of these brands have that magical magnetism we call
charisma. And of course they all display more than just one
of the five qualities we’ve defined above.
What they have in common is that by harnessing
charisma, they have all found a way to transcend reason
and appeal to our emotions. That’s why charismatic brands
are the ones that get noticed and chosen, and why we at
jkr are #fansofcannes.
To find out more about Charisma by Design™,
visit www.jkrglobal.com
Katie Ewer
Strategy Director
jones knowles ritchie
Singapore
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jones knowles ritchie