When a brand has purpose, magic happens: From Nike to Red Bull, these stories will inspire you

Can you build a creative community around a gin brand? 

Can shoes give people a champion athlete’s mindset?

Can an energy drink become the voice of adventurers?

These questions and more have been answered with a resounding YES by dynamic brands that looked for common ground between their brand values and those of their audience. (Sometimes even looking beyond their sector.) 

Consider Bombay Sapphire, a luxury gin brand that positions itself as “a uniquely balanced gin, the perfect canvas for creative cocktails”. Realising that its customer base included people with a knack for creativity in general, Bombay Sapphire hit on the idea of reaching out to them with a campaign called “Stir Creativity”. Through this campaign, based on the insight that we are all creative at heart, Bombay Sapphire encourages its audience to practice a little creative self-expression every day. Putting US$20 million behind one initiative under Stir Creativity, the brand recruited creatives to star in - and produce - its hero brand film. In another, it partnered with the London Graphic Centre to create an immersive learning experience called 12 Days of Creativity. And in 2020, the campaign cleverly pivoted to at-home events, collaborating with artists to host live creative workshops online. The value of that brand today? US$283 million.

Or look at Nike - which built a phenomenal business around the idea that the shoes maketh the (sports) man. Nike is the most followed athletic apparel brand on YouTube, with more than 951,000 followers in 2019. Its brilliant marketing team recognised that its audience felt a strong emotional connection to its footwear, combined that with a slew of multimillion dollar celebrity athlete advertising campaigns, and won over a fanbase of aspiring young athletes.

And what about our energy drink example? It’s a brand that has sold more than 75 billion cans of fizz since launching in 1987. None other than Red Bull, which went from energy drink to media powerhouse, putting its marketing budget into the stories of its fans, rather than the story of its brand.

These case studies and more show us that when a brand understands where its values and those of its audience intersect - where its brand purpose lives - big things happen.

So, now that we’ve got your attention, where do you start? We say: at the very beginning. What needs, passion, vision, or observations brought your brand into being? What values does it stand for? Who was it made for? These questions will help you to form, crystallise, or even just reconnect, with your brand purpose. And the answers will put you in good stead for the next step: identifying that sweet spot where your values and those of your audience intersect. Once you find it, all that’s left to do is switch on your creativity and start brainstorming the content ideas that will hit the mark you’ve so clearly defined.

At distillery, we run a fandom workshop that helps companies like yours build fandoms around their brand. Each exercise is designed to help you define your purpose, pinpoint your ideal customer, and deliver the creative ideas that will turn them from audience to fans. Workshops are free, with recommendations that you can start actioning tomorrow. 

To book a fandom workshop for your team, reach out to a member of our team.