I’m a partner and Chief Creative Officer with Camden, an independent ad agency network with offices in Montreal, Toronto, Lyon & Hong Kong.
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For at least 10 years, campaigns that “surprise and delight” consumers have been a staple for marketers everywhere. International names like Volkswagen do it. Leading brands from my home in Canada do it too, such as Tim Hortons, WestJet and Air Canada.
It’s a lovely idea. Psychologically it makes total sense for any brand hoping to find a home in hearts and minds. “Surprise” means that the message has snapped a shopper out of their ad-cluttered apathy. “Delight” is basically maximum joy. And, let’s face it, these days even minimum joy is welcome.
There’s an obvious dissonance between these positive feelings and the general state of the world right now. Clearly, we could all do with a break from bad news. But brand managers know they’re tiptoeing through a minefield, where one misstep can have explosive consequences, almost literally—for example, a surprisingly delightful ad that is unintentionally placed next to a report on the atrocities in Ukraine can look ignorant or even callous.
Disney, the brand that pretty much invented surprise and delight, is now embroiled in a political scrap in Florida after the corporation voiced its opposition to the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. This is where the CSR rubber hits the road for corporate D&I initiatives in jurisdictions that are turning the clock back to less progressive times.
What is a brand to do? Take a stand and risk an anti-woke backlash? Or keep quiet and betray its CSR initiatives?
Maybe there’s a third way. As the climate catastrophe and a panoply of depressing global events make corporate social responsibility feel like a no-fun, beige slog through worthy statements of intent, could there be an opportunity here? An area of dissonance, or good old-fashioned tension, where brave brands can stand out from the crowd? Let’s reintroduce the concept of surprise and delight.
CSR and ESG are usually the domain of corporate communications rather than marketing. And when it comes to the “E” of ESG, many messaging initiatives miss the mark completely with consumers. Should marketing departments be given a chance to work with agencies on injecting some surprise and delight into messaging? Maybe even go as far as producing activation-style campaigns?
Highly effective efforts in this vein have already been done sporadically. It’s now almost 10 years since German international development charity Misereor launched a Cannes Lions-winning campaign called The Social Swipe, the “first poster that accepts credit cards.” Not only were members of the public asked to make a small-but-important donation by literally swiping their cards down a slot in the middle of a digital billboard, the video surrounding the slot then displayed the potential impact of their donation, such as a loaf of bread being sliced in an impoverished region. A great interactive idea that was a worthy Lion winner, but also a perfect example of surprise and delight in the service of a noncommercial initiative.
It’s easy to come up with heart-wrenching or inspirational creative for CSR subjects, but as soon as the soft piano notes start, the audience knows what they’re in for. In which case, where’s the surprise? Brands or organizations that invest all their environmental communications efforts in an Earth Day social media post can see their efforts interpreted as insincere performances rather than authentic year-round commitments. And so, where’s the delight?
As was revealed by a recent Mintel survey, 63% of Canadians would like “to be able to immediately offset the carbon footprint of a purchase.” The Misereor campaign showed how instant gratification can have a positive emotional impact when it comes to good deeds. Shouldn’t brands be looking for ways to integrate something like “instant eco-rewards” when consumers make purchases? Are there ways to use newer media like TikTok and Twitch to surprise and delight digital natives? How about exploring Web3 elements like NFTs to build a community around ESG goals, both within and outside organizations?
The world we live in today is more in need than ever before of conscious consumption. And I believe we’ve reached the intersection of CSR and cutting-edge marketing techniques. Although surprise and delight are old kids on the block when it comes to product and brand marketing, surely it’s time for corporate comms to shake the dust off their timeworn strategies.
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