SNEHA BHATTACHARJEE
Which is your favourite campaign and why?
I have many campaigns that are my favourites. They provoke me and force me to look at advertising with fresh eyes. Selecting one becomes difficult. But for this discussion, I’ll choose a recent example that blew my mind. The campaign is called #OptOutside. And the brand and advertiser is REI, a popular retail chain in the US known for its clothes, camping gear and outdoor accessories. #OptOutside was truly audacious. On Black Friday, the day that America goes crazy buying stuff, the biggest shopping day of the year, REI decided to close all their 143 stores, encouraging everyone and their staff to go outside and have a good time.
The impact was most unexpected. According to the company, the brand’s social media impressions went up 7,000 per cent with 2.7 billion media impressions in 24 hours, while overall the campaign attracted 6.7 billion media impressions, 1.2 billion social impressions, and got more than 1.4 million people to spend the day outdoors.
Not just that, more than 150 other companies joined REI to close their doors on Black Friday, and hundreds of state parks opened up for free.
On what parameters did you base your decision? Sometimes you’ve got to break something to make something. The #OptOutside campaign did just that. It broke the notion that advertising has to be about clever words and images. It showed us that pathbreaking communication can start with great action and commitment within the company. #OptOutside challenged the status quo to reveal a new dimension of where communication is going. It opened minds, hearts and doors of perception.
What do you think was the key idea the campaign was trying to drive home? The campaign was what the company believed in — their core values, their love of the outdoors. So they shut their stores on the biggest shopping day of America to reaffirm their core value. It’s like taking the vows. That’s commitment. That’s belief. That’s standing up for what you live for. It wasn’t about words, it was about action. People loved this. Because it provoked everyone to think about how they spent their time and about what really matters.
Do you remember the campaign winning any advertising awards? Do you think these awards serve any purpose? The campaign won everything — multiple Grand Prix in every big international award show. It got the biggest recognition in 2016 at Cannes Lions — the Titanium Grand Prix. These awards encourage the company and the co-creators to continue to lead with values and purpose. The campaign made the brand internationally famous. It inspires people like us, living in other parts of the world, to do better. It’s impact lasts far longer than the period of the campaign.
Sometimes because of the emotional element in a campaign, there is greater recall for the story than the product or service advertised. Do you feel that was the case with this campaign which had a strong emotional connect? I believe there is a powerful human truth and purpose hidden in every brand, product or service and it is our creative duty to find it. The enlightened people at REI found it and let it shine. It became a lighthouse for everyone — the consumer, the competition, the category and to all who are excited about where advertising is going.
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