THE CREATIVE FIELDBOOK / SNS MEDIA TECH

Campaign studies

297 source-led reads, 12 per page. These numbered pages work without JavaScript. Search every study and lesson →

121
Automotive and mobility / 20096 MIN READ

The Fun Theory

Volkswagen Sweden

Playful changes to ordinary public actions made a brand proposition visible beyond the car.

The award entry describes a brief to generate interest in Volkswagen’s BlueMotion Technologies. The campaign connected that positioning with an idea about making desirable everyday actions enjoyable. This is the advertiser’s intended association, not independent evidence about vehicle emissions. The interesting object is an altered action, not merely an instruction to behave better. For a service business, ask whether a dull or confusing step could become clearer, more rewarding or more social. Fun is only one option. The intervention must still help people complete the task and should not impose noise, embarrassment or delay on others.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Playful design
122
Automotive and mobility / 20136 MIN READ

Hands

Honda

A pair of curious hands turned a wide product history into one coherent act of exploration.

The One Show brief was to position Honda as imaginative and innovative in the UK. A broad engineering history could easily become a catalogue, so the creative chose the curiosity of an engineer as the organizing idea rather than a chronological list of models. A collection becomes easier to understand when the audience sees the same meaningful action across different products. The action might be testing, protecting, restoring or connecting. Choose something supported by the company’s actual work. A generic value such as innovation becomes more useful when people can recognize what that value makes someone do.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Curiosity
123
Automotive and mobility / 20146 MIN READ

The Other Side

Honda

One keyboard action let viewers switch between two personalities of the same brand.

Honda’s announcement positioned the work against a one-sided reputation for reliability, highlighting its racing heritage ahead of the 2015 Civic Type R. The task was to add another dimension without erasing the familiar everyday Civic. An interactive control is useful when the action itself helps someone understand the brand. Ask why this particular gesture belongs to this particular idea. If a button merely reveals more generic content, it may add friction without meaning. Prototype the control cheaply and check whether a new viewer can explain the connection without instructions from the creative team.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Duality
124
B2B technology / 20167 MIN READ

Unimpossible Missions

GE

Engineers treated expressions of impossibility as briefs for entertaining demonstrations of industrial science.

The award entry frames GE’s problem as making its technological capabilities visible in a culture that associated innovation with internet companies and startups. Industrial expertise needed an accessible story, not simply a declaration that the company was innovative. Innovation is easier to discuss when the audience knows what success would look like. A bounded challenge supplies an observable result and a reason to keep watching. State the conditions, limitations and role of specialist equipment so a surprising demonstration does not become a misleading universal claim.

575+
reported university-challenge entries2016 University Edition, reported after winner selection; exact archive publication day unstated · Competition submissions from 375 schools worldwide, not unique viewers, recruits or customer leadsGE winner report, linked to the 2016 programme announcement · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Engineering demonstration
125
Consumer technology / 20167 MIN READ

Make What’s Next: 2016 launch

Microsoft

A question about who gets remembered as an inventor opened a practical invitation for girls to become creators.

Microsoft’s 2016 announcement addressed women’s underrepresentation in technology, pointing to awareness, stereotypes and access to resources. The creative challenge was to connect an inspirational message with practical support, rather than merely celebrate invention or promote devices. A simple question can make an issue visible, but a filmed group is not a representative survey. Keep the creative device separate from population-level evidence. If a campaign needs a statistical claim, use a clearly described study rather than treating selected on-camera answers as proof of universal belief.

8,600+
reported young women reached through events2016 campaign activity reported by 24 June 2016 · 56 events across 27 countries in Microsoft’s progress report; not confirmed unique long-term learners or career changesMicrosoft EU Policy progress article · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Visible role models
126
B2B technology / 20177 MIN READ

The Network. Intuitive.

Cisco

A simple human-facing promise linked an unfamiliar network architecture to a coordinated product-learning journey.

Cisco announced intent-based networking solutions on 20 June 2017. Its marketing task was to make an architectural change understandable beyond specialists, while retaining enough substance for enterprise buyers and partners to evaluate it. The campaign condensed that ambition into The Network. Intuitive. A short phrase can help a buyer begin understanding a technical change. It should name a useful difference, not replace the explanation. Test whether people can move from the promise to a concrete use case, and whether specialists recognise that the simplified language still fits the actual architecture.

36 countries / 21 languages
reported first-day rollout footprintDay one of the June 2017 campaign launch, reported 26 June 2017 · Geographic and language availability as described by Cisco; not impressions, unique audience or salesCisco CMO launch account · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Category explanation
127
B2B technology / 20117 MIN READ

Watson on Jeopardy!: The IBM Challenge

IBM

A difficult computing capability became a public contest whose rules and outcome viewers could immediately understand.

IBM’s research challenge was to build a system that could answer natural-language questions with sufficient speed, accuracy and confidence to compete on Jeopardy!. The communication opportunity came from making that difficult technical task visible through a familiar format rather than asking a broad audience to interpret laboratory benchmarks. An audience can judge a contest more readily when it already understands the objective and scoring. For a product demonstration, define success in terms observers can verify. Familiarity should reduce explanation, not conceal changes to the rules that would make the comparison misleading or unfair.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Public technical challenge
128
Automotive and mobility / 20137 MIN READ

Chicken: Magic Body Control

Mercedes-Benz

An unexpected animal analogy made an abstract suspension benefit easy to picture.

The campaign introduced the idea behind Magic Body Control through a simple visual contrast. Rather than asking viewers to interpret suspension terminology first, it selected an observable example of stability while surrounding movement continues. Write the useful effect in ordinary language, then look for an image that shares that one property. The connection should be explainable without a long technical detour. Do not begin with a funny object and invent relevance afterward. An analogy is most useful when it reduces a specific comprehension burden rather than adding a second thing the audience must decode.

11 million
entrant-reported YouTube viewsReported in the 2014 D&AD entry; exact cutoff unstated · Video views, not unique people, product understanding or salesD&AD entrant narrative, not independently audited · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Visual analogy
129
Automotive and mobility / 20157 MIN READ

SLIDE: the Lexus Hoverboard

Lexus

A working but tightly constrained prototype gave an innovation platform a concrete object to investigate.

Lexus described Amazing in Motion as a platform for imagination, design and innovation. SLIDE was its fourth project. The creative task was to make that ambition visible through an unusual collaboration rather than simply declare that the car company was innovative. A prototype can give people something concrete to examine when a brand wants to discuss imagination or engineering. The object need not become a commercial product, but its status should be unmistakable. Ask which part is functional, which is staged and which remains a future aspiration. That distinction makes curiosity productive instead of encouraging audiences to mistake a demonstration for an available offer.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Wonder
130
Automotive and mobility / 20157 MIN READ

LifePaint

Volvo Cars

A useful-looking product extension made a safety position tangible, while a later ruling exposed the cost of an overstated demonstration.

Volvo’s stated ambition was to extend its safety positioning beyond people inside its cars. The campaign introduced a reflective spray associated with cyclist visibility. The One Show record describes a film and launches at six London cycle shops. A position becomes more concrete when people can use something that expresses it. Ask which need sits adjacent to the main product and whether the brand can credibly help. The useful object must have an owner, instructions and distribution, not just a launch photograph. Treat the operational experience as part of the creative work because that is where the promise becomes testable.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Brand utility
131
Automotive and mobility / 20176 MIN READ

Start Your Impossible: 2017–2018 launch

Toyota

A company repositioning became a set of human mobility stories, supported by more than a slogan.

Toyota announced the corporate initiative on 16 October 2017 and described a shift from cars alone toward mobility. Its Olympic and Paralympic partnership supplied a setting for that positioning, but the intended audience also included employees, partners and customers. Repositioning requires a clear relationship between what the company does today and what it intends to become. Show where the new definition is already supported and where it remains ambition. A small business can make this distinction through services, prototypes and specific plans. Avoid presenting every future possibility as an available capability just because the campaign needs a confident ending.

24 countries
brand-reported launch footprint1 November 2017 global campaign announcement · Markets in the launch plan, not audience reach or outcomes; later rollout counts differToyota launch announcement · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Mobility
132
Automotive and mobility / 20106 MIN READ

MINI Getaway Stockholm

MINI

A virtual prize moved through a real city, turning a car launch into a playable pursuit.

The campaign introduced the MINI Countryman through a Getaway concept. Instead of asking people only to watch the vehicle, it invited eligible iPhone users in Stockholm to take part in a location-based game. A game invitation should answer what someone does, what changes when they do it and how it ends. Test the rule verbally before building an app. Complexity can come from other players and the environment rather than a long instruction sheet. If people cannot explain the basic action to a friend, a larger prize may increase confusion rather than useful participation.

11,413
entrant-reported participantsSeven-day Stockholm campaign in 2010; exact dates not specified in the award entry · People described as participants; unique/active definition not supplied, not customersGuldägget entrant narrative, not independently audited · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Play
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