Collective Creations: Brands Harnessing the Power of Audience Powered Collaborations
Listening to and interacting with your audience is always important and increasingly, brands are actively leveraging their audiences’ brand passion and knowledge to forge robust relationships, ignite enthusiasm and, most importantly, kickstart entirely new creative processes.
This genius tactic is invaluable in many ways. Not only does it humanise brands and make them more approachable, but it allows audiences to feel personally invested in their brand story while drumming up content organically, alleviating the sole burden on your brand’s creative team.
By adopting this approach, brands ensure that their content and campaigns resonate deeply with their intended audience. Moreover, it empowers brand advocates and ambassadors to take ownership of their contributions, instilling a sense of pride that motivates them to share and spark engaging conversations centred around the brand.
Here, we spotlight five brands harnessing the power of audience powered collaborations.
- Nike
Utilising their non-fungible token (NFT) platform, the global sports giants extended an invitation to users to craft their own personalised digital wearables. Blurring the barrier between customer and employee, the campaign redefined the definition of who a creator can be and encouraged fans everywhere to express what Nike means to them through their very own shoe design. As an added incentive, when selected, four fortunate winners each won $5,000 along with the chance to collaborate directly with Nike’s design team. What’s not to love? - The Barbie Movie
Few branding campaigns have sparked so much attention as the recent Barbie movie. One of the most genius aspects? The Barbie Selfie Generator, which dropped a day after the film’s posters were released. Through the generator, fans were invited to submit selfies which were then transformed into personalised posters. By putting fans at the very heart of its campaign, the film kickstarted a social media craze and saw a significant boost in user-generated content. Primarily, this tool provided a means for people across the globe to connect with the Barbie brand, allowing anyone to picture themselves in Barbie’s shoes and feel personally connected with the campaign. Brilliant. - Walkers Crisps
Centring customers in its developmental journey, Walkers’ ‘Do Us A Flavour’ initiative inspired a wave of inventive crisp concepts. Anchored in the understanding that ‘everyone’s got an opinion about what makes a good packet of crisps’ – which is extremely well-realised – Walkers empowered the British population to bring their crisp fantasies to life. The flavour combinations were boundless and the campaign resulted in a surge of unusual and inspired flavours like Fish and Chips, Onion Bhaji, Chilli and Chocolate, and Cajun Squirrel – which all made it to the final selection. Taking you are what you eat to a new level, this campaign cleverly put its fans in the driving seat. - LEGO
Lego consistently champions a dynamic culture of innovation by encouraging their customers to submit their ideas, to be transformed into real Lego sets through their LEGO Fan Designer platform. The idea is simple – the more support an idea gets, the closer to production it becomes. This initiative, steeped in igniting boundless creativity, welcomes fans to the very heart of the esteemed LEGO design process. Not only does LEGO acknowledge, but proudly celebrates the talent and creativity of its community. This inspired concept also encourages interaction within the LEGO community. Fans can reach out to their friends and family for support and can vote for projects that really strike a chord with them. This not only ramps up the excitement but also ignites a sense of passion and pride. - Ikea
An oldie but a goldie. Through the SAGOSKATT collection – a series of exclusive soft toys crafted by children for children – IKEA extended an invitation to young minds globally, urging them to take part in a soft toy drawing competition. The response was immense, with over 66,000 submissions pouring in from around the world. This initiative not only ignited children’s imaginations but also provided them with the unique opportunity to watch their dreams come true – a concept that no doubt only encouraged their ongoing creativity.
For brands exploring the dynamic world of branding, partnering with their audience can give them a distinct advantage. By tapping into the genuine excitement and loyalty towards the brand, they can fortify their consumer connections, spark innovative ideas and generate enthusiasm.