Advertising and Brand Responsibility

The Fast Company Innovation Festival kicked off Monday morning with an interview with Robert Downey Junior and his wife Susan Downey. Together, they run “Team Downey”, a production company and the “Footprint Coalition” , a non profit designed to help use technology at scale to save our planet. The conversation focused on both what makes a successful story, and what makes a successful company. While they didn’t talk about brands directly, in this post I will interpret some of what they said in the context of brands today.

In terms of storytelling, the questions that the Downeys ask are as relevant to brands as they are to movie blockbusters. First, you must ask -why should the audience care? What in the story is relevant to the audience today? Clearly, many brands talk about social issues because people care about them today, and want brands to care about them too. Of course, you can’t just stop there.

The story needs to be authentic, and the Downeys talked about how audiences want to feel like they are in the place and the time period when the story is told as an example of authenticity. They referred to their HBO series, Perry Mason, as an example of having an authentic time and place. For brands, this suggests that production choices can help contribute to authenticity.

Stories also need to have creative risk taking, and storytellers need to understand how the risk they take can lead to a great story. For brands, I think this means not relying on traditional tricks that advertisers use, and finding interesting new ways to talk about themselves. It means moving beyond what consumers might traditionally expect for a brand message.

Finally, stories need to give audiences heroes and other characters they can empathize with. The Downeys suggested that these people will create long term connection between audiences and stories.

All these points taken together made me think of Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad. The ad was authentic as it showed us people who we recognized who had overcome obstacles to reach their dreams. It took a risk by using a controversial spokesperson . And it used both of these tactics to show a range of dreamers that could inspire viewers to be the best they could be, echoing back to Nike’s value proposition—that we are all athletes.

In talking about how they built and now run successful companies, a few key points stood out which can apply to all kinds of brands today:

1. Leaders need to be hands on and intimately familiar with how all the processes are working together to achieve the goal..
2. Treat every company like it is a small, family business, as there is a level of investment there that is can lead to success.
3. Encourage each employee to be proactive in the area where they have responsibility to create a sense of commitment and buy-in to the company. Employees should find ways to be invaluable to the company.
4. Every day, practice communication, trust and respect.