High Five: Wale Gbadamosi Oyekanmi
I happily spent the first 10 years of my career in the TV entertainment business, but a chain email from a friend changed my life. I clicked and started watching a video on a website of a French athlete about to kick a penalty… until my phone rang and the athlete directly spoke to me through my phone. DIRECTLY… TO ME…
This digital magic trick blew my mind. Almost on the spot I decided to switch to digital advertising. A world where creativity felt limitless and borderless.
Over time, I have grown a keen interest in work that has a universal appeal, a strong business impact, and changes a brand, industry, or the world for good.
Nike x Colin Kaepernick - ‘Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything’
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland
In 2017, in the USA, Colin Kaepernick was the most hated NFL player. Why? Because he boldly used his platform to take a stand against systemic violence, injustice, and racism.
Not only did Nike continue its sponsoring deal, after Kaepernick faced unprecedented and bigoted outrage, they decided to take a side. His side. Our side. It was a powerful, affirming, and intentional decision.
When Colin Kaepernick tweeted this visual, it took social media by storm generating both praise and outrage. This work showed the world that a global and well established brand could be brave and political. It resulted in a double positive outcome for them: a tremendous amount of love and praise through social media mentions, and a substantial growth in revenue and market value following the campaign.
Tesco Homeplus - ‘Subway Virtual Store’
Agency: Cheil
This is customer-centricity and mobile at its finest. Offering customers in their spare time the opportunity to save time. Smart. Which city person would want to go grocery shopping while in the subway. 11 years later, this idea remains super relevant to me and probably to many online shoppers and e-commerce.
REI - ‘#optOutside’
Agency : Venables Bell & Partners
Years before sustainability and frugal consumptions were mainstream topics, this bold activation paved the way for more green business and customer empowerment.
By refusing to sell during Black Friday, REI generated more revenue. REI reported a 9.3% increase in revenue and a 7% increase in comparable store sales in 2015, but its biggest accomplishment was a 23% uptick in digital sales. This acted as an inspiration for all of us, for indirectly the campaign prompted our roles as advertisers when it came to environmental issues.
Budweiser - ‘Whassup?’
Agency: DDB
For a black teenager growing up in France, my only role models were the African-American talents I saw in movies and music videos. What a surprise it was to discover an absurdly funny ad celebrating street culture with black friends and a slang that immediately became part of global culture. And still remains there (Wikipedia).
Oreo - ‘Dunk In The Dark’
Agency: 360i
After this tweet, didn’t we all get 'Oreo-inspired' briefs from clients?
We can all agree those unplanned 140 characters not only got all the Super Bowl attention that year, they changed the course of the social media ad industry.
Social newsrooms are now common with brands and ad agencies. Planning for the unexpected is now part of the job of social media expert. But they did it first at scale, with preparation and talent.
