virtuous marketing cycles
Paul's Redacted Brands shows just how well following FIFA's World Cup branding rules have gone. Temporarily renamed stadiums, disguised brand logos, and taped-over product labels all triggered the Streisand effect. Public awareness of what was changed or censored has only increased.
FIFA's mandatory debranding is so foolish that multiple articles have covered it at this point. For example, take a look at The Athletic's It’s a FIFA cover-up… how stadiums are trying to hide pre-World Cup branding. Furthermore, the supposed cover-up has Paul, myself, and plenty of other independent commentators covering it too.
The foolishness doesn't stop there. All the coverage draws more attention not only to FIFA's ongoing tournament, but many obscured brands with ubiquitous visual identities. Savvy companies exploit their situation further. Levi's enshrouded their Instagram logo in the same white fabric that their Levi's Stadium logo was wrapped in for an easy, cheeky social media win. News outlets are talking about this too, like Fast Company's Levi's logo cover-up on World Cup stadium becomes a brand win. It's safe to say that everyone's loving their increased surface area as a result of this spectacle, even those not fond of advertising in the first place.
Like brands, us people are constantly advertising ourselves. We can afford to not only advertise better, but also find good spins on not-so-good situations. With that in mind, how can we notice then seize low-hanging marketing opportunities better and more often? Better yet, how can we build the scaffolding for collaborative virtuous cycles of exciting conversation, playful advertising, and making dreams come true?