The art of disruption in marketing

Pink Key Consulting’s Richard Pink on how a bit of creative thinking can go a long way.

Imagine the scene – you are in the Warburtons marketing strategy meeting after the raging success of the Paddington campaign.

“Okay chaps – our recent success was built on a partnership matching brand values, us and Paddington – Englishness (tick), wholesomeness (tick), family values (tick) and use of marmalade on toast (tickedy tick) – now we need to build on it – who or what can we find that shouts about what we stand for that will build on this success?”

Silence… thinking… chin scratching… pen chewing.

Then, from the corner of the room the voice of a creative.

“Okay, okay, okay – now go with this, let me run it up the flagpole and see who salutes, let’s just put it in the cat’s bowl and see what comes to lick it…”

“Do get on with it man…”

“Sorry – okay – I’m saying Sly Stallone and the Muppets.”

People start looking at their shoes and heads start shaking at a promising career in tatters.

But guess what? It works, doesn’t it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every brand should (or is able to) stretch far enough to work with a licence that on the surface seems to be totally incongruous with its identity.

But with a bit of creative thinking and with a clear objective, it does prove that brands and licences are able to add an almost indefinable element to each other that makes consumers sit up and listen.

Warburtons1800x600

Specsavers have been brilliant at persuading brand owners to allow their characters to act out of character in the name of selling more specs – think of Postman Pat destroying Greendale or the Mr Happy being decidedly unhappy.

Most people reading this won’t remember when Lucozade was something you took your granny in hospital, but the reason it is where it is now is because some bright spark decided that by repositioning it to a younger audience where there was a gap could open up a totally untapped market.

How did they do this? Lara Croft. The association of Lara and Lucozade now seems a very natural one, but the time it was a massive risk for both brand and licence. There was no one who would have dreamed of putting those two brands together. But it happened and the results speak for themselves.

It’s important to put partnerships together where the brand values support each other and where the association brings something that is greater that the sum of its parts. You only have to look at the nominations on the Marketing Communications award for the last three years to see a number of great examples of this.

But just occasionally, a little disruption that grabs the consumers attention is a very good thing, and it works.

Brand and promoters need to be aware that a licence can do this in a way few other things can – but equally it’s down to the licence holders to prove it.

Hats off to Warburtons.

Richard Pink is md of Pink Key Consulting – an agency specialising in licensing and promotions. He can be contacted on richard@pinkkey.co.uk.

MORE NEWS
 
Rocket Licensing, the licensing agent in the UK and Eire for the popular award-winning children’s history brand Horrible Histories (published by Scholastic), has announced a new Horrible Histories experiential partnership with Leeds Castle in Kent....
Bellas_SaraMiller
 
Sara Miller of Sara Miller London explains why the brand supports the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards....
Bluey
 
Maurizio Distefano Licensing, Italian agent for the BBC Studios’ property Bluey, has announced a busy start to 2025 for the popular animated hit as the Bluey licensing programme continues to grow and production gets under way on the first-ever Bluey feature film for cinemas....
Hello Kitty
 
Sanrio has announced the launch of dedicated Hello Kitty and Friends YouTube channels in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Fans can now enjoy their favourite episodes and special content in their preferred language, making Sanrio’s popular characters more accessible to audiences across India and beyond....
Taiwan
 
This year, Taiwan is making its first-ever appearance at the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids (BLTF/K), presenting a selection of established and emerging IPs to the European market....
BolognaLicAwards_2025
 
The winners of the Bologna Licensing Awards have been crowned during the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids....
Get the latest news sent to your inbox
Subscribe to our daily newsletter

The list doesn't exist! Make sure you have imported the list on the 'Manage List Forms' page.