Today, brands’ acts of philanthropy obviously go beyond writing checks to various institutions. Online and offline large-scale projects by global companies often move out of the brands’ universe, evolving into initiatives that live somewhat independently from their founders.
sustainability
Nestle USA is tapping into the educational healthy-diet movement with a new campaign “Balance Your Plate with Nestle,” that aims to provide Americans with simple tips and tools on how to cook tasty and balanced meals at home. The new project highlights the importance of using frozen prepared fruit and vegetable entrees and putting them in the “center of the plate” along with fresh components.
While Louis Vuitton’s promotional video by Love Magazine, starring models as prostitutes, is rising a wave of criticism among female rights activists, the latest activity from British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood contributes to the positive change in the women’s world. The fashion label has raised awareness about domestic violence against women using the window display at its flagship store in Milan. The displays featured mannequins with bruises all over their white plastic bodies to inspire female victims to break the silence.
Greenpeace UK is calling the global audience to help save the world from a large amount of CO2 emissions. The environmental activist network has teamed up with London-based Man+Hatchet creative agency to launch a new video with a «change the world» idea behind it. The spot encourages people to sign a petition to European politicians asking them to vote in the coming weeks to reduce pollution from new cars.
Volkswagen has added a new portion of blue shade to its “Think Blue.” approach with the launch of the new international campaign “Think Blue.Book.”. The new promotion, which starts with an eco up! commercial, traditionally celebrates the sustainable technologies used in Volkswagen’s new fuel-efficient, low-emission models. A few other videos are set to follow in the coming months.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab, the German automaker’s mobile laboratory that has moved across the biggest cities since 2011 to addresses the problems of urban living, is now exploring the theme of privacy in a big city through a new interactive experience “Public/Private.” The global audience is invited to measure the level of privacy they want and get in their metropolitan areas, build a visual graph based on their choices and then compare it with the results of other users.
Added Value Names the Most «Culturally Vibrant» Brands of 2012 in the Cultural Traction™ 2013 Report
In its third annual Cultural Traction™ 2013 report, the brand development and marketing consultancy Added Value has ranked a total of 160 brands from 15 industries to measure their cultural vibrancy and define which of them better used the culture-led marketing strategies to stay more relevant to consumers. By culturally vibrant brands Added Value’s experts mean those brands that are perceived to have the most Visionary, Inspiring, Bold and Exciting (VIBE-index).
TOMS, a brand known for its philanthropy that found incarnation in the One for One policy, is launching an art-focused project Haiti Artists Collective to create new jobs in Haiti. In partnership with Haiti-based Caribbean Craft, the company commissions 30 Haitian artists aged 18-45 to develop designs for the limited edition TOMS Shoes. The individually painted footwear in both men and women styles will be available at the TOMS website and at its flagship store in the U.S. for $68.