Adaily's Year of Brilliance #10: Create Fantasy Worlds, People and Things
This week, we explore campaigns that play god by Creating Fantasy Worlds, People and Things. Building unique realms with talking animals or flying men is a powerful way to showcase product benefits free from the constraints of reality. The key is ensuring this invented world clearly highlights your product's unique value. See more in Adaily here.
1. Super Wendy's World • Wendy's
VMLY&R Kansas City • 2021 • QSR • United States • North America
Campaign Summary:
Wendy's engaged gamers on Twitch by transforming its "fresh, never frozen" message into interactive gameplay, creating custom content and experiences like "Super Wendy's World" – a fantasy game environment tailored to the audience. This involved streaming popular games with an anti-frozen twist and inspiring gamers to play as Wendy.
The approach made Wendy's a top 1% Twitch streamer, generating 9.8M+ watch minutes and 988k+ custom content downloads.
2. Fantastic Voyage • Adobe Photoshop
72andSunny Los Angeles • 2021 • B2B app • United States • North America
Campaign Summary:
Adobe Photoshop's "Fantastic Voyage" campaign showcased the software's power by enabling the creation of fantastical worlds and journeys born from imagination, illustrating the tool's core benefit. Aimed at inspiring creators during lockdown, the visually stunning film demonstrated Photoshop's ability to transport users beyond physical limitations.
The campaign received positive feedback for effectively highlighting the endless creative possibilities within the software.
3. Goosebumps CGI Slappy • Disney Branded Television
2024 • TV channel • Global • Global
Campaign Summary:
To promote the new "Goosebumps" series, Disney created bespoke social videos featuring the fantastical character Slappy, the living dummy, interacting with real-world locations via CGI and animation. This approach brought the iconic, non-real villain to life, aiming to evoke the show's spooky essence for fans and new viewers alike.
The two videos generated significant buzz (1.47M+ views/engagements) and contributed to a strong opening weekend for the series.
4. Growling Creatures • Krombacher
Accenture Song Germany • 2022 • Alcoholic drinks - beer • Germany • Europe
Campaign Summary:
Krombacher combined metal music sponsorship with species protection by creating "Growling Creatures," a fictional metal band fronted by fantastical characters – endangered animals whose real sounds became metal growls. This invented band released an EP, performed live at Wacken Open Air, and sold merchandise to raise funds.
The unique concept generated 18M+ impressions, 85k+ streams, and engaged 83k live fans, successfully linking the brand to both metal culture and conservation.
5. Giant 3D Cat • Cross Space
Omnibus Japan Tokyo • 2021 • Construction • Japan • Asia
Campaign Summary:
To transform its digital signage into a destination, Cross Shinjuku Vision created a giant, hyper-realistic 3D calico cat – a fantastical creature interacting playfully with passersby from the screen. This captivating, non-real spectacle aimed to make the previously ignored screen a landmark.
The giant cat went viral, boosting area foot traffic by 67%, attracting global media attention, and driving significant ad inquiries for the signage space.
Quick Takeaways: Create Fantasy Worlds, People and Things
Build Branded Universes: Create distinct fantasy worlds or game levels, like "Super Wendy's World," that allow audiences to interact with your brand message in a completely new, non-realistic context. Think: What kind of unique world, governed by its own rules, could embody your brand's personality or benefit?
Showcase Creation Itself: Position your product as the tool that unlocks fantasy. Adobe Photoshop's "Fantastic Voyage" focused on enabling users to build their own imagined worlds. Think: How can your campaign demonstrate the power to create fantasy, rather than just showing the fantasy itself?
Bring Fantasy Characters to Life: Use technology like CGI to make fantastical beings (like Disney's Slappy or Cross Space's Giant Cat) interact with the real world or digital platforms in surprising ways. Think: What non-real character or creature could represent your brand or message, and how could it appear unexpectedly?
Invent Fantastical Groups/Personas: Don't just create individuals; invent entire entities like Krombacher's "Growling Creatures" band to deliver your message in a completely novel and memorable format. Think: Could you create a fictional band, team, or organization made of fantastical elements to communicate your idea?
About Adaily Inspiration
Adaily Inspiration is your weekly dose of creative fuel. Each Tuesday, we explore a powerful creative thinking tool from the Deck of Brilliance (a collection of 52 methods by Juggi Ramakrishnan and Todd McCracken). We break down the tool, show you how to apply it to your marketing, and analyze five award-winning campaigns from the Adaily database that demonstrate its effectiveness. Our goal is to help you generate breakthrough ideas and create campaigns that truly resonate.
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Disclaimer: All campaign descriptions in this post are AI-generated, based on real-life descriptions provided by the authors.
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