Team alphawhale recently announced we’re on a quest to become B Corp certified, with our mission of Cleverness with Impact. We’ve been taking inspiration from some local and international brands and charities rivaling these corporations, whose campaigns made a meaningful impact due to their sense of purpose.
In a world overflowing with options, purpose-driven campaigns and brands are discovering new opportunities to deliver value to their people, environment, and the community in which they operate. Purpose is not just another buzzword; it's paramount for companies to do the right thing, aiming to not only connect on a deeper level through authenticity, empathy and focusing on all human factors.
By raising awareness, we hope that we assist in illustrating some of the important messages within these campaigns as without them we are just absorbed in the monotony of digital advertisement for capital gain and with them we can make a difference for our society.
Check out some of the crew’s favourite campaigns demonstrating these values:
WWF: #WorldWithoutNature
WWF introduced this straightfoward yet striking campaign in March 2021 for World Wildlife Day. This campaign has a simple concept, what would a world without nature look like for their iconic logos. Partnering up with brands, sport franchises and NGOs such as Wolverhampton Wolves FC, Hootsuite and GymShark, uniting under the common cause of highlighting the horrific loss of biodiversity.
Since the inception of WWF almost 70 years ago, their irreplaceable Panda logo has been visualised in all ads making this campaign one of a kind. The simplicity of this campaign is what we want to illustrate, that something so obvious can create such an impactful moment and meaning.
Whilst this campaign can be critiqued for allowing opportunity for companies to join in to virtue signal, the statistics speak for themselves on the impact it created. In 2022, the Campaign was adopted by 330 Brand Accounts and over 900 million impressions across all media.
Sendle: Grizzly Truth about Online Shopping
2022 Earth Day saw an influx of campaigns making bold statements on the state of the environment, Sendle stood ahead of the pack and created one of the more impactful campaigns “Think before you ship” centered around self-reflection. Sendle is a carbon neutral courier company, rapidly growing from their start-up days in 2014, since then it defined itself as a logistic company centred around e-Commerce.
Their campaign was collaborating with artist Laurence Vallieres to craft a 10ft grizzly bear and cub out of recycled packaging boxes in Seattle US, the US Hub for e-Commerce and online shopping. In 2021, Sendle observed a 98% Increase in volumes, predominantly due to COVID demand’s on Online Shopping and this growth has sustained throughout. Sendle’s campaign revolved around raising awareness of the impact of this growth and self-reflection that packaging uses 1 billion trees a year and 98% of Grizzly’s habitat being destroyed due to human expansion.
Being self-aware of our own impact is important for the future and understanding that not all growth is positive. Sendle's focus on carbon neutrality is brave but calling themselves and their industry out is impactful.
CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) : The Last Photo
CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) is a UK Charity focusing on suicide prevention and providing support for those in need . This deeply sombering yet refreshing campaign takes on an unfortunate and dispiriting subject matter, CALM’s “The Last Photo” campaign took the last videos and photos of those who had taken their own life. The launch of this campaign sets their sights towards reshaping the public’s perception of suicide and the signalling behaviour.
Whilst the premise of this campaign can give the impression to be off-putting or distressing with the tagline of “Suicide doesn’t always look suicidal”, it provides happy and unsolicited joyful moments from the subjects in the campaign. The importance and impact of the messaging is that the manifestation of this issue is not stereotypical/cultural assumptive behavior of reclusiveness or sadness but rather a look into the reality of it. The impactfulness campaign is trying to remove the stigma around this issue and CALM provides a truly memorable ad experience.
Allbird: Keep the Amazon Prime
Allbird is a sustainable shoe brand, coming out of the US and being co-created by former A-League midfielder Tim Brown, its claim to fame is tokening the tagline of the “most comfortable shoe” with a 30 day return policy, the former Wellington Phoenix took a Kickstarter to a $1.4 billion company.
AllBirds creates an eye-catching 00s infomercial-esque, the “Keep the Amazon Prime” campaign; it revolves around the satire nature of Amazon and their prime service with taglines like “an e-commerce platform you can’t LIVE without”. The perspective it adopts is poking fun of the immensity of Amazon whilst providing much needed learning of the immense importance of The Amazon, the advert highlights the importance the forest plays in offsetting carbon emissions and the role of providing oxygen which apparently is vital for existence.
The throwback 2000s graphics used to captivate the audience and illustrate the juxtaposition between the meteoric rise of the e-Commerce giant and the downfall of Amazon with our efforts against climate change. The campaign was a success and raised up to 100k in donations to Amazon Watch, a charity dedicated to the upkeep and conservation of the forest.
No Small Plan is a bold campaign by Thankyou, which launched in September 2020. Acknowledging that "business as usual is broken", co-founder Daniel Flynn calls out big brands such as P&G and Unilever to join forces with the social enterprise. They intend to reroute millions of consumer dollars over the next decade for the end of extreme poverty. Believing in collective power, they've also taken to social media to encourage support from their audience to influence these companies to accept their invitation. We're in, are you?
Recognised for their minimalist aesthetic, unique approach to marketing, and HUGE social impact, Thankyou continues to show the way, selling world-class, sustainable products '100% For' their purpose. With their mission of amplifying impactful change-makers, to date, their brand has raised $17 million to give back to their partners in a revolutionary way.
Patagonia: Don’t Buy This Jacket
Patagonia launched the Don’t Buy This Jacket campaign in 2011 - an oldie but a good, which has ultimately shaped their distinct and brilliant branding, as well as purpose strategy over the next decade. The ad went viral after running in The New York Times, even if it did essentially go against the company’s commercial interests. It addressed the central message to their audience to think twice before making purchases they don’t need while encouraging the notion of reducing, repairing and reusing; magnified today with their Worn Wear initiative.
Patagonia is a pioneer within the B Corp space, embodying what it means to be purpose-driven. Their mission is to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and inspire and implement solutions addressing issues across activism and their footprint.
Ben & Jerry’s: Unfudge our Future
Ice Cream is cool when there’s a purpose behind it (cool… get it). Unfudge our Future is a vegan ice-cream flavour developed by Ben & Jerry’s, in partnership with 350 Australia. Part of the proceeds of each pint goes to this movement while encouraging their audience to join them in calling on Australian leaders to rebuild a clean, resilient and fair future.
Ben & Jerry’s is another distinguished brand who has joined the B Corp movement, improving their overall impact score overtime. With a mission of making the products that they sell to the highest standard, they also create a positive social change by advancing sustainable and replicable economic justice models, among other purposeful impacts.
Starbucks: Every Name’s a Story
The Starbucks '#whatsyourname' campaign celebrates the significance of the brands signature act of taking a customer’s name and writing it out a cup for some transgender and gender-diverse people, as they start using their new name in public. Leveraging their scale, they partnered with Mermaids, raising £100,000 to help expand the vital support services needed for these young people and their families. ‘Moving Portraits’ is another aspect of the campaign, featuring real-life stories and recognising how people choose their new names.
Starbucks mission is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time”. Having always been a company led by values, they aim to continue to work towards creating a warm and inclusive Third Place, creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture within the workplace, community and in-store.
Uber: Thank You For Not Riding
Rideshare platform Uber urged customers to "stay home for those who couldn't" midst the COVID-19 pandemic, showcasing emotive footage of individuals and families social-distancing. Uber’s wider ‘Move What Matters’ commitment was to provide 10 million free rides and food deliveries to healthcare workers, seniors and people in need.
In addition to this purposeful campaign, Uber has the vision to be a zero-emissions platform by 2040. They're doing their part now by offering more ways to ride green, help drivers go electric, partnering to fight climate change and making transparency a priority.
Cadbury: Donate Your Words
Helping fight the loneliness epidemic, one block of Cadbury Dairy Milk at a time. For the ‘Donate Your Words’ campaign, Cadbury released limited-edition bars of Dairy Milk with the words removed from the logo. The aim was to encourage everyone to have a conversation with an older person, donating part of the sale of each bar to Age UK. This simple act of kindness to change the lives of older people sings true to Cadbury's historic tagline - 'there's a glass and a half in everyone'.
Cadbury’s stance for being 'a force for good in the world' is built from close to two centuries of putting people and communities at the heart of the way they make and sell their chocolate. We acknowledge that not all brands are ethically perfect but progress builds momentum.
The social impact of these campaigns is significant, but what sets them apart is the unique approach they take. The impact-fulness does not stem from the message but the creativity of the messaging and the tones they adopt. We love these types of campaigns and would thrive with the opportunity to make one, so please reach out if you want to make an impactful campaign.
