If many more people used condoms, the world would be a better place. Donald Trump's father, for example - but it's definitely too late for that now... Anyway: from contraception to pleasure, condoms are credited with all kinds of benefits. But when they come riding on a unicorn, they also provide brand experience of a special kind, exemplary on several levels. It's all about the brand Unicorn. In this article we have a few thoughts on the topic of brand experience in the narrower sense, with the other aspects that can be discovered in the unicorn brand story exemplary, there's more elsewhere.
Just do it.
But first of all this. When I talk about brand experience in workshops and about the enormous power and the urgent need for the brand story to come to life beyond advertising, I almost reflexively hear sentences like: "We can't do that, we don't have the budget for it". Or: "We can't do that, we're too small for it." Or: "That's not possible with our products." These three objections grow in the dense branches of the all-too-fruitful excuse tree and are shaken down by a unicorn from Berlin. Einhorn is a young small company that produces sustainable condoms. The team basically invents and produces all communication measures themselves. They don't use a lot of money for this, but above all the four main ingredients for heroic deeds:
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Ideas
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Courage
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Heart and soul
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Make
Thanks to their ingenuity, they get the organic reach they deserve and a lot of earned media, which they naturally don't have to finance through spending. - Imitation is expressly permitted and recommended!
The story grows out of the founding dream.
Philip Siefer and Waldemar Zeiler had a special founding idea: Rubber is one of the most used raw materials in the world, but in fact there is no solid sustainable and fair production basis for it. They wanted to change that and founded Einhorn, a company for sustainably produced, vegan condoms. In principle, this already established a substantial part of the company's brand story.
It is best to do things differently.
In view of this undertaking, it stands to reason that one would throw oneself wholeheartedly into the organic, fair & world-saving world. This is exactly the mistake the unicorns did not make. Because the first spark that triggers the purchase of condoms is the expected pleasure of using the product, and that has to be staged. That this pleasure can also save a bit of the world? All the better!
Cheekiness wins & heart is trump.
The independence unfolds in the entire appearance of the brand, in which a lot of independent virtue is gained from the do-it-yourself necessity. The people take what they do seriously, but not themselves at all, and understand how to conjure up a little wink in every single appearance. After all, it's about pleasure and pleasure has to be fun.
The consistent graphic presentation creates an unmistakably independent image at all touchpoints. This starts with the potato crisps packaging and leads to the dinosaur head as a POS stand. There are savings packages, a year's supply or a party bag, seasonal editions and lots of merchandise.
The language is cheeky, bordering on the silly, but never embarrassing. New words like "unicornique" and "fairstainability" are also included. Every single text module - in the advertising and sales presentation as well as in the packs - is created with a lot of dedication and skilful attention.
In combination with the quirky graphics, this creates a unicornique storyworld beyond the expected and familiar. Neither superficial eroticism nor lewd jokes beyond the belt occur, and certainly no lecturing know-it-alls about contraception and sustainable production. A fine line, masterfully trodden.
It is not true that the devil is in the detail. The gods live in the details.
I recently met Philip Siefer in Vienna. There happened to be a cameraman in our taxi and he watched us chatting. - Unfortunately, the sound technician had to ride in the boot due to lack of space, but somehow he still managed to make it so that we could not only be seen but also heard.
By the way: the Unicorn Magazine was also produced in-house, in just three weeks and financed by partner contributions.
Hero Branding® means: story sharing instead of storytelling.
The unicorn example brings the magnetic magic of real Hero Brands to life. A hero brand is never the hero itself, but makes its audience the hero. It doesn't tell its audience anything and push itself into the lives of its customers, i.e. it doesn't engage in storytelling. A real hero brand does something much better. It connects its own story, i.e. its world of values, with the world of values of its customers. It understands the art of story sharing and thus develops a magnetic pull. It attracts customers.
Every customer who uses a Hero Brand therefore continues to tell the brand's story because it allows them to tell their own story about themselves. And one's own story is, after all, the only one that interests people. Unicorn customers tell, in short, "I am unicornique!" from head to toe, and in between, too - and who wouldn't want to be that?
Anyone who does marketing communication can gain the central insight for their own work from the unicorns at first glance: Brand story needs relevance and independence - but best of all: brand story means independence through relevance.
That's why, even if storytelling is now being driven through every village as an annoying buzzword, the following applies to all companies, brands and organisations, regardless of whether they are new or established, regardless of whether they want to engage with young or old people: "No Story. No Glory."