Auckland, New Zealand – Global advertising agency DDB has recently unveiled its latest brand positioning in demonstrating its mantra of ‘unexpected works’. The catch? The campaign is launched via a billboard which is placed on an isolated sheep farm in New Zealand.
The billboard is located in the small town of Garston, where the human population is about 100 and the sheep population amounting to about 40,000. The billboard features the web address www.unexpectedworks.com, which leads users to the homepage of DDB toshowcasesome of their best-known campaigns globally.
Despite the ‘antithetical’ nature of the campaign launch, DDB aims to drive the message of creativity as being the most powerful when it is unexpected. This is evident in the rich plethora of campaigns the agency has worked with, from creating a broadway musical for their client Skittles, to working alongside Reporters Without Borders and sandbox game Minecraft to creating a censor-free library for journalists.
“We took this opportunity to evolve the DDB Network and refine what makes us special, relevant, and successful in this new world. Unexpected Works is our commitment to doing the best work of our lives and I’m confident it will carry us into the future while staying committed to our legacy. I’m excited to see our network come together to bring Unexpected Works to life,” said Marty O’Halloran, CEO at DDB Worldwide.
Meanwhile, Ari Weiss, chief creative officer at DDB Worldwide, commented that the formula for creating breakthrough creative work that drives business results is timeless.
“It’s how we bring that formula to life that changes on a daily basis. We’re not reinventing the wheel here. We’re simply putting more focused language around a truth that anyone who has ever worked at DDB can feel in their bones: Unexpected Works,” Weiss added.
The campaign was first unveiled to DDB Worldwide’s 10,000-strong staff around the world during their first-ever all-staff conference held virtually.
For Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD at DDB Mudra Group, the term ‘Unexpected Works’ is not just merely a tagline but rather a promise to their clients, culture, and colleagues in a world that has been altered by the pandemic.
“Two words that mean, the best idea is the one you never saw coming and is effective. So, whether it’s a billboard in the middle of a sheep paddock in New Zealand or work like Stayfree’s Project Free Period which triggered conversations at scale around two taboo topics – sex work and menstruation, creativity is most powerful when it’s unexpected,” Kanthy concluded.
