Top 10 cultural marketing initiatives during 2021
You know when you see an activation or an initiative from a brand and you’re left pumped, excited, and with a smile on your face — then you know that this is something… something extra. In this article, I’ve collected my top 10 cultural marketing initiatives during 2021 that left me with a big chunk of excitement, and I’ll tell you why.
Balenciaga X Simpsons
I’ve got to start with this one. I’m a big fan of Balenciaga’s way of thinking overall when it comes to marketing, and they’re constantly breaking new grounds when it comes to their various outside-the-box initiatives. They’re doing what other brands don’t dare to. In 2021 — Balenciaga announced their summer22 collection in partnership with the iconic TV series The Simpsons But what’s brilliant about this is not only the idea itself — also the integration of this activation which indicates the real effort behind the partnership. Firstly, they’re creating a scene in the real TV series where Homer Simpson himself is going a Balenciaga Catwalk (like what?!). Secondly, they launched a limited edition collection with artworks referencing The Simpsons family dressed in recognizable Balenciaga pieces from past seasons. Thirdly, they include celebrity endorsements in the series and outside the series including. Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Kanye — which increases its relevance in today’s culture. And… the list goes on. Don’t think I need to argue more. You get it. Wow.
The Surf Chana Collective X Vans: The Freedom Skatepark
I wouldn’t say that this is an initiative initiated by a brand, rather supported by. The Surf Ghana Collective is a collective that uses the practice of extreme sports as a driver for diversity in education, social inclusion, and empowerment of the youth. A year ago, they launched an online campaign supported by Daily Paper, Off-White, (extra love to Virgil Abloh), Vans, Tony’s Chocolonely’s on how to take the skate culture made in Ghana out to the world. Vans are currently supporting the Surf Ghana Collective in making sure that skateboarding and surfing are accessible for the local community.
As an extension to this — Vans supported the collective in building Ghana’s first skatepark called The Freedom Skatepark. The initiative is not only about skateboarding — but they’re also creating multiple other initiatives that support youth culture and self-expression. I strongly believe we will see more of these cultural — and social impact — initiatives in the future. Just love it.
NIKE X RTFKT
Web3 is driving the world forward in a very interesting direction — and Nike is adapting fast to the transition through acquiring the NFT fashion design startup RTFKT. What’s coming is still to be announced… but the fact that they’re making a big commercial move to adapt to the next generation of culture is bold, daring, smart, and makes complete sense to me.
Adidas X Bored Ape Yacht Club X Punk Comics: Into the Metaverse
I was so bummed when I, on Friday night, was trying to mint an Adidas NFT as soon as they went out with about 9,000 NFTs on Public sale. I clicked on the link with my connected wallet and Etherium ready to purchase, but after 1 second they were sold out. The other 21,000 NFTs were dedicated to current partner NFT holders — Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comic. They were released for 0.2 eth (currently around $800) and the floor price is currently at 0.77 eth (currently around $3000). In total, Adidas generated about $23M in sales, and their roadmap includes everything from physical access to limited edition merchandise together with the partners, events, and online Metaverse Land access. This is brilliant because Adidas has really put in the work to strategize the NFT space and they’ve added a really exciting utility roadmap that gives their audience a great value for the NFT purchase.
Ted Baker Street Party Sessions
I remember the first time I stepped into the Ted Baker office and I could fully sense their quirkiness from the front door and throughout their office. They’ve launched a series of innovative activations in the past and one that got my attention was the Ted Baker Street Party Sessions — a series of online and offline sessions celebrating and featuring local artists such as Little Simz, Alicai Harley, and others. And as they’re performing — they’re showcasing the Party Session outfits. Music is an essential element of culture. Sharing music from one culture to another gives people an insight into another way of life. The relationship between culture and music can be simplified: culture helps to ensure people’s survival, and music helps work towards that goal by bringing people together.
IKEA Festival
The pandemic has impacted our lives drastically and probably never have we spent this much time at home. IKEA partnered up with VICE and created a 24-hour long Festival with Artists, Designers, DJs, chefs, and many other talented people and took the whole music festival framework and put it into a new context. People’s homes got turned into a stage for talent, and they used various entertaining social-first formats to reach the consumers. A great way to tap into a current lifestyle context for so many people. And shoutout to my talented friend Auste Skrupskyte for working on this project.
Balenciaga X Fortnite
All brands today are trying to break into gaming in one way or another, and of course, Balenciaga is succeeding in this field — releasing a Balenciaga Collection to wear in the game, and somewhat replacing their fall runway show. And I’m not surprised Fortnite became their partner in this — we’ve seen Fortnite being on the forefront of doing in-game concerts headlined by Travis Scott, Marshmello, Ariana Grande, and others. Alongside releasing the in-game collection — they also released a physical collection. To my point earlier about making it integrated; they were everywhere with this. I’m sure you didn’t miss the huge immersive billboards.
Gymshark AKA. Jim Shark
I’m actually still laughing when I’m looking at this. Gymshark launched a fake birthday campaign to get consumers' attention before Black Friday. A lot of brands are underestimating humor when they’re creating content or campaigns — but Gymshark is really nailing this every.single.time. I admire the guys at Gymshark so much for pushing social formats, for being agile to adapt to trends and they’re truly building their brand like a friend to their target consumer rather than being a brand dictator.
Balmain X Channel 4
The luxury fashion house is releasing a short-form drama series called Fracture in partnership with channel 4. Traditionally we’ve seen product placements in TV and film — but taking ownership of the format in itself is an evolution of that. A brilliant way to showcase the lifestyle that Balmain want to be a part of — whilst entertaining the audience. Watch the trailer here.
Adobe X Creator Collective
Adobe is made for creators so what’s a better way than to give the creators a community and a stage to shine? So, that’s how Adobe Creator Collective was born — a project that I’m really proud to have led. We created various formats which gave multiple creators worldwide a place to tell their story behind their creations. Who are they? What makes them tick? They’re so much more than an artwork. On top of this we created a conversational format — a place where different creators met and discussed culturally relevant topics, completely unscripted. Watch the Manifesto. Taking a stand, giving a stage, and support your consumers are key to become part of culture. Shoutout to Nathalie Koutia for running this from Adobe.
That’s it! Hope you liked this read. And I’m so beyond excited to see what’s going to happen for 2022.
/Viktoria Wyckman, Founder @ Culture Defined
