At MEGA, we love helping companies create and evolve brands that engage and resonate with their target audience. Effectively crafting a brand image and marketing campaign takes many pieces to all come together: story, purpose, vision, visual content and emotion to name a few. So how do you know the perfect formula?

You can start some key questions:

What’s our purpose?
Why does this company exist?
What's our mission and vision?
What values do we refuse to compromise?
Who is my target audience and what do they need?
Why should our employees and customers trust us?
What will our legacy be?

If you can’t easily answer most of those questions with confidence, it will most likely be difficult to create an effective marketing campaign and brand. Recently, some companies have once again caught our attention with such campaigns. Here are some examples of companies who have found some great formulas we can learn from.

Dove: Strong Mission, Vision

Dove has had captured our attention with campaigns that support their strong mission. Dove is a personal care company, however you don’t see the products they sell in their campaigns, you see their mission in action. They have 2 key missions, Real Beauty and Girls Self Esteem, which they use to build their campaigns, not their products.

Campaign for Real Beauty, Key Tactics:

Eye-catching advertisements (defying stereotypes)
Viral YouTube videos (Evolution)
Global study (Beauty Comes of Age)
Online film within entertainment industry (Onslaught)
Social (#choosebeautiful) most recently in the spotlight

Lesson: Start with a clear mission, vision and purpose and sell that. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Nike: Powerful, Meaningful Messaging

From "Just Do It" to "Find Your Greatness," Nike combines powerful, meaningful, inspirational messages to create some of the most powerful marketing campaigns. Most recently, Nike came out with "Ripple" the week of the Masters starring Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, just days before the current and former world golf number ones were paired together.

Powerful Messaging, Key Tactics:

Powerful call to action (Just Do It)
Interactive campaigns (Livestrong, Fuel Your Team)
Social campaigns (The Chance, The Chosen
Emotional and inspirational videos (Ripple (at right), Together, Rise and Shine, The Jogger, Ronaldinho)

Lesson: Create powerful, meaningful messages and campaigns that catch your target audiences attention and evoke emotion and inspire.

Starbucks: Corporate Responsibility

Howard Schultz of Starbucks has always recognized there's an opportunity for businesses to demonstrate a role in society that's beyond profitability and shareholder value. This began initially with his commitment to employee benefits. That has been unwavering over the years. Even when many businesses cut back with the introduction of Obamacare, Schultz stuck to his corporate policy. Even when in 2010, benefits cost the company $300 million, more than it paid for coffee. Most recently, Starbucks now is expanding its education benefits. With the popularity of Starbucks and the volume the stores produce, Schultz has also recognized many other ways to take responsibility for the world which he is operating in.

Starbucks Corporate Responsibility, Key Tactics:

Unwavering values
Putting their people first and investing in their well being
Ethical coffee sourcing
Leader in Green retail
Positive impact in communities by creating pathways to opportunity
A vision for the future to inspire and nurture the human spirit

Lesson: With great power comes great responsibility, keep the trust of your employees and customers and refuse to compromise your key values.

Red Bull: Lifestyle Marketing

Red Bull goes beyond their “Red Bull gives you wings” tagline by creating an entire lifestyle, The World of Red Bull. Red Bull truly walks their walk, giving wings to people and ideas through their famous Flugtag events all over the world and of course, the unforgettable Stratos mission. The purpose of the Red Bull Stratos mission was to transcend human limits- aligning with their brand and lifestyle.

The World of Red Bull, Key Tactics:

Ad campaign (Red Bull Give You Wings)
Global Events (Flugtag)
Lifestyle-centric website (redbull.com doesn’t showcase products)
Extreme mission (Stratos)

Lesson: Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk and pave the way for future pioneers.

Toms: Social entrepreneurship

TOMS was built on a social mission that for every one pair of shoes they sold, they would give a pair to a child in need. This mission has never stopped since 2006, giving over 35 million pairs of shoes in over 70 countries. Even growing from there, TOMS has expanded it's product offerings while also expanding its one-for-one efforts on a global scare. TOMS uses their story and mission to create a movement of TOMS Tribe to continue to create awareness and further the mission.

One-for-One, Key Tactics:

Storytelling (Start Something That Matters)
Growing their mission while growing their products
Create a following to raise awareness and create a movement (TOMS Tribe)
Including other TOMS "gear" with each order, giving the feeling that you are part of something bigger
Social awareness, strategic handles and hashtags

Lesson: Have a story and tell it well to help your employees and customers feel as if they are a part of something bigger.

These examples just scratch the surface of brands that have a strong mission, don’t compromise their values and have a strong sense of their target audience, thus building a foundation for strong marketing campaigns and brand image. Also, while these are very large brands, these are lessons brands of all sizes can learn from, apply and grow into their own memorable brand.

If your brand is looking for a boost, start with the questions above, then tell MEGA your story and let us create and evolve your brand.