NEW YORK, USA — DDB Worldwide has unveiled an evolved brand positioning brought to life by a billboard running in one of the least expected places imaginable – a sheep farm in Garston, New Zealand.
Carrying the address www.unexpectedworks.com, the billboard redirects to DDB’s homepage featuring the refreshed visual identity. While the campaign may seem like an antithetical way to launch a new brand positioning with Garston having a population of 100 humans and 40,000 sheep, it recognizes creativity is the most powerful when it’s unexpected.
DDB Worldwide has a rich history of tapping into the unexpected dating back to Volkswagen ‘Lemon’ and finding more contemporary interpretations in campaigns, including Skittles ‘Broadway Musical’, Marmite ‘Gene Test’ and Stayfree ‘Project Free Period’.
“All of us are emerging from this pandemic fundamentally changed,” DDB Worldwide CEO Marty O’Halloran said. “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.”
DDB Mudra Group, CEO & MD, Aditya Kanthy said, “Unexpected Works isn’t a tagline or a traditional positioning. It’s a promise. To our clients, culture and colleagues in a world that has been altered by the pandemic. We have a simple belief — Unexpected Works. 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.”
“The formula for creating breakthrough creative work that drives business results is timeless,” DDB Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Ari Weiss said. “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.”
The proposition was revealed at DDB’s first-ever all-staff conference held virtually for its 10,000 staff around the world.
