DON'T do the right thing

I recently had the opportunity to visit TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, where my classmates and I heard from LMU and M-School Alumni Connor Wudrick. Connor is an account person for Gatorade at Chiat and was accompanied by Savannah who is a strategist for Gatorade.

Walking up to the building, I could already tell I was about to enter a workplace that encompassed a light-hearted and unrestricted creativity. How could I tell this?

... well from the words on the outside of the building I suppose.

As an avid dog lover and advocate, I was eager to see more. Upon, entering the building I saw just that. The lobby of the building was connected to the main portion of the building by bridge (or tunnel I suppose), and the ceiling of that tunnel was painted in rainbow colors. Connor told us that the rainbow colors were just a recent edition that was done for pride month, but it looked so cool that maybe they'll make it a permanent addition!

After a tour of the building, complete with a basketball court, cars, and plenty of cute pups (pictures to follow) we were led into a large conference room where Connor and Savannah led a presentation on disruption.

The presentation on disruption was nothing short of inspiring to me.

Connor described disruption as something that overturns a convention through a vision. First you identify a convention (an established behavior or very familiar belief), and then you ideate a disruption (a creative idea that breaks from convention), which leads you to a vision that will be created through your disruption.

One of the first examples of disruption that Connor shared with us was a campaign from Chiat, for Gatorade, called "Sweat".

The sweat campaign identified the convention that sweat is a cultural stigma, created the disruption that sweat is a badge of honor, which led to the vision of "keep athletes sweating". With this campaign, Gatorade was able to rebrand the idea of sweat from negative to positive.

I took inspiration from this campaign not only because of the excellent production quality and relevance of athletes who participated in the advertisements, but also because of its raw creativity and push for athletes to work their hardest.

The focus on the well-being and success of athletes was relevant not only in the "sweat" campaign, but also in Gatorade's "defeat" campaign, another campaign that Connor shared in explanation of disruption.

Gatorade's "defeat" campaign identified the convention that gatorade is an icon of victory (apparent through things such as post-victory gatorade showers), which led them to the disruption of championing losing rather than championing winning, ultimately creating their vision of athletic performance driven from the inside, "win from within".

The "defeat" campaign video we viewed was extremely powerful. It featured multiple well-known athletes who are currently extremely successful and shared their stories of defeat. The campaign was so powerful in fact, that it gained 1.6 billion impressions.

I was blown away and inspired by both of the Gatorade campaigns that Connor shared with us, the videos were not only engaging, but also inspirational and left the viewer feeling good after watching.

I am sure that both of these campaigns had unmeasurable effects on the perspectives of consumers, regarding both Gatorade itself, and the viewers personal life philosophy. It was so cool to see such impactful campaigns, and to be able to further break them down into their conventions, disruptions, and visions.

After we wrapped up our disruption discussion, my classmates and I broke out into groups and began brainstorming disruptions we could use in our marketing for good projects.

The week of this visit, my team and I felt very unsure of where we were headed with our project. After changing our vision and project once already, we still felt unsatisfied with our solution. During our team brain-storm we focused less on our product and more on the concept of disruption.

We identified the convention that pit bulls are discriminated against and viewed as aggressive, which connected to our disruption: calling pit bulls "pibbles", a calmer and gentler term. Our vision was an un-biased perception of pit bulls that could help save their lives and find them homes.

Our clear identification of our convention, disruption, and vision, as well as a renewed sense of importance for the concept of disruption, set my team and I up for greater success in the weeks to follow.

At the end of our visit with Connor and Savanah at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, I felt refreshed and motivated, ready to do the brave thing.

"Don't do the right thing... do the brave thing" -Chiat