Just as musicians often fret over duplicating the success of a well-performing debut album, there’s often an unspoken pressure on PR agencies that have had a hit campaign to keep delivering for the client in question.
So, when a piece of work lands exceptionally well, is there any merit in reusing the same format?
“The sense that you can simply redo or rebadge a previous campaign in the hope that you will hit the same heights the second time around kind of misses the point,” says Don Ferguson, deputy managing director at Hope&Glory PR.
“The relationship between the creative idea, audience and the culture is where the magic lies, and is based on the strength of a really sharp set of insights and a rock-solid strategy.”
Hope&Glory struck gold in 2022 when it helped the charity CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) to launch its PRWeek Award-winning work, ‘The Last Photo’, alongside Adam&Eve/DDB.
Recently, it worked on ‘Missed Birthdays’, another campaign for the charity, in which it created an installation of 6,929 birthday balloons (pictured below) – each one representing a real young life lost to suicide, and a birthday that person never reached.
Speaking on the strategy behind this approach, Ferguson tells PRWeek: “Some of the best campaigns in the world take a universal truth with long-standing resonance. If you get it right, it can last years or even decades.
“In the case of CALM, it’s all about highlighting the human cost of suicide,” he explains, listing other examples of ‘universal truths’ that can be repackaged, including fellow Hope&Glory client Ikea’s ‘Wonderful everyday’ mantra – which demonstrates that “life isn’t about grand events but the simple, daily experiences that make up our lives” – as well as Dove’s assertion that “society will always put pressure on women to look a certain way”.
“Each is founded on that core insight but delivered through a lens unique and relevant to the cultural zeitgeist,” says Ferguson.
Elliot Riordan, creative director at Golin, agrees that trying to replicate the success of an earlier campaign by simply adopting the same strategy is off the cards.
The agency, which impressed many with its Cannes Lion PR Grand Prix-winning ‘Misheard version’ campaign for Specsavers last year, recently launched another instalment in the same campaign series.
Where the first edition brought us Rick Astley tackling misheard lyrics, the latest featured famed wordsmith Gyles Brandreth attempting to correct the nation’s mishearing of well-known sayings.
“A good idea can open the door to more ideas,” says Riordan. “What if we applied the same thinking to X or Y? Where else in culture or in people’s day-to-day lives does this thought live? Who else could benefit from this message?”
An agency which many would say has mastered the art of applying an insight in different formats is Taylor Herring, for its series of Mars Celebrations Christmas campaigns.
For the past three years, the agency has used the chocolate bar, Bounty, to stir up mischief with integrated campaigns, winning mutiple PRWeek Awards along the way.
“We anchored each one around the same insight – the divisive nature of the Bounty bar – but we kept the narrative fresh,” says Peter Mountstevens, chief creative officer and managing partner at Taylor Herring.
“We launched the ‘Bounty Return Scheme,’ then removed Bounty from the tub entirely, and finally gave fans the chance to win a solid gold Bounty (pictured below). Each story was built on the same insight, but was distinct enough to keep people engaged.”
“In PR, the real challenge is to capture lightning in a bottle more than once,” he tells PRWeek.
“Audiences expect brands to evolve the conversation, and repeating the same idea can quickly feel stale. There’s always the pressure to deliver something as impactful as before, but with a fresh twist that doesn’t feel repetitive.
“It’s a delicate balance – familiar enough to resonate, but innovative enough to excite.”
This challenge generates more fuel than fear, though, according to Mountstevens.
“For creatives, this pressure is what drives us. We work best when we’re challenged to outdo ourselves, and there’s nothing more rewarding than pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, campaign after campaign.”
As a creative, Riordan similarly believes that “a continuation of the same brand message, voice or values is important, but there’s always a new way to bring it to life if you look hard enough”.
Nonetheless, he reminds us that the pressure to reinvent the wheel can often be amplified and overcomplicated within the echo chamber of the PR industry.
“And at the end of the day,” says the Golin creative director, “we can rest easy knowing nobody in the real world is anticipating what we’ll do next.”
This article originally appeared on PR Week