Originally published in Forbes
Proctor & Gamble became a poster child for social media engagement in 2012 with its ‘Best Job’ television spot for the London Olympics. Not only did it become a viral sensation across multiple social media channels, but it also won the Emmy for Commercial of the Year (a fourth straight win for ad agency, Wieden & Kennedy).
It now looks like it will continue this impressive and perilous balancing act between top creativity and broad-based appeal (especially tough for a global consumer brand) with the new spot just launched for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In doing so, P&G reveals three critical steps in the architecture of a global brand community:
1. LEAD WITH PURPOSE: The point of departure for every successful brand community has to be the definition of the brand and its purpose. Without that clarity, one cannot hope to tell a story worth sharing by employees and customers. In P&G’s case, the purpose-driven tagline is, ‘Touching Lives, Improving Life,’ and the spots are a palpable demonstration of both aspects of the tagline. It even extends to the home page of the corporate website.