The single-minded proposition is a fine thing. But some of the most remarkable campaigns ever made refused to be single-minded. Kill Two Birds With One Stone finds the hidden overlap between two apparently unrelated problems — and builds the campaign at the point where they meet. Here are seven creative tactics that do just that.
- Turn your retail space into someone else's solution
- Turn a waste stream into a resource
- Turn a cultural symbol into a social movement
- Turn a product launch into a platform for a cause
- Turn unused assets into a shared economy
- Turn an animal welfare crisis into a healthcare solution
- Turn a customer nuisance into a product feature
1. Turn Your Retail Space Into Someone Else's Solution
Use the footfall you already have to solve a problem that has nothing to do with what you sell.
Home For Books — IKEA, DDB, 2019
Sixty percent of Italians don't read a single book a year. IKEA stores, meanwhile, were full of bookcases displaying fake books — decorative props that contributed nothing. For the anniversary of the BILLY bookcase, DDB replaced every fake book across Italian stores with real ones, in partnership with IBS, Italy's biggest book supplier. The entire store became a library. In-store events followed — writers met journalists, illustrators met children, musicians created live soundtracks for emerging authors — streamed online through IKEA's channels. A bookcrossing programme was launched across all Italian stores.
Renault's Plug Inn (Publicis, 2023) used the same logic in reverse — instead of turning a brand's space into a resource, it turned private homeowners' driveways into a charging network. The peer-to-peer app connected electric car drivers to home charger owners across France, solving the dead-zone problem for long-distance EV drivers while creating a new income stream for hosts. Airbnb for charging spots.
