Getting to an idea worth fighting for rarely begins from an obvious starting point. Inspired by former Wieden+Kennedy Creative Director Jason Bagley, this series uses provocative questions to mine the Big Ideas That Work Engines for repeatable creative tactics that can help answer them.
This time, we’re asking:
What if we said the opposite of what the client wants to say?
Here are six campaigns that probably weren’t thought of by asking this question and a few others, but they could have been...
- Make the Unappealing Truth the Proof
- Admit the Failure Before Explaining It
- Lead With the Bad Reviews
- Celebrate the Result Nobody Wants
- Expose What the Price Really Pays For
- Obey the Absurd Rule
1. Make the Unappealing Truth the Proof
Show the consequence the category normally conceals when that consequence provides the strongest evidence for the product claim.
Mouldy Whopper — Burger King, INGO, 2020
Burger King wanted to communicate that its Whopper was free from artificial preservatives. Conventional food advertising would have translated that claim into fresher ingredients, immaculate close-ups and a burger photographed at the precise moment before appetite appeal becomes structural engineering.
Instead, Burger King showed a Whopper decomposing over 34 days. The bun collapsed, the ingredients deteriorated and the burger gradually disappeared beneath a thick bloom of mould. It was precisely the image a fast-food client would ordinarily ask an agency to remove.
The ugliness made the claim credible. Food without artificial preservatives does not remain eternally camera-ready; it changes, decays and eventually becomes thoroughly revolting. Burger King said something apparently negative about its product because the negative consequence was also evidence of a positive change.
The question that could have produced it:
What unattractive consequence would prove that our product claim is true?
The creative move: Turn the Flaw Into Proof, from the Creative Engine → Be Brutally Honest
2. Admit the Failure Before Explaining It
Replace the defensive corporate response with the blunt acknowledgement customers already know to be true.
FCK — KFC, Mother, 2018
When a logistics failure left hundreds of UK KFC restaurants without chicken, the conventional communications task was damage limitation. Explain the disruption, reassure customers, thank them for their patience and avoid giving the crisis an even more memorable name.
KFC did almost the exact opposite. A print advert showed an empty chicken bucket with the letters KFC rearranged to read “FCK”. Beneath it, the brand admitted that a chicken restaurant without chicken was “not ideal”, apologised to its customers and thanked its employees for dealing with the disruption.
The response worked because it did not behave like an institution trying to contain an embarrassing story. It sounded like a person who understood exactly how ridiculous the situation looked. KFC could not reverse the failure, but it could refuse the evasive language that usually makes corporate apologies feel like a second offence.
The question that could have produced it:
What if our apology said what every frustrated customer is already thinking?
The creative move: Own the Mistake Before It Owns You, from the Creative Engine → Creative Use of Excuses → Honest Apologies
3. Lead With the Bad Reviews
Use criticism as an invitation to think independently rather than treating it as an objection the brand must overcome.
Unrating Vienna — Vienna Tourist Board, Publicis, 2021
Tourism advertising usually presents a destination as universally beautiful, culturally essential and unlikely to disappoint anyone with access to an airport. Vienna had plenty of glowing material available. Instead, its tourist board chose reviews describing the city’s attractions as boring, messy and overrated.
These criticisms appeared prominently across posters and digital advertising, accompanied by the question: “So, who decides what you like?” The campaign did not rebut the reviewers or attempt to prove that they were wrong. It gave prospective visitors permission to distrust the judgement of strangers and experience Vienna for themselves.
A negative review would normally be treated as something standing between the destination and the visitor. Vienna turned it into the reason to visit. By placing criticism where praise was expected, the campaign transformed rejection into intrigue and made independent judgement feel like part of the experience.
The question that could have produced it:
What if the strongest reason to try us came from someone telling people not to?
The creative move: Turn Criticism Into Curiosity, from the Creative Engine → Creative Use of Reviews → Embrace Bad Reviews
