01
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Once I gained a clearer understanding of Twix’s core brand identity, I began exploring potential concepts and approaches that could be applied to the final outcome, with the aim of accurately expressing the spirit of brand activation aligned with Twix’s new tagline.
Source
/7 Types of Brand Activations That Actually Work!
Keywords
/brand activation
/concept ideation
The video emphasizes that in an era of information overload, the key to standing out is creating impact through physical and emotional engagement rather than simple advertising. By utilizing strategies like immersive experiences, exclusive pop-up shops, and strategic partnerships, brands can foster deep loyalty and trust. Ultimately, the most successful activations are those that offer "Instagrammable" value and invite the consumer to be an active part of the brand story.
*Immersive Brand Experiences
This involves creating an environment where consumers can live within the brand's world through meticulously designed details. It builds a much deeper emotional connection than traditional ads, which are easily ignored.
✍️ Sensory branding is the differentiator here. By engaging sight, sound, and touch, you transform a customer into a brand advocate.
*Pop-up Shops
These temporary retail spaces leverage the psychological triggers of scarcity and excitement. They allow digital-native brands to have a physical presence without long-term overhead while creating a "buy it now or miss out" urgency (FOMO).
✍️ Success in pop-ups is 50% location and 50% exclusivity. If the product is available elsewhere, the urgency disappears.
*Product Sampling
Direct experience is the most effective way to eliminate consumer skepticism and hesitation. Research indicates that sampling can increase purchase intent by up to 90%.
✍️ Use sampling as a data-capture tool (leads/emails) to build a long-term remarketing funnel.
*Stunt Marketing
This involves bold, unexpected, or high-energy ideas designed to capture immediate attention and go viral. The video mentions Bear Grylls abseiling from a building to a red carpet instead of walking.
✍️ A stunt must reinforce the brand's core values. If the stunt is "cool" but unrelated to what the brand stands for, it becomes a forgettable gimmick.
*Brand Partnerships
Two brands collaborate to leverage each other's audiences, expanding reach without doubling the ad spend. It boosts credibility and creates unique experiences that a single brand could not achieve alone.
✍️ Alignment is everything. The partnership must feel organic to the consumer's lifestyle; otherwise, it risks looking like a desperate grab for attention.
*Influencer Activations
Consumers trust people more than corporations. Having a credible voice endorse a brand bypasses "ad fatigue". This strategy effectively navigates past ad blockers and general consumer cynicism.
✍️ Prioritize engagement rates over follower counts. Micro-influencers often deliver a higher ROI because their communities are more niche and trusting.
*Interactive Installations
This turns marketing into a "playground" where consumers can play, touch, and actively participate. These often use touchscreens, VR, or massive physical art pieces to encourage active engagement rather than passive viewing.
✍️The barrier to entry must be low. If an installation is too complex to understand in three seconds, people will simply walk past it.
02
PRACTICES & DEVELOPMENT
Based on the selected options, I began testing visual approaches that could be realistically implemented to form a complete journey for the initial brand activation ideas.
👩💻 The first visual exploration focused on character design combined with motion graphics. This task aimed to test if character-led motion could clearly express the brand idea while remaining adaptable across the activation journey.
This approach felt particularly suitable for a digital-first campaign, as both elements support expressive storytelling and are highly adaptable across platforms. More importantly, they enable the creation of shareable moments, which is a key criterion for an effective brand activation.
Source
/IKEA, Together [Motion Graphics]
Keywords
/brand promotion
/motion graphic
The IKEA Together video is a masterclass in using motion graphics to humanize a retail brand. The character-led narrative effectively proving that furniture is the backdrop for life’s most meaningful moments, allowing the brand to communicate complex product benefits through a playful, universally understood visual language that shows brand love.
*Object Personification
The video masterfully turns mundane household items into "characters" with life and soul, behaving like migrating birds or schools of fish searching for a "home".
✍️By giving life to objects, IKEA makes the act of tidying up feel like an act of care.
*CGI & Motion Integration
The seamless blend of high-end CGI and realistic home environments creates a poetic, dreamlike atmosphere that elevates ordinary storage solutions into something artistic.
✍️High-quality motion integration removes the "clutter" of traditional advertising.
*Emotionalizing Utility
Instead of showing a static wardrobe, IKEA uses motion to visualize the "relief" and "joy" of organization. It transforms a boring product (storage) into an emotional solution (peace of mind).
✍️Utility is what a product does; emotion is how the product makes the user feel.
RESULT & REFLECTION
I sketched several illustration ideas that could be implemented within the brand activation. Due to production constraints from my teammate handling motion graphics, I also took their feedback into account to ensure the concepts remained practical and efficient to produce.
