REBLOG: Ripping Off Other Brands For A Great Cause

Ripping Off Other Brands For A Great Cause
February 4th, 2010
From Jeremy Lichtenberger, Senior Brand Planner
Original Article

It’s no surprise that when charities and pro bono organizations advertise their services, they take a serious tone. We often see very real images of starving children in impoverished nations struggling to survive, and it pulls at our heartstrings.

As advertisers, we know this approach is usually necessary to get the seriousness of the message across. But Ben Stiller is not an advertiser, nor does he admit to “know anything about raising money.” What he does know is how to capture an audience’s attention and make them side with the lovable loser characters he creates in his genius comedies such as Meet the Parents and Zoolander.

So about a year ago when he wanted to start a charity that would raise funds to build schools in the poor nation of Haiti, he used his unique skills and founded “Stiller Strong,” along with the motto “Stealing great ideas from other charities to build schools in Haiti.”

Stiller Strong.org is a very serious charitable organization with a very not-so-serious delivery of its message. Stiller, of course, clearly ripped off the name from the popular and successful “Live Strong” campaign by Nike and Lance Armstrong, which was established to raise money for cancer research. Established in 1997, the Live Strong campaign started selling yellow rubber wrist bands for supporters to demonstrate their dedication.

This idea became tremendously trendy as many other charities followed suit. The yellow and black branding of Live Strong was blatantly stolen by Stiller Strong – along with headbands and wrist bands to boot – and it is an absolutely genius display of marketing. Stiller began promoting his organization and showing off his branding on late-night television and through viral videos, and played it up as having no relation at all to Armstrong’s campaign. In one promotional event, Stiller was featured on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien in full Stiller Strong garb. During the interview, Conan just so happened to get Lance Armstrong live via satellite to discuss with Stiller his disappointment with the brand. It’s a hysterical skit and was a great plug for Stiller Strong because he makes you want to go to the Web site and check out what he is doing.

The site is full of videos including A-list celebrities such as Owen Wilson, Ryan Seacrest, and even former President Bill Clinton. Sadly, the recent and very horrific earthquake in Haiti has demolished the school Stiller Strong was building. In light of these events, the organization has undertaken a new mission to establish temporary schooling for the children of Haiti displaced by the earthquake. Stiller knew the importance of helping this country before the earthquake of January 2010, and his message is even more important now.

The genius of this brand is not the use of star power to gain attention, but the use of comedy as a way to maintain attention and to differentiate the organization from others like it. Take a visit to StillerStrong.org; if it looks familiar, well, that’s the point.