I dare you to watch the above video and not get a warm, tingling feeling all over. Go ahead, try! I dare ya!
As we wind down 2019, content that gives a person a warm and tingling feeling is in need more than ever, and the DUDE. be nice brand has dialed in a winning formula for doing just that.
You might be asking yourself “Does being nice as a brand, and reflecting that value in our content marketing, actually work to generate brand recognition?”
Judging by DUDE. be nice’s experience, the answer is yes. They are up to 20 video stories now and the police officer story has generated over 6,000,000 views in six months! We think this proves that building content out of being “nice” really works for building brand affinity!
About DUDE. be nice
The DUDE. be nice brand of t-shirts and clothing has a lot of the right components for producing purpose-focused content marketing that we like to see.
These components include meaning attached to a brand’s product or service, and “real people doing real things” storytelling.
It begins with founder Brent Camalich’s recognition, stemming from working with youth, that products and brands that have meaning attached to them are popular.
“We realized there are so many brands out there that people buy and wear that don’t stand for much,” explains Camalich in a blog post, “and frankly, often encourage kind of sketchy behavior. So why not create something with a bit more substance and also cool enough to wear?”
Taking inspiration from the local surf and skate culture of his home territory in Southern California, Camalich incorporated the word DUDE into a t-shirt design paired with the declaration “be nice.”
“I knew we were on to something the first time I wore a DUDE. be nice shirt and pretty much every person I encountered reacted in some sort of positive way to the brand,” Camalich recalls.
About the Videos
Prior to forming DUDE. be nice Camalich worked as a producer, journalist and youth camp counselor.
This background informed Camalich’s “Dude. be nice Project,” a series of branded videos in which Camalich works with a group of high school kids to create a special day of recognition for a deserving, yet often taken for granted, person in their lives. Subjects of their videos have ranged from school janitors to local business owners, from teachers to campus cops.
Working together with students, Camalich and his team plan an entire celebration of someone’s life. On the special day, with cameras rolling, they surprise the person with a flash mob event including artwork, posters, speeches, song and dance. The creativity is handled by the students, and Camalich’s team helps orchestrate and document the event.
What’s Our Purpose?
Camalich clearly, if not explicitly, asked himself the question “What our Purpose” and not only came up with a great branded clothing line with meaning attached to it, but leveraged that into a genuinely heartfelt, impactful series of videos.
Clearly, being nice pays.
Source: A Thin Line Blog