5 great examples of advertising industry in startup culture

by Startacus Admin

KRPT Week is a celebration of the future of advertising according to the next generation; within this generation are numerous different “tribes” and startups many of whom could be labelled as the “DIY Generation”.

The examples of brands and agencies showing a real passion and dedication towards supporting startup culture is growing as they realise the alternative is most likely competition or lack of innovation.

Telefonica: Wayra

Wayra is Telefonica’s startup accelerator and arguably one of the most successful brand investment projects. By providing winning startups access to resources, experts and clients; it is a model that has seemed to be even more valuable than traditional incubation. In 2014, Telefonica had signed 26 contracts worth over $4million in revenue from Wayra projects; a clear sign of how valuable this project has been. Some of the ideas were rolled out in over 270 o2 stores in the UK whilst other graduates like Doutissima had secured contracts over $3m and expanded into new markets because of the accelerator. The success stories were not just a few. Wayra alone has supported over 100 startups and was found to be the second most active accelerator in Europe.

Desperados x UKF: City Hack

Heineken-owned beer brand Desperados teamed up with online electronic dance music channel UKF to find the country’s best creative talent. The brand provided DJs, promoters, artists and designers the platform to showcase their skills and throw large scale parties across London, Manchester and Bristol as part of the City Hack campaign. Even though many don’t traditionally consider this startup culture, we believe this is closer to what many young people are thinking about and was a great example of a brand seeing past the traditional app ecosystem.

Chivas Regal:The Venture

You don’t see a whisky brand entering startup culture everyday, but that is exactly what Chivas Regal did with The Venture. It was created to inspire, discover and reward those who believe that business can be used for good. By providing $1million in funding and expert support, the campaign aimed to enable a generation of social entrepreneur the chance to creative positive change. As well as providing this opportunity for entrepreneurs to gain resources, they also provided a steady stream of useful content.

Similar to City Hack, this campaign saw beyond traditional startup culture and focussed on the aspect of social entrepreneurship. This campaign was created by the team at AnalogFolk and then maintained by Havas Work Club and Dirty & Glory; a seemingly good fit given their “meaningful brands” mantra.

The Bakery

Unlike any of the projects listed so far, the Bakery had a slightly different angle. This was a project that wanted to solve brand problems by connecting them with the most relevant new startups. They defined it as a “different type of accelerator programmer. Where brands and tech companies get new stuff to market together.” Their model was based around building a network of startups that could be hand-picked to solve specific briefs. A glance through their case studies showed the potential of this model. Focussing primarily on developing partnerships between brands and startups positions this project in a very interesting space. The number of projects they’ve supported also shows how important innovation from startups is for brands.

Publicis 90

Finally we come to the most recent example of the mother of all brands, the agencies that are now immersing themselves in startup culture. Publicis Groupe is one of the largest advertising companies and to celebrate their 90th birthday they decided to look forward instead of back. Putting up millions in funding, export mentors and access to clients will naturally make this an appealing proposition for many startups and it’s a real indicator of how agencies and brands see themselves being involved in this new era of ideas.

Over the week we will be discussing what young people think about the future of advertising, exploring how changing ethics, culture and technology are vital to a brand's success.

Follow the story at krpt.co.uk and tell us your thoughts using #KRPTWEEK

What do you think about the future of advertising?

#LongLiveAdvertising or #DeathToAdvertising?


Talking Consumers and Brands - if you're a brand wanting to work in the startup space, give Startacus a shout - we are all ears. Details for this found here

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Published on: 31st January 2016