Creative Corner: Workday, Fenty Beauty and LeBron's legacy smash it at the Super Bowl

How do.

Happy Valley might be over and done with, but there’s more compelling Sunday night viewing to fill the void (especially if you like sports or, perhaps more relevantly for this column, marketing) this weekend - the Super Bowl.

‘Will the Eagles overcome the Chiefs?’ is only the second-most important question that needs answering, behind ‘who’s come up with the best marketing campaign?’

There’s a few out of the box already…

Workday’s Rock Stars take back ownership

What do Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Billy Idol and Paul Stanley have in common? Rock royalty, obviously, and now they all also appear in Workday’s Super Bowl effort.

The premise? They’re fed up of the corporate world using ‘rock star’ to describe anyone who knows their way round a spreadsheet (I feel seen) and they’re taking ownership back. Cue some fun scenes with Ozzy in an open-plan office and Kiss legend Paul bursting into boardrooms and you’ve got a recipe for brand engagement and shareability.

The video’s actually the culmination of a longer-running campaign with Workday poking a healthy amount of fun at itself - it has regularly been championing HR advisors and finance administrators as ‘rock stars of the workplace’ on its own channels.

Fenty Beauty

Rihanna’s half-time show is hotly anticipated - aren’t they always - and her Fenty brand is making sure to maximise the opportunity with a commercially savvy Super Bowl makeup collection.

It’s the short, but sweet, but brilliantly addictive TikTok video that’s got tongues wagging the most - 8.2million views and counting at the time of writing. It talks beautifully to the brand and its sense of inclusion and somehow manages to have an almost ASMR quality to it.

No wonder the commenters are all calling for its creator to get a raise.

@fentybeauty That #FENTYGAMEFACE never fumbles! 💯🏈 Start the play with a layer of #HYDRAVIZOR to tackle any SPF worries 🌞 Then, touchdown on #PROFILTRFOUNDATION for that fresh AF, soft matte flex 💪🏿💪🏾💪🏽 #GAMEDAY is just 6 days away, so re-up on the essentials now to prep for the big day at the 🔗 in bio, @sephora, @sephoracanada, and #sephoraxkohls ♬ original sound - Fenty Beauty

LeBron’s legacy

Away from the Super Bowl but staying in the world of US sport, LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading points scorer presented a vast wave of creative content opportunity for fans, brands and sponsors alike.

Among Nike’s library of imagery to mark the occasion was this tongue-in-cheek puppet-fronted shock jock-style two parter released on YouTube, sending up the King’s naysayers, critics and conspiracy theorists.

I’m not sure the style fully translates across this side of the pond, but it’s a different and innovative way of gently sending up sections of supporters who doubt his achievements and, at the same time, reinforces his bond to those who’ve long been fully on board.

If you’re launching anything exciting over the next few weeks or spot a campaign online that you love please send it our way...

Email tom@weareradioactive.com, rich@weareradioactive.com and angharad@weareradioactive.com or you can find us on Twitter @TomGibbon_, @RichLeighPR and @Welsh_PR

Catch you next week.