For Joy

One blurry night out last year I ended up at my friend’s apartment playing dress up. I noticed a pair of bright red leather clown shoes and straight away laced them on. It was only on closer inspection that I noticed the shoes were a limited edition line from iconic skate shoe company Vans. I couldn’t help thinking why a well-known brand would release a product that was costly to produce and almost-certainly difficult to push. My friend replied, “For joy.” My heart warmed. It got me thinking about other ‘joyous’ brand endeavours which don’t appear to generate any immediate payoffs, but do work to cheer and inspire onlookers.

During my time in the US I was lucky enough to interview Charlie Todd, creator and chief prankster of ImprovEverywhere. In his modest apartment Todd discussed the ins and outs of “causing chaos and joy in public places”. With its beginnings in 2001 impersonating Ben Folds in a bar, to having over 41,000 people worldwide pledging their time to Todd’s cause; it seems pranks are a serious business.

Volkswagon’s The Fun Theory is one example of ‘joyous’ branding. Under the simple premise of changing people’s behaviour by making the tedious seem fun, Volkswagon moved people to use the stairs, recycle their bottles and put their rubbish in the bin.

Although it may be difficult to identify an obvious correlation between small pranks and a huge corporation, joyous branding is possibly one of the most effective tools for building a positive brand identity.