THNK
The school of good leadership
What do you do for a leadership school for leaders who aren’t into leadership schools? You think outside the box (or head). THNK wanted to launch their refreshed brand with their very first multi-media campaign. With plenty of examples of poor leadership, we figured we’d kill two birds with one stone: poke a little fun at bad leaders and share THNK’s idea of good leadership.
Good takes,bad leadership
The campaign revolves around imagination. Or, how little it takes to provide a good alternative to all-too-common examples of terrible leadership. We took a number of THNK’s values, ideas and views and turned these into a positive answer to these bad practices.
(Almost) human leaders
In line with THNK’s “corporate punk” attitude, we wanted to do something different for the visuals. For the humans, we drew inspiration from famous and stereotypical bad leaders. A corporate fat cat, a broker-bro, two political look-a-likes and a woman who closely resembles a certain notorious CEO from a fraudulent pharmaceutical start-up. While these bad leaders are often pretty in-human, these take it to a whole new level. They’ve been created with A.I. (And so are the monkey and the statue.)
The “barbarians at the business school gates”
The campaign launch coincided with an interview in the Financial Times. From there on out, the work could be seen in print, on the street, social media and as online videos.
Courage takes clarity
When going against the grain of the jargon and style of leadership schools, you need to be clear. Courageously so. In the case of THNK, this means not adding details but doing more with less. That’s why as part of the renewed strategy, we radically simplified their existing design and refreshed it to be ready for tomorrow. This means honing on the most vital elements, like two recognisable colours, a well-crafted minimalist font and a refreshed logo. In doing so, we can make a strong point to more effect, simply and clearly.
