Psychology
Warm glow
Helping others feels good in itself, so brands and causes that let us do good, or show good being done, share in that glow.
2020s
-
2025Three Words
Three added words meant 1,292 people were helped out of abusive homes in ten months, and every policyholder could feel their insurance doing real good.
-
2022Backup Ukraine
Gives anyone with a phone a concrete way to protect what the invasion threatens, and each 3D capture feels like a small good deed of their own.
-
2022Runner 321
Turns bib 321 into a standing place for a neurodivergent athlete each year, so every race and runner who backs it feels part of something good adidas began.
-
2021Not Just a Cadbury Ad ("Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad")
Hands its Diwali ad over to neighbourhood shops hit hard by the pandemic, so viewers see a brand doing good and feel good choosing it.
-
2021The Breakaway
Handing six inmates bikes and a way to ride with the outside world let audiences watch a second chance being given, and Decathlon shared that good feeling.
-
2020Courage Is Beautiful
Salutes real doctors and nurses with faces marked by masks and long shifts, backed by $5 million and donated care products, so viewers' gratitude extends to Dove.
-
2020Shutter Ads
Sends the poster budget straight to bar owners shut by Covid, so anyone passing a dark shutter saw a brand helping their local keep going.
2010s
-
2019We All Win
Shows a giant brand building a controller so children with physical disabilities can join in, and seeing that on the year's biggest stage leaves viewers feeling good about Microsoft.
-
2019The Tampon Book
Buying the book was itself a small act of protest backing a petition to parliament, so customers felt they were helping to change the law.
-
2019ThisAbles
Makes IKEA furniture easier for disabled people to use with free add-ons, and audiences saw a company doing good rather than just saying everyone is welcome.
-
2019True Name
Changes the card itself so transgender and non-binary people stop being outed every time they pay, and seeing real good done rather than promised wins the brand credit.
-
2018adDRESS the Future (Neo-Ex)
Sends the money to WaterAid and makes no physical garment, so buyers could show off new clothes while feeling they were doing good rather than adding to waste.
-
2018Save Our Species
Sends the profits to IUCN conservation work, so buyers who snapped the shirts up within 24 hours felt they were helping endangered animals survive.
-
2017Black Supermarket (Le Marché Interdit)
Gave growers five-year supply contracts and asked shoppers to buy their produce and sign a petition, letting an ordinary shop feel like helping farmers win.
-
20166 Pack Band
Let listeners enjoy upbeat songs while backing India's first transgender pop group, so the good feeling of supporting the band attached to Red Label.
-
2016The Field Trip to Mars
Uses a STEM-education push to treat a whole class to a shared ride to Mars, and seeing children given wonder rather than a sales pitch leaves people feeling good about the company.
-
2015Justino
Celebrates small kindnesses between workmates under the line that the biggest prize is sharing, so buying a ticket feels like an act of generosity rather than a bet on luck.
-
2015The Greatest Interception Ever
Asks viewers to name someone who deserves a new car, so every tweet is a small act of kindness and Volvo shares the good feeling.
-
2015McWhopper (an open letter to McDonald's)
Proceeds from a McWhopper would go to Peace One Day, so backing the idea let people feel part of a good cause that Burger King had proposed.
-
2015Brewtroleum
Turned the yeast left over from brewing into biofuel, so ordering another beer came with a cheeky sense of helping to save the world.
-
2015The Safety Truck
Lets drivers stuck behind a lorry see whether it is safe to overtake, and people warm to an electronics brand seen tackling Argentina's deadly two-lane roads.
-
2014Unsung Hero
Shows a man with almost nothing watering a plant, feeding a stray and giving to a begging girl, and the uplift viewers feel is shared by the insurer behind it.
-
2014Monty the Penguin
A boy gives his penguin the companion it was missing, and the joy of a perfectly chosen gift became the feeling shoppers chased in a record sales week.
-
2014Inglorious Fruits & Vegetables
Lets shoppers rescue produce that growers would have thrown away, so buying a misshapen carrot felt like a small win against food waste.
-
2014Nazis Against Nazis ("Rechts gegen Rechts")
Every metre walked raised €10 to help people leave the far right, so residents and donors got to feel they were turning a hate march into good.
-
2013Farmer
Turned each online view into a donation to future farmers, so watching felt like doing good, and 10 million views raised $1 million in under a week.
-
2013Christmas Miracle: Real-time Giving
Shows about 150 staff volunteers buying and wrapping presents for strangers while they fly, and the kindness on display endears the airline to everyone watching.
-
A billboard that turns air into clean drinking water is ingenuity in action.UTEC (University of Engineering and Technology)2013
The Billboard That Makes Water
Pipes the water to a tap for local families who barely see rain, so the university is seen doing real good and shares in the goodwill.
-
2013Small World Machines
Lets shoppers in Lahore and New Delhi wave and trace peace signs together across a hostile border, and watching that small act of peace makes people feel good about the brand behind it.
-
2012Project Re: Brief — 'Hilltop' Re-imagined for Coca-Cola
Lets viewers send a stranger abroad a free Coke and a personal message, and the small pleasure of that gift attaches to the brand.
-
2012Bridge of Life
An insurer lit a bridge notorious for suicides with kind messages, and the sense of good being done reflected well on the brand, whatever the city later concluded.
-
2011Back to the Start
Ends with the farmer leaving the factory for the way he began, and watching decency win leaves viewers feeling good about the chain telling the story.
-
2010Happiness Machine
Shows a vending machine showering students with flowers, pizza and a six-foot sandwich, and watching strangers get a kind surprise leaves viewers feeling good about the brand.
-
Shop Small.American Express2010
Small Business Saturday
Gives holiday shoppers a day to spend at independent local shops, so an ordinary purchase feels like a good deed done for the neighbourhood.
2000s
-
2009Xixi no Banho ("Pee in the Shower")
Offers a way to save 4,380 litres of drinking water a year without giving anything up, so viewers get the good feeling of helping the environment for free.
-
Kitto, sakura saku yo.Kit Kat (Nestlé Japan)2009
Kit Kat Mail
Lets anyone post a cherry-blossom pack of Kit Kats with a handwritten message to an exam candidate, and the good feeling of cheering someone on stuck to the bar.
-
2007Earth Hour
Turns flicking a switch into a stand on climate change, so anyone can feel they are doing good in an hour at almost no cost.
-
2003ecotonoha
Promises an extra real tree on Kangaroo Island for every 100 messages, so typing a few words felt like doing good, and NEC shared in that feeling.
1980s
1970s
Warm glow: where it comes from
The economist James Andreoni argued that people give not only to help others but also for the "warm glow" that giving brings them (Andreoni, 1990).
In ads it shows up as campaigns that let people do good by buying, sharing or taking part, and brands seen doing good themselves.