In partnership with

Dear Creative Souls,

The next revolution in advertising might not come from new tech — but from a new definition of success.

For decades, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been the holy number — the measure of national health and human progress. But here’s the problem: GDP rewards extraction, not well-being. It grows when we cut trees, not when we plant them. It grows when people burn out, not when they thrive.

So what happens when a financial newspaper — the very institution that built its authority on GDP — decides to question that metric?

The Creative Problem

How do you convince a nation that its definition of progress is outdated?

Nikkei, Japan’s largest financial publication, didn’t argue or moralize. It reframed the question. Instead of asking, “How much are we producing?”, it asked, “How are we living?”

The result: The Gross Domestic Well-Being (GDW) Index.

Not just a campaign — a systemic intervention. Nikkei used the language of finance to challenge finance itself, creating an entirely new metric that measured happiness, health, community, and sustainability.

This wasn’t an ad about well-being. It was well-being, made measurable.

The Strategic Leap

1. The Act of Reframing
Most brands compete within the rules. Visionary ones rewrite them. Nikkei refused to fight for attention within GDP’s logic; it built a new game altogether. This is how a brand transcends category — it shifts from player to philosopher.

2. Authentic Authority
When a brand critiques the very system that made it powerful, the act becomes self-validating. Nikkei wasn’t virtue signaling — it was reforming its own religion. This self-critique disarmed cynicism and made the message feel inevitable.

3. Tangibility Over Talk
Abstract values only work when you give them shape. By turning “well-being” into an index, Nikkei created a data-driven conversation starter. Suddenly, governments could invest in happiness as easily as they do in markets — and did.

Why It Worked

Because it gave a name to a truth people already felt.

Everyone senses that modern growth feels hollow — Nikkei quantified that unease. It validated emotion with data. The campaign’s genius wasn’t just creativity; it was empathy translated into an economic instrument.

When the Japanese Parliament invested billions into the initiative and major corporations adopted GDW as a KPI, Nikkei didn’t just earn press. It earned policy change.

That’s what reframing looks like at scale.

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The Lesson for Us

Don’t sell harder.
Redefine what “winning” means in your category.

If everyone else is chasing speed, introduce stillness.
If everyone else is counting views, count value.
If everyone else is chasing growth, measure good.

💡 Prompt Corner

Use this with your AI assistant to reframe your market:

“I want to redefine success in my category.

1. Identify the single, flawed metric everyone worships.

2. Replace it with a human counter-metric that reflects real value.

3. Create a measurable, tangible way to track it — even if it’s symbolic.

4. Build your next campaign around that shift.”

If Nikkei could transform a financial index into a mirror for the soul, your brand can too.

^{Until then, measure what matters.}

Here are the last 3 editions:
1. Dangers of sharing photos of your kids online - Campaign by Deutsche Telekom
2. Berger? King? Who bent the rules to win at Cannes - Campaign by Burger King
3. How Leo Burnett Thailand called all out of the people using buzzwords - Campaign by Krungsri\

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.