🧵 Inside This Edition:
Canva’s Creative Coup: “Put Imagination to Work”
Why User-Driven Branding Beats Billion-Dollar Advertising
The Secret Sauce: Turning Customers into Evangelists
Your Move: 3 Strategies You Can Apply Today
1. The Billion-Dollar Move We’re Decoding Today
Brand Name: Canva
Canva’s new global campaign “Put Imagination to Work” turned its 180M+ users into the world’s most powerful brand marketers.
From imagination to impact, real users, real stories. Canva’s users are the brand.
2. What They Did
In mid-2025, Canva launched its boldest campaign yet: “Put Imagination to Work.”
This redefined how professionals perceive creativity in the workplace. This campaign isn't just about showcasing a product; it's about positioning imagination as a powerful tool for business success. Canva
Instead of a celebrity-heavy campaign or expensive media blitz, Canva spotlighted real user stories, from teachers in Nairobi to entrepreneurs in London to nonprofits in Manila.
Every ad, visual, and video positioned Canva as the place where creativity isn’t just art, it’s a tool for progress, business, and transformation.
The genius? Canva invited its own users to create campaign content, making the message authentic and infinitely scalable.
By featuring real professionals overcoming creative blocks with Canva's intuitive tools, the campaign humanizes the brand, making it relatable and aspirational. This approach has transformed everyday users into passionate brand evangelists.
Source: AdAge on Canva Campaign
Source: Canva Official Blog
180M users. 190 countries. One creative platform connecting the world. #PutImaginationToWork
3. Why It Works (The Strategy)
This campaign isn’t about pretty design. It’s about strategic brand positioning.
Here’s why it’s winning:
User-as-hero storytelling: Customers aren’t side notes, they’re the stars.
Global inclusivity: Stories from Lagos, São Paulo, and Sydney gave the campaign cultural depth.
Category leadership: Canva isn’t competing with Adobe on “tools.” They’re owning the bigger space: creativity as empowerment.
The result: Canva reinforced its role not just as a design platform, but as the default global brand for creativity in the AI age.
4. The 5C™ Brand Breakdown
Clarity: Canva = the platform where imagination powers impact. Simple, universal, timeless.
Consistency: From product UX to global ads, the same promise shines through: “Anyone can design. Everyone can create.”
Creativity: Flipping advertising by outsourcing it to users. That’s disruptive storytelling.
Collaboration: Co-creating with millions of users turned Canva’s campaign into a global movement.
Community: Showcasing teachers, freelancers, NGOs, and startups built belonging far beyond tech circles.
The Data Drop
$40B+ Valuation (2025) → Canva’s valuation surged again after revenue grew 35% YoY. TechCrunch
180M Monthly Users → spanning 190 countries. Canva Newsroom
15B+ Designs Created Annually → That’s more designs per year than Starbucks sells coffees.
+400% Engagement → Canva’s campaign videos generated 4x more engagement than their previous campaigns.
#PutImaginationToWork trended across LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram in over 25 markets.
Photo courtesy of Canva Official Campaign Assets, 2025
The Impact
Increased Engagement: The campaign led to a significant uptick in user engagement and brand sentiment.
Enhanced Brand Loyalty: Users felt more connected to Canva's mission and values.
Market Differentiation: Positioned Canva as a leader in integrating creativity with productivity.
Decoded Power Moves
Make Users Your Influencers. Don’t just market to your customers. Market through them.
Turn Features Into Movements. Canva didn’t sell design tools. They sold imagination, progress, and possibility.
Localise to Globalise. By showing users from everywhere, Canva proved you can build a brand that’s both deeply local and powerfully global.
Create Emotional Capital. Canva isn’t about fonts and templates. It’s about careers launched, classrooms empowered, and ideas made real.
Decoded Power Moves
Make Users Your Influencers. Don’t just market to your customers. Market through them.
Turn Features Into Movements. Canva didn’t sell design tools. They sold imagination, progress, and possibility.
Localise to Globalise. By showing users from everywhere, Canva proved you can build a brand that’s both deeply local and powerfully global.
Create Emotional Capital. Canva isn’t about fonts and templates. It’s about careers launched, classrooms empowered, and ideas made real.
5. Your Takeaway
Brand Lesson for Entrepreneurs & Leaders:
You don’t need a $50M ad budget. You need user stories that prove your brand matters in real life. Humanize your brand by, sharing real stories of how your product or service impacts users.If Canva can get 180 million people to proudly wave their flag, imagine what 1,000 loyal users can do for you.
Leverage Multi-Channel Campaigns: Reach your audience where they are, using platforms they engage with.
Integrate Technology Seamlessly: Ensure your tools enhance user experience without complicating processes.
👉 Action Step: This week, spotlight one customer, student, or fan. Make them the hero. Share their story. Let your brand be the platform, not the centrepiece.
Need help figuring out how? Book a free 15-minute Brand Clarity Call with me and I’ll guide you.
Brand Tools Used
User-generated content, global storytelling, social amplification, values-based branding, emotional positioning.
Quote of the Week
“We built Canva to empower the world to design. But the truth is, our users are the ones who built Canva’s brand.”
– Melanie Perkins, CEO & Co-Founder, Canva
Next Edition Teaser:
Decoded: The Rihanna Playbook: How She Turned Fame Into a $1B Product Empire
Loving this breakdown?
👉 Subscribe to Decoded: Billion-Dollar Brand Moves™ for fortnightly masterclasses on how the world’s most unstoppable brands think and win.
Subscribe & get my free 5C Brand Systems Clarity Checklist. uncover gaps in your brand in under 10 minutes.”
🗣️ Join the conversation! Share your biggest user-story win on LinkedIn or Instagram with #DecodedBrandMoves and tag me @danielleasah