There are so many past and present inspiring marketing campaigns. Here are the top 10 we believe have been the most.
‘Choose or Lose’
In 2017, Walkers crisps introduced their marketing campaign by asking customers to ‘choose or lose’ different flavours of crisps. The options were either classic flavours, such as Prawn Cocktail, Salt and Vinegar and Smokey Bacon. Or new flavours like Lime and Pepper, Paprika and Bacon and Cheddar. The campaign caused public outrage and panic over favourite classic flavours possibly being cut. This was a clever tactic from Walkers as it made customers realise how much they loved the classic flavours.
Blair Witch Project Movie
The 1999 Blair Witch Project has been dubbed as the best viral marketing campaign of all time. The marketing team would create rumours about the student film-makers and hand out missing person leaflets. Some fake news stories were even created for newspapers. No one knew if this was real or not. The campaign was done at a time when social media use was non-existent, and the internet was fairly new. The Blair Witch website was used to promote the myth even more, which made people interested in seeing the film.
Heineken’s social experiment
As part of Heineken’s #OpenYourWorld campaign, they released an advert featuring three pairs of very different strangers. At the beginning of the ad, we see each stranger talk about their contrasting views on politics, feminists and transgenders. The couples complete a number of activities and at the end, they see the video that the audience see at the beginning. Finally, participants had the choice to stay and discuss their differences over a bottle of beer. Heineken say the campaign was to “promote openness as a value that helps break down the barriers between us.”
‘That Feels Good When’
‘Memes’ have started to overrun social media, and Gucci used this to their advantage. Rather than creating the average, serious fashion campaigns, Gucci took a humorous approach and recreated popular memes. The memes featured models with a Gucci product, like watches or bags. The campaign created successful social media engagement, with a collective amount of almost 2 million likes and over 21,000 Instagram comments. It also ended up exceeding the previous campaign.
‘Look at Me’
In 2015, Women’s Aid launched the ‘Look at Me’ campaign which featured an interactive billboard. Bruised women would appear on the billboard, with messages, such as “Don’t turn a blind eye,” and “If you can see domestic violence, we can stop it.” Facial recognition technology was built into the billboard, meaning that anyone who stopped to look at the advert would be logged. The more people who looked at the advert meant that the beaten women’s bruises would start to disappear. The interactivity aspect worked very well alongside the message. Over 320 million people saw the campaign.
#LikeAGirl
Always launched their #LikeAGirl campaign almost four years ago and has since received positive reactions. Leo Burnett created the campaign, which featured men and women who were asked to do things “like a girl.” Most flapped their arms around when asked to fight like a girl and pretended to drop something when asked to throw like one. A group of younger girls are then asked to do these same activities, and do so much differently. The campaign currently has over 60 million views on YouTube and has won different awards.
‘Like My Addiction’
With the rise of social media influencers, one user saw the opportunity to create a subtle, yet serious campaign. Louise Delage created a fake Instagram account, posting common lifestyle photos – eating out, being with friends and visiting places. However, what every photo had in common was the glass or bottle of alcohol she was holding. The campaign was created for an organisation who aims to raise awareness of alcohol addiction among young people. The idea behind it was to highlight how easy it is to overlook a young person with an alcohol problem.
‘Share a Coke’
In 2013, Coca-Cola first released bottles with popular names replacing the logo. The idea was to let customers share a bottle with their friends and family. Coca-Cola say, “it’s became one of our most beloved and successful campaigns to date,” having sold 150 million of the named bottles. In 2017, they gave the campaign a revamp. Instead of using popular names on the bottles, they replaced it with holiday destinations. What made the holiday destination bottles even more exciting, was that there were limited-edition collectables.
Here are some of their staggering statistics:
Share a Coke 2014 by numbers:
• Over a thousand names on our bottles
• 998 million impressions on Twitter
• 235,000 tweets from 111,000 fans using the #ShareaCoke hashtag
• More than 150 million personalised bottles sold
• Over 730,000 glass bottles personalised via the e-commerce store
• 17,000 virtual name bottles shared online across Europe
• 65 experiential stops on the Share a Coke tour
Source: Coca-Cola Website
#WinterIsHere
When HBO released the trailer for season 7 of Game of Thrones, the GOT Twitter account unlocked an Emoji Engine. The emoji engine allowed users to unlock content from the new season, such as character posters, through tweeting “#WinterIsHere+(emoji).” This was the first time an Emoji Engine had even been used to release such important marketing materials. The use of the hashtag also unlocked other GOT graphics and different emojis unlocked different features.
#DontBottleUp
The campaign launched by CALM and Topman featured Love Island star Chris Hughes in an advert selling water. Hughes claimed that the water was infused with his tears and was named ‘L’Eau De Chris’. It caused social media users to laugh and mock him. A few days later it was revealed that the advert was to mark World Mental Health Day. It symbolised that 84% of UK men say that they bottle up their feelings and raised awareness for the male suicide prevention charity, CALM.
We believe that these are just some of the most inspiring marketing campaigns, as they have gained positive reactions or helped raise issue awareness.
If you’re looking to create an inspiring and effective marketing campaign, get in touch with us!