1. True Blood
Chances are that you—as a human being living on the planet earth—have likely heard of the television show True Blood. This mysterious and gripping tale regarding vampires brought together trendiness and modernity with the classic bloody tails of the mysterious creatures. Yet, it was not the show alone that created buzz, but the promotions leading up to it.
True Blood decided to tap into the show’s audience before it ever aired and developed it’s own audience. What does that mean? Well, True Blood started a marketing campaign that reached out to bloggers, horror show aficionados, and those tied to the horror industry. They created an elaborate backstory, even going so far as to promote a blood drink, and created a buzz around the mysteriousness of the blood promotions. Yet, throughout it all, they never mentioned the television show itself, adding to the mystery and developing a fan base before the show even had a publicized name.
What this campaign shows, more than anything, is that tapping into the niche market in the right way is important. It can create a buzz without even mentioning a product, as this promotion demonstrated. It cross-promoted, too.
2. The Elf
When it comes to catch promotional campaigns, there may be no better marketing than a well-created app. That was the case with Elf Yourself at least. If you are unfamiliar, this application essentially allows an individual to upload pictures of themselves and their friends that will be digitally imposed onto dancing elves. These dancing elves bounce around in funny ways, dancing along to holiday songs, and starring in their video essentially.
While it may sound simple enough, this application has been used and posts have been shared millions and millions of times. The dancing elf continues to get better each year, too, with upgrades happening so that users can get the most from the application every year.
So what does the Elf Yourself application teach us in marketing? It demonstrates that simplicity can go a long way in shares and use if you allow the downloader to become a part of the show. It also shows how viral an application go when the marketers continue to make improvements each year, make sharing easy, and attach an application to annual event like holiday celebrations.
3. Pepsi
Sometimes it is the failed project that can teach us the most and this example of marketing gone bad comes from Pepsi. Pepsi, a staple at the Super Bowl halftime commercial run, had a developed strategy that seemed to be working. Well, it worked until they decided to change it, mix it up, and mess it up that is.
When Pepsi decided it would not do the Super Bowl marketing campaign one year, the promotional industry was shocked. Instead, the soda giant stated that they would be putting their money into a new social media campaign known as the Refresh Project. This “project” would provide grants that would go to different good causes throughout the world, with users voting on who would receive them. While the crowd funded campaign that was mean to help others—or at least was explained this way—seemed like a great deal, fraud ran amuck resulting in the program being pulled after less than a year.
Though it cost millions in revenue and potential revenue for the company, the Pepsi Refresh Project did leave a memorial mark in promotional education. It taught us that changing it up after 23 years may be a great way to get people talking. It also showed that unless you are going to do it right, new is not always the best.
4. Old Spice
Chances are that you saw the Old Spice commercials that were so popular and ever present on the television screen. This commercial highlighted phrases that encouraged men to smell like men, via an attractive and virile spokesperson. In the commercials were mixed both content and marketing themes, as well as humor and entertainment. The results were several different commercials that created a buzz and interest among the Old Spice consumer and others as well.
The Old Spice “smell like a man” campaign highlighted several amazing features of good marketing campaigns. Firstly, it showed that having a character that is appealing to both men and women is important to garnering support and multimedia shares. Further, it showed that if you incorporated humor, you were more likely to create a buzz and get people talking about the commercial, as well as waiting for the follow ups. Old Spice, then, did it right and a lot can be learned from this marketing endeavor.
5. Burger King
One of the best marketing campaigns that is sure to blow your mind involved a brand that you have likely heard of: Burger King. In 2009, the company which specializes in burgers like the whopper, decided to push the envelope in a big way, and it paid off…until it was shutdown.
In 2009, Burger King launched an application that essentially encouraged users to delete their friends to get a free whopper. Known as the Burger King sacrifice, users had to delete a few “friends” from their Facebook list and they would be given the sandwich they wanted. The kicker? The friends were told that they had been deleted by the app.
Unfortunately, the campaign only lasted about ten days before Facebook came in and ended the conversation. The impact, however, was big. In that short time span, thousands of sandwiches were given away. The result was a powerful marketing campaign, however, that made simplicity and out of the box thinking the norm in a pretty hilarious way.
6. Radiohead
Radiohead is a group that has a tremendous following. They have sold millions of records throughout their career and capitalized to the tune of millions of dollars. Yet, as was the case with any group in the music industry at the time, there had been a downturned in the number of physical discs sold. More and more users and fans were choosing free and sometimes illegal means of downloading music rather than actually paying for it. The result was millions of lost revenue that was until Radiohead did something pretty unconventional and reaped the rewards.
Radiohead’s 7th Album “Rainbows” was released for download free of charge. Literally, any fan was told that they could have the band’s record for absolutely zero paid. Radiohead encouraged their fan to pay what they thought was appropriate for the music, not setting a price limit or minimum. The result was astronomically successful. According to industry statistics, Rainbows was downloaded over three million times and users paid ten million dollars voluntarily, an impressive showing when nothing was requested.
This marketing strategy once again highlights the need for creativity. It also shows the importance of “treating” fans to something along with a cryptic but powerful call to action. The band was happy with the returned results, as any business or marketer would be, and took their generosity straight to the bank.
7. Queensland Board of Tourism
One amazing marketing campaign was done through an unlikely source: the Queensland Board of Tourism. They decided to push the boundaries of what a call to action was in marketing by offering individuals the chance for a once in a lifetime prize: a job that would pay over one-hundred thousand dollars to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result was astronomically successfully. Thousands upon thousands of people shared posts, tweeted, and applied for this opportunity. Quickly, Queensland was put on the map and tourism boomed.
What this tells us in marketing is that sometimes, outrageousness wins out and the hyperbolic can reap dividends. It is okay to think outside of the box and to push the envelope with creativity. It may lead to tremendous profits and benefits in the end.
8. Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was a movie that you have likely heard about. Utilizing footage that looked authentic and real, much like a documentary, The Blair Witch Project was a scary thriller that took movies and the horror genre to a new area that had been relatively untapped. The result was a cult classic that still replays on home screens across the world. But, it was the marketing campaign that really helped to create a buzz.
The Blair Witch Project marketers chose to make internet videos that seemed as real and authentic as the movie was. Using “found footage,” they promoted the movie just as the movie was. Put online before social media sites boomed, it was amazing how viral the footage went, being shared and passed on thousands upon thousands of times. Though not the only reason the movie did well, this marketing campaign was highly successful in creating the energy and buzz that the movie needed and deserved.
So, why did it work? It worked because it told vivid, graphic, and enthralling stories with every marketing move. People were invested because it seemed real and pulled them into the narrative. For those that want some ideas and strategies for their promotional campaigns, this may just be it.
9. The Obama Campaign
When it comes to marketing, candidates for the presidency of the United States need to have a strong campaign. Though many have tried and done fairly well, there may be nothing more amazing than the moves by the Obama Campaign. In 2008, this relative unknown made huge moves by executing a flawless combination of modern technological advertising and grassroots drive. The result was a campaign that was both brilliant and effective, with Barack Obama garnering the necessary support to becoming the President of the United States.
For those that want to know why it worked, it is pretty simple: the marketing content was topical, engaging, and created a buzz around an individual that had to overcome a lack of identity recognition. The movement was near flawless and it worked to carry him to the presidency. If your brand is looking for motivation, this just may be it.
10. Mini Cooper
As the name suggests, the Mini Cooper is a tiny vehicle, extremely tiny. So what do you do with a tiny vehicle? You put in places where only a tiny vehicle could go! That is exactly what motivated the marketers at this brand in order to promote their vehicle. The result was an interesting set of advertisements that created as much buzz around the vehicle as they did the brand itself.
Mini Cooper launched a campaign that showed their vehicle in a box in a lot of interesting places. They put it on the street corners, on shelves, and in other locations that normal vehicles would not do. This captured the essence of the automobile and got people talking, both in the advertisements and in the general population as well. The result was a great marketing campaign that helped to promote the vehicle in the only way—arguably—it should have been.
So a simple campaign like this may raise eyebrows as to why it was so effective. The truth is that it mastered marketing and is one of the best campaigns because it highlighted the essence of the product being pushed. It did not make outlandish promises or go with high tech graphics. On the contrary, it demonstrated what made this vehicle unique from all of the competitors on the market and that differentiation reaps dividends in perception an in marketing values.
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