10 Innovative Online Marketing Campaigns We Can All Learn From

Marketing campaigns are all around us. And the most incredible part is we’re not even aware of them most of the time. Yes, behind that comical YouTube video of a blender destroying electronics is a team of individuals thinking up ideas on how best to grab our attention. And there we were thinking it was just a funny video some random person posted!

Epic or duplicitous, the following ten campaigns have all made their mark on the social media community. How did these masterminds get their campaigns viral? We’re about to delve into the secrets of their success. Future marketers: take note!

Image by greyweed

Push to add Drama

They pushed the button, we clicked play. Both resulted in two minutes of glorious entertainment!

Havoc ensued as gun-fights, American footballers and bikini babes on bikes took to the stage streets of a small town in Belgium. All orchestrated for the promotion of the TNT TV channel of course. And, with 44 million views to date, this little drama certainly escalated from the bemused passers-by who originally witnessed this event.

Gay Pride Oreo

In recognition of Gay Pride, Oreo published a simple but clear indicator of their support for homosexual rights. An image of an Oreo with six layers of filling, each a different colour of the rainbow, was posted on their site with the caption: June 25|PRIDE. With over a hundred stories being written shortly after (some critical, others supportive), Oreo received a great deal of free publicity. They promoted their ethos, but also promoted their brand. Crafty!

The GPS Nestle Bar

Willy Wonka and his golden tickets were indeed put to shame by Nestle and their idea of placing GPS tracking devices in their special chocolate bars. What’s more, the finders of the chocolate bars gained the excitement – or fear – that came from having several spies seek them out where they stood to deliver the prize of £10,000 to them! By posting a YouTube advert to spread the word, complete with cool narrator, Nestle clearly knew how to entice their audience. They gave us the opportunity to feel like James Bond. But armed with chocolate, not guns.

Will it Blend?

We like to watch things get obliterated. It may present us as a rather sinister nation, but it’s the truth. So when we had the chance to watch the aftermath of pricey electronics being shoved in a blender, videos were rapidly shared. However, what we didn’t know was that by playing off our love of destroying things, Blendtec had also been advertising their blenders’ unbreakable capabilities to millions of viewers. They related their technology to things we enjoyed watching. No one’s really bothered about watching fruit being blended at a rapid pace, but an iPhone? That’s a different story.

Jump, Kobe, Jump!

A video of a celebrity jumping over expensive cars? Intriguing. By linking Nike trainers to Kobe Bryant’s jumping abilities, Nike persuaded us that with the right shoe we too could be the ultimate jumping champion! Although this was a little misleading, Nike did broaden their audience and customer base simply by using a celebrity endorsement. The oldest trick in the book – but seriously effective.

Subservient Chicken

One of the first marketing advertisements to go viral! Originally a TV ad for one of Burger King’s new products, this advert received such a great response that it was expanded to include an interactive webpage. This allowed viewers to order a man in a chicken suit around to their hearts content and watch his live response. Just the mere fact this interactive advertisement is still running after being posted in 2004 is a testament to the group of marketers who conjured up this idea.

Obama has Facebook!

I love Obama. He’s smiley, has a lovely nature and an amazing accent! However, this man is more than just good natured, he is social media savvy. This is evident from the effort he put into building an online fan base during elections. Now I don’t know about you, but a lot of people I know don’t have a clue about the current political figures that run America and what they stand for. By setting up a Facebook page and Twitter account, Obama got his name and message out there to the masses, winning the hearts and votes of many of his fellow social media savvy Americans at the same time.

KONY 2012

I must confess, a year ago I too was roped into this marketing extravaganza. Jason Russell and his fellow colleagues did pull on those heart strings of ours. After viewing a 30 minute film complete with emotional music and footage, millions joined us in dedicating their time and money to support the Kony campaign. The film promised to try and catch an infamous war criminal and the 2012 ‘deadline’ gave us that extra incentive to act fast! The emotional appeal succeeded despite breaking the marketing rule of keeping advertisements short and snappy.

Subway Shopping

Food shopping can be a real chore. We work 9 till 5 every day and sometimes it would just be nice if we could return home to full food cupboards and a clean home. In South Korea, they have begun to build viral supermarkets to ease the pain of grocery shopping. Finally! By placing posters with QR codes all over the subway networks, customers could scan the codes of the items they wished to purchase on their way home, add them to their online shopping basket and have the groceries waiting for them at the front door.

Indestructible Billboard

EVOC shows us that advertising need not always be expensive. By building a supposedly indestructible billboard, all were encouraged to give their best attempt in destroying it. Their efforts were uploaded online for them to view and share. This quickly led to news of the infamous billboard being spread about cyberspace and through it, publicity of EVOC products was firmly established across social media.

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There is no one way to succeed in marketing. This is evident from our varying top ten campaigns. Whether you use a subservient chicken – well, a man dressed as a chicken – or play a sweet melody on those heartstrings, you can get your product known on a global scale.

However, we can see that the sure-fire way to get the attention of your audience is through originality and wit. Young people especially are constantly on the look-out for the next big thing on YouTube and are more than willing to share it with everyone they know, you just need to provide the right material. Get creative, get funny, get thinking! The universe is waiting.