We Love DigitalBehind the success of 8 top campaigns

Nicola Morkel

Chipotle

Appealing to humanity

An ad campaign that occurred by “accident”. It was intended to be an introductory video for a new loyalty program that showcased Chipotle going ‘back to the start’ of farming, where livestock were treated more like pets than products.

The video went viral overnight as people were so moved by the appeal to humanity. It incorporated the art of story telling and is an uncharacteristic 140 seconds long so people didn’t feel they were being targeted for business.

The ‘ad’ went on to win the first branded content Grand Prix at Cannes.

Dove

Appealing to Humanity

In order to sell hygiene products to customers, many brands have the key marketing strategy of promising beautifying elements in the products. They showcase models to associate their brand with achieving a more flawless skin or shinier hair as a pull tactic.

Dove, however, decided to take a different approach with their campaign for Real Beauty which challenged the societal expectations of women’s appearances. It showed the vulnerability and insecurities that women have because of other brands using the above discussed strategy and in essence struck an emotional chord in women all over the world. Dove harnessed a stronger loyalty in their consumers by supporting this relatable cause and more people came to respect it well above the other competing brands.

Procter & Gamble

P&G

P&G used the same strategy in their Thank You, Mom campaign.

By playing on strong human emotions and appealing to humanity without directly attempting to promote their business, their Thank You, Mom campaign created awareness of their brand. There were more than 25 million YouTube views on the ad, however they didn’t relate to an increase in sales because there was a full and complete lack of promotion for their actual business.

Nando’s

Relating to Customers Locally

Today, people are globally connected via social media and thus finding less individuality in themselves (if you’ve seen one passionate female fitness Instagrammer, you’ve seen them all). Humans don’t like this. They crave heterogeneity in a world that is bombarded with infobesity and recycled trends –one may say this is the rebellion of the hipsters ‐ either way, marketers need to take note.

Nando’s is the most popular restaurant on social media and a prime example of a perfect local marketing execution by an international franchise.

Dos Equis

Not Marrying the Brand

The once low-profile Dos Equis has become the fastest growing beer in the USA since the launch of the Most Interesting Man campaign in 2007.

The chosen character is an older, worldy protagonist so that young men watching wouldn’t think of him as a threat or reminder of unachieved accomplishments in their own lives. However, the success is attributed to the refreshing take at the end. The man establishes that he doesn’t always drink beer (it’d usually whiskey or martinis) but when he does he choses Dos Equis. In essence this shows that the character isn’t married to the brand however it creates connotations of sophistication and class by linking powerful people and their notorious beverages of choice to this brand of beer.

VW

The power of Story-telling

The success of this heart-felt ad in story form can be attributed to two researched and confirmed synopses:

• When evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences) rather than information (brand features and facts).

• Human brains are not hard-wired to understand logic or retain facts for long periods of time, however they are wired to understand and retain stories.

The breakdown used (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolve) has been the same since Shakespearean times and the resounding impact on consumers, consistent.

Red Bull

High-Profile Stunts in the Name of ‘Science’

Red Bull’s Mission to the Edge of Space campaign, featuring a record-breaking freefall from 24 miles up, was dubbed a scientific experiment first and foremost -not a marketing tactic.

By stipulating this, it caught the media’s attention. Consumers were drawn to the spectacle by the blasé attitude towards actually increasing Red Bull’s sales.

This commitment to pushing boundaries and harnessing adrenalin completely aligned with Red Bull’s quintessence (though still not directly referring to the brand) in effect did increase sales immediately following by 7%.

Old Spice

Targeting the Target of your Target Market

Research showed that a resounding majority of body wash purchases were being made by women and so in order to increase sales of a masculine body wash such as Old Spice, a campaign was created to target not the men but the women buying it for their men.

The campaign was unique in that it made use of very obvious appeals to women (the target of their target market), this in combination with an element of humour spawned virality over night. Before long, even single men were purchasing it as it had become associated with a popular scent that women liked.