Somehow, we’re 6 months deep into 2017…
So, we thought it was right about time to look back at the digital marketing campaigns we’ve seen from the year so far and trust us, there are loads…
With new VR technology being announced every day and 2017 being the year Live video is reining all supreme, we have seen some huge changes in how marketers are getting creative with their campaigns.
We took to social media and asked what your favourite digital marketing campaigns have been from this year so far! Here are the chosen top 5, suggested by the digital marketing industry!
1- #SaltBae | January
We greeted the new year with an exceptional example of a brand using social media. But what this brand didn’t realise was that they were soon to become one of social media’s greatest ever moments, from an Instagram video whose main subject later became known as Salt Bae.
On January 7th, Turkish chef, Gökçe who owns Nusr-Et, a chain of steakhouses, uploaded a video of himself carving a steak and sprinkling it with salt in his own unique style.
Within 48 hours of the video being posted, it had gained over 2.4 million views and 8,700 comments. Gökçe become a meme sensation and responded by adding even more photos & videos featuring unbelievable food from his giant steak kingdom.
Since then, the chain of restaurants has become extremely popular with Bloggers, Social Media Influencers & Celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, flocking to get a taste of the incredible steak SaltBae seasons. There are even rumours that SaltBae will be adding to his empire by opening branches in London and New York!
2- Mr Clean Wows SuperBowl Fans | February
Thanks to Maz von Maritz Grist for suggesting this one!
Released during the Super Bowl commercial break which had over 111.4 million viewers, Mr. Clean was received by viewers as legendary and is often one of the most memorable ads from the year so far.
Not only did the Mr. Clean character feature on the advert but he was also given a Twitter profile to join the live discussion on social media.
Mr. Clean responded to viewers & fellow Super Bowl advertisers throughout the game which added to the comedic value of the campaign.
3- Adidas Get Creative With Fitness | February
Even though Natasha Woodford recruits for adidas as their preferred digital marketing recruitment agency, we don’t think we’re biased. That they really do deserve to be in Top5 with the Adidas’ campaign ‘Unleash Your Creativity’ telling the stories of 15 female athletes including fashion model & entrepreneur Karlie Kloss, Kickboxing champion Ruqsana Begum, WNBA all-star Candace Parker and many more!
The campaign was broken down into 15, 30-second videos placed on adidas’ website before being shared on social media.
Each video included one of the women (wearing adidas sportswear, obviously!) explaining how they use a blend of fitness and creativity in their careers and overall lifestyles. This was a great way for the brand to communicate its focus on female empowerment and challenging social norms.
Burger King released an advert in April which was designed to activate viewers Google Voice Search devices.
The ad featured a Burger King employee explaining that 15 seconds is not long enough to describe how good the whopper burger is so he says: ‘OK Google, what is the whopper burger?’ which was intended to set off viewers Google devices to read out the Wikipedia description of the burger.
The idea was brilliant as a way to engage customers from inside their own homes and was a great way of acknowledging new technology. But the response was that the ad was creepy and invasive.
The ad backfired even further after its Wikipedia description and ingredients list was edited by the public, a great example of how the public loves a good sabotage!
Not to worry though, the Google police blocked the original ad a few days after its release so Burger King won’t be arriving inside your home anytime soon!
Back in 2014, Taco Bell produced the first-ever live-streamed Snapchat movie featuring a number of Vine & Snapchat Influencers which concluded at the MTV Movie Awards. The movie was created snap by snap in real-time using the Snapchat stories feature and was only available for 24 hours.
The campaign was a huge success and was the first of many Taco Bell Snapchat campaigns!
In May this year, Taco Bell released a Taco Snapchat filter to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. The simple campaign was hugely successful and was views 224 million times in 24 hours!
The fact that the filter was only available for 24 hours created a sense of user urgency, you can picture yourself asking how a friend made their face into a taco and rushing to get yours before the filter disappeared!
All of these campaigns have something in common… social media!
They each used the latest social technology to engage viewers by encouraging & sharing user-generated content, engaging with users during live sports events or producing & releasing content snap by snap to hook viewers’ attention.
Social Media cannot be ignored as a platform. Just from looking at these 5 examples, and recent social developments, we can see that social media should be viewed as an extra layer of marketing opportunity for all digital campaigns!
We will be looking out for more of these genius campaigns over the next 6 months, so if you see a great one, drop us a line!
If you aspire to put the creative touch on digital campaigns like these Top 5, get in touch with our recruiters, we can help you with your job search! You speak with our Recruitment Specialists by emailing jobs@clockworktalent.com or by calling 0203 751 4108.
