Best Online Marketing Campaigns - 4 Case Studies from Brands
The groundbreaking results of digital marketing campaigns worldwide are changing the game for big and small brands. This is one of the results of living in a hyperconnected world.
There is an unprecedented opportunity for locally supported shops and six-figure eCommerce business alike to get their message out there, improve customer lifetime value, gain awareness and reach different markets.
In the end, the final goal of all marketing campaigns whether they are digitally or traditionally executed seems to be the same – gain recognition and sell a product. But what if there is a way business are able to work towards more than selling goods but trolling their competitors, promote values, encourage sustainability and even empower minorities?
The real award-worthy marketing campaigns achieve targets other than merely reach and surpass sales goals. They leave a mark on people memory. They change purchase behaviour. The best marketing campaigns transform into examples to be taught, praised and followed by other brands.
In this order of ideas, we have hand-picked 4 of the coolest digital marketing campaigns that added extra value to brands, served to customer experience, boosted the market price of the company share and gave enough to talk about even on national news.
1. Fashion Nova – Overpriced fashion is dead
If you make a search for an affordable fashion eCommerce store, you are surely going to stumble upon Fashion Nova – these guys became one of the most searched fashion brands internationally, only matched by the world-renown exclusive designer apparels such as Gucci or Chanel.
But how did they do it?
On the first instance, they focused on giving the best product at the least expensive price – regardless if that wouldn’t give the highest profit possible. Additionally, they adopted a different approach to promotion: featuring women that don’t fit on conventional fashion stereotypes and sizes.
So they reach out to influencers and artists with these body types to support the brand through Instagram. They were featured in Cardi B’s and Kylie Jenner’s profiles with almost 50 and 145 million followers.
Although these posts will obviously get is a serious amount of visibility, it is clear that the clothes often wore by influencers tend to be expensive.
I mean, only Jenner’s net worth over a billion US dollars – she can definitely afford Gucci. And that was precisely one of the central axes to their success. They made incredibly famous and influential women wear their apparel, providing with an atmosphere of exclusivity to clothes that are actually quite inexpensive.
2. National Geographic – 100 years’ worth stories
National Geographic has evolved to take over digital advertising through social media and blogs alike.
They relied on content marketing before it was a thing – they aim to reach their audience through impressive pictures and written content from their first edition back in 1888.
The brand purpose clearly changed from “diffusing geographic knowledge” to foster sustainability using exclusive images, available in different platforms for free.
The key to their exponential audience growth is on diversification of content in different platforms. They have taken customization seriously and provide with different user experience depending if the post is made on social media or any other means.
As a result, they currently hold the title of the most sharable social media account.
Their online marketing strategy is based on steady work through different verticals, promote positive brand perception and build communities with a specific purpose, whether to encourage sustainable projects or to take environmental actions.
Nike – Resurging strong from political backlash
Nike advertising video was said to be irresponsible and privileged by people worldwide, despite featuring many of the most beloved sports players around the glove. Shaquem Griffin and LeBron James are starred in the ad as people who “dreamed crazy” and overcame adversity.
Additionally to this, they backed Colin Kaepernick decision to refuse to stand up from the national anthem as a sign of protest.
Colin was “willing to sacrifice everything” to show their position against police brutality in the US – his actions perfectly lined up with Nike’s ad.
Immediately, the political backlash started, from tweets directly from president Donald Trump to media criticizing and people burning their shoes for putting on a stake patriotism and American values.
But when their stock share started declining, many influential celebrities backed Nike’s and Colin position. The brand instead of hiding under a rock made another video reasserting their position of dreaming big and overpower challenges.
As a result, their shares increasing more than ever: the company gained value and advocates.
Their sales increasing over a third during the campaign, the number of mentions on Twitter increased 1,300% but above all that, they clearly left a statement on the values they represent. They want to be seen as the brand supporting social equality from the social to the disability standpoint.
These gains hard to measure, but certainly valuable to ensure future purchase and build a lasting company.
Burger King – Get a Whopper at McDonald’s
The everlasting dispute between McDonald’s and Burger King took an unexpected turn when the last ones benefited of the increasing amount of people relying on apps to get food coupons and asked their customer to go to McDonald to get whooper for one cent.
The campaign started with a promotional video and an app using georeference to lead customers from McDonald’s to Burger King once they are in a 600 ratio from the BigMac creators.
The Burger King’s Whopper Detour resulted in hundreds of video uploads from customers doing the challenge, $37m earned in media and a Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes.