Back in April, the Premier League and football equality and inclusion organisation Kick It Out, took a powerful stand against online abuse with a campaign like no other. Oh, and the caption Spike your best friends egg nog when theyre not looking.. In January 2016, the fast-food giant launched a series of billboards with a message about things like 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing, all under those famous golden arches. Beyond marking a return to the types of brand sparring that animated fast food marketing in the pre-pandemic world, the campaign was another indication that Pepsi sees an opportunity to shore up its positioning as changing dining habits create greater flexibility. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This happened because the company let the website expire and then an even saucier organisation bought the domain name. As you can imagine, the campaign was mostly used for customers to voice their concerns and make sarcastic remarks. Furthermore, events prompted Nike to look at issues within its own company. Suppose you havent caught on yet. It allowed TikTokers to send questions into Team GB with the chance of having it answered directly by one of the athletes. We live in a time where race and gender and sexual orientation remain highly sensitive topics. 12-23-21 marketing innovation The 5 best ads of 2021and the worst ad of the year A look back at top picks from the past year of brand creativity. This image of Alice captioned A very merry unbirthday to you! might seem like an innocuous, even sweet image to share on Twitter. The video ad has 136,000 dislikes on YouTube at publishing, and the company has to close the comments. Safe, lazy, boring: How Super Bowl LVII ads mostly fumbled, Dove pushes for legislation to protect kids self-esteem from social media, FanDuel deepfakes young Charles Barkley into new spot, Coca-Cola partners with Gigi Hadid on food-centric campaign, Haribo fills social feeds with only happy news, How to Meet Grocery Shoppers Where They Are, The latest marketing strategies in banking, Pinterest Announces Third Party Ad Placement Partnerships, Beginning with Amazon, Adidas Targets Basketball, Soccer to Drive Post-Yeezy Rebound, Godfather of AI quits Google with regrets and fears about his lifes work, How to Start Prioritizing Connected Work in 2023, A Marriage of Data and Creative: Making Advertisements Personal, Unlocking Hyper-Personalization Using Data & AI, Level Up Your Marketing Campaigns with a Modern CDP on the Data Cloud, Hit Subscribe: How Creative Subscriptions Are Changing the Marketing Game, Popeyes celebrates New Orleans in first campaign by new AOR McKinney, E.l.f. Dont pretend theres not a problem in America. Which maybe that's the point. The "beverage-first" direct-to-consumer offering, which ran 30 days online and through third-party delivery apps, kicked off a "Better With Pepsi" platform that has seen the soda marketer continue to innovate in a world increasingly dominated by takeout and delivery. You can read their explanation in full here or just take our word for it when we say this was a case of providing a function no one was really asking for, but ignoring what users are asking for (hint, an edit button, hint!). 6. Weetabix posted the following, suggesting that they can be paired with a topping of Heinz beans for an easy breakfast. The advert for Ford's new Fido hatchback was posted online soon after India passed a new law on violence against women following a fatal gang rape. Why did Pepsi advert with Kendall Jenner wind people up? Of course, it was meant to fight the overheating of the body during the game. In addition, the team were vocal when stars Rashford, Saka and Sancho faced online abuse following the penalty shootout, England again stepped up support for their young stars, prompting lots of well wishes from fans and other brands. Type above and press Enter to search. The change our world and society needs, has to come from progressive business and we want to play our role and nail our colours to the mast.. For the promotional posters of one of its collections in Japan, it arranged a photoshoot with the Japanese model Koki. With this in mind, here are some effective examples of brands taking a stand. "By replicating the feeling of receiving a kid's meal toy as an adult, Burger King is banking on the emotional connections some customers have held onto for over 60 years to draw them back in," Hollerbach said. "This is Coke when Coke is at its best the global inclusive brand.". They had their baristas write Race Together on cups, and encouraged customers to start discussing race with employees. Brewdog hasnt always generated a positive reaction from its socially-charged campaigns. The product was backed up by a Twitter marketing campaign entitled #UpforWhatever. The content centred around a video showing the reverse process of a teenage girl taking and uploading a selfie for social media. The slogan suggests the beer is for a certain type of a woman who is carefree, gets drunk and doesnt care what happens to her. ET, to keep a closer ear to the ground with culture, built on for the Adult Swim Festival in November, teamed with hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion. The company released sneakers with a print depicting obvious symbols of the Hong Kong protests, i.e., people wearing yellow helmets, masks, goggles, and umbrellas. This made the campaign hugely memorable, standing out amid a sea of similar and formulaic ads from competitor brands. While this initiative is not in any way controversial, its still a good example of a brand putting social issues at the heart of its marketing. It could be your year to end @JesseThorn @Airbnb going after all underpaid public servants pic.twitter.com/6cJWYhqAjY, Rob Fangman (@FangmanRob) October 22, 2015. Get it? The company released a small collection of pajamas for the event. They were the originator, had context, insight and were able to provide value through their extensions.". Subscription box services have continued to grow in popularity over the past few years. Of course, the underlying message of the video is a bit different. She goes above and beyond to ensure that we are talking and engaging with customers in just the right way. Many wrote that after this commercial, they lost their appetite for Burger Kings burgers altogether. As part of its efforts, it purchased 2,050 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands known as Brewdog Forest where it plans to plant one million trees and restore 650 acres of peatland. 9 campaigns that struck a chord in 2021. 2023 BBC. We deal with the boring stuff so you have more time to do what matters. In 2012 department store Harvey Nichols ran a special campaign to promote their summer sales which featured models with wet stains on their crotches and a slogan that read Try to contain your excitement. It was deemed fun and creative by some and offensive by others. Determined to show that its burgers have no artificial preservatives, the company released a video with the slogan The beauty of no artificial preservatives. In the video, the burger was covered with mold for 34 days. The actor says that he and all Americans work hard to acquire luxury stuff, while people in other countries prefer a more unhurried life and vacation in August. With a large number of video games and consoles that have been released every year, the success of individual products is partially based on the success of their marketing to "A lot of people will pair the drinks with what they want and can have the freedom to optimize their beverage choices.". It goes without saying that interest and avid curiosity are best. The campaign also included short social video content from various professors, doctors, and community workers explaining how Census data is used for the benefit of us all. Last spring, Co-op released a print ad on Newspaper that invited people to reward their daughters with a chocolate Easter egg, specifically, for doing the washing up. Yes, it was 2017. Crown Royal's virtual world used 3D-printing tech and miniature models. In one photo, she was sitting on a traditional Japanese womens obi belt, and in the other, she was walking on it using it like a carpet. I recently spoke with Sonja to find out more about her day-to-day role. More recently, Tommy Hilfiger has announced a continuation of the campaign, involving a partnership with learning platform, FutureLearn, to offer a series of free digital learning courses covering a range of topics such as community building and LGBTQ+ allyship. Advertising and marketing have always been ripe for missteps and pop-culture absurdity, but the emergence of the internet, followed by the rise of social EMEA/USA: +44 (0)20 7970 4322 |email: subs.support@econsultancy.com. As well as benefiting a pressing and worthwhile cause, the campaign has also resulted in Stella Artois reaching a younger and more socially-aware audience. Months out, the June activation remains noteworthy for tapping into changing dining habits, with an emphasis on the safety and convenience of the drive-thru, as well as culture-driven innovations that have dominated the fast food category as brands vie to woo young customers. Despite the year's unfulfilled promises, efforts by the likes of Coke, Burger King and Tide delivered boldness and resonated with consumers. "This campaign is more authentic compared to previous campaigns we've seen fast food restaurants take part in," said Brandon Brown, CEO and co-founder of creator management platform Grin, in emailed comments. Editor's Note: This is part of a package examining the first half of Below, Marketing Dive breaks down the 2021 campaigns that were able to thread the needle deftly, balancing boldness with an execution that resonated with consumers. Then not a 10 overseas. "With a lot of takeout and people bringing food home nowadays, I think there's a lot more choices in beverages," Todd Kaplan, vice president of marketing at PepsiCo, previously told Marketing Dive about the burger push. Ouch! It sent The 20 Best & Worst Marketing Campaigns of 2021 (The Small Dont turn your back on racism., Lets all be part of the change.#UntilWeAllWin pic.twitter.com/guhAG48Wbp. Realistic scenarios are intermixed as rapper DijahSB performs a new single for a crowd and pro gamer Erin Ashley Simon plays among friends. Unsurprisingly, they got a backlash for it. Burger King dove into the trend in September with an activation that offers value beyond mere digital art and extended the introduction of its new Keep It Real Meal campaign custom orders curated by celebrity ambassadors tied to the burger chain's elimination of 120 artificial ingredients from its menu. 9 campaigns that showed marketers staying nimble despite haze of H1 2021. The chain's gamified approach also helps to fuel a more exhilarating customer experience during a time when expectations are inconsistent and difficult to predict, Marcel Hollerbach, chief innovation officer at Productsup, said in emailed comments. Econsultancys Trust & Transparency report. In support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Netflix tweeted: to be silent is to be complicit, summing up sentiment from both consumers and the worlds biggest companies. Video Game Marketing Campaigns That Missed The But there are times when marketing campaigns have failed miserably due to some video or an advertisement related to religion, caste, race. They captured the cultural moment or felt keyed into what's coming, with brands jumping on viral TikTok trends based on classic TV spots or rolling the dice on the emerging concept of a metaverse. Alongside being one of the most-talked about and praised Super Bowl ads of that year, it also helped to enhance and promote Airbnbs wider positioning on issues of race and diversity. Just give me my coffee. September 8, 2021 ; Marketing campaigns can fail many times. The State Department sent out a tweet reading Not a 10 in the US? (Sorry it didnt quite work out, Elton.) According to a study, the ad received a largely positive response, with consumers aged 16 to 49 perceiving it as more empowering than 98% of all other ads. They have to ask themselves, will my interaction feel authentic and add value or am I just being opportunistic and jumping on the bandwagon?'" Lets not forget, the brand has come under fire itself for supposed racial discrimination occurring on its platform. It's a platform to address a fragmented world in need of community, a theme embodied in a holiday ad that depicts a boy who inspires his apartment community to construct a makeshift chimney for Santa using cardboard boxes. In 2020, when forest fires were raging in Australia, the Nike outfit collection was released to coincide with one of the Grand Slam championships. DJI #Phantom4Pro. Perhaps the biggest reason that marketing campaigns fail is unrealistic expectations. To promote their new series Man in the High Castle, which is about what would have happened if World War II had been won by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Amazon decked out subway cars in New York City featuring imagery of the Axis Powers. #ItHasToBeHeinz #HaveYouHadYourWeetabix pic.twitter.com/R0xq4Plbd0. If you werent satisfied with the examples in this article, check out the PalmFace Awards from Media Nation. "For a brand to be successful with a trend really comes down to permission. This is an example of using the real-time, off-the-cuff nature of Twitter to an advantage, and when youre quick enough to react to the topic on everyones mind, you can get yourself into the spotlight too. The photo of an attractive, well-dressed woman being eyeballed by an unsmiling man looked innocent enough Until you read the creepy caption that said "spike your best friend's eggnog when they're not looking". It goes to show that when it comes to delivering an important message, sometimes less is more. With its #TurnToCold campaign, Tide urged consumers to wash three out of four loads of laundry in cold water, something it says would reduce an amount of greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing more than 1 million cars from the road for a year. What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?" This is a good look at the future, a combination of storytelling and participation that lives simultaneously in two realms of emotional engagement," said Christian Lachel, chief creative officer of BRC Imagination Arts. Didnt see your favourite campaign of the year so far? Structuring the program as such let Burger King elevate NFTs from a tech-powered stunt to a tool for customer engagement and loyalty generation. Here's another one that left a sour taste. Its not the first time that Nike has voiced its support of the Black Lives Matter movement, but unlike in 2018 when Nike put out a carefully planned ad campaign featuring NFL player Colin Kaepernick its response in 2020 was an urgent call for both consumers and companies to stand together in the fight against racism. Ford The American auto giant got a Pernod Ricards initiative is further example that global brands are no longer willing to accept the spread of hate in digital environments, particularly as social media and the connection it affords plays an increasingly important part in consumers lives. The company was accused of exploiting Tibets problems for the sake of advertising. Normalising periods is part of Bodyforms brand purpose, but the brand also goes above and beyond to shine a light on wider issues that affect womens health. In surely the most important campaign of the year, NHS England turned to some of the biggest influencers you could think of to promote take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine. But while the campaign's ascendance to the top of the TikTok charts nods to the app's unique ability to turn organic discussions into viral hits, deliberately trying to go viral likely would have been a recipe for failure. Benetton's "Unhate" campaign (which still exists) had good intentions when it launched in 2011. Its 2018 campaign, Mom On, depicted mothers addressing common criticisms they face, such as judgement over breastfeeding, going back to work, and even drinking alcohol. Clicking on the code opened up a video allegedly on behalf of a WordPress representative, telling them that Wix has launched an ad campaign against the brand. See what I did there? In 2020, Cadbury raised the Indian advertising bar yet again. Despite the years unfulfilled promises, efforts by the likes of Coke, Burger King and Tide delivered boldness and campaigns Ten of the best and worst social media campaigns of 2021 - No Brainer Agency Ten of the best and worst social media campaigns of 2021 Home Blog This one is tough, so get ready. While its easy to be cynical about brands using activists to front social or marketing campaigns, Tommy Hilfiger backs it up with real action. This week were bringing you The Funniest Marketing and Fails of 2021 so far a look at the dos and donts of The billboard looks very enticing from the front, but from the back? HA! of being redirected to a hardcore porn website when he scanned the QR code on the back of a Heinz bottle. It is likely that the texts were prepared in advance and were not double-checked before launching. Did it work? Mostly known for taking the calls of offended parents (at the moment theyre investigating some naughty elves), they ensure the sector remains appropriate and fair. #FreeCuthbert, Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 16, 2021. In March 2021, the 7-Eleven chain decided to open an all-day breakfast outlet in Sweden. Breaking new ground: ad campaigns that made Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. This Halloween, Chipotle brought its long-running "Boorito" promotion to Roblox a gaming platform that's seen increased marketer attention as interest in the metaverse picks up. In a segment with plenty of mismatched tie-ups, Wendy's and "Rick and Morty" continue to key into an appealingly bizarre sensibility. Coca-Cola's "Chimney" spot accompanied the holiday effort. David Meikle, who founded marketing consultancy Salt, doubts that Pepsi will suffer from any long-term damage from the Kendall Jenner ad fiasco. We bet the IHOP community manager learned their lesson after twitting this attempted joke. And sometimes send a couple of complaints to government agencies. Simon Kemp, a marketing expert with almost two decades of experience, agrees that Pepsi has handled the fallout well but says all eyes will be on its next campaign. The White House also disapproved of the images featuring then-President Barack Obama but Benetton kept those. This was seen in many online social media forums as encouraging a bit of festive date rape. Ahead of Memorial Day, the brand enacted a marketing blitz claiming Pepsi pairs better with burgers in a shot to chief rival Coke, which has partnerships with category leaders Wendy's, Burger King and McDonald's. With the campaign tag #FreeCuthbert, caterpillar cakes were firmly at the centre of the zeitgeist with plenty of brands and memes getting in on the act.