Reviewing profitable digital advertising campaigns can generate concepts and methods on your personal model.
Here’s a record of outstanding marketing campaigns from established corporations in 2023. The campaigns function generative AI, celeb spots, uncommon partnerships, retrospectives, seems to be to the longer term, new audiences, mission-led content material, bodily pop-ups, and user-generated content material.
McDonald’s: Grimace’s Birthday
McDonald’s: Grimace’s Birthday
In the summertime, McDonald’s ran a marketing campaign to rejoice Grimace’s birthday. Prospects may order a Grimace Birthday Meal that includes a limited-edition purple shake. McDonald’s additionally launched an unique online game and Grimace-inspired merch, and followers may go to McDonald’s Instagram story and share an image of their favourite birthday reminiscence through the “add yours” sticker. For each picture shared, McDonald’s donated $5 (as much as $200,000) to Ronald McDonald Home Charities.
In response, marketing campaign follower Austin Frazier created a easy 10-second video on TikTok of him attempting the shake, then a lower to him mendacity on the bottom with the purple shake throughout his mouth. Then Gen-Z took over, posting a viral assortment of Grimace shake horror scenes. In keeping with Guillaume Huin, McDonald’s head of social media advertising, the marketing campaign and ensuing user-generated content material created billions in attain, hundreds of thousands in engagements and mentions, a prime pattern for at the very least eight days on X, and the highest three hashtags on TikTok. To reply all of the questions from marketing campaign followers, Huin posted an insider’s view from the social media staff of what occurred.
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Dunkin’ with Ben Affleck
All through 2023, Dunkin’ created a sequence of comedy spots with Ben Affleck and his manufacturing firm, Artists Fairness. Within the spots, Affleck celebrates the Massachusetts-based model and his reference to the world. The spots are a reminder of the ability of the easy, humorous video on social media with younger audiences.
The marketing campaign additionally highlights Dunkin’s means to capitalize on a chance, because the origin for the sequence doubtless stemmed from a Saturday Night time Reside parody of a Dunkin’ business starring Casey Affleck as an precise Boston buyer.
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Heineken’s ‘Not All Nights Out are Out’
Heineken launched this yr the “Not All Nights Out are Out” advertising marketing campaign, its first focused on the gaming tradition. Celebrating on-line leisure and gaming socialization, its foremost video spot, “Simply One other Night time Out,” tells the story of 4 people navigating end-of-day obstacles to a enjoyable social evening of multi-player gaming and their shared digital house.
In one other installment, Heineken unveiled “TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3,” a custom-made PC designed to chill each the {hardware} and bottles of Heineken inside so avid gamers can take pleasure in a chilly beer whereas holding the PC efficiency excessive. Whereas it isn’t truly on the market, the fridge-PC hybrid highlights Heineken’s perspective on the significance of socialization inside the gamer tradition, connecting avid gamers with the model.
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Coca-Cola’s ‘Create Real Magic’
This yr, Coca-Cola joined the generative AI dialogue when it invited digital artistic professionals to generate authentic paintings with iconic property from the Coca‑Cola archives. Constructed completely for Coca‑Cola by OpenAI and Bain & Firm, Create Real Magic leverages GPT-4, which produces human-like textual content from search engine queries, and DALL-E, which produces pictures primarily based on textual content.
4 AI artists kickstarted the crowdsourcing marketing campaign by creating {custom} artwork utilizing the platform and Coca‑Cola property. Artists may submit their work to be featured on Coke’s digital billboards in New York’s Time Sq. and London’s Piccadilly Circus. A gaggle of 30 creators had been chosen to journey to the corporate’s world headquarters in Atlanta for the “Actual Magic Inventive Academy,” a three-day workshop curated by Coke’s International Design and Inventive groups in partnership with OpenAI.
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Pepsi: 125 Years
On August 28, Pepsi kicked off 125 days of promotions main into New 12 months’s Eve to rejoice the 125 years of the model’s founding. Followers obtained free Pepsi merchandise for texting “PEPSI125.” The marketing campaign consists of nostalgic advertising spots from the previous, such because the Pepsi Problem, and a glance to the longer term with the disclosing of its new emblem.
Pepsi deployed conventional spots, social media content material, SMS promotions, and an experiential element. In October, the model opened The Pepsi 125 Diner in New York Metropolis, which served a hybrid Pepsi-milk beverage referred to as Pilk and a soda-infused condiment referred to as Colachup.
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Patagonia’s ‘What’s Next?’
For its fiftieth anniversary, Patagonia ran the “What’s Subsequent?” marketing campaign, utilizing the event to look ahead to life on Earth and prioritize purpose over profit to guard the planet’s ecosystem. The marketing campaign additionally featured a montage of moments from the model’s mission-led history.
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Heinz + Absolut: Tomato Vodka Pasta
Heinz + Absolut
In some of the surprising partnerships of 2023, Heinz and Absolut Vodka launched a limited-release Heinz + Absolut Tomato Vodka Pasta sauce. The marketing campaign celebrated the 2 iconic manufacturers combining to create a much-loved pasta sauce.
The marketing campaign is an instance of how manufacturers can be part of a social media dialogue. The current consideration on pasta and vodka started in 2020 when influencer Gigi Hadid shared her recipe for the sauce, which went viral. The response created an natural alternative for the Heinz-Absolut collaboration.
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Barbie’s Selfie Generator
Barbieselfie.ai
Forward of the discharge of the Barbie film, Warner Bros. partnered with PhotoRoom, an AI photo-editing app, to create the official filter that allowed followers to show themselves into Barbie characters.
In keeping with PhotoRoom, the interactive device Barbieselfie.ai, used over 13 million occasions, took lower than an hour to implement and offered followers with an on the spot, sharable Barbie-aesthetic picture. Followers, influencers, and celebrities similar to Rihanna and Pedro Pascal participated within the occasion.
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Dove: #FreeThePits
Dove: #FreeThePits
In 2004, Dove established the Self Esteem Project to make sure the following technology grows up with a optimistic relationship with their look. The corporate additionally created the Dove Actual Magnificence Pledge, vowing to painting girls actually and respectfully as they’re in actual life.
This yr, Dove continued its mission to construct a optimistic physique picture by launching a #FreeThePits marketing campaign, a sequence of initiatives encouraging girls to reject underarm stereotypes and embrace their pits in all types. Dove ran advertisements on New York Metropolis’s subway traces after which ran a Dove “Pit Cease” pop-up store throughout trend week to rejoice underarms and provides away Pit Kits containing Dove deodorant, free MetroCards, and different gadgets to assist girls really feel assured.
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Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’
Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” marketing campaign started in 2015 to spotlight the upgraded 8-megapixel digital camera on the iPhone 6. Photographs from 77 customers throughout 25 international locations and 73 cities highlighted the digital camera’s capabilities and customers’ numerous experiences with the iPhone.
In 2023, to showcase the capabilities of the brand new iPhone 15 Professional, the Apple launch occasion was shot on that iPhone and edited with a Mac. This behind-the-scenes video exhibits the director, colorist, and editor sharing their manufacturing experiences with the iPhone. Extra importantly, it conjures up customers to provide their very own movies and share their imaginative and prescient.
