Examples Of The Best Marketing Campaigns That Broke The Mold

What Makes A Marketing Campaign Successful?

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to advertising. To build an effective strategic marketing plan, you need to have a perfect understanding of your audience and their interests. Then, you can start thinking of creative messages and campaigns that encapsulate the pain points and goals of your potential buyers. The best marketing campaigns have a few things in common: great visuals, top-quality content, catchy lines, an unforgettable hook, and a meaningful message. But that’s not the finish line of your ad campaign, as tracking and analyzing the audience’s behavior is crucial to implement changes and improve. What is your end goal? How unique and outside the mold is your campaign? How efficient is your promotional plan? Your B2C and B2B content marketing strategy should answer these questions clearly before you start bringing your ads in front of your audience.

Keep reading to discover 11 of the most groundbreaking ad campaigns that left their mark on the marketing world and consumers still remember to this day.

11 Best Marketing Campaigns That Made History

1. Nike – Just Do It

One prominent marketing example is Nike’s campaign with the famous slogan “Just Do It.” The conglomerate launched this ad back in 1988, featuring both amateur and professional athletes sharing their inspirational stories and achievements. Specifically, they included the story of an 80-year-old man who ran 17 miles every single day. Nike’s promotional campaign encouraged people to submit their own stories of dedication where they overcame their struggles and took a chance on themselves. But why did such a campaign become so inspiring? The message focused on creating an emotional connection between the brand and its buyers. People’s stories were powerful and highly motivational, aligning perfectly with Nike’s values like inspiration and a healthy lifestyle. No matter what your company’s niche is, you can find a way to build personal connections with your target audience. Make them feel related to your brand and like you understand them.

2. Dove – Real Beauty

Another famous marketing campaign is Dove’s “Real Beauty,” which focused on the sad statistic that only 2% of women consider themselves beautiful. Launched in 2004, this campaign’s goal was to increase the confidence and self-love in women and children. It features real women instead of models in an effort to show that beauty isn’t one thing. The different women proved that not all of them have to look the same, highlighting the negative impact imposed beauty standards have on everyone. The campaign was so successful that it expanded to other topics, including aging, wigs, blemishes, and other “imperfections.” The reason for Dove’s success was its highly positive message and their effort to empower women and not allow any obsolete standards to define who they are. You can take inspiration from this marketing strategy by thinking of a massive issue in your industry. How can you impact your community positively and destroy misconceptions and outdated beliefs?

3. Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Many of you talented marketers out there may wonder how you can build a marketing plan based on a funny, over-the-top story. You can take Old Spice’s wonderful example. The original popular advertisement features a man in the shower directing a monologue to the female audience. The man asks women to take a look at their man and then look at him. He humorously says, “Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me.” The actor’s voice and style are very smug but funny at the same time. The ad is so animated and vivacious that it boosted audience engagement and became a talking point within friend circles. But its message wasn’t only to offer what men want but also who they want to look and smell like. This means that your marketing campaigns should focus on who your audience wants to be, not simply what they like. And adding a heavy pinch of humor will do you a mountain of good.

4. California Milk Processor Board – Got Milk?

It’s impossible to have missed this series of clever ads that created 70 commercials in California and 350 milk mustache photo ads. The story started in 1993 when the advertising company working for the California Milk Processor Board conducted a study asking their respondents to stop drinking milk for a week. At the end of the week, they asked them what difficulties they encountered daily. Some didn’t have what to add to their cereal or where to dip their cookies. So, the campaign revolved around the frustration people feel when they run out of milk. Taking advantage of influencer marketing and the craze around figures in pop culture, the company exposed its brand to millions around the globe. Featuring famous people in their ad campaigns created even more interest, as their ad faces were highly loved and recognizable. You can leverage this type of promotion by asking influential people in your industry to collaborate with your brand. Maybe you should also consider Q&A webinars to build trust and foster awareness.

5. Coca-Cola – Share A Coke

Remember when Coca-Cola started printing their classic bottles with random names? This was the start of their “Share A Coke” ad campaign, which encouraged people to share a beverage with their loved ones. Starting in Australia, the campaign soon expanded internationally, with people searching stores to find the name they wanted. While the ads were featured on TV, print media, billboards, and buses, the most successful channel was social media. People would buy their personalized bottles with their names on them and share the images online, tagging the company. Capitalizing on the rise of social media and millennials’ usage of them, Coca-Cola succeeded in increasing sales. This method proves that any company can boost social media engagement if they research their target audience’s preferences and provide marketing options in their favorite channels. Personalization is also a crucial aspect in generating new leads and turning them into buyers.

6. Barbie

Barbie was the highest-grossing film in 2023, earning over $1.4 billion worldwide. It wasn’t only the emblematic character and Margot Robbie’s talent that catapulted the movie to such heights. It was also the methodical marketing strategy the brand Mattel built alongside the production studio. Following a “breadcrumb” strategy, they gave people a little taste of the movie, creating a fog of mystery and excitement around it. Increased conversation about the movie created many earned media mentions, meaning social media posts and stories. The trailer sparked even more interest in the movie and brought life to the characters of the Barbie universe. Not to mention that people would enter movie theaters wearing pink clothes and makeup resembling Barbie’s look. You can start your small business content marketing following the movie’s example. Provide small crumbs of information to your target audience to pique their interest until you make your product available.

7. Skittles – Taste The Rainbow

The famous catchphrase has been around since 1994, and Skittles has created many different ads. All of the campaign ads are fun, catchy, strange, and eye-catching. The company wanted to create sensory experiences that capture the variety of flavors their candy offers. The lighthearted message paired with relaxed music and bright colors captures the audience’s attention. As a result, the company built a strong brand image anyone can recognize. How can you use this example for your own online marketing campaigns? Find your identity and create a playful yet powerful slogan. Don’t be afraid to get weird and create puns and unusual visuals.

8. Orange – The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Orange

Orange is a French cell phone provider that wanted to expand its activities to Thailand. They purchased billboards all over Bangkok, filling them with black-and-white photos with just a touch of orange and the message “The future’s bright, the future’s orange.” They didn’t explain what the ad was about, creating a massive wave of mystery. After a few weeks, they replaced these vague images with clear advertisements about their cell phone services. Their genius brand awareness tactic built heavy anticipation and intrigue and sparked continuous conversation. Once they captured the attention of people, they made their revelation, ensuring their brand wouldn’t go unnoticed. This lead generation technique is a master plan for any brand planning to introduce itself to new audiences. Even if people aren’t interested in your services right away, they will know and remember you. So, you might be their first choice once they’re ready to purchase.

9. McDonald’s – Our Food, Your Questions

In 2014, McDonald’s created an almost two-minute-long ad campaign where people involved in the food process would answer questions from the public. Are their patties made of 100% beef? That was the main question the ad aimed to answer clearly and honestly. The famous advertisement didn’t come off as salesy and was very transparent, addressing people’s worries and feedback. The company also created a new website where they answered many commonly asked questions and even invited people to visit their kitchens to understand the preparation process. Such a campaign builds trust and fosters loyalty. This is the main thing to remember. You should be transparent with your audience too, and possibly create behind-the-scenes YouTube videos highlighting your company’s functions.

10. Samsung – Join The Flip Side

Remember when Samsung released their foldable phones? The company’s advertising depended heavily on captivating visuals that captured the advanced technology of its new release. They utilized various scenarios, all showing how the phones unfold and help you discover new possibilities you didn’t even know existed. As a result, they boosted brand awareness and increased sales. You can follow this marketing example to enhance your performance. What makes your solution unique? Lean into this and create engaging and visually captivating visuals that explain what your product has to offer. The more unique your imagery is, the more interest you’ll gather, as audiences are tired of watching the same things again and again.

11. Snickers – You’re Not You When You’re Hungry

We couldn’t wrap up this article without adding this clever ad campaign from Snickers. The brand had many celebrities appear in its ads in unexpected situations. For instance, a football player is playing a match as Betty White, but when he takes a bite of a Snickers bar, he immediately regains his form. This is where the message “You’re not you when you’re hungry” fits perfectly. It connects with audiences on a more personal level, as many get agitated when they’re hungry but everything seems to go away once they get some food in their stomachs. Such a relatable approach can be super successful for your business as well since audience members tend to respond very well to hard-hitting ads. Find what makes your product relatable and add a dash of humor to create the perfect ad recipe.

6 Different Ways To Promote Your Marketing Campaigns

1. Email Marketing

Email marketing campaigns aim to boost people’s engagement and push them to make a purchase. They are a necessary part of inbound marketing, as frequent informational messages foster loyal relationships and nurture your clientele. Not everyone signed up for your newsletter is ready to buy from you, meaning you have to keep showing them your products and their properties. Segmenting your audience means that your email marketing solutions are carved based on each prospect’s needs. For example, someone who is at the top of the funnel may have different interests and needs than a returning buyer in the loyalty stage. So, you can direct the right emails to the right audience members. One example of a top marketing approach is Netflix’s personalized emails, which make suggestions based on someone’s watch history. These emails typically come with images to dial up the engagement.

2. Content Marketing

Content is still king, and publishing material like articles, webinars, eBooks, and podcasts are powerful tools to establish thought leadership and increase brand awareness. Utilizing your SEO skills by adding relevant and highly used keywords and phrases, you manage to improve your ranking in Google searches. eBooks have the same potential since you may use them as gated content to attract more signups to your newsletter. Webinars and podcasts are more personal ways to communicate with your audience and help them understand who your brand is. Keep in mind that most people feel connected to a host, so a talented and knowledgeable person can create very deep connections. A wonderful content marketing idea belongs to Olipop, which makes sodas with plant fiber and prebiotics. The company published an article about proper recycling methods depending on the materials to strengthen its positioning in this niche. As a result, it showcased their expertise in the field.

3. Social Media Marketing

It’s impossible to launch a marketing campaign without a strong social media promotional approach. High-performing marketing teams enforce various tactics to promote their content and their brand’s products. For starters, you may promote links to your articles, webinars, and other content forms. UGC posts and videos are also a fantastic way to increase your audience’s trust, as they can see other people benefiting from your solutions. Short-form videos are at the top of the “most wanted” list of social media content. Static images, influencer collaborations, live videos, and UGC are also on the list. Let’s take LEGO’s example. They created a social media campaign to attract buyers to their new selection of flower-building sets. With the slogan “Adults Welcome,”  they started promoting this campaign close to Valentine’s Day. LEGO may have a higher budget than your small company, but creativity isn’t necessarily pricey. A smart slogan coupled with great timing creates anticipation and high engagement.

4. Popup Banners / Paid Marketing

One effective way to increase brand awareness and get people to buy your product is to create online ads. You may target specific demographics and interests based on your audience. Paid campaign marketing is an affordable solution even for startups that don’t have high budgets to invest. The campaigns also provide detailed analytics that allow you to measure your marketing results to improve your tactics. Some of the different ads you can implement are search engine ads, display ads, banner ads, and popups. Banner ads make their presence noticeable without being too annoying. They are usually placed at the top and right side of web pages. Popup ads, on the other hand, are more noticeable and have a higher click-through rate as they pop up in front of web page visitors. As a result, people are forced to see your ad before manually closing it. The amazing advantage is that you can customize your ad, and those interested are instantly directed to your website upon clicking on it.

5. Affiliate Marketing

Do you have many satisfied clients who are ready to become active advocates of your brand? Affiliate marketing allows you to gain new promoters without having to pay them for their time. You incentivize them by offering a small percentage for each reference and ultimate sale. Your affiliates create their own advertising and marketing campaigns to promote your products since they know they’ll be rewarded for their work. Amazon is one of the best-known affiliate examples, as it allows everyone interested to become their marketer. This is a great way to boost sales enablement and reduce your ad spend. There are three types of affiliate marketing: unattached, related, and involved. Unattached refers to a collaborator who has no actual involvement or expertise in the niche your product belongs to. Related affiliates are people who have satisfactory influence in the same industry as your brand. Lastly, involved affiliate marketing is about those who have already used your services and are more than happy to promote them to others.

6. Brand Development

What makes brand promotions different from everything else we mentioned so far? While most innovative marketing campaigns focus on promoting a specific product or service, branding campaigns focus on your entire company and its value. Your content marketing experts curate material that constantly aims to boost brand awareness, lead acquisition, and customer loyalty. While it’s tremendously important to promote certain products, it’s also pivotal to maintain a positive perception of your brand. For example, CSR marketing, which refers to corporate social responsibility, is a masterful way to market your business as giving and socially sensitive. It’s not only about donating sums to charities but also participating in activities such as meal preparation for the poor or beach clean-ups. You may create a video ad showing how your team helped in these activities, creating a very positive brand image.

The Best Marketing Strategies For Instant Success

Flexible Strategies

Have you ever heard the term “agile marketing”? Marketing leaders agree that being flexible in their approaches helps them respond to market changes and emergency situations efficiently. In recent years, the pandemic and economic recession have altered consumers’ behavior and needs. The ever-changing landscape means that you should forecast future developments based on current data. People experience massive changes in their everyday lives, meaning that their behavior is unpredictable. Therefore, you should be able to modify your marketing strategy and create campaigns that speak directly to your target audience’s needs.

Customer Retention Strategies

Are you always trying to get more customers or maintain your existing clientele? Digital marketing ads shouldn’t be enforced only to attract new buyers but to upsell existing clients and promote your new services to them. In fact, most marketers believe that it’s equally important to keep your loyal customers with your business instead of constantly trying to generate new leads. This means that your customer service should improve, offering impeccable experiences to customers. Also, personalization plays a pivotal role in securing repeat customers. People are more likely to return to you when they feel unique and valuable instead of just a number in your bank account.

Data- Informed Strategies

Do you have enough data regarding your online marketing campaign? Which KPIs have you set, and are they enough for you to understand your target audience and their preferences? Leaning into your data and making alterations based on the results helps you improve your marketing strategy. As a result, you can curate demand-generation campaigns that birth genuine interest from top-quality leads who are ready to do business with you. However, you should ensure your data is high-quality and accurate. Let’s take Uber’s example as an indicator. In 2017, it was reported that Uber was miscalculating drivers’ commissions by taking into account the gross fare instead of the net fare minus taxes and other fees. That meant that within 2.5 years, the company charged drivers 2.6% more than it should have. This example is proof that wrong data and calculations create unprecedented mistakes.

AI Strategies

Artificial Intelligence has barged into our lives, and we can’t ignore it. Many marketers understand the benefits of AI in marketing and use software to automate time-consuming administrative tasks to free up their time. For instance, some marketing professionals let AI handle their online campaign ad placements and make accurate predictions, including sales forecasting. Additionally, marketing campaign strategies enforce the help of chatbots on their websites. So, when potential clients have simple queries, the bot provides answers. Sales reps and customer service agents interfere only when a customer’s query is more complex. Wayfair is a creative example of a brand known for implementing AI to show ads and products to customers based on their browsing history. The algorithm checks who is more persuadable and shows them products that match their preferences.

Short-Form Video Strategies

With content like Instagram reels, TikTok videos, and YouTube shorts taking the world by storm, it’s quite obvious why advertising campaigns should create short-form videos. The quick pace, paired with captivating content and sounds, creates a highly engaging media form that can accelerate business growth significantly. 73% of consumers mention that they discovered and purchased a new product after watching short-form videos. Let’s take Duolingo as an advertisement example. With humorous and sassy short-form videos, the language-learning app has gathered a massive TikTok following. The company is unapologetically quirky and leverages viral trends. Their content is not salesy but simply entertaining. This example proves that one of the most effective ways to educate people is through entertainment.

How Can You Utilize The Best Marketing Campaigns To Create Your Own?

You probably watch countless promotional campaigns every single day. Each one may look unique, but chances are most of the best marketing campaigns follow the same structure and logic. For starters, you need to come up with a catchy message and hook. Stay consistent with its use across all channels to help your target audience identify you even without seeing the rest of your ad. Your logo along with your message should be enough for them to connect the dots. The campaign examples we mentioned earlier know exactly who their target buyers are. Therefore, their message has a very clear goal: to increase sales. But why should they listen to you and make a purchase? Unless you help people understand the high value of your offer, you won’t boost your sales. Everyone must understand that you’re not just another dot in the sky. You are a bright star that offers exclusive and valuable services and products. To do that, your ad campaign shouldn’t be full of empty words and fake promises. Show people precisely what the benefits of using your product are.

Key Takeaway

Content marketing for B2B and B2C requires careful and continuous research to understand your target audience and their needs. Famous brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Snickers, Dove, and McDonald’s provide us with different marketing campaign ideas that have been tremendously successful. The bottom line for most of these ads is relevancy and emotional connection. Once people feel that you understand and value them, they will most likely purchase from you. But how do you even promote your campaign once it’s ready to go? Maybe you’ll need to collaborate with an agency offering content marketing services to help you with your content, email marketing, paid ads, and social media promotions.

There are different strategies you may follow, but it’s best if you combine various aspects, including flexible arrangements, data-informed decision making, AI implementations, and short-form videos. If you can’t decide which of the slogans is the best, you may conduct iterative testing. Your campaign should be consistent across all channels, sharing the same messages, images, and theme. You want people to know exactly which brand it is once they see your ad.

Download our new Media Kit and discover our marketing packs.