Marketing campaigns are a huge part of a company’s success, and can simply make or break a business if not done correctly. Companies take marketing campaigns incredibly seriously, spending millions to get their name, brand, and product noticed by potential customers. These campaigns can become well recognised around the world, with celebrity endorsements or even global media coverage. We’ve seen many campaigns go wrong in recent years, receiving negative backlash, but today, BoyleSports, the home of real money slots, will be taking a look at the most iconic marketing campaigns of the 21st century.
Apple, ‘Get a Mac’
The Apple ‘Get a Mac’ campaign was not just an incredibly successful piece of marketing, but it was the beginning of Apple’s drive towards taking over the computer market. The campaign aired from 2006 to 2009 across a variety of platforms, with the main effect coming from TV advertisements. The ads featured a modern skit style that introduced two characters who owned a Mac and a PC. The ad would paint a picture of the MAC being the cool, sleek and easy to use alternative, highlighting all the issues with PCs. The humorous take on elevating their own product above a competitor resulted in an increase in the MAC market share by 5% in 3 years. Not only did it massively benefit their mission of taking over, it started a wave of skit style advertisements as a way of comparing to their competitors, something Apple would continue to do. Despite some people looking at the ad and claiming it was a bad representation of PC users, and came across as smug, the campaign landed Apple a Grand Effie Award for marketing effectiveness.
Coca-Cola, Share a Coke
Launched globally in 2012, the Share a Coke campaign is an ongoing one that comes around every year to encourage people to share. The campaign featured cans and bottles of Coca-Cola having their logo replaced with names taking the centre stage. The idea was for people to find their names or the names of friends on the product, sharing with others or even sharing the product on social media with their name on. It's a massive craze for people to find their names on the Coca-Cola cans and bottles, with fans of the beverage searching each year. It builds an emotional and personal connection with the brand as a result of the drinks feeling personal. Soon after, it resulted in seasonal words and phrases, as well as general names such as ‘BFF’ being printed on the drink. It also encouraged a massive social media surge of people sharing photos of the cans and bottles using specific hashtags, spreading the campaign further. As a result, sales have skyrocketed around the world, winning them awards for their campaign and, most importantly, fostering a stronger customer relationship.
Spotify Wrapped
Spotify Wrapped is a yearly phenomenon that sweeps social media and takes over the hashtags for a month. But this isn’t just a way for people to ultimately share their lifestyle in the shape of unique music tastes and compare their statistics to their friends, but a genius marketing campaign that boosts user engagement each year. The campaign started out in 2016 as a simple email to users showcasing their top listens and artists for the year, until 2018, when Spotify took the opportunity to create a more visual and engaging way of displaying a user’s stats. In December, users are provided with various stats that allow them to be compared with other users around the world. It led to millions of people using social media to share their stats and compare with their friends, meaning each post turned out to be a free promotion for Spotify. As a result, the number of Spotify users has increased, improving engagement as a way for fans to ensure they feature high up in their favourite artist’s listeners.
Patagonia, ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’
What initially looked like it would do the complete opposite, Patagonia’s ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ campaign ended up being an incredibly good marketing strategy that built a strong reputation and connection between consumers. The R2 Fleece Jacket was the product in the Black Friday sale that Patagonia told customers not to purchase. The reason for this was to try to make customers think about whether they really need to purchase a product, something that may help to benefit the environment - a huge talking point in the fashion industry. The nature focused company took it as an opportunity to campaign and protest against wastage, even if it meant that the sales would drop. It built an admiration for the company among many, as well as improving their reputation and customer relationships. Ironically, it resulted in peak website traffic and an increase of 30% in sales, not only benefiting their brand image but also their sales.
