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Marketing campaigns often aim to reflect what is happening in the real world, so take a look at what we've spotted from the tumultuous year of 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in not only a health crisis but an economic one, most sectors have been affected. Add to this the new trends demanding a greater effort towards wellness and the new market for retail “experiences”, marketing campaigns have had to evolve as well
Here at Springwise, we have been monitoring certain campaign trends, from the COVID-related ones convincing us to stay safe, to those warning us of misinformation and targeted advertising. More than ever it seems, and perhaps due to the colossal losses of this year, ads are appealing to our humanitarian side and aiming to help make our lives easier. Check out our top seven from 2020.
1. COSMETICS BRAND REMIXES TIKTOK VIDEO TO RAISE COVID-19 AWARENESS
In partnership with Mobile Marketer, E.l.f. Cosmetics remixed the song “Eyes. Lips. Face.”, which appeared on TikTok last autumn and was written by Grammy-Award winning songwriter iLL Wayno, to “Eyes. Lips. Face. Safe.” In it, singer Holla FyeSixWun washes her hands and sings about social distancing.
The video had over 4.7 billion views, and TikTok users are able to create their own remixes of the song, spreading the message even further amongst the young people who make up the vast majority of TikTok users. The aim of the song was to spread the coronavirus message in a positive way.
Read more about the TikTok song.
2. BANK POSTS ‘BLOCKED’ ADS TO SAVE USERS FROM TEMPTATION
Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Bank came up with a novel way to encourage people to save money instead of splurging on things they don’t need. As part of a recent ad campaign, the financial institution bought up a range of ad placements that retailers typically use to entice shoppers to make impulse purchases on social media.
Social media users then found that, instead of seeing ads for products like clothing and accessories in their news feeds, they saw targeted ads from Fifth Third that read, for example, “This could have been a juice cleanse ad” or “This could have been a watch ad.” Clicking on the ads sends users to a site offering a free savings app named Dobot to help manage their spending.
Fifth Third’s “BuyNow Blocker” is not technically ad-blocking software. Rather, it’s a targeted media buy that aims to displace retailer and brand ad placements.
Read more about Fifth Third Bank.
3. STIHL SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN REVIVES OLD SPORTS FOOTAGE DURING LOCKDOWN
Sports lovers have had a very difficult time during the lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. The chainsaw maker Stihl, however, saw an opportunity in this, to promote videos of its Timbersports lumberjack competition with a social media campaign.
Stihl’s social media campaign directs people to their YouTube channel, which led to an additional 1.87 million social media impressions — 27 per cent more than expected. With this year’s Timbersports competition cancelled, the YouTube videos featured last year’s competition. Even so, it was tremendously popular with a sports-starved audience and in fact, the campaign led many viewers to binge-watch the entire 16-episode series.
Read more about Stihl’s social media campaign.
4. CHILDREN’S LEMONADE STANDS RECEIVE ECONOMIC STIMULUS VIA BRAND CAMPAIGN
Since the coronavirus outbreak, governments worldwide have been launching relief efforts to support businesses. However, drinks company Country Time noticed that one business in the US had been suffering silently during the pandemic: the traditional children’s lemonade stand. The company has launched The Littlest Bailout to help the young entrepreneurs.
The Littlest Bailout, created with the agency Leo Burnett, Chicago, is a relief fund for children who have not been able to generate pocket money from their lemonade stands, due to limited foot traffic this year. According to Country Time, they will provide stimulus cheques to help children preserve the value of lemonade stands, honest work and entrepreneurship while pumping something back into the economy.
Read more about The Littlest Bailout.
5. CAMPAIGN REWARDS FORTNITE PLAYERS FOR SAVING LIVES
US-based gaming giant, Epic Games, and the International Red Cross collaborated in a Fortnite game that rewards saving, instead of ending lives. The game was part of a campaign to raise awareness about the Red Cross’s humanitarian work in conflict areas.
Liferun played off of a Fortnite game mode known as “deathrun.” The new game mode flipped the script, however, by rewarding players for the lives they save. By giving players four life-saving missions to complete, the missions echo the global work of the International Red Cross. Liferun was launched in January at the PAX South 2020 gaming congress in Texas, USA.
6. AN AR SCAVENGER HUNT TEASES NEW PEARL JAM ALBUM
The rock band Pearl Jam utilised augmented reality (AR) and social media to create an interactive scavenger hunt for its fans. The initial purpose was unknown, but in the end, it was to tease and promote the upcoming release of the band’s next album and tour.
The campaign started on the 10th of January with the band posting cryptic images across their social media accounts. Further posts promoted an interactive map that was available at PearlJam.com. From there, the map guided fans to specific locations in major cities around the globe, and encourage those who chose to travel there to view what they saw there using a custom Instagram Lens filter and then share their experiences on social media.
Read more about Pearl Jam’s campaign.
7. BURGER CHAIN POSTS RECIPE ON WRAPPER TO PROMOTE PROGRESS OF HEALTHIER MENU
In their latest effort to support clean eating, Burger King launched the “Whopper Recipe” campaign in all US restaurants, printing the ingredients list on the wrapping of its Whopper sandwiches as they no longer contain any artificial colours, flavours and preservatives.
The fast-food chain has been active in its efforts over the past few years, which includes having removed about 8500 tons of artificial ingredients from its food to date. Currently, 85 per cent of the Burger King menu does not contain artificial ingredients, which they are aiming to change to 100 per cent by the start of next year.
Read more about the wrapper campaign.
