Innovation in Marketing

Source: Multichannel Marketing – Author Seobility – License CC BY-SA 4.0

Get to know some of the most unique marketing techniques used by companies over the years which brought success as well as attention to their creativity.

In this ever-evolving and globalized world, marketing has become very important. Every company needs to come up with its own marketing strategy to leave a mark in the global market. The more creative their work is, the more their business will grow.

Starting off simple, the marketing strategies today have evolved significantly overtime and designed in such a way that they are extremely bold and creative enough to stand out.

Share a Coke

Who doesn’t know about Coca-Cola, the carbonated soft drink company which is located in Georgia, USA? It has made its presence known ever since its market has grown and spread to other countries. Over the years, the company has introduced a variety of other flavours and offers to stay relevant. Its consumption hasn’t gone down but a company should always try to grow, rather than become stagnant, and that’s what Coca-Cola did.

In 2012, the company decided to team up with advertising partner, Ogilvy, to start a digital media campaign named ‘Share a Coke’. The objective was to increase sales and engage better with customers by talking to them. And this was achieved by printing 150 of the most popular names in various countries onto the bottles. Another option was also available to customize bottles online with the consumers’ own names. It was highly successful because it was able to create a personal connection between the brand and the consumer and increase engagement as a result.

It was later reported that the sales were so successful that more than 250 million bottles were sold in a country with just 23 million people in just a few months!

Wrapped

Spotify, the music distribution company, releases one of the most popular end-of-the-year items on the net, named Spotify wrapped. This list includes the top 100 songs you have listened to in the past year as well as other engaging content. You can also check what type of listener you are based on the type of songs you have been listening to and how much time you have spent listening to songs or podcasts in general. This feature is extremely popular and every year millions of people post and share their Spotify wrapped with others.

This way every user becomes a brand ambassador for Spotify sincere sharing and increasing Spotify engagement with their followers. So, we see that personalization can increase brand visibility and turn customers into promoters without spending too much money on ads.

Just do it

Nike has become a very popular brand with its market spread throughout the world. The company has a very popular tagline, ‘Just do it’, which has resonated with the audience for a lot of years now. But the company decided to do something different in 2018.

On the 30th anniversary of the ‘Just do it’ campaign, Nike released an ad which focused on the life of former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. This was in response to racial discrimination and turmoil in America, which led to a lot of controversy and conversation. While this was a bit risky, sales did increase by 31% because the campaign aligned with the audience’s values.

Later on in 2020, the company released another ad which had the message ‘For once, just don’t do it’, targeting the discrimination which became the reason for the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in police custody. A video capturing this tragic incident shows Floyd pleading to the police officer, who has held him down. A few minutes later he stopped breathing and he was proclaimed dead. The police officer was arrested and charged with murder but the damage had already been done.

Extreme Sports

One way to get people’s attention is to make the strategy as entertaining and engaging as possible. And this is what Red Bull experts were thinking when they came up with the idea to hold the ‘Red Bull Stratos’ campaign in 2012.

More than 18 extreme sports were organized by Red Bull in order to increase consumer engagement. The company sponsored athletes to participate in these events and create their own content. This content was then posted online, which garnished massive global attention, with millions of people viewing and engaging with the happenings in the campaign.

Though, this was not the first time Red Bull had participated and became part of the sports industry. The company had also launched an athlete program in 1989, which sponsors more than 800 athletes today including, F1 driver Max Verstappen. Additionally, it had extended the program to professional video game players in 2006, and now, is a very big name in the gaming industry.

Whopper Detour

Experts at burger King should be commended for the proper ‘Whopper Detour’ campaign they came up with. They came up with a technique which was super effective and increased the number of app downloads to 1.5 million in just 9 days!

Burger King was already known as a company which thrived on its bold and innovative marketing strategies, but they really outdid themselves in 2018 by coming up with the idea of using geofencing technology to attract customers towards their products. Why was it so special? Well, Burger King was encouraging customers to go to McDonald’s only for them to come to Burger King to get a Whopper for just a penny. Actually, what customers had to do was go to a nearby McDonald’s and upon reaching it, they could unlock the deal to buy a Whopper for only a penny. It sounds pretty wrong but it works out for the better!

Soon, the Burger King’s app became the most downloaded in Apple’s App Store for a large number of consecutive days and also helped the food chain to get ahead in the race.

Resources

Share a Coke

Share a Coke: The Groundbreaking Campaign from “Down Under.” (2016). Coca-Cola.com. https://www.coca-cola.com/au/en/media-center/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-down-under
‌ https://www.facebook.com/digitalvidya. (2019, May 7). Case Study On Coca Cola “Share A Coke” Campaign. Digital Vidya. https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/case-study-on-coca-colas-share-a-coke-campaign/

Wrapped

Krasnoff, B. (2023, November 29). How to find your 2023 Spotify Wrapped. The Verge; The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/23980858/spotify-wrapped-2023-how-to
‌ Verma, H. (2023, December). Spotify Wrapped: The Successful Viral Marketing Campaign by Spotify. StartupTalky; StartupTalky. https://startuptalky.com/spotify-wrapped-campaign-analysis/

Just do it