In our modern and digitally connected world, it is all too common that a high-quality product loses to an inferior-quality product because of good marketing. Good marketing is the key to success in the modern commercial world, but this has always been the case.
Throughout history, brands which have led really great and memorable marketing campaigns have always made the highest sales and been the most profitable, even though there are better quality products out there.
Why? Because a powerful advertising campaign steals the hearts of consumers and builds instant brand loyalty. If a marketing department can get everybody talking about their product, this is going to turn into huge amounts of sales and go down in the history books. Nowadays companies promote their products and brand themselves through social media as well and if they use the right social media marketing strategy they can increase revenues by a lot.
It is very simple and, throughout history, we have seen lots of examples of marketing campaigns which will be remembered for decades, if not centuries, to come. A successful marketing campaign will stick in the minds of consumers and remain there for a lifetime. For example, everybody will associate “I’m Lovin’ It” with McDonalds or “They’re great” with Frosties.
It is every marketing professional’s dream to create something which is an instant viral hit. The very best campaigns are so good that they do not feel like marketing at all.
Just remember that there are several avenues you can explore – either going digital or using personalized lanyards can do the trick, you just have to adapt to your target audience.
Here are 5 marketing campaigns to look up to and think about when creating the marketing strategy for your brand or business –
Got Milk? by the California Milk Processor Board
“Got Milk?” is an iconic phrase which is still used today. This is one of the most memorable marketing campaigns in living history and has helped increase the sales of cow’s milk in California in huge numbers. The Got Milk advertising campaign has been delivered throughout a number of means – on billboards, on radio and even in newspapers – but perhaps the most memorable is the original debut of the advertisement on television.
The first Got Milk advertisement was a television commercial which featured a historian receiving a call to answer a radio station’s trivia question to win a large sum of money. The question was posed as “Who shot Alexander Hamilton in that famous duel” and, when the historian goes to answer the question, his mouth is filled up with peanut butter and, since he has got no milk, he cannot clear his mouth of the peanut butter residue to answer the question. When the DJ hangs up, he quips “Got Milk?” and it was an instant hit.
This advertising campaign went into print and has several celebrity endorsements, including Rihanna and Beyoncé amongst others. Although this campaign was officially discontinued in 2014 after 21 long years, its memory still lives on and will for decades to come.
Just Do IT by Nike
Nike’s Just Do It campaign has earned the company massive success. Although the brand was successful to begin with before this campaign, it has only bolstered their success and made them more recognisable.
At one point, however, Nike was not doing so well, and their products were virtually only selling to marathon runners. In fact, Reebok of all brands were selling a lot more shoes than Nike. In response to this, Nike created the ‘Just Do It’ campaign in the 1980s to capitalize on the growing trend of fitness and encourage people to push themselves beyond their limits in exercise.
This campaign was backed by the likes of Michael Jordan and was a huge success; it has become one of the best recognised advertising slogans in the history of marketing. It is easy to see why, because it works so well. Want to get fitter? Just do it. Don’t want to run that extra mile today? Just do it.
To show you just how good this marketing campaign was in numbers, Nike was worth $800 million in 1988 and by 1998 they were worth over $9.2 billion!
Think Small by Volkswagen Beetle
This is regarded as one of the world’s best print advertisements and was one of the most recognisable marketing campaigns before television advertising hit the mainstream. Credited for changing the USA’s perception of cars, Think Small is credited with making smaller cars more popular throughout America. Before this campaign, US drivers were obsessed with big and powerful cars and were quick to disregard German-made imports.
Think Small was built around the shape and size of their Beetle car and, rather than placing the car at the centre of the ad, it was placed out of the way; there was more white space on their ad than anything else. This was an ingenious campaign which highlighted the car’s simplistic and minimal design.
Get a Mac by Apple Inc.
The whole world knows about Apple’s technological innovations and developments. Just before the iPhone, though, Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ advertising campaign was what the company was best known for.
Introduced in 2006, this campaign featured two characters – PC and Mac – with the Mac character being cool and generally better than the PC character, who was overly serious and boring. This campaign was hugely successful and saw Apple increase their market share by 42% throughout the first year of this campaign alone.
Where’s the Beef? by Wendy’s
Where’s the Beef? was a famous catch-phrase first said in 1984. Since this time, it has turned into a legend in marketing and is one of the most recognizable slogans of all time. This campaign had three grandmothers admiring the burger buns at one particular burger restaurant, but then one of the characters pipes up with the quip “Where’s the Beef?” in response to the absence of it.
This campaign was an instant success and it turned into an entire line of merchandise, including t-shirts, bumper stickers and household goods, among other things.
The right slogan can go a long way – the trick is not only to come up with it, but to market it properly.