These are some of my thoughts on big marketing campaigns and strategies that I find interesting.
Superbowl 2014
Every year we see great ads during the Superbowl. A time-slot during the Superbowl is the holy grail of advertising. Every year we see amazingly clever (and some not so clever) advertisements many of them involving sex appeal. GoDaddy for example, prides on their sex appeal advertisements every year and gets great business from it. Everyone knows their name for these types of ads. In 2014 something interesting happened, a request for less provocative and less sexual focus on advertisements. This came about in regards to the many athlete scandals that came about that year. Instead many advertisements decided to focus on heartwarming stories, many relating to family and friendship. Even Axe came with a "Make Love Not War" ad which is very different from previous ads. In fact, this kind of marketing is highly affective. In an article in the Huffington Post, they discuss studies by Paul Zak. Even the least bit of sadness in a commercial releases oxytocin, a hormone that connects to empathy. This allows people to feel a stronger connection and understanding and allows for the brand to come off as more trusting. This is how Budweiser, and many others, connected with their audience, with commercials like "Puppy Adoption".
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
The ALS Association came up with a brilliant marketing strategy in 2014. They came up with a marketing campaign to challenge the people you know to dump water on their heads in support of the ALS Association. This became such a popular thing, some people didn't even know what ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) meant but still participated. Through social media and a hashtag, everyone wanted to be a part of dumping water on their heads. Celebrities, companies, sororities, everyone wanted to be a part of this ice bucket challenge. At some point the hype had to come to an end, but it had quite a stretch and definitely got major publicity and a great deal of donations. This campaign was overall a major success with publicity across backgrounds and ages.
