Over the past 5 years, we’ve seen a plethora of fun and interesting ways that brands are coming up with to grab people’s attention. Through social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, amazing things are happening between brands and their customers that allow for a ton of exposure for the companies, and benefits for the users involved. It’s truly a win-win for all marketers out there looking to connect better and in more meaningful ways with their supporters. Listed here are some of 2014’s most amazing social media campaigns (so far) that all brands can learn a thing or two from.
Bestival Hidden Glitterballs
Bestival is an annual music festival that showcases some of the biggest names in music across a 3-day event, making it a world-class attraction to many concert goers. This year, Bestival promoters thought up a fun and unique campaign involving glitterballs being hit all over cities across the UK (fittingly so, seeing as how the festival carries the theme of ‘Desert Island Disco’). Clues were essentially tweeted to all participants via Twitter on the numerous whereabouts of these glitterballs, with successful seekers being awards a pair of tickets to the full music festival.
With the prize being genuinely fun to participate in and with the reward being as such, it helped the event drum up even more interest throughout many other social media platforms, increasing its online promotion among users exponentially.
adidas Instagram Shoes
In lieu of the release of their ZX Flux shoes, adidas announced the release of a new app that allows people to upload their favorite Instagram pictures on to a pair of ZX Flux shoes. And not just digitally, but for use on an actual customized shoe for their personal collections. This campaign proves to be a successful one for the sportswear brand due to the relevance of modern-day sneaker culture and allure of customized footwear. This, along with the exposure on the adidas social media outlets, made way for all of the most unique designs to be uploaded and shared for hundreds of thousands of users to lay eyes on.
Weight Watchers #SimpleStart Plan
During their annual ad push to grab the attention of resolution makers during New Years, Weight Watchers made an solid effort harnessing the power of community among their own members. The #SimpleStart hashtag was one that the company introduced to allow users to essentially talk to each other by highlighting member posts through a series of re-posts by both other members and by the Weight Watchers itself. This made way for showcasing the most creative meal ideas and weight loss success stories - excellent for motivational purposes. The end-result essentially gave tools and fresh ideas for Weight Watcher’s members to continue succeeding, while at the same time promoting a new sense of community for new and potential clients.
Mater Prize Home Lottery
A well-known initiative done by Mater Foundation is though their annual Mater Prize Home Lottery. The raffle draw gives Australian residents a chance to win a dream home at the small cost of a $2 ticket. As a reputable campaign, Mater uses the funds raised from the lottery to support numerous medical-related projects such as cancer research and facility upgrades.
And to add to the great initiatives, the foundation has also introduced the Cars for Cancer lottery which offers recipients the chance to score one of three brand-new vehicle, including a Ford Permanence, a Toyota Hilux, or the Holden Special Vehicle. With a contest ticket limit of 15,000, it makes the odds of winning much higher than a limitless lottery, and the proceeds go to fund all the amazing charitable causes that Mater continues to pledge their efforts to. Ticket buyers can feel good about supporting an amazing cause, and the organization can rest easy knowing that they are raising the brand’s awareness and message without compromising its image.
Ellen and Samsung’s Record-Breaking #Oscars Tweet
Ellen Degeneres, Bradley Cooper, and a slew of other A-List celebrities pulled off a record-breaking stunt which had Ellen seizing her hosting duty privileges in attempting to get the most Twitter Retweets of all-time... And that’s exactly what she did. Little did people know that the ploy was quietly schemed together by Samsung (the phone in which the selfie in-use was taken with), but it ended up causing an international stir amongst all major blogs and media, giving Samsung an unprecedented brand moment that will be remembered for years to come.
NASA’s #GlobalSelfie Campaign
In celebration of Earth Day, NASA sought out to deliver an invitation to global citizens everywhere to partake in what they aptly call, the Global Selfie. Users were asked to take a simple selfie using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie, in which NASA would monitor and use to piece together a massive selfie mosiac, that when fully zoomed out, formed an image of Earth - a new ‘Blue Marble’ using each and every photo submitted.
This campaign did a phenomenal job of spreading NASA’s Earth Day initiatives while at the same time, making it interactive for users to engage and see a cool end-result from.