The Key Features Behind A Successful Marketing Campaign

What makes a good campaign? No two brands are exactly alike, and while you could come up with a great idea, it needs to fit around the image and tone of the brand. Also, you have to take into consideration that social media campaigns are not a one-way street, there needs to be something that will catch the eye of your followers to ensure it’s shared.

While there are many examples of successful marketing campaigns out there, there are a number of key features that turn them into a great campaign. Here are seven factors and accompanying case studies that made these campaigns memorable.

The Element Of Surprise

Everyone likes it when their daily routine is interrupted by something different, making what was going to be another ordinary day memorable. So long as it’s positive, it will give those people involved something to talk about and spread the good name of your brand to a wider audience.

Case Study: KLM Surprise
For a while, KLM was on a roll with the number of great social media campaigns that it ran, but this was probably its best. Back in December 2010, it decided to monitor any KLM related content on social media and give certain passengers small, but useful gifts. For those receiving the gifts, it gave them a story to tell which resulted in one million impressions on Twitter alone.

Case Study 2: TNT Benelux
The example that repetitively appears and for good reason. A normal situation, the compulsion to press a giant red button and the ensuring chaos that followed meant that this viral campaign spread like wildfire.

Emotional Reaction

People love to be inspired. Some of the greatest true stories out there involve someone battle the odds to do something that would be defined as impossible. Hard work and perseverance are also traits that would be associated with this type of marketing, so if you’re going to go down this route, make sure you have the story to back it up.

Case Study: Perry Sports
While it would be easy to choose something like Nike’s Find Your Greatness, we decided to choose Perry Sports’ attempt since it’s fresh in our minds (so fresh as in we posted it this morning). Telling the tale of a blind boy who started skating when he was ten, the message incorporates what Perry Sports does (sell safety equipment), but the overall tone of the video will resonate and inspire viewers.

Witness Something Unique

Being different separates yourself from the crowd, that much is obvious. However, being different usually requires (a) a large marketing budget and (b) a very, very creative marketing team. As more brands increase the standard we expect ads to be, it means coming up with a truly unique campaign is rather difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Case Study: Red Bull Space Jump
Not only did Red Bull raise the bar in brand marketing, but it placed it so high, it will be a while before it or any other brand outdo it. The campaign had everything: a record breaking attempt, a unique stunt, the drama associated with live coverage, and space. The genius part behind it was that it was live on YouTube, meaning that any site could embed it. This lead to a vast number of media sites placing it on their sites, meaning more views and ultimately more coverage for the brand.

Encouraging Involvement

Interaction is the key to any successful brand. It’s all well and good if people like your page or view your video, but if nobody talking about it or interacting, then you’re missing a vital part of marketing. A follow is something that only lingers in the mind for a moment whereas interaction and discussion will mean it will live for longer.

Case Study: Old Spice Guy Q&A
The only surprising thing about Old Spice’s famous campaign is that it’s almost three years old (the video debuted on February 2010). Not missing the opportunity, Old Spice decided to extend the campaign by introducing a Q&A session with Old Spice Guy. The result was that numerous custom videos were posted onto the Old Spice account answering important questions like “Do you have any experience taming wild whales” and “What’s the manliest thing you’ve ever done?”

Granted, this was already on the back of a wildly successful advertising campaign, but allowing fans to ask their own questions was a great way of crowdsourcing ideas.

Experimenting With Content

Engaging can differ from audience to audience, and rarely will you hit upon the magic formula straight away. Instead, it can be a case of trial and error to see what your audience responds to. Sometimes this can be a process that takes longer than expected, but by keeping things fresh, you will always leave your fanbase curious as to what’s coming next.

Case Study: Cadbury Dairy Milk
2012 will be known as the year Cadbury properly embraced social. Shifting from traditional to social, Cadbury ran a number of campaigns on Facebook and Google+ to build up awareness and engagement among fans.

Its most well-known campaign was celebrating it reaching one million fans. The company realised that when it was approaching this milestone, only 16% of its fans ever saw content that the brand posted on Facebook. To solve this, one of the ideas it tried out was building a giant Facebook like thumb out of pieces of Dairy Milk. Developing an entire campaign around it, it resulted in 40,000 new Facebook fans and more than 350,000 people were actively involved in the campaign.

Give Their Actions A Result

People want to have a reason to interact with a brand, where it boils down to what do they get from taking part. If something will happen for completing an action, then users will be more inclined to get involved. The action doesn’t necessarily have to be for a prize, it could be anything provided you think outside the box.

Case Study: Heineken Brazil
Heineken Brazil wanted to increase the number of ‘Likes,’ its Facebook page had and came up with a simple, but brilliant idea. The campaign ‘Um Like Um Balao‘ (One Like, One Balloon) had a man blow up a balloon for every new fan the page got. By the end of the day, the office was completely covered with balloons. While the aim was to get ‘likes,’ that alone was a sign that people were engaging with the campaign.

Just Use Humour

Humour can be difficult to get right because there’s a fine line between being too general and too obscure. In theory, it’s the easiest to do since everyone likes to laugh, but humour is subjective and not only does the content need to be sharp, but the editing and overall presentation has to be of a reasonably high standard.

Case Study: Dollar Shave Club
For a company that’s nobody had heard of before, this was a fantastic way to get your name out there. The humour focused on one key idea: that its razors are cheaper than anyone else and with that, Dollar Shave Club brought us through a sharp, witty and downright entertaining journey.