Greatest Marketing Campaigns

Metro Trains (in Melbourne, Australia) created the song “Dumb Ways to Die”, which has since generated 157 million YouTube streams since its debut. This advertising campaign was in place of the typical waning signs and announcements offered within train stations. Unlike, mundane forms of safety cautions, the song is quite funny, entertaining, and very catchy (I sure many of you have heard the chorus “Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die”). The song way produced for all train riders to obtain the same simple message, no playing around or being irresponsible near the train tracks. Doing so can lead to serious injuries, or even death (what a dumb way to go out).

This song was played across radio stations in Melbourne. It is also available on iTunes, and a video featuring little characters dying in a multitude of dumb ways has since gone viral on YouTube. This features an all-important message- there are many dumb ways to die, but the dumbest possible way would be if you died crossing over a train track, standing on the edge of a train platform, or driving through a railroad sign- in a memorable and humorous way (opposed to traditional, nagging public service announcements).

At the end of the video, after you’ve watched adorable cartoon characters dying in the dumbest of ways, you get to the moral of the story: there are many dumb ways to die, but the dumbest possible way would be if you died while standing on the edge of a train platform, drove through a railroad sign, or tried to cross over a train track.

This was a radio ad campaign created by Bud Light in the late 1990’s, producing a total of over 200 advertisements within this campaign. This campaign paid mock tributes to ordinary men doing ordinary things, giving the audience a good laugh. This advertisements series won over 100 awards throughout the time it ran. Although the original advertisements produced in this campaign are still widely recognized as the best, they were eventually made into television advertisements for Bud Light’s UK audience.

This advertisement was implemented to further promote the purchase of Bud Light’s beer. The target audience was normal, everyday men. The campaign served to show that anyone and everyone could use a nice Bud Light.

This Sprite radio advertisement was developed when their brand ambassador (in India), Sania Mirza, was leading the country as an international tennis player. The advertisement is very short and simple. It features a simply popping sound that allows the audience to essentially feel the relaxation and refreshment through their ears. This works to stimulate not only the audiences’ mind, but their senses as well, influencing them to crave (and in turn purchase) a Sprite. The end of the broadcast also chants Sania Mirza’s name. This also helps boost brand recognition, by correlating Sprite an individual who has already obtained brand recognition of her own.

Dove has developed many advertisements campaigns that strive to uplift people, particularly women, against harsh and unrealistic beauty standards. In this particular radio advertisement, Dove featured a woman singing out of pitch and with autotune.

Dove typically produced television advertisements or short films to portray these messages (that all women and all bodies are beautiful); however, this advertisement took to storm that you do not need pictures to talk about beauty. Beauty is more than what meets the eye.

Dove has also received an Effie Index score of 94 points in the Beauty & Fragrance category, making it the leading brand in this area. In addition, Dove has an Effie Index score of 62 in Personal Care making them second in that category. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

Always is a feminine product brand and they went viral for their advertisement in the 2015 Super Bowl. Its message was moving for all but targeted at the female audience. The Super Bowl commercial explained the stigma behind the message “play like a girl” a common, but incorrect (as it implies a boy’s way of playing sports is better/correct), statement commonly made in sports.

The message of this advertisement and the campaign as a whole is very clear; girls are just as capable as boys. This is an all-important message, especially for Always’ target audience (adolescent girls, who are beginning to go through puberty, and thus beginning to need many of the hygiene and feminine products that Always offers), as they are going through a very impart stage of their lives as young women (note a very vulnerable stage as well). Hundreds of millions were reached by this campaign and its message continued long after the initial Super Bowl commercial was over.

Dove’s Toxic Influence television marketing campaign won a Clio award (London, 2024), recognizing the advertising for its creative effectiveness. This campaign targets young women and aims to promote the sale of Dove products through relating to and uplifting this target market. It discusses how societal beauty standards are unattainable and how a lot for this weight is put on women. It shows real accounts of women explaining the how all women are beautiful and that what is seen online is not always true or realistic.

Dove has also received an Effie Index score of 94 points in the Beauty & Fragrance category, making it the leading brand in this area. In addition, Dove has an Effie Index score of 62 in Personal Care making them second in that category. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This television commercial homed in on a fairly new marketing strategy- influencer marketing. This ad featured the popular rapper known as Ice Spice, alongside actor, Ben Affleck. The commercial featured the two going back and forth with a matter of fact, yet friendly, banter. In the commercial Dunkin’ is promoting their new ‘Ice Spice’ pumpkin drink, that uses their original pumpkin spice munchkins in the drink. Ben Affleck says that just anyone with a fanbase can have a drink named after them; however, Ice Spice refutes this claim, as her fan base is referred to the as ‘Munchkins’ (just like the little donut holes themselves). By arising the argument that this partnership makes no sense, Dunkin’ is adversely able to explain just exactly why this does make sense.

I personally thought this was a great advertisement because I thought it was very clever. This target younger audiences, like myself, as they are the typical demographic of Ice Spice fans (however it targets all Ice Spice fans as well). This commercial definitely worked with me. Although I saw it on TikTok and not the television, I made sure to take a trip to Dunkin’ just to try the ‘Ice Spice Munchkins’ drink (it was seasonal this past fall).

Miller Lite used this marketing campaign to enter a new target market for their beer. This campaign was their debut into the ‘light beer’ market, as the goal of the campaign served to depict that “real men” (as according to societal norms and stereotypes of the time) drink light beer. At the time there was a general misconception that light beer tasted poor. This advertisement and campaign as a whole went on to refute these biases by showcasing ‘masculine’-looking men drinking their beer and boasted that it tastes great. After the success of this campaign, the company began dominating the light beer market.

This campaign is one of the most successful Apple campaigns ever, as the series introduced commercials advertising the debate between Mac (an Apple laptop) and PC (a competing laptop). With the implementation of this marketing campaign, Apple generated a 42% increase in market share within the first year.

This advertisement sought to target the mass adult market. It displayed some of the Mac’s features without being overt and overly trying to ‘show off’ (while still telling the audience everything they need to know about this device). The features and benefits were explained in a relatable way to allow consumers to envision themselves using the product as they view it.

This advertisement serves as one of the most creative corporate apologies of all time. When KFC’ UK business ran out of chicken, they turned this catastrophe (a fried chicken fast-food chain, running out of chicken) into an ironic PR initiative. In response, KFC put out a full-page advertisement in the Metro (UK’s newspaper), rearranging the letter of the company name into an explicit, but funny response to the matter, FCK (depicted on an empty KFC chicken bucket). One can guess what this shorthand abbreviation may stand for.

This shows an instance of a successful story of turning things around in light of receiving bad press. The company showed great humility and brought humor to the unfortunate situation, while simultaneously acknowledging the disappointment brought to their customers.

KFC has a notable Effie Index, coming in at number two on the Restaurants & Foodservice list with 366 points. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This advertisement for women’s hair coloring product was so successful that some states decided to stop requiring women to denote their hair color on their driver’s license. Prior to this campaign Clairol found that only one in fifteen women were using artificial hair color, but eleven years later (after this campaign) that statistics became one in two women.

Instead of stiving to enhance blatant brand promotion, through seeing and knowing fellow consumers are using their product, Clairol focused on marketing on the opposite end of this spectrum. Instead, the company boasted that you don’t walk around and see other women wearing Clairol’s artificial hair color. Why? Well, because they had the perfect match for all hair colors! This helped the company convey that their product is highly effect, so effective one would not even know who uses it and who doesn’t.

Many marketing and advertising professionals refer to this campaign as the gold standard. This campaign was created to answer one question: how can a company change people’s perception about an entire group of people (not just a product)?

This was the challenge Volkswagen set out to solve, as Americans (at the time) were inclined to buy larger American manufactured vehicles. The majority of Americans refrained from buying small German cars, even fifteen years after the end of WWII. Instead of trying to convince the mass market of adult Americans to change their perception of Volkswagen, the company created this campaign to further agree with Americans’ perceptions. The company did not try to argue that they were something they were not, instead they fed into the target markets’ prior expectations. They did not change to suit customers’ current wants, accounting for the variable of change and demand shifts within the market.

This campaign debuted in Australia, and as most of you might be familiar with, it was when Coca-Cola released personalized bottle with 150 of the most popular names in Coke’s branded font. Further customization options have since been made available on Coke’s website due to the success of this campaign.

Although some consumers questioned the idea of making something temporary (a drink that one finishes and then throws away) personalized, others were excited to look for their name on store shelves. This was targeted at people of all ages (and especially great for those who could find a bottle with their name, and spelled correctly!). It introduced a very small change to the product’s label to produce a big surge in brand interest among consumers, and thus sales. I remember this marketing campaign growing up. I found it fun, my little brother even kept his Coke bottle as room décor for years!

The Coca- Cola brand has an Effie Index rank of nine in the Food & Beverages (non-Alcoholic) category with 92 points. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This advertising campaign shows the importance of design in marketing. It is a rather simple advertisements (just displaying imagery their athletic wear on a model, but when you open and close the magazine pages it appears as if the woman is exercising). This shows the significant role in space and surface as they impact the design and message of advertising, as this usage brought the advertisement to life.

This advertisement serviced to attract the younger women demographic, encouraging them to buy their athletic clothing. The campaign itself worked to spread the message that sports are a lifelong passion, opposed to just a temporary activity.

Burger King boasts flame-grilled burgers, opposed to frying their patties like their competitors. The company decided to poke fun at themselves through this marketing campaign by featuring print advertisements that showed Burger King locations that have gone up in flames. This is because Burger King is known as a restaurant with the most fires since their 1954 reopening.

This is targeted at their existing customers, as well as potential new customers, as it is making consumers aware that their burgers are grilled opposed to frying (even though this cooking method may be seemingly more dangerous, as their burgers are not the only thing be flame-grilled).  

Burger King has an Effie Index rank of third in the Restaurants & Foodservice category with a score of 326. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

Got Milk is a campaign I have organically seen throughout my life. The campaign was to combat declining milk (cows’ milk) sales. It was successful in accomplishing this goal, as milk sales in California rose 7% in just one year. California was the primary target market of this campaign, as milk sales began to decline, as consumers already knew milk was good for them, but did not care (in addition lactose-free and alternative milk options were gaining popularity).

This campaign did not target individuals who were already purchasing milk alternatives, or not drinking milk at all, it instead targeted those who were already customers. The add worked to increase milk sales among those already purchasing. This campaign and its success proved that companies do not always need to expand their target market, instead they can focus on creating increased appreciation for their product/service among existing customers.

This campaign received a Clio award (in Provo, 2024), which recognizes innovation and creative marketing. The advertisement features magazine pages with notes of goals, dreams, and advice from famous mainstream artists (rappers, actors, etc.), as well as ordinary students. The notes are written using Bic’s pen products and adorned with the individual’s signature.

This campaign targets younger audiences, particularly those still in school, who would have everyday use for Bic’s products and pens. It targets this market by uplifting them and displaying those messages written using their pens.

This campaign is seen in many magazine and print advertisements and has since become the company’s slogan. This campaign also included a television advertisement, where this now famous slogan was first used. Originally, Nike’s products were almost exclusively advertised towards marathon runners, but as a trend towards fitness among the mass consumer emerged, Nike saw this shift as an opportunity to out beat their primary competitor (Reebok).

This slogan was a great marketing strategy, as it was short, sweet, and memorable among consumers. It also captures how people feel when motivating themselves to exercise, while further encouraging to push their limits.

Nike sales were at $800 million in 1998 and by 1998 they exceeded $9.2 billion. Nike is ranked number three on the Effie Scale for “Hobbies, Leisure & Recreation, with a score of 16.

Nike holds an Effie Index rank of three in the Hobbies, Leisure, & Recreation category with 16 points. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This advertising campaign won a Clio award (Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver, 2024) for product innovation and usage. This campaign uses an organic event as a marketing initiative. After a baseball was hit into one of the screen panels displaying a Coors Light advertisement at a MLB game, it causes one of the panels to go dark. The panel light went dark in the top left corner of the image of a Coors Light can.

Within 48 hours, Coors Light turned this advertising flaw into an unofficial sports sponsorship. They launched a special edition can featuring the dark panel on the can. The black square was also added to existing Coors Light advertisements to quickly promote this new campaign. This campaign influenced Coors Light to become the beer of baseball, with $0 in players sponsorships and endorsements. The viral Lights Out can became an item of baseball memorabilia. The player who had the hit that cause this phenomenon was Shohei Ohtani from Japan, which resulted in Coors Light becoming the most sought-after beer in Japan.

This event targeted the masses; fans, viewers of both the MLB and Shohei Ohtani, and generated increased Coors Light sales across the globe.

This advertising campaign won a Clio award for a creative business transformation in operations (Milan, 2024). This campaign targeted young adults in Italy. It served to show them that bar work should not be overlooked, as it presents a great opportunity for individuals to master important life and work skills, like sales, customer service, team management, logistics, and verbal communication.

Advertisements for this campaign were placed on bar exit doors for workers and people to view. The company also created vests for maintenance workers to wear featuring this campaign. These advertisements include a QR code for people to scan to see how they can because a certified bar worker through Heineken’s program.  

To promote their new delivery service, McDelivery, McDonald’s released a series of billboards and bus stop signs that showcased select parts of their famous gold arches. As one walks down the streets of the city, passing various bus stops, they encounter individual pieces of the golden arches, creating a form of puzzle, showcasing the golden arches bouncing their way alongside you. This advertisement uses a clever use of color and a minimalist style to promote sales and brand recognition, on a diverse range of architectural designs and outdoor features.

This shows great utilization of their pre-established brand awareness, as McDonald’s didn’t even need to show their full logo on the posters for consumers to understand the message and recognize the brand. This campaign targeted the mass population, particularly those traveling home after work or a night out, reminding them that a delicious McDonald’s meal could await them if they chose to use their McDelivery services.

McDelivery is ranked number four on the Effie Index in the Delivery Services category, garnering 50 points. McDonald’s is ranked first on the Effie Index for Restaurants & Foodservice category, boasting a stee 744 points. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This advertisement took place during the 2015 Solar Eclipse in the UK. The advertisement was broadcasted on a digital billboard screen at various public locations in London, England and Edinburgh, Scottland. The video broadcast lasted roughly two hours and accumulated 20 million viewers. Oreo used data from the Royal Astronomical Society and TimeAndDate.com to create an unforgettable Oreo Eclipse, mirroring the exact movements of the solar eclipse. The video showed an Oreo covering the sun at the peak of the Eclipse when the sky went dark. At the end of the broadcast, Oreo reminded the crowd that “You won’t have to wait 11 years for the next one”.

This advertising campaign resulted in a 59% increase in sales the next week. Oreo is ranked number three on the Effie Index for Food & Beverages (non-Alcoholic), with 140 points. Effie Index ranks represent the most comprehensive global rankings of marketing effectiveness.  

This advertising campaign won a Clio award for experience and activation in product and services (New York, 2024). This campaign recognized the commitment of delivery workers, as the food delivery industry has expanded tremendously in recent years. This advertisement focused on the65,000 food delivery workers in New York. The campaign ran through the winter, as it is cold for food delivery workers. Many restaurants turn food delivery workers away from using their restrooms, and in 2022, those 65,000 New York food delivery workers made a cumulative 120 million steps.

Chick-fil-A created the Break Room to target this demographic by providing food delivery workers with a space to sit, rest, use the restroom, drink some water, and have a coffee for free. This campaign served to empathize with an underserved group of people to make them feel appreciated for the first time.

This initiative resulted in 1.8 billion media impressions, $10.5 million in earned media, and 600 plus media impressions for the company. In addition, it produced 99.9% positive brand sentiment.