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5 Companies with memorable advertising campaigns


Jodie Cormack - 20th June 2017 - 0 comments

Over the years there have been many great advertising and marketing campaigns which have resulted in brand awareness and brought in, as a result, huge amounts of revenue. We have compiled a list of the best campaigns which we thinks have had a significant amount of impact.

Dos Equis’ The Most Interesting Man in the World

Spanning nearly a decade, Dos Equis has made a name for itself through comedic branding. Often using hyperbole styled jokes such as “The Presidents take his birthday off” and “He once ran a marathon because it was ‘on the way’.” This style took off with audiences and kept the Dos Equis name in the mind of many consumers. It was a tv commercial that you would stick around to watch the first or second time that it came on.

A reason that this advertising campaign was so successful was down to the use of comedy (in an almost absurd way at certain points) and what the target demographics desire deep down was; to be the life of the party and to have all eyes on you. The most interesting man was able to corner this emotion in the market for a considerable amount of time with great success.

Volkswagen’s Think Small

Volkswagen’s Think Small advertising campaign is one of, if not the most recognisable advertisement to ever run in print. The simplicity of the artwork on the ad drew the consumer in and the descriptive text kept them there until the words ran out. A testament to just how great the ad was is that it first released in 1959 and companies are still talking about, trying to create the “next” version of it.

Volkswagen ran multiple versions of this ad and this style was morphed into their branding technique for years to come. The goal of the ad originally was just to build brand awareness of the vehicle, but in the end, it did so much more than that. The ad built a lifetime of brand loyalty all while being considered a minimalist ad. Volkswagen’s Think Small advertisement just goes to show that less is more sometimes.

Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

The goal of Old Spice’s newest campaign “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” was to target women who were in a relationship and to fantasise about their dream man. While they were fantasising, Old Spice did their best to replicate this image. They created a man who could be considered almost as suave as Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man”.

With a rapid-fire monologue that is as witty as they come, the main actor (Old Spice Man as he is dubbed) has the audience guessing after every single line. This is considered a great advertising campaign due to how memorable this character now is in the minds of users. The writing of the ad meshed with the objective is a great combination and is one that is hard to find in great advertising nowadays. Old Spice still uses a similar style for their current advertisements, but it is difficult to reach the immense popularity that they once had.

Melbourne Metro – Dumb Ways to Die

Any song that contains a clever melody and simple rhymes can get stuck in your head in a matter of one or two listens. This is exactly what Melbourne Metro’s Dumb Ways to Die commercial accomplishes; the song will be stuck in your head until the end of your day and could possibly wake you up in the morning. The video that goes along with this also includes clever (almost kid-friendly) characters all dancing and clapping after they have met their dumb way to die.

Near the end of the video and after describing so many dumb ways to die (including eating a tube of superglue) the singer narrows down the different fatalities all having to do with trains. The singer then says that this is the dumbest way to die, so maybe it is best to be safe while you’re around trains. The video has over 150,000,000 views on YouTube and doesn’t look to be stopping soon. It is one of the newer campaigns on this list, but it is sure one that will have you humming along by your second listen.

Atlanta Hawks’ Tinder Night

One of the odder instances of hopping on trends, the Atlanta Hawks used the dating app, “Tinder” as a way to promote a game of theirs. Fans were encouraged to “find their date” at the game and unsurprisingly, the Hawks saw a boost in tickets sold for the game. After the game concluded, the official Atlanta Hawks Twitter account tweeted different couples pictures after finding each other at the game.

Along with the social media use, the Atlanta Hawks had special lounges where dates could hit it off for the first time. Overall, the tinder night seemed to be a success and many fans wanted more events like this, no matter the sport. This is a great example of sports teams using trends and social media to help further their brand. The Atlanta Hawks eventually held a “Swipe Right Night 2.0” and it saw plenty of fans come out to the arena.

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