5 Out-of-the-Box Digital Marketing Examples from 2018

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5 Out-of-the-Box Digital Marketing Examples from
2018 We are barely halfway through 2018 and
already there have been several digital marketing
examples that have raised the bar high. By
tapping into trends and sharing engaging stories
through multiple platforms, these out-of-the-box
marketing campaigns used a variety of themes and
styles to help organizations generate a lot of
buzz around their message, product, and
brand. With 61 percent of marketers citing their
top inbound marketing priority is to improve SEO
(search engine optimization) and grow their
organic presence according to HubSpots 2017
State of Inbound report, the digital marketing
campaigns need to drive engagement by evoking
emotions and capturing imagination of the target
audience. Why? Because impactful campaigns sway
customers when they are making purchase
decisions. To help you out, here we have aligned
five out-of-the-box digital marketing examples
from 2018 (thus far), so you cans see what
strategies they have used to influence the
users. 1. ABTA Jumps on the footselfie
Bandwagon to Lure Holidaymakers
Image Credit ContentWorks Last year, ABTA, a
renowned association of travel agents and tour
operations in the United Kingdom, launched a
campaign on Boxing Day to highlight why
vacationers should book with an ABTA member
throughout January.
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The campaign was named Travel with Confidence.
The digital marketing agency handling the
campaign tapped into the social media trend of
taking footselfies to show the wide array of
destinations from ABTA brands. Besides this,
they also promoted the hashtag beABTAsmart and
arranged a competition for social media users
which gave them the opportunity to win several
prizes. 2. Intuit Creates an Animated Movie to
Get its Idea Across
Image Credit Intuit Intuit that develops and
sells tax preparation, accounting, and financial
software to individuals and small businesses
launched a new brand campaign this year. The
first part of the campaign comprises a short
animated story of two business owners that was
showcased at the 2018 Super Bowl. The idea was
to bring all of Intuits brands together,
including Quickbooks, Mint, and TurboTax. Since
millions of people were using Intuits products,
but only four out of every thousand users were
leveraging two or more of them. So the brand took
the leap of faith and attempted to show the
audience that its products are best when used
together.
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To represent the power of its products, the
companys digital marketing agency created a
character of a giant robot in the animated
movie. The agency believed animation was the best
way to get Intuits idea across. The 15-second
teaser was run during the Super Bowl LII, driving
users back to the full film online. In addition,
the social media campaign of the brand featured a
Snapchat filter showcasing the Intuit Giant. The
robot was used as a symbol in the campaign
showcasing how the brands services harness
technology to make financial processes easy-peasy
for its users. The animated movie revolves around
Pete, a flower shop owner, who fails to find
time to enjoy his outside passions owing to his
frantic schedule and Pari, an engineer and
entrepreneur, who is keen to help him by creating
the Intuit Giant. Shedding light on the target
audience for the marketing campaign, the chief
marketing officer, Lucas Watson divulged there
are 750 million people around the globe that work
for themselves and manage their finances while
chasing their passions. Unfortunately, the
pressure of managing time and money sometimes
makes them feel as if the odds are stacked
against them. The campaign has worked wonders
for the brand so it will continue to use it
throughout the year. In fact, Intuit will work
on additional channels and executions to promote
its cohort of services. 3. Dollar Shave Club
Marks its Arrival in the UK with a Creative
Campaign
Image Credit CityAm Founded in 2011, Dollar
Shave Club was acquired by Unilever in 2016.
Lately, the razor subscription brand decided to
step into the UK market and to mark its arrival
the company used a creative social and
experiential campaign.
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Not only the Dollar Shave Club launched a pop-up
in Old Street station earlier in January to offer
passers-by free shaves, live comedy, and
foosball tournaments but also partnered with
several social influencers to create hype and
relevant content around the launch. This
partnership worked for the firm as it made the
heads turn. Sure, we are yet to see if the
Dollar Shave Clubs products make a strong impact
in the UK market. But, if you compare the hotly
anticipated marketing campaign of the brand with
the classic US version, youll come to know that
Dollar Shave Club is surely off to a good
start. 4. ESSC Launches a Thought-Provoking
Campaign to Encourage Social Change
Image Credit ESSC Easterseals Southern
California (ESSC) is an organization that assists
over 10,000 people with disabilities in
different parts of California. The organization
has recently launched a new thought-provoking ad
campaign that stars its own program recipients.
The title of the campaign was Changing the Way
to See Disability, and its aim was to encourage
social change and create inclusion. And to make
it work the marketers came up with a really
catchy slogan Celebrate. Dont Separate.
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Image Credit CelebrateDontSeparate According
to Mark Whitley, the President and CEO of ESSC,
when people unite as one, they can break down
barriers and create social change. He said that
each day people make sweeping statements about
people with disabilities and a lot of them dont
even realize what they are doing. So to aid
people look beyond what they see at first glance
ESSC has launched this movement so we can have a
more inclusive world. The campaign was rolled
out through many different channels, including
internet, print, and outdoor ads along with
Make the Promise social media campaign. The
idea behind launching the social media campaign
was to ask general people to promote the message
of inclusion and use the hashtag
CelebrateDontSeparate. To create a profound
impact, six California residents were used in the
first phase of the campaign along with two ESSC
recipients who met through the program and are
now engaged. The new campaign has greatly helped
ESSC in bringing the social change. 5. LinkedIn
Steps Up to Crush its White Collar Typecast
with New Campaign
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Image Credit YouTube The popular business
social network LinkedIn is looking to squash it's
white collar typecast and to realize its dream
the brand has released a TV spot titled In it
Together back in January during the 2018 Golden
Globe Awards show. This was something LinkedIn
has never done in the past. However, it certainly
makes sense since the brand is looking to
disentangle itself from its current perception.
The influential thing about the In it Together
campaign was the diverse range of businesses and
people that featured in it. The new campaign was
the first real integrated marketing effort by the
social network. Apart from the TV spot, the
marketing campaign also included a digital
display, online video, search engine marketing,
paid social media outdoor ads, partnerships,
podcasts, and radio spots. All in all, the
campaign lasted for 12 weeks and it targeted
four core markets Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Atlanta, and Philadelphia. The idea was to
compare LinkedIn activity in these cities with
other parts of the world that havent been
targeted to comprehend the results of the
campaign. The black-and-white, documentary-style
video showcased the success stories of LinkedIn
users in their own unique environments. While
explaining the impact of the campaign Stacy
Peralta, the campaign director, revealed in an
email to Adweek that she knew from the beginning
that this is one of those rare opportunities.
Because LinkedIn wanted her to share real
stories about real people and they wanted the
candor, energy, and enthusiasm of the people
involved. So her team found and documented
unique people who are using the platform. They
filmed new musicians, real-life cowboys, chefs,
MMA fighters, animators, and physics teachers.
All of them were not only using LinkedIn but are
keen to share its effect on their careers. Final
Thoughts
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Of course, the tried-and-tested elements of
advertising remain the same, but the unique thing
about all the aforementioned marketing campaigns
is the use of elements that produced emotions,
encouraged empathy and most of all humanizes the
brand. This tells digital marketing service
providers to explore various avenues in order to
find the best fit for their clients so they can
achieve desired results.