If you talk about the digital landscape just a couple of years back, it would only take a few quality videos and well-placed ads to conduct a successful digital marketing campaign. As long as you had a promising social media component, you were good to go.

However, things have changed in 2021. The customer expectations are higher today. They expect authenticity and transparency They also expect a touch of personalization. On top of that, the global pandemic has completely changed the scenario.

10 of the best digital marketing campaigns

In the middle of so much change, here is some inspiration for you from 10 of the best digital marketing campaigns from the past. You may even recognize some. Here they are…

Sephora

In the pandemic era, most physical businesses are having a hard time with their marketing. Sephora, however, is the one brand that consistently maintained a healthy development by combining offline retail with a digital experience. They did that by creating an app that used augmented reality and artificial intelligence. The app allowed users to try the makeup products of their choice offline without having to visit the store.

In the middle of COVID-19, this strategy proved to be a lifesaver for the company. As physical shopping was banned, it allowed buyers to stay connected with their favorite brand via the app. They could shop via their e-commerce site while also trying on the make-up virtually.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell is an iconic brand that is already big on social media presence. But, the company also created a winning mobile campaign by creating an app. The idea was to allow taco lovers to satiate their cravings by allowing them to order their favorite items via the app.

The ordering app works seamlessly with mobile devices. And, on the very first of the launch, it received over 3,00, 000 downloads. It just goes to show the taco fever among people.

The Shelter Pet Project

In collaboration with Facebook, The Shelter Pet Project works for helping millions of animals without a home, get shelter. Their goal is to protect vulnerable pets from being euthanized just because they don’t have a home. And, they won’t stop until the number of cases of animal cruelty reaches zero.

They ran a campaign by the name of ‘Local Legends’. The campaign basically highlighted the animals up for adoption. This collaboration with Facebook was so memorable that it spread a lot of awareness. It incorporated Facebook ads along with two videos to create the maximum impact.

Oreo

Oreo is always keeping up with the latest trends and happenings; that’s part of the reason why their social media presence has been so hot. During the power outage of the 2013 Super Bowl, the company came up with their famous tweet ‘you can still dunk in the dark’. The tweet was well-received and retweeted countless times within minutes.

Oreo’s fun approach combined with cultural relevance is part of their successful social media campaigns. Take a look at their Wonderfilled campaign to get a better idea.

Always

In partnership with TED, Always created a bunch of educational videos that taught young women and girls how to develop a sense of confidence; especially during tough times. The videos were to be shared with students and teachers worldwide. It was the “Like a Girl” campaign.

The grand unveiling of a rather emotional video happened at the Always Confidence Summit 2014. Since then the company has consistently put out short and inspirational messages accompanied with the hashtag #LikeAGirl.

Tesla

Despite being a relatively young brand, Tesla enjoys a successful social media presence. They would only tweet 4-6 times a month, but they always share something intriguing and meaningful. Their tweets connect with people who don’t even want to buy a car.

That’s partly because of the company’s CEO Elon Musk’s active Twitter presence. His tweets don’t revolve around incentives or product declarations. Instead, he shows a more transparent and human side to establish a personal connection with his followers.

Another element of their social media success is the regular live stream events they conduct. Their live streams are shared like crazy by people.

Kate Spade

Every time there’s a big sale happening, Kate Spade would create a sense of urgency via their email marketing campaigns to get the subscribers shopping.

The company creatively exploits the element of ‘FOMO’ via newsletters. This is an excellent strategy for brands to ‘sell their sales’.

Lyft

The rideshare firm wisely decided to put the love of their customers to work in favor of their marketing department via their ‘referral program’. Lyft used word-of-mouth marketing. Their successful marketing campaign was based on the fact that over 80% of people would buy a service/product that came as a suggestion from family or friends.

The company would offer discounts and even free rides to the brand advocates who share referral codes with friends and family. Many other brands, since then have followed the suit.

Pedigree

A large population suffers from depression; something that dogs can help with. Pedigree, the dog food brand understands the kind of effect dogs can have on their owners. And, they beautifully incorporated that message in their ‘Bring It Back’ short animated story.

By incorporating the element of hope, life, love, and happiness; the campaign was able to raise a ton of awareness on depression and how dogs and other pets can help people through tough times.

Nike

In 2019, Nike came up with its Dream Crazy campaign which featured sportswomen from around the globe. For instance, it featured Serena Williams, the snowboarder Chloe Kim, and Ibtihaj Muhammad (the first woman Olympic fencer to have worn a hijab during Olympics). The idea behind the campaign was to encourage women everywhere to ‘dream crazy’.

By featuring these remarkable and well-known women from the world of sports (which went well with the company’s image), Nike was able to tap into some of the rawest emotions. The campaign proved to be a huge success which is evident from the fact that it scored more than 6 million views on YouTube and more than 9 million on Twitter.

The bottom line on the best digital marketing campaigns

Surely all of these brands must have made a ton of mistakes before ‘getting it right’. That’s one lesson everyone marketer should take. It’s to keep going, implementing the best content marketing strategies and tactics and keep learning until they get it right.

This guest blog post was written by Mike Khorev who is a business to business (B2B) and software as a service (SaaS) marketing consultant who helps companies generate more leads and grow revenue online. He has 10 years of experience in developing and executing performance-based digital marketing strategies. Connect with him on LinkedIn.