Photo credit: manofmany.com
Marketers dream of creating and launching a campaign that creates incredible media buzz. This year was a big year for digital marketing and there was no shortage of companies and creators that strived towards this ambitious goal.
At Pepper, we love great content which is why we always share with our team of virtual assistants the amazing marketing campaigns we find to help inspire them. As we prepare to say goodbye to another good year in marketing, we’ve rounded up some of the best Facebook marketing campaigns of 2016.
Knorr – Love at First Taste
There’s an old saying that goes, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Others believe that there is a long-standing link between food and romance.
Knorr has taken these two age-old elements and launched Love at First Taste. The campaign leveraged the connection between the idea of food and first dates. Unlike the brand’s previous campaigns, Love at First Taste took a storytelling approach with emotional connections that reminded its audiences some of the butterfly feelings during first dates.
Over the years, L’Oréal’s slogan, “Because you’re worth it,” has gone through some changes to adapt to our ever-evolving world. However, the brand remained consistent on its feminist stand in a largely male society.
The #WorthSaying campaign is the cosmetic brand’s latest campaign that is meant to inspire women to talk more about the things that are important to them. L’Oréal leveraged their sponsorship with the Golden Globes and the popularity of Jennifer Lopez to push the campaign. The big take away? Create a campaign around a movement that is relevant to your brand and meaningful for your audience!
Photo credit: beautyfashionfragrance.com
Buzzfeed – Tasty
Over the last couple of months, we saw a surge of videos on our Newsfeeds. With Facebook’s newest video auto-play feature, users can watch a video automatically as soon as they scroll on their screens.
Buzzfeed has leveraged this feature to a whole new level with Tasty, a page that focuses on videos showcasing delicious recipes that are fun to watch and easy to make. Since then, Tasty has earned over 75 million likes and resulted in the launch of the DIY page, Nifty.
This year, Disney and the Make-A-Wish Foundation partnered to raise funds and awareness for terminally ill children. They invited their audiences to share images of themselves wearing their Mickey Mouse Ears with the hashtag, #ShareYourEars.
Disney pledged a donation of $5 for each participant in the campaign with a cap of $1 million. Much to their surprise, they received an overwhelmingly large response that Disney doubled their original pledge!
Photo credit: snopes.com
Squatty Potty – The Unicorn Changed the Way I Poop
Small businesses have started dipping their toes in Facebook video marketing. In previous years, we saw brands like the Dollar Shave Club become widely successful through their entertaining videos on YouTube. This year, Squatty Potty caught our attention!
For their first video campaign, the small business took a huge risk by having a unicorn poop rainbow ice cream in the first shot. However, it intrigued the audience and became an internet sensation virtually overnight. Shortly after it launched, the video got over 40 million views on Facebook and 600% sales increase!
Virtual reality (VR) is one of the latest trends that are sweeping the marketing industry. For the Dali Museum, they have begun marketing the breathtaking masterpieces created by artist Salvador Dali through interactive platforms.
The Dreams of Dali campaign takes museum lovers, artists, and guests inside the famed artist’s mind. It allows people to see a painting the way the painter himself must have seen it in his mind as he worked. Not only is the VR experience available at the museum but people around the world can also explore the immersive environment through their five-minute 360-degree videos!
Proctor and Gamble India – Share the Load (Ariel)
Ariel was losing emotional equity and relevance with their customers. They needed a new marketing strategy to help them reestablish that fading relationship.
Research revealed that about 87% of Indian men considered laundry to be a woman’s job. After unearthing this fact, Ariel launched the “Share the Load” campaign to show that anyone can do laundry. They boldly asked, “Is laundry only a woman’s job?” The movement encouraged engagement between users on Facebook and even pushed the launching of the Wash Bucket Challenge which invited Indian men to share their selfies while doing their laundry!
Hotels.com – Silent Ads
Like Squatty Potty, Hotels.com took advantage of Facebook’s auto-play video feature. They shifted from traditional ads that are designed for television to incorporating subtitles so that viewers could watch without having to turn on the audio.
Through the Silent Ads campaign, Hotels.com was able to share promos, advertise their website, and even introduce themselves to a wider audience. One of the videos even had a sign language interpreter! In the campaign’s first three weeks, their Captain Obvious video was viewed over four million times and resulted in five times more engagement than Facebook’s average.
Loterias y Apuestas del Estado – Justino
The Spanish Christmas lottery is one of Spain’s most anticipated annual campaigns. It has been running for 250 years and is built on the foundations of sharing.
For the first time, an animated short film was launched to open the lottery season throughout all Spanish TV channels simultaneously. However, it did not end there. The campaign was heavily built on Facebook posts from Justino’s world. The campaign drove engagement with the Spanish audience through Justino’s Instagram and the Mannequins Factory Facebook page.
M.J. Bale – Unsuitable Journey
Australians travel further for business than any other nation. Thus, gentlemen clothing brand M.J. Bale decided to launch the Unsuitable Journey campaign.
They dressed up a model in Sydney for his photo shoot in London but with a twist. The model had to travel to nine countries on three continents through 10 different modes of transportation with no hotels non-stop for five days in only one suit. The result was a suit that was as pristine as the day he was dressed in Sydney! The brand reported that the PR reach totaled to 23.4 million, increased product search by 27%, and raised sales by 20% across 38 retail stores.
2016 has been a big year for video in Facebook campaigns and we believe that this will continue next year. Essentially, campaigns are created with the goal to boost not only sales and revenue but also customer engagement and widen your existing pool of audience. Take notes from this year’s incredible campaigns and be inspired to create an exciting one for your brand!
Have we missed any Facebook campaigns that you think deserves a mention? Share them with us in the comments! If you’d like to experience working with Pepper VA, you can avail of our free five-hour trial. Our team of virtual assistants is ready to work with you!
Check out the other parts of the Best Social Media Campaigns of 2016 series:
- Best Facebook Campaigns of 2016
- Best Twitter Campaigns of 2016
- Best YouTube Campaigns of 2016
- Best Instagram Campaigns of 2016
- Infographics Fridays: Best Social Media Campaigns of 2016
Pepper Virtual Assistants is a business solutions firm that specializes in virtual administrative and personal assistance, online marketing, customer support, and copywriting. We are known for reliability through our managed services, responsive client handling backed by extensive training, and rockstar virtual assistants hired for their skills and expertise.
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