Article

Daniel Durandt
Daniel Durandt 18 March 2014
Categories Content

Incredible modern marketing campaigns

Some fine examples of uber clever marketing campaigns

Advertising can be an incredible avenue for creativity and inspiration, despite the suspicions of many. Stated broadly, advertising is merely trying to sell a product or service. It is also allowing potential customers to know that what they desire is out there; advertising also provides details on said product and service.

 

However, that is merely the strictest definition: marketing and advertising can allow for smart, artistic and creative avenues and projects to come to fruition. There have been many fine examples demonstrating just this fact.

 

Game of Thrones’ shadow dragon

The TV series Game of Thrones, based on the popular fantasy book series, used the image of a dragon to promote their third season. Dragons are of course easily associated with the fantasy genre – even those who know little about fantasy know dragons. For fans of the series, however, they knew the importance of dragons for the next season.

 

To promote the incredible nature of these large, fictional beasts, the marketing team decided to never portray the dragon itself but rather its shadow. Beginning with a typical full-page poster in magazines, the image was brilliantly transcribed into newspapers like the New York Times. Readers would open the page and see the same dragon’s shadow spread across an average two pages of news.

 

The dragon’s shadow didn’t stop there. The large HBO building in Los Angeles had, on its side, the same but now giant shadow perfectly recreated. It’s powerful, striking and beautiful. It was impossible to escape the reach of the show, as embodied in the dragon’s ubiquity.

 

Coca Cola’s Happiness Machine (and other campaigns)

Coca Cola’s genius has always been in its advertising rather than its fairly unhealthy product. One can appreciate the company’s ingenuity in spreading its brand without one loving the product itself. Having dominated everything from famous jingles to Santa Claus, Coca Cola has put their marketing brains in full throttle yearly to produce inspiring and beautiful campaigns, premised on what they call happiness.

 

For example, in 2010, the Happiness Machine transformed the idea of a vending machine and made it into a wonderful social experiment: What would people do if you kept giving them gifts or an excess of the things they ordered? Setting it up in a college campus, the machine began by giving several bottles of Coke out at once, despite the number of orders placed by the buyer. Faced with carrying many bottles, students ended up handing out their extra bottles to surrounding strangers; the Machine then gave out flowers, chocolates, pizzas and even balloon animals to the amazement and joy of its users.

 

By brilliantly showing people’s joy and making us strongly associate this surprised happiness with Coca-Cola, the campaign was a resounding success. And this is just one of the digital marketing campaigns the company has had.

 

Red Bull Stratos campaign reaches new heights

The space diving project by Red Bull was set to strike awe and wonder for those watching. Felix Baumgartner, a professional daredevil and skydiver, worked with scientists on a plummet from the stratosphere over New Mexico. This meant Baumgartner fell 39 kilometres, thus breaking a world record for the longest and highest freefall.

 

Though this wasn’t explicitly about Red Bull, the point was Red Bull’s name is now associated with an incredible and historical event.

 

These kinds of campaigns are the sorts spoken about with religious tones in marketing courses, but they should also be spoken about in art courses, too. Their creativity and brilliance should not be ignored merely because they are touting a product, since they are the conclusions of artistic genius.

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