We live in a society suffering from information overload. According to Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google, we create more information in two days than we created since the dawn of civilization up until 2003.

The result? Shorter attention spans. With around 3000 ad impressions a single person is subjected to on a daily basis, where do we focus our attention on? And for how long?

This led to the birth of the 3-5-7 Rule of digital marketing.You, as a digital marketer, have 3 seconds to grab an individual’s attention, you have 5 seconds to draw them in and if you can still hold the individual’s attention for 7 seconds, you have been successful. It is very likely that the individual will consume the content and be a potential lead.

So what do digital marketers do to stand out of the clutter and the thousands of ads a person sees every day?

They innovate and disrupt. As Ben Franklin summed it up, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” And so we set out to write about some truly remarkable digital marketing campaigns that have brought innovation to the fore and have disrupted the status quo to the delight of audiences and the market and to the discomfort of their competitors.

Ready to dive in? Here goes:

1) Nike – Just Do It and Better for It

There was a time when Nike’s shoes were bought exclusively by marathon runners. Although it had a cult-like status amongst marathoners, most people would go for a Reebok if they ever wanted to buy sports shoes.

In the late 1980s, the fitness craze gripped the nation and to cash in on this craze, the marketing guys at Wieden + Kennedy asked the employees of Nike to “go, just do it!” The tagline stuck and the campaign was born.

The slogan became something we all can relate to. It’s a call for us to push ourselves and to “just do it!” While sales of Nike were around $800 million in 1988, they climbed to more than $9.2 billion by 1998. Today, Nike is the number one manufacturer of sports footwear and apparel. With this simple message, Nike disrupted the market and pushed Reebok to second spot.

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In the beginning of 2016, Nike came out with a refreshing, and may we say disruptive, campaign titled “Better for It.”

The campaign acknowledges the average athlete’s insecurities and other obstacles on her way to self-improvement. The series features two sisters, Margot and Lily, who become involved in an unusual competition with each other. Lily is a workout star on social media, while Margot is a slacker and doesn’t exercise. Lily has no real friends and envies Margot’s social life. Margot envies Lily’s fit lifestyle and discipline.

The campaign is innovative and disruptive in that it totally relates and resonates with women who either see themselves as Lily or Margot. It is realistic and doesn’t sell products. According to Nike, “Better for It” is a “call to action to share, promote and embrace women’s fitness and sports….. Nike invites ….athletes to push themselves further….”

2) Dove – Campaign for Real Beauty (and Evolution)

A beauty product manufacturer attempting to change societal concepts about beauty is real disruption and Dove did just that with its brilliant campaigns called “Campaign for Real Beauty.” It elicited discussions on our perspective of what we consider as beautiful.

With huge billboards asking motorists to vote on photos of women as being “fat or fit,” or “wrinkled or wonderful,” it asked a lot of questions to the average individual about how they perceive beauty and should beauty be subject to preconceived notions that were passed down through ages.

Part of this campaign was “Evolution.” This spectacularly made video takes the viewer on a 60-second journey on how beauty is distorted and manipulated in this digital age. It shows how much work – from makeup, to Photoshopping – goes into making a model’s face ready for the billboard.

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It gives a strong message in the end that says “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.” The ad throws light on the physical and psychological problems faced by young girls and women in an attempt to look gorgeously beautiful just like the models on social and other media. It asks mothers to watch these videos along with their daughters and show them how the beauty that they see is different from the raw, natural beauty we are all endowed with.

3) Senador Volstead Beer

Senador Volstead is the name of a Spanish beer. The makers wanted to give it a curious name and they decided to name it after Senator Volstead who once prohibited the consumption of all alcohol in the 1920s. Apart from creating the mystique of selling and consuming beer in times of prohibition, the makers that included a special event to find the beer hidden in a books cabinet.

But what stood out was the website of the product. If you visit the site, you will find no mention of the product and will be surprised to see that the website is selling cute little teddy bears!

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After a few curious seconds, the site tells you how to open what you are actually looking for.

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After resizing the page, you find what you came for. If you make an online purchase, the delivery is also made in teddy bear boxes! Now that is innovation.

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To hide your main website in plain sight is a courageous thing to do and in this age where people have such a short attention time this could prove fatal.

Mind you, most people will not get the message at first as to what they need to do to look at the actual website. Most people will manually try to “pull” at the edges in an attempt to open the actual website. Resizing the webpage might not be the first thing on their minds.

This subtle use of technology could have hampered the chances of the brand. Instead, people loved the challenge and once the site opened, there was a sense of triumph. Soon, the brand caught up and is gaining ground.

4) Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

If the guys over at Wieden and Kennedy are to be believed, they had only a couple of days to come up with an idea for this campaign. And boy, did they come up with an idea! This campaign that debuted in early 2010, has achieved a sort of legendary status in the field of marketing.

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With more than 50 million views, this ad literally defined the term “viral.” Former NFL star-turned-actor Isaiah Mustafa became the “Old Spice Guy.” Weiden + Kennedy did not stop there.

After two days, when the ad had started garnering comments from fans, they made 186 interactive videos where Mustafa answered comments through short, personalized videos. These videos helped Old Spice garner close to 11 million views, around 29,000 Facebook fans and 58,000 Twitter followers.

The campaign had to be designed to speak to women without alienating their core audience – the men. Men’s body wash wasn’t a particularly popular thing as most men used their wife’s or girlfriend’s body wash. This was not good for Old Spice Body Wash sales and the company had to do something radical.

The campaign received the 2010 Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Commercial.

Marketers have realized that brand recall can be achieved with creative and “non-salesy” campaigns as well and the power of social media can lift any good campaign and spread it like wildfire.

Red Bull Stratos is another such example of how a brand associated with a daring, record-setting activity by sponsoring it and became an indispensable part of it. Even today, people recall Felix Baumgartner’s stunt project as Red Bull Stratos, instead of just Stratos.

Do you know of more such awe-inspiring, innovative and disruptive campaigns that have questioned the status quo? Tell us about them.

About the Author: Avinash Nair is a digital marketer at E2M, India’s premium digital marketing agency. He specializes in SEO and Content Marketing services. You can find him on Twitter: @AviNair52

 

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