The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in the World

Citation

Stanaland, A.J.S. (2012), "The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in the World", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 393-394. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211247532

The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in the World: Mastering the Art of Customer Engagement provides a collection of practical and compelling digital marketing case studies that would provide value to practitioners and academics alike. The 25 case studies span a variety of industries ranging from consumer package goods, clothing, and food/beverage marketing, to entertainment and social marketing scenarios. Authors Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones also provide an introduction to the collection, justifying the value of cases as not only learning examples for marketing practitioners, but also as evidence for marketers trying to sell the benefits of digital marketing to their company boards. I would add to those an additional benefit of this book – as a learning tool for advertising and marketing students looking for applied examples of how digital is used in real‐world business and social situations.

Following the introduction is a section entitled “The rapid evolution of (digital) marketing,” which updates readers on how the digital world has changed in recent years, with an interesting summary of worldwide usage patterns that describes the shift toward social media. The authors explain that social media is becoming not only a means for socializing but also a platform to help consumers filter, interpret, and experience entertainment, news, and ultimately, brands. The authors also emphasize the rise of mobile internet access and the resulting rise in mobile commerce, recognizing that with advances in GPS technology, the rapid growth of location‐based marketing cannot be far away.

Each subsequent case study provides a concise description of a digital campaign organized under the following sections: “The challenge”, “Campaign budget”, “Target audience”, “Action”, “Results”, and “Lessons”. In most cases, this is followed by a visual creative example from the campaign, as well as details on the agencies and principals involved. The snapshot format of these summaries will allow the reader to see the highlights of multiple campaigns and multiple approaches. This book is not meant to be a “how‐to” manual – and in fact the level of detail provided would not allow for that – but rather I believe it is meant to offer innovative examples that will spark ideas among readers. Readers can thus glean ideas from a variety of tools and approaches.

Some case highlights:

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  “The truth about smart” – for a budget of only $120,000, Mercedes‐Benz sought to change consumer beliefs about a number of features related to its Smart ForTwo automobile. They targeted young, city‐dwelling couples via rich media advertising and a rich media microsite in an effort to increase interest in the vehicle by changing perceptions regarding interior and trunk space as well as safety. An interactive “quiz” on the site prompted visitors to test their knowledge of the car but more importantly allowed Mercedes‐Benz to correct that knowledge by giving potential customers the correct answers. In the first four months the site attracted over 270,000 visitors, leading to over 2,000 requests for more information about the car.

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  “Doritos Hotel 626” – a seasonal push to promote Halloween‐themed flavors of Doritos inspired the development of a live‐action gaming site to attract teen and young adult males. Supported by a $500,000 budget, 3D animation brought to life a “haunted hotel” that incorporated the visitor's own image into the game (via a webcam photo), combined with real‐time calls to mobile numbers to “blur the lines between the virtual world of the game and the real world.” The content went viral and attracted over 12 million visitors, but the real test? Within three weeks the Halloween flavors were sold out.

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  “The spoonful” – In an effort to reach mothers with young children, Kellogg's illustrates how a seemingly “old‐fashioned” technique, the email newsletter, is still relevant with the right target audience and the right content. To promote mother‐child interaction with the Rice Krispies product, The Spoonful newsletter provided seasonally‐appropriate activities to engage mothers and children with “fun and funky” ideas of how to use the product. The authors point out that “if you build a solid opt‐in email list and deliver regular content that adds real value for your customers, email is still one of the most effective marketing channels available, and is typically a fundamental component of a successful integrated marketing strategy” (p. 81).

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  “The best job in the world” – With an Australian $1,000,000 budget to play with, Tourism Queensland sought to improve international awareness of what the Great Barrier Reef has to offer. They targeted “global experience seekers” by offering a dream job as caretaker on a Great Barrier Reef island with duties including everyday tasks like collecting mail, along with serving as a reporter to social media. The six‐month position paid A$150,000 (including luxury accommodation), and was ultimately filled from a pool of over 34,000 applicants. The campaign garnered global media coverage, reached an audience in the billions, and drew over 8 million visits to the website. The media coverage alone was valued at over US$350 million.

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  The strength of this book is in its range. A wide variety of product categories, budgets, target markets, and goals translate into an innovative variety of campaigns devised to achieve those goals. Organizations use digital tools creatively to meet the “challenge” that they have identified at the beginning of each case. I especially like the “lessons” section which provided the authors' synthesis and insight into each case.

Whether a firm focuses on website analytics, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, email marketing, social media, or other digital marketing tools, the authors emphasize that “effective digital marketing is all about finding the blend of channels that work best for your particular business and your particular group of customers” (p. 23). The real‐world examples provided in this book brilliantly illustrate that very point.