Year in Search|Google

Another powerful example of a brand using data to drive creativity is Google’s ‘Year in Search’ campaign. Much like Spotify’s data-fueled creative effort, the stars of the search giant’s annual campaign were its users.

Google creatively put insights into action, exploring the emotional story at the heart of every search term that dominated 2016.

Honing in on everything that made that year particularly memorable, including its most shocking news stories from Brexit and Trump’s election to Syria and the Orlando shooting, Google managed to turn the widespread perception of 2016 as a year of disproportionate lows on its head to spread a message of hope, ending with the words: “Love is out there. Search on.”

Aptly highlighting how Google is not just a search engine for the world at large, but a source of learning where people turn for answers, the campaign was a clever play on emotions that once again proved its dominant influence over the online world.

“From Powerball numbers to Olympic champions, whether making dessert or becoming a mannequin, this year affected us all in different ways.” says Ben Gomes, VP Search.

“Through all the highs and lows, people came to Search to learn more and understand.”

Ref:

• https://www.google.com/intl/en-GB/trends/2016records/
• https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2016/GLOBAL/
• http://google.com/2016 | #YearInSearch

C R E D I T S: Brexit - Ruptly Trump & Hillary Supporters - Associated Press (AP) US Election map: ABC BLM Protesters - AP Dallas PD Vigil - Ruptly Dallas PD memorial - ITN News Source Orlando PD - Steven Fernandez Aleppo Wall - Russia Insider Omran Daqneesh - AP Refugees welcome - Shay Murphy Justin Trudeau at pride - Canadian Press Hillary Clinton @ DNC - CNN Doaa Elghobashy @ Olympics - AP Simone Biles performance - USA Gymnastics Prince with guitar - Richard E. Aaaron Special thanks to www.alicenter.org/ Ali with mic - AP Bowie with Lighting Bolt - Duffy Archive & Bowie Archive Aziz Ansari w/ Lighting - Photo by Crackerfarm/Under The Table Additional Lighting Makeup shot - Dade Freeman Bear and Deer - JukinMedia Secret Life of Pets available on Google Play Zianna Speaks to City Council - CNN Refugees at Sea - Vice News Border embrace - ITN/Reuters Dallas Protest - Dallas Morning News

Penny the Pirate| OPSM

The first children’s story that’s also an eye test

Another powerful campaign consistently noted for its originality, Penny the Pirate has won 35 major international and national awards and was named the world’s best marketing campaign of 2016 in the annual Warc rankings.

Based on the discovery that “one in six kids have a vision problem and for many it’s undetected”, research uncovered by Saatchi & Saatchi revealed the reasons behind this statistic amounted to children’s’ fear of optometrists or the fact that many live in remote areas, far from reach.

To tackle this issue, the idea for Penny the Pirate was born, leading to the world’s first medical tool that tests children’s eye health as you read to them. Made available for free as a book and interactive app, this innovative campaign not only helped to address the growing issue at its core, but successfully positioned OPSM as a global brand committed to eye health.

On track to providing 300,000 children with an eye test, Penny has reportedly led to a huge increase in children’s’ eyewear sales.

Melinda Spencer, VP of Marketing for OPSM says: “We passionately wanted to create a useful tool that helps time poor parents to screen their children’s vision from the comfort of their own home, either through the book or through the app in a fun way and are overjoyed that it has been recognised internationally.”

Saatchi &Saatchi commented:

One in six kids have a vision problem and for many it’s undetected. This is because children don’t like coming into scary optometrists, or they live in remote areas, far from reach. As a brand that’s committed to eye health across Australia and New Zealand, eyecare provider OPSM needed to address this growing issue.

We took the eye test to children by creating Penny the Pirate, available for free as a book and interactive app, it’s the first medical tool to test children’s eye health as you a read a story to them. There wasn’t a standard eye screening tool for children, so we had to start from scratch.

We collaborated with illustrator/author Kevin Waldron, and the Department of Vision Sciences at Melbourne University, to identify three critical tests that would detect the most common vision problems for children, and then integrated them into a story. This resulted in a Therapeutic Goods Administration approved screening tool in the form of an interactive storybook. When books were finished with, parents could share their copy via a “Pass It On” program.

OneSight, a not-for-profit organization, is also using Penny to reach children across remote regions of Australia, helping them test more eyes than ever, because it’s more efficient, accurate and engaging than previous methods.

Penny is on track to give 300,000 children an eye test, which has already seen a huge increase in kids eyewear sales since launch. The app has also reached number one Health & Fitness App in the App Store

Thanks 2016, It’s been weird.|Spotify

Spotify: Thanks 2016, It’s been weird.

Spotify’s largest ever campaign push which launched in November 2016 and spread across 14 markets worldwide is a perfect example of how data can drive creativity in marketing.

Led by its in-house creative team, this innovative, global campaign was 100% fueled by insights.

Relying on data based on their users’ behaviors, the Spotify team used the information they collected to speak directly to their consumers in the most personalized way possible, creatively using listener habits to reflect popular culture.

Successfully placing a humorous spin on the ‘weird’ highlights of the previous year, the campaign proved the power that lies in creative marketing based on audience insights alone.

“There has been some debate about whether big data is muting creativity in marketing, but we have turned that on its head,” says Spotify’s chief marketing officer, Seth Farbman.

“For us, data inspires and gives an insight into the emotion that people are expressing.”

Streaming service Spotify has become the first big brand to mark the passing of 2016, a full five weeks before the calendar changes, by launching ‘Thanks 2016, It’s been Weird’ across 14 territories - its biggest global campaign to date.

The data-driven outdoor campaign will seek to draw a line under the year which gave us Brexit, Trump and a string of celebrity deaths from David Bowie to Alan Rickman by publishing localised facts and figures on billboards.

In the UK for instance, a poster reads “Dear 3,749 people who streamed ‘It's The End Of The World As We Know It’ the day of the Brexit Vote. Hang in There”. Across the pond meanwhile a similar execution displays: “Dear person who made a playlist called: 'One Night Stand With Jeb Bush Like He's a Bond Girl in a European Casino.' We have so many questions.”

Developed by Spotify’s own in-house creative team based in New York, the campaign brings insight from its regional teams to bear to generate localized copy.

Launched in the UK, US, France and Denmark yesterday (28 November) the campaign will now roll out to a further ten markets including Australia, Brazil, Germany and Sweden. Over the run up to Christmas the campaign will extend to include emails to customers on their own Spotify usage as well as digital and social ads.

Brand Engagement

How to stay professional, but still create a personal connection to express your appreciation to B2B clients ?

Challenging isn't it ?

The key word here is Having an Attitude of Gratitude, and following will help :

1) Send a Handwritten Note
2) Invite Your Client to an Industry Event
3) Send a Personalized Gift
4) Make Them Laugh
5) Help Them Learn Something New
6) Pay It Forward with a Great Book
7) Reward the Socially Savvy
8) Remember Your Long Distance Relationships
9) Offer an Upgrade
10) Refer Customers

The Art Institute of Chicago and Airbnb

Have you even dreamed of walking into one of your favorite paintings? How about staying the night? In this creative campaign to generate publicity for the Art Institute of Chicago's Van Gogh exhibit in 2016, Art Institute of Chicago partnered with Airbnb to create a unique, immersive experience for art lovers.

MILKA - LAST SQUARE

Would you buy a chocolate bar with the last square missing? 

Well, Buzzman Paris has created a new campaign where it is putting the generosity of Europe to the test. They've taken the last square from over 13 Million Milka Chocolate bars and are giving people the chance to claim their square back or give it to someone else. 

To bring life to Milka's brand promise (dare to be tender), Buzzman decided to use the chocolate bar itself as the main media of the campaign. All people need to do is simply pick up a Milka bar and connect through their smartphone, tablet or pc to visit www.LeDernierCarre.fr.There, they'll be able to choose what to do with their last square. 

If they decide to be tender and send their last square to someone they'll be able to accompany it with a tender personalized message. 

The campaign has been a year in the making, taking Buzzman and Milka a whole year to change the entire chocolate bar manufacturing process. Buzzman and Milka created a unique mould that allowed for the creation of 13 million chocolate bars for France and Germany with the famous square missing. 

The tablets will be available in all the participating stores for a whole month starting September 2013. 

Nivea Kids Sunscreen

Marc Jacobs| #CastMeMarc

Want to find fresh talent and build brand awareness at the same time? That's exactly what Marc Jacobs did when he sought out to find the face of his new contemporary label. For the chance to star in the fashion icon's next campaign, all you  had to do was share a photo of yourself on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #CastMeMarc.  Marc announced the winner of his online casting call from his personal Twitter page.

Airbnb| #treehousetuesdays

A great way to get people excited about your brand is to offer them the chance to experience something unique. With #treehousetuesday, Airbnb features photos of actual listings in their service that allow you to spend the night in a real-life tree house. Judging from the engagement on this photo, I'd say it's working well for them. 

Head any direction from this Washington state treehouse, and you’ll find something extraordinary to explore. A five-mile stroll north gets you to quaint village-within-the-city Fairhaven, find the majestic Skagit River Valley 20 minutes south, head east for the waterfalls of the North Cascades, or venture west to board a ferry to the San Juan Islands. #TreehouseTuesday Click the link in our bio to check out this listing's nature-inspired design. Photo cred: @moneal

A photo posted by Airbnb (@airbnb) on Apr 26, 2016 at 5:19pm PDT

Offbeat Bride| Altar Your Thinking

Offbeat Bride is a wedding website that brings high-quality content curation to social media -- pinning their own content and other useful content for their followers to explore.

Their Pinterest account is a must-follow for brides-to-be, providing ideas for engagement photos, wedding venues, dresses, and much more, along with some of the most creative wedding ideas you've ever seen.

While more of an every practice than a campaign, their sharing attracts a great deal of fan attention and interaction. 

Diesel| Road to Tokyo #forsuccessfulliving

To celebrate 30 years in Japan, this week, Diesel created a shoppable video that was shown ahead of its FW16 runway show in Tokyo.

The cinematic short, titled “Road to Tokyo,” follows several Diesel models around the capital as they prepare for their catwalk appearance.

In the film, icons appear over the models. Once clicked, these display the different items they are wearing. Users then have the option to save them to a personal “look book” or follow a link to buy on the Diesel store right there and then.

Part of its #forsuccessfulliving campaign, the video is unusual in that it aired ahead of the catwalk — meaning users had an earlier peek into the collection to “see-now-buy-now” before the press and attendees. This is a trend that’s featured heavily in New York Fashion Week.

Welcome to Tokyo Diesel style. Click on our bio to watch the full story. #fw16

A video posted by Diesel (@diesel) on Sep 6, 2016 at 5:03am PDT

Oreo|

Oreo found a great way to engage their fans by posting DIY content on Vine. Fast tips like these do very well on the platform and it gave Oreo a unique opportunity to engage with their fans and see how they engage with their product. 

Pepsi | #LiveForNow

This might be difficult for most companies to pull off unless you have a large enough budget to make room for these special effects. As part of Pepsi's #livefornow campaign, they created this incredible bus shelter in London that's designed to get funny reaction from people. This is one you really have to watch. 

Urban Decay | Get Electric. Festival Style.

Urban Decay built a social campaign on Pinterest where users could submit their best recreations of makeup styles that they've seen at their favorite music festivals. Throughout the campaign Urban Decay gave away free festival tickets to Pinterest users that created the best boards featuring festival looks. 

Essence | Justin Bieber Believe Tour Sponsorship

The European beauty brand Essence made the most of their sponsorship of Justin Bieber's Believe Tour by creating social media events around each show.

They gave away free products at shows and offered various sweepstakes that highlighted user-generated content as contest entries for free tickets and other prizes.

Not only did they generate a lot of interest in their own brand, but they helped build buzz around each of the shows on the tour. The campaign resulted in 263 million brand impressions, 82,615 brand expressions, and 35 percent of on-site activation through social.

National Geographic | My Nat Geo Covershot

National Geographic launched a Facebook contest where their fans had a chance to have their own photo featured on the cover of the magazine and win two tickets for a free vacation. All the fans had to do was upload their photos and caption it and they were automatically entered to win.

Honey Bunches of Oats | 50 Million Smiles and Counting

Honey Bunches of Oats ran a campaign with the tagline “50 Million Smiles and Counting,” during which they shared the testimonial videos, images, and quotes from fans they had "made smile" across the country in exchange for a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip. By sharing the user-submitted content across Facebook and Instagram, they were able to add 162,000 new fans (a 721% increase) and increase engagement and traffic to their pages.

Qdoba | Queso Bliss Showdown

Popular restaurant chain, Qdoba, created a campaign where their fans could vote for their favorite queso, deciding which one the company would keep and which one would have to go.

The best part about this social media campaign was that the Qdoba team updated the results in real-time, keeping everyone engaged, and building suspense around the showdown. 

TD Ameritrade | #itaddsup

With this campaign, TD Ameritrade was able to capitalize on the 2014 Winter Olympics hype by comparing the accumulation of small investments over time to the practice and preparation that athletes go through to compete.

An entire staff created for the campaign stayed in Sochi to document the athletes' journeys with photos, videos, and other content. The campaign resulted in 78,000+ uses of the campaign hashtag #itaddsup, a 12% increase in overall social audience, and 97 million brand impressions.

Biltwell | Fan Helmet Art

Biltwell sells motorcycling accessories and does a great job of keeping their fans engaged and passionate about their brand using their Facebook fan page. 

One way they do this is by sharing fan-shared helmet art on their timeline. Fans get their 15 minutes of fame and Biltwell gets to show off the awesome things people do with their products and "delight" their fans in the process.