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What is the best advertising campaign you have ever seen?
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11 Answers
Great question Bryan. I'm sure you'll get some great and widely varied answers, since great advertising is usually well-targeted.
I’m fascinated by advertising (good and bad) and have large mental catalogue of campaigns from which I could derive my answer. But I instantly thought of the 1998 TV ads for the launch of the New Volkswagen Beetle.
The ads themselves are beautifully produced, but more impressive than the production quality was the way they spoke to me as the target buyer. I was in my mid-20s. I had just paid off my undergraduate student loans. I was commuting across Seattle’s 520 bridge for work in the software industry. I enjoyed the work but HATED the traffic on that bridge. And I needed (or so I told myself) a more enjoyable commuting experience.
As the youngest of five siblings, I had heard lots of practical advice about car-buying. Specifically I knew the economics of buying new compared poorly to those of buying a well-maintained 2-3 year old car.
None of that advice mattered from the moment I saw this beautiful machine dance across my TV screen. These were pre-TiVo days, of course. Every visual element used in the ads (lighting, copy, use of color) seemed perfectly dial-tested to activate my salivary glands. To complete the subconscious manipulation, Volkswagen licensed music from two of my favorite bands: The Orb and Stereolab.
Resistance was futile. I was assimilated. But somehow I still felt like I would be "doing my own thing" if I bought that car (which, of course, I did). This may be the essence of what made that campaign brilliant.
Here are a couple of YouTube links I found. Thanks for the question - brought back some memories!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrCye2w10vE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_zpyW-Slc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=7NQHqOW9LFY&NR=1
Your business marketing strategy is the most important factor which determines the success or failure of your business. It doesn’t matter if you sell widgets from an office in your house, or run a multimillion dollar company. It is just that simple. Get it right and you flourish. Get it wrong and you go the way of many others who have failed before you. No matter what you do, the proper business marketing strategy essentials remain the same, only the application of them has to adapt to the needs of your particular business. Your business marketing strategy should affect every aspect of how you run your business. It is the heart and soul of a successful business.
Hands down the best one was from the "ROM" chocolate bar.
Here is the summary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKVqi9oxGY
It was the best reviving campaign of a brand i personally have ever seen.
The best advertising campaign I've ever seen was when the auto executives went to DC to talk about needing money. As they sat in front of congress, the Ford executive said 'We don't need any money. We're fine.' Now THAT's an advertising campaign. Just like that, they instilled confidence and a new look at their cars. They matched that statement with a new line of attractive cars. Their stock shot up as did their sales. Great!
The Molson Canadian I AM CANADIAN rants. Hee's a YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg and a link to the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Canadian. The brand defined a nation. Sadly, the brand was purchased by an American company and killed. But that's politics, not advertising.
In less than 90 minutes, you can go "inside baseball" by simply viewing this award winning documentary featuring some of the greatest ads and creative minds behind them: ART & COPY http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/.
SUMMARY: ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray, it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising's "creative revolution" of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them.
Contrary to popular belief (even among many ad professionals!), effective advertising is NOT just about grabbing attention. Or being funny. Or entertaining. Or moving. Or shocking. Or "creative." Or even "memorable"...
The fact is, you can be any or all the above and still have a crummy ad.
Bottom line, what really makes an ad work (that is, SELL something!) is its ability to DIFFERENTIATE its product/service from all the others. An effective ad quickly tells you what it's selling and it conveys that as one of a kind.
That's the real core of what gives power to classic campaigns like...
The Ultimate Driving Machine
It's the Real Thing -- Coke
Don't squeeze the Charmin
Got Milk?
Think Different
When you care enough to send the very best
Bounty, the quicker picker-upper
etc., etc...
Al Shultz
http://www.alshultz.com
The best ad campaigns (for me, because they were top of mind without using references and I can recall them easily)
Marlboro – Come to where the flavor is, Come to Marlboro country
Got Milk?
BMW – The Ultimate Driving Machine
Apple – Think different. I love the 1984 TVC
Remeber that everyone is chasing the same dollar so it pays to think different than everybody else, that is how history is made. By the way Think different was apple's campaign and now the are #1
Apple is #1 because their products are the best on the market & they have gained people's confidence world-wide. At this point, they probably wouldn't even need to advertise--but they do & their campaigns are at the top just like their products.
One of the reasons for this is again they "think different" & don't use the usual venues for their advertising. Instead they start weeks, months ahead of when a new computer, iphone or ipad is going to be introduced. The news media talks about it until the day of arrival & then there's a 24 hour line of people waiting to buy the new version of their product. They use the news for their advertising & that's more effective than anything else!
They build up the anticipation of the public to the point where people not only want it, but feel they need it...........can't be without it. This kind of advertising is as ingenious as what they produce!
My favorite campaigns of all time would be VW (obviously the Darth Vader commercial) and Corona. I love the funny and simple ways that Corona advertises. They don't overdo anything and it's always visually stimulating.
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