Have you ever wondered what makes an advertising campaign successful; well, to be honest this question can have several answers; however, we can be sure that the most important advertising campaigns in history had one dominant commonality, innovation in their proposal.
Breaking standards, thinking outside the box, going against the grain; in any case, these companies took the initiative to propose something new and different. As a result of these ideas and campaigns, these brands left their mark on the history of the advertising world.
For all of the above reasons, we share with you our top 5 advertising campaigns that changed history in the industry.
Coca-Cola “Santa Claus”.
During the 1920s, Coca-Cola decided to bet on an advertising campaign that would change the perception of the product among consumers. The brand’s famous soft drink had high sales levels during the summer and during hot periods of the year; however, during the winter, sales decreased because consumers associated the brand with a beverage that was consumed only during hot periods.
In 1931, the Coca-Cola brand together with the artist Haddon Sundblom, presented to the world for the first time the image of Santa Claus, whose popularity has been so great that to this day is the representation par excellence of the character.
The goal of this campaign was to use the character as a kind of brand ambassador, promoting the drink as something that people could consume in any season, including winter.
This advertising campaign was so famous that it has positioned the brand as an exponent of advertising, and its product has become one of the best sellers around the world, fulfilling the goal of selling Coca-Cola at any time of the year. Undoubtedly, this campaign left a mark in history, not only for the brand but also for the world.
Nike “Just Do It”
“Just Do It” is undoubtedly one of the most popular slogans in the world of brands and advertising; this phrase helped Nike to position itself in the market as a sports brand that inspires strength, competitiveness, power and transparency.
In 1987 , advertisers Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, from the Wieden+Kennedy agency, decided to create a television campaign for Nike, which consisted of several commercials showing products for each type of sport. During the development of this campaign, Dan Wieden felt the need to use a phrase that would unite all these commercials with a common dominant that would inspire and represent the athletes, that’s how the famous phrase “Just Do It” was born.
Interestingly, the phrase that has inspired an entire industry has a somewhat different origin than we all imagine. In an interview, Dan Wieden confessed that his source of inspiration for the brand’s iconic phrase was thanks to the assassin Gary Gilmore whose last words were “Lets Do It!” addressed to the firing squad.
At the beginning of the campaign there were many doubts about the phrase, even the brand itself hesitated to use it because they found no need for it; however, Wieden insisted that without the phrase the different TV commercials would look somewhat distant. To everyone’s surprise, the results of this phrase were very well accepted by the audience, which motivated Nike to continue using the slogan.
For many, this phrase symbolizes a modus vivendi; a doctrine, not only for athletes, but also for the rest of the people in their daily lives. Undoubtedly, this phrase broke standards and has had a great impact that will prevail in the history of the brand.
Red Bull “Stratos Project
Adrenaline, energy and extreme sports have always been characteristic of the Red Bull brand; however, they took all this to another level when, in 2012, they announced their ambitious “Stratos” project.
This project, sponsored by Red Bull, consisted of taking skydiver Felix Baumgartner into the stratosphere by means of a helium-inflated balloon and then returning to earth in free fall. That’s right, we are talking about a free fall of 36,576 meters high.
As you can imagine, this project broke some records, among them are: The highest freefall in history and the most watched stream in history. This stream was broadcasted on the YouTube platform and obtained a total of 8 million simultaneous views; in addition, the stream was watched by 52 million users in 50 countries through 80 TV channels and several digital channels.
Red Bull began to use the material from the project as part of its advertising campaigns, even though at the beginning it was not intended as such. However, this project significantly increased the brand’s profits, obtaining earnings of more than 10 million dollars in media alone; moreover, during the first 6 months after the jump, a 7% increase in sales could be observed.
Undoubtedly, one of the advertising campaigns with a great media impact that not only helped to increase sales of the brand, but also positioned Red Bull as a brand that is not afraid of anything through an incredible campaign out of this planet.
Apple “think different”
In 1997 Apple was experiencing problems within the company, which led them to implement a new advertising campaign to improve sales. The advertising agency BBDO made a proposal for the new slogan of the brand which was “We’re Back“, which in Spanish is “Estamos de Vuelta”, this proposal did not seem at all to Steve Jobs, who at that time was returning to the company, because it did not make sense to him because they had not yet “returned”.
Dissatisfied with the proposal, Steve Jobs invited three different advertising agencies to come up with proposals more in line with his philosophy for Apple’s new campaign.
Among these guests was, he now creator of the famous phrase that saved apple Think Different, Chiat-Day’s art director, Craig Tanimoto.
The inspiration for this phrase can be interpreted as a response to IBM’s “Think” slogan. Originally the phrase was to be used for print advertising only; however, the advertising agency decided to make a video commercial to set the mood for the campaign and make more sense for print advertising.
Think Different gained a lot of popularity and was used in several TV commercials, print advertising until 2002. Apple not only conquered the world for its incredible technological proposal with the iPod, iPhone, Macs and iPads; but also for its great advertising proposal.
Volkswagen “Think Small
The Volkswagen Beetle or better known as the famous Volcho, has become a great icon in the history of cars, this little guy could conquer the hearts of many around the world. Besides being a great car accessible to all public and with a great automotive engineering. The success of this vehicle is mainly due to the great advertising campaign that the brand launched.
While the United States became a power and swept the automotive market with the “Muscle Cars“, Volkswagen was encouraged to reach the North American territory to market its newborn Beetle. The American market was not ready for a car like the one Volkswagen offered, as it was not up to the level of family cars, much less their sports cars.
In 1959, the German brand hired Helmut Krone and Julian Koenig, from the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency, to position the Beetle within the vast automotive competition in the United States, creating the headline of the “Think Small” campaign. What no one expected was that this would become one of the most important campaigns in history.
The idea was simple but brilliant. The proposal consisted of a minimalist black and white advertising, with a great use of negative space to highlight the vehicle and the great advantages of owning a small car, making use of different resources in its printed advertising such as small letters. This proposal was totally opposite to what the big car companies did to promote their vehicles.
Undoubtedly, this campaign broke with all the standards that were held at that time in the automotive advertising sector, which led it to become an icon of advertising and elected the best campaign of the twentieth century by Ad Age magazine in 1999.
What has been your favorite campaign in history? Tell us in the comments.
If you liked the article we invite you to check out the “10 examples of commercials we love“.
