Last year, I wrote a blog on the reactive marketing campaigns of 2019. It’s still top of Google searches for ‘Reactive Marketing Campaigns’. Louis Vuitton, Veuve Clicquot and MasterCard are a few of the companies that have read the blog. I’m delighted that the blog attracted such attention. So, this year’s edition has a lot to live up to!
And what a year we have had. 2020 saw many companies and individuals confined, thanks to a global pandemic. Yet, some companies delivered impressive marketing campaigns that made my list of ‘Best Reactive Marketing Campaigns 2020′.
Burger King at it Again
Burger King featured in last year’s blog and the fast-food giant features again, not once but twice. The first campaign encouraged customers to buy from their archrivals (see what I did there?): McDonald’s. Usually, any campaigns including McDonald’s is some type of trolling, but not this one. Due to a challenging year, the ad reminded consumers that food establishments were suffering too due to the pandemic. Burger King reinstates that a Whopper is always the best choice but a Big Mac or any other equivalent isn’t such a bad thing in these unprecedented times.
The second ad is along the same lines. Burger King encouraged consumers to shop local. They opened their Instagram account to small businesses across the UK to provide a place to advertise their products and service until they could reopen. You’d think encouraging people to go elsewhere would be detrimental to Burger King’s profits. But the company’s actions positioned it as a selfless, caring brand, which increased brand loyalty with its customers. Clever, eh?
Covid-19 and Reactive Marketing
Henri Vezina, Canadian Clothing Brand. Working from Home Collection
This next one engaged most of the population that have office jobs. Canadian Clothing brand, Henri Vezina launched their working from home clothing collection. There hasn’t been a need for people to sacrifice their comfort to look smart. With no in-person meetings and endless video calls, people only see from the waist up.
The Canadian fashion brand not only cut the cost of their business clothing in half, they quite literally cut the business clothing in half. Who needs suit trousers, anyway? Just keep your pyjama pants on, right? Just make sure you don’t stand up in front of the camera and keep that camera pointing at your upper half!
Black Mirror, 6th Season
Although not a Netflix or Black Mirror marketing campaign, this bus stop in Madrid created by a Madrid-based advertising agency, captures the essence of the show and how the next series could look. Black Mirror is an anthology series exploring a twisted, high-tech multiverse where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide. The campaign blew up on social media, and rightly so – it was brilliant! Netflix should have definitely asked for rights to use it. What we’ve lived through is unbelievable and it’s like we’re watching ourselves live out a supernatural movie or absurd TV show.
Aldi’s Reactive Marketing Brilliance
Aldi 30th Birthday Party
Here comes a fantastic Aldi entry to show how the use of reactive marketing on social media can generate amazing ‘noise’ for your brand. This particular campaign showed that by interacting with your competitors in a positive way, you can share some of that ‘noise’ for your brand.
Aldi started off the narrative by inviting some of its rivals to their 30th birthday party. This included the likes of Tesco, Lidl, Marks and Spencer and a few more. This tweet alone was retweeted and liked by thousands on Twitter. But what really made the tweet and conversation go viral was when more competitors such as Co-op joined in. Waitrose asked if it could bring John Lewis as its plus one. The more creative the brands got with their replies, the better for the response on Twitter. Sometimes, taking a risk pays off.
BrewDog & Aldi IPA
There have been more great campaigns and social media content of reactive marketing. Far too many to mention. What was your favourite reactive marketing campaign of 2020?