It’s here…the second instalment of the DGT Loves blog, the only Marketing round up you need – highlighting all of our favourite authentic Marketing campaigns from October 2021. In this month’s edition we’re sharing some of favourite on and off screen campaigns – what we love about them and of course, what both Sales and Marketing can learn from these cracking examples.
Sage – Bossing it
We admit it – accounting platforms aren’t the sexiest topic for many of us, but they are a necessity for most and like it or not they’re pretty fundamental to our businesses. Making an accounting platform stand out then can be a tough ask, especially when you’ve got competition from the likes of Xero and Quickbooks (remember Quickbooks – that little tiny business team in your pocket – we loved those ads too). But qudos to stalwart of the sector for this authentic marketing campaign, Sage who have tapped into the entrepreneurial spirit with cross channel campaign “Bossing it”. The creative by Wunderman Thompson isn’t just punchy but quick, memorable and familiar enough to challenge some of the older stereotypes around Sage as an “old school” firm.
The campaign itself whilst you may see it across billboards, buses and more general out of home placements is more integrated than it might immediately appear, combining digital, social and radio. The radio placements see Sage and Radio-X focusing on celebrating small businesses and supporting the winners with free billboard advertising as well as business technology tools. Fresh, integrated and focused on the future we’d say Sage had definitely bossed it with this campaign.
Sage – Bossing it on social…
Authentic Sage Marketing
Sage Authentic Campaigns
Integration – 4/5
Positivity – 5/5
Shareability – 2/5
Sumup – Make your business Ooooofficial
We promise this isn’t all about accounting and payments – we do have a life! But we were struck by Sumup’s quirky Make your business Ooooofficial campaign from Wonderhood Studios. Much like Sage it’s a pretty tough gig to make taking card transactions a broadly appealing topic but Sumup have flipped the staid, stuffy approach opting to focus ooooooh factor from customers. It’s a different take on the traditional payment landscape and whilst we wouldn’t call it themost authentic marketing campaign we’ve ever seen it’s definitely got something different to offer.
In these quirky ads businesses showcase some of the common interactions they have, i.e. waiting for cash, customers that need to “just pop and get some cash” before the shock and ooooOO of being able to take cards – the result is a catchy, feel good set of ads from Sumup that make payment tech just that little more accessible.
<iframe width=”800″ height=”600″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/MpGiNsDTghc” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>
Visually Sumup have opted to represent the ooooOO in a different way and we’re not sure it has the same impact that the audio brings or without the connection to the traditional TV media which could see this campaign suffering a shorter than expected shelf life.
Whilst campaign continues within Sumup’s web estate we’re yet to see any sign of it featuring across Sumup’s professional LinkedIn presence – interestingly more personal social networks Facebook and Instagram do see a host of the new campaign ads. Is this a sign that SumUp are using the new, more familiar and potentially less “professional” campaign to tap into this market?
Sumup Facebook
Sumup LinkedIn
It’s an interesting choice to limit their Ooooofficial campaign to these channels and one that highlights a clear divide between fun and business – surely there’s a cross over or do we think that all professionals have no sense of humour? Either way we love how Sumup and spreading the message of accessibility in a quirky fun way and can only hope we see this disseminating into broader, braver channels shortly.
Humour – 4/5
Integration – 2/5
Longevity – 2/5
Technically this isn’t a campaign but we couldn’t let this slip through the net. Little known German homewares provider Hoagard won us over this month not with their digital or ad campaigns but with their packaging and messaging.
After spotting an ad (yes, we respond to them too) on social media one of our team recently bought one of their signs and when a little flat box arrived they were surprised to find a DIY bird house on the back.
Creative Marketing
Digging a little deeper it seems that Hoagard believe firmly in connecting with nature, expressed by them as:
DIY PRODUCT BOXES
Transform the boxes into pet houses
We give priority to quality and meaningful design. For this reason, Hoagard’s 50×50 cm boxes are home to birds, 70×100 cm boxes are home to cats. Instead of throwing the product boxes out, you can cut them off from the prints and join the pieces together to create a new house for our friends.
Memorable and unique, this little touch just got us right in the feels so we couldn’t make it through this Marketing blog with a little nod to the little touches and this authentic marketing campaign will certainly stay with us.
We can hardly have popped onto any of the social channels recently without reading the heartfelt and often tear jerking posts about #thisgirlisme. You wont find this authentic marketing “campaign” up for awards or citing creative directors but originates with Inspiring Girls International a not for profit dedicated to raising the aspirations of young girls around the world by connecting them with female role models.
If you haven’t seen these then firstly where have you been and secondly, to keep it brief, these are short, personal stories about individuals overcoming challenges both personal and societal to reach where they are today, like the one from Lavinia Thanapathy below:
This little girl is me.
She was happy and loud. She had curly hair in a country filled with straight haired girls.
Her mother had to go to school to tell them that her hair wasn’t permed. Then teachers told her to tie her up tight so the curls wouldn’t show. She learned from school that it was bad to be different.
Lucky for her, her parents were having none of it and allowed her to be everything she wanted to be. They always had her back and never held her back.
So she grew up to become a lawyer and then into a career in branding & communications and now into an entrepreneur. Along the way, she decided that it was important to volunteer her skills to enrich the community and so she did.
She was President of PrimeTime Business and Professional Women’s Association , Vice President at Singapore Council Of Women’s Organisations and the Founding Chair for Inspiring Girls Singapore.
This little girl now marches to the beat of her own drums. Curly hair and all.
Why am I telling you this? Because 70% of girls feel more confident about their futures after hearing from women role models. I encourage all the fabulous women in my network to participate in this campaign by Inspiring Girls International led by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez
Why – well as Lavinia points out about 70% of girls feel more confident about their futures after hearing from women role models – whilst this movement is specifically aimed at girls this simple heartfelt message and inspiring, positive nature is proof if we ever needed it that stories will always be one of our most powerful tools.
Shareability – 4/5
Inclusivity – 5/5
Integration – 2/5
Bravery – 5/5
If these or any other campaign have inspired you to trade in your existing Sales and Marketing campaign for something altogether more fresh, authentic and of course performing then get in touch, we’d love to hear about your plans and make them happen together.
Posted by Helen Brookes on Monday 11th October 2021
