We’re discussing some of the most influential marketing campaigns for July, in our opinion, and are there some good ones!
Big businesses often don’t get a lot of attention from DGT, as we’re committed to raising up and celebrating small businesses. YET, this month we are witnessing a battle of Titans. From virtue signalling coming from some of the UK’s top brands to the real and heart-warming campaigns that spread awareness and influence, to turning adversity into life-changing action: this month we’re bringing you the seen and not so seen in UK Marketing.
As ever folks, we love to hear what campaigns you’re loving and hating so if there’s something you see that you think we should be bringing to the world’s attention then let us know, we’d love to hear from you!
Amidst the worsening living crisis, the need for companies to put profits to the side for just a minute is crucial. Tesco has decided to remove Heinz Baked Beans and Ketchup from their shelves. Due to the ‘unjustifiable’ price increase of the product, Tesco believes it has no right to stock the items in solidarity with customers during this period of financial uncertainty.
This quasi-political stance Tesco has taken could be a great move in showing to the world its brand values, in this case- fair prices and accessibility for customers. This isn’t the first time Tesco has taken a stance against a company increasing its prices for family favourite items. In 2016, Tesco removed Unilever items such as Marmite from its shelves due to price increases, doing wonders for its public appraisal and thus quite an influential marketing campaign.
Instances such as this are gold dust for short term marketing and publicity, with Tesco’s actions creating a stand and statement that they’re not around just to increase footfall but to make an important statement. Whilst the cynic in many of us might wince a little at big business standing up for the everyday consumer, it serves to show Tesco’s dedication to promoting a good quality of living for its customers and strengthen how trustworthy the brand is – in addition Tesco’s actions show an exemplar of the importance of large brands taking a stand against corporations and putting the needs of customers (regular people!) first.
On June 28th, 2022, Deborah James, or as many on social media may know her- Bowel Babe, came to the end of her journey battling bowel cancer.
The inspirational journalist lobbied throughout her 2016 diagnosis to have bowel cancer symptoms promoted on toilet roll packaging.
Deborah’s legacy will be honoured by Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons and more, as these businesses have announced they will be adding bowel cancer symptoms to their toilet roll packaging. Some stores have also announced they will promote informative posters for symptoms and how/when to get help. Both of these elements focus on becoming influential marketing campaigns for social causes- known as Social Campaigns or Health Campaigns.
Tesco has pledged a further £300,000 donation to the #bowelbabefund.
Big businesses choosing to participate in such important events, rather than turn a blind eye, show how influential using one’s platform can be.
From a marketing perspective, we often call this type of marketing news jacking, but in this case we’ll hold our hands up and salute the brands that have chosen to take actions inspired by Deborah. Involvement in large news events and public celebration of important people like Bowel Babe and important causes goes to help brands build and ground their values beyond image-based vanity, towards the collective importance of community and trust.
Deborah raised more than £7 million, during the past few years, for cancer research and treatments. She was an exceptional woman, and her legacy will live on to help ‘more Deborah’s.
We’ve always love BrewDog’s slight left field marketing, and this is no exception. Many people start to anticipate preparing their summer body during the late winter and spring. Meal prepping is a huge trend right now to promote healthy eating, alongside gym culture on platforms like TikTok, many are using social media to maintain a healthy and encouraging presence for audiences. But BrewDog, well, they have decided to take another approach to getting prepped for summer. It is a meal prep, of sort.
BrewDog’s #getprepped Twitter campaign is promoting stocked fridges of BrewDog products, interacting with fans of the brand.
Hilariously, the brand is rating such fridges, a la ‘Rate my Meal Deal’, with commentary on what customers may do better or even slyly promoting new or popular beers. BrewDog by using this campaign can also gather data on which products are popular at the time or see what audiences are interested in for future promotions/advertising/campaigns.
For example, are a lot of customers stocking up for a football match? Are they stocking to watch the wrestling? Or a BBQ? This fun, simple, and low-effort campaign has amazing engagement, allows outreach to new audiences and is able to do some sneaky-not-so-innocent market research too. Very strategic, BrewDog!
The approach is rather tongue in cheek, perfect for the brand. A casual call to action with #getprepped has gathered a number of interesting assortments of customer fridges but BrewDog hasn’t let their image control their criticisms. With some fridges garnering 8 or 9/10, the 4/10’s have something to aspire to! BrewDog work best by being cheeky and their audience surely are appreciating it.
It’s not summer without a group of fresh new singles, looking for love… or major brand deal. The people on and behind Love Island are often Master of Marketing, the show lives and thrives on free promotion through its audience’s social media conversations surrounding it, meme culture and merchandise/clothing to look just like the contestants!
However, this year, Love Island’s sponsor is no other than eBay! Love Island has promoted fast fashion for over half a decade and have decided this summer to switch it up.
ITV/Love Island are making a conscientious stand against fast fashion (or perhaps the backlash of its constant fast fashion endorsement) by working with eBay to promote the platforms used clothing.
Charity shops, full of dead people’s clothes right? Looked down upon to shop in? Not anymore. The stigma around shopping and wearing used has been broken down significantly in recent years. This is attributed to both environmental and sustainability factors and the rise of ‘thrifting’, and the more slightly sinister obsession with reselling.
BUT! There is often so many new and unworn clothes donated, that charity shop shopping has become a failsafe way to find trendy and affordable pieces, that saves them from going to landfills. Buying pre-loved items fashionably reduces waste, is environmentally friendly and, for the time being, economically friendly!
The sponsorship, in our humble opinion, is quite an ingenious and influential marketing campaign. Using beautiful people, who will almost-certainly go on to become influencers and/or work with large fast fashion companies, to promote environmentally conscious shopping could be incredibly influential.
Regardless of Love Island’s motive for this sponsorship, it’s an amazing use of their platform, and will surely be a very influential campaign. An environmentally and financially conscious campaign is a fabulous example of how large brands/companies can endorse important movements, whilst still retaining and entertaining large audiences and being more mindful of their potential influence on such audiences.
Hopefully, this collaboration will encourage influencers to be more environmentally and socially conscious with their platform.
Now, a bit of fun!
The 4th chapter of Netflix hit ‘Stranger Things’ concludes on July 1st. For many fans, the music is the stellar component of the show. Music is so important to many people, and we incorporate it in so many ways in our daily lives. Spotify often has incredibly influential marketing campaigns, their yearly round-up is often the highlight of December!
Knowing this, Spotify has collaborated with Stranger Things to get fans interacting with the show.
The ‘Upside Down’ playlist feature shows listeners a unique and personal collection of tunes to help save them from this season’s Big Bad. It also helps super fans live their best Stranger Things character fantasy! Whilst both Spotify and Netflix are no stranger (things) to collaboration this cult combination is a great way for both brands to build longevity from and find new cross over audiences.
What is your number one song to save you from Vecna’s Curse?
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Posted by Luke on Wednesday 20th July 2022
