What were the best social media campaigns in 2013? From Oreo’s ‘Dunk in the Dark’ tweet at the Superbowl to Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy as a Dodge car salesman, there’s been plenty to choose from. Here are the top campaigns we published (based on traffic) this past year – and then one more for good luck.
1. Best of Valentine’s Day Social Media Campaigns: Remote Romeos, Sexy Peanuts, #LastMinuteLovers and More: A compilation of the best campaigns for Valentine’s Day 2013, including a very sexy Mr. Peanut app with video greetings; Pizza Hut’s #LastMinuteLovers Twitter giveaway; Epson’s funny Remote Romeo contest; Puff’s ‘virtual kisses’ for charity and #MacysGoesRed on Facebook and Pinterest to help fight heart disease in women. From funny to heartwarming, these brands crafted special messages around the holiday and used social media to engage consumers.
2. 8 Brands That Played In The Realtime Marketing Superbowl: Which Was Your Favorite?: The big game drew a record amount of tweets, but the highest velocity was during the power outage. Brands that were spontaneous and took advantage of the moment saw incredible results on social media, including Oreo, Tide, Audi, Volkswagen, nonprofit One, PBS, Walgreens and Calvin Klein. If the lights stay on this year, how will marketers make as much impact on social during the game?
Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013
3. Orabrush for Dogs: Orapup’s Viral Video Gets 4 Million Views: Already highly successful with viral videos for their human product, Orabrush responded to consumer demand with a product for pooches, naturally accompanied by its own viral video campaign. The videos – featuring dogs getting into stinky, gross items (baby diapers, anyone?) and then licking up Orabrush’s bad-breath killing “secret sauce” – garnered serious traffic and led to a huge amount of pre-orders. And Orapup’s YouTube channel quickly leapt ahead of well-known pet brands like Purina and Iams.
4. Nike’s Instagram Campaign Lets Users Design, Share And Buy Custom Kicks: Nike was one of the first brands to get truly creative on Instagram, and this campaign allows users to design and share custom Nike sneakers — and even offers an option to buy the custom creations. Fans got to play with something new and different, and Nike got tons of exposure as fans shared their custom kicks with friends and family on Instagram.
5. Nails Magazine’s Pinterest Campaign Doubles Referrals From Social Sites: Nails Magazine saw the potential in Pinterest as a visual marketing tool and went about building their presence on the site in just the right way. Between personal invitations to key influencers and brand-specific Pinterest boards to get other companies involved, Nails Magazine saw a huge jump in pageviews, followers and referrals on the site.
And one more:
While it wasn’t among the top 5 campaigns on The Realtime Report this year, we loved the risk taking involved with Dodge’s choice of Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy as the news spokesman for the Durango. As it turns out, the right fictional character can make a great brand spokesperson, using humor to keep Dodge culturally relevant (if not as intelligent – or as focused on the product’s actual features – as more traditional campaigns). If you missed it, take a look at ‘Hands On Ron Burgundy’ Mobile Game Promotes Dodge Durango, Anchorman 2 Movie and check out the video clip below. YouTube video from this campaign saw millions of views and Durango sales went up 59% in October.
What were your favorite social media campaigns in 2013?
