With February already upon us, we are now well and truly in 2020. Looking at the busy year ahead, it’s normal to lack a bit of motivation, especially when you feel there is so much to accomplish in such a small amount of time. One of the things I do to get out of this funk is to look for inspiration and creativity around me…and what better way to motivate yourself then by looking at all the amazing PR campaigns that have come before us.
Here are my picks for the top 3 best PR campaigns in the last decade.
Barbie – 126th Career Choice Campaign
Ever since her introduction to the world in 1959, Barbie has been a consistent staple in children’s lives. However, in 2010 American PR agency Ketchum West and Mattel decided to harness Barbie’s brand power by having the public choose her 126th career.
Out of all the possible careers out there, over a million people voted for Barbie to become a Computer Engineer, mixing the public’s love for Barbie with the movement to empower girls. Coverage over the campaign was broadcasted all over the world on the biggest media platforms and generated a 144% sales increase for Mattel’s “I Can Be” doll line. Probably my favourite part about this whole campaign was that the Society of Women Engineers and National Academy of Engineering helped create the doll’s amazing look.
Coca Cola – Share a Coke
Of course, the famous ‘Share a Coke’ movement would make it to this list as the perfect blend of creative marketing strategies, mixed in with the public’s newfound demand for more personalization. The brand came up with this clever branding change after wanting to boost sales and consumption amongst the younger demographic in Australia.
In 2013, the iconic brand logo was swapped out and replaced with 150 of the most popular names. People were encouraged to find bottles with names that held personal meaning to them, share them with friends and family, then tweet about their experiences, using the hashtag #ShareaCoke. Coupled with experimental campaigns and plenty of social media activity, Coca Cola’s Facebook community grew by 3.5% and saw its hashtag used 29,000 times on Twitter.
ALS Association: ALS #IceBucketChallenge
Out of all three of these campaigns, this is probably the one that was most memorable, as it had such a massive impact on social media. Before its presence on socials, the neurodegenerative disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, was not something that many people had heard of.
It wasn’t until people started pouring ice buckets over their heads that people started to understand. The idea behind the video was to raise money and awareness for the ALS Association and research. The #icebucketchallenge had a number of high-profile people do the challenge such as Mark Zuckerberg, Will Smith, Lady Gaga and even Oprah! This viral sensation is considered one of the most successful PR campaigns with over 2.4 million videos online raising awareness and more than $115 million dollars donated to the foundation.
Intern Agent Emma
