Best Ad Campaigns of 2016

Happy 2017!

Now that 2016 is in the rear view mirror, marketing publications and experts are looking back at the ad campaigns they call the best of the year. Of course, we're now 11 months beyond Super Bowl 50 (and a month before the next Super Bowl).

To give this a global twist, I'm including a few non-US "best campaign" lists here.

• Canada's best campaigns for nonprofits and causes, as noted by Strategy. 
• BrandWatch's 10 best campaigns, including the one above, for Morton Salt.
• Wall Street Journal's best and worst ads.
• Adweek's 20 trends that drove the best in marketing 

Marketing Exploding Kittens and Bears vs Babies

Quick, do you know what product category these belong to?
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If you shouted out games, you win!

At left, Exploding Kittens, a card game that takes about 10 minutes to play. And that's due to the consumer behavior of the target market, players who don't want to spend hours on something like the traditional Monopoly board game or even days playing the even more complex Axis & Allies games. 

Notice the wry humor in the game description: "A card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats." Hint, hint, about the target market.

Exploding Kittens wasn't the original name...it was tentatively titled "Bomb Squad" but then the developers were told to make it funny. And they did!

A Kickstarter campaign got the game off the ground with money and, just as important, word of mouth. To date, several million of these games have been sold. The goal is entertainment and interaction between players, not solitaire. Family and friends tell family and friends, and the next thing you know, the game has spread to more neighborhoods. (Sounds like the way Angry Birds got its start, right?)

As another clue to the target market: there's an Apple app version and an Android app version of Exploding Kittens. But the card version is reportedly outselling the app versions. It's a social thing.

Now, from the people behind Exploding Kittens, there's Bears vs. Babies, with more wry humor and the same target market. Target date for introduction is June, 2017, but of course the online fundraising and marketing have been in place for weeks now.

Stores That Thrive on Surprise

Not everyone is clicking or swiping to buy this year. Some shoppers are actually walking into bricks-and-mortar stores to see what's new and buy before someone else snaps up that unexpected treasure.

T.J. Maxx has a winning off-price formula: Put new merchandise out every day or two, offer name brands at low prices, and staff the cash registers to speed shoppers on their way. The stores have focused inventories that change all the time. So when shoppers walk in, they never know what they'll find. Yes, the retailer has an e-commerce operation, but the real appeal is the thrill of the hunt. Consumer behavior in action!

Same at Marshall's, where the slogan is "Your surprise is waiting." Also owned by TJX, Marshall's has a slightly wider variety of merchandise in each store, but the same merchandising philosophy--ship new merchandise regularly to bring shoppers back again and again. While T.J. Maxx does a bit of e-commerce, Marshall's only sells gift cards online. If you want to buy, you have to go to a store. The retailer's hashtag #MarshallsSurprise reinforces the treasure hunt aspect of the shopping experience.

Marshall's has 300,000 Twitter followers; T.J. Maxx has 385,000 Twitter followers. So the retail brands are social, adding word of mouth to the mix.

Sure, e-commerce is growing every day...giving a boost to the USPS, FedEx, UPS, and other carriers. But for some shoppers, the element of surprise is a real lure to real stores.

Dozens of Marketing Links to Click

My list of marketing links, newly updated, is a great starting point for anyone writing a marketing plan. It's in the header above, just click to check it out.

Whether you're researching the marketing environment, looking for the latest ideas in mobile and digital marketing, researching competitive trends, or analyzing the global marketing situation, you'll find authoritative sources in this list.

One of the most recently-listed links is to Issuu, a site where you can browse magazines according to topic. My link here is to business magazines.

Also, at the top of the list are three links that are the most popular, year in and year out:

• Glossary of marketing terms (from Pearson's Marketing Plan Handbook site)
• Sample marketing plan (also from Pearson's Marketing Plan Handbook site)
• Competitors are stakeholders (and why)

Marketing the Ugly Christmas Sweater Craze

The Ugly Christmas Sweater craze is far from over. It's gone from a grassroots movement to mainstream marketing, as shown above in an Instagram post by Madame Tussauds. Here, the aim was to promote a fundraiser, Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day (the British "jumper" translates as "sweater" for Americans). Note the over-the-top couples sweater worn by the wax versions of Prince William and his beautiful bride Kate.

Now a holiday tradition, ugly Christmas sweaters are everywhere. Making waves in Vermont, serving as the theme for pub crawls and beer tastings in Chicago, making fundraising fun through celeb-designed sweaters (see sweater at right, by Shaquille O'Neal). 

One enterprising company invites customers to "design your own" ugly sweater. Click to Ugly Christmas Sweater and see for yourself.

There are a LOT of really interesting, really ugly sweaters out there. Pop culture influences customer behavior and gets woven into the fabric of marketing! Pun intended.

Shoppers Shopped on Cyber Weekend

From Slice Intelligence, https://intelligence.slice.com/avid-online-shoppers-help-cyber-weekend-grow-14-8-percent-and-keep-amazon-on-top/

Mobile was all-important as consumers used smartphones and tablets to browse and, often, buy during the shopping frenzy that takes over the long weekend after Thanksgiving. Consumer behavior has evolved, with a growing number of shoppers at least browsing online retail sites to check for bargains--and many buying online rather than in a store.

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday, shoppers shopped. And shopped. Consumers in many nations clicked or swiped to buy over the weekend--not just in US markets.

Amazon, once again, was a major destination on Cyber Weekend, accounting for an estimated 30% of cyber-shopping. An incredible statistic, to be sure. For an inside look at an Amazon fulfillment center during the holiday rush, click here.

On Cyber Weekend, Best Buy reportedly did very well as an online shopping destination, as did the cyber-shops of Target, Walmart, and Macy's (as Slice Intelligence's chart above shows). Not surprisingly, Cyber Monday was a top trending topic in social media that day.

Sounds like Sonic Branding

Sound can be an integral element in a brand's identity. Think about the chord you hear when you start up your Mac computer (or the sound of a computer booting up with "Intel inside"). Or what you hear before an HBO feature.

Sound creates an emotional connection between the brand and the audience, amping up the experience. Some branded sounds have become part of pop culture, like Nokia's original ringtone. In fact, sonic branding is nothing new--long-established brands like NBC have been using sounds as brand identity for decades.

Nestea uses four notes in its sonic branding. Coca-Cola has used sonic branding (OK, jingles) for certain campaigns. P&G is reviving and updating some of its classic brand jingles for a new generation. Are jingles going to be the remixed sonic branding for the 21st century?

Shoppers Boost the Local Economy on Small Business Saturday

#ShopSmall

American Express launched Small Business Saturday in 2010 to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize local/small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

This is the seventh year and every year, merchant participation and public response have been bigger and better than the previous year. In 2015, 95 million US consumers purchased something as part of Small Business Saturday, for a total estimated financial impact of $16 billion.

This year, the official FB page has 3.5 million likes...the Twitter account has 56.5k followers...the Instagram account has 22.5k followers.

Not only does Amex provide downloadable marketing materials for small businesses, it also has a lookup function to find participating businesses in the local area, wherever you are.

A Google search for "Small Business Saturday" returned 45 million+ results today. The majority are local media outlets publicizing participants (this year and previous years). So if you have gifts to buy or want to enjoy a meal out, Small Business Saturday is a good opportunity to vote with your wallet and make a difference to the local economy.

SUV Sales Are Revving Up

Now that gas prices have been low for a long time, and consumers feel confident enough to buy new cars, more are choosing SUVs. In fact, nearly three-quarters of owners who traded in an SUV bought another SUV (compared with the 62% of people who trade in a regular car and buy yet another regular car rather than switching to an SUV or other vehicle type).

Yet a significant number of owners who trade in green vehicles (hybrids and electrics) are switching back to gas-powered SUVs because gas is so affordable these days.

Meanwhile, automakers are continuing to try to entice buyers with green SUVs. Hyundai has an all-electric SUV with a range of about 200 miles per charge, for example.

Luxury automakers are also eyeing the intersection of green and SUV. Mercedes is working on an SUV under the EQ brand, for introduction around 2020.

Jaguar has a new concept SUV that could challenge Tesla as the deluxe crossover vehicle of choice for high-income buyers, with 400 hp and an all-electric range of more than 200 miles per charge. Production is expected in 2018.

And more women are buying SUVs, a recent trend that's fueled [pun intended] by the need for more cargo space and better mileage being offered by newer models.

Plan Holiday Marketing with Consumer Behavior in Mind

Here are three tips from experts about how to shape a holiday marketing plan with contemporary consumer behavior in mind:

• Consumers can and do change their decisions after an online search prior to making a purchase. This makes online ads/content marketing/testimonials/product reviews especially important during the holiday season, when many customers are buying, buying, buying. 
• Personalize your marketing to engage customers and prompt viral sharing. The popular "elf yourself" campaign for Office Max/Office Depot (shown above) is entertaining app users once again this holiday season, encouraging positive brand attitudes.
• Promote promotions early to gain awareness and an edge over competitors. Remember when Black Friday was just a single day? Now it's virtually taken over the month of November. Retailers and brand marketers alike are counting down with daily deals and early buying opportunities.

What do you know about your customers that will help you plan for engaging, effective holiday marketing?