Companies have horrible advertising campaigns all the time, like these gems. Those in charge of their marketing either just don’t think, think way too much and overlook the seemingly obvious badness, or are just completely clueless.
Some companies, however, managed to come up with creative, original, and extremely successful ad campaigns that can change the trajectory of a business forever. Here are a few examples:
- Dos Equis — The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign started off in 2007 and is still going strong today. Although the majority of beer commercials in the early 2000s consisted of wild frat boys doing something “funny,” clearly the beer-drinking demographic was looking for someone a little more sophisticated, a little more mysterious, a little more James Bond-like, and a little more… interesting. Stay thirsty, my friends.
- ALS Association — Although the ALS Association did not come up with the Ice Bucket Challenge, they certainly enjoyed all the newfound awareness being spread and the more than $15 million earned thanks to the viral videos being shared. Doing something as simple as pouring a freezing cold bucket of ice water over our heads is funny to watch, for a good cause, and… somehow… fun to do.
- Kmart — This next one shows how simply one commercial, rather than an entire campaign, can be enough to grow your brand or get back to the level you were once at. Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” campaign was just a little play on words that resulted in more than 22 million YouTube views, 890,000 likes on Facebook, 600,000 shares on Facebook, 400,000 Facebook comments, and a whole bunch of pants purchases.
- Apple — Apple’s brilliant, “Get a Mac” ad campaign provided plenty of laughs in 2006 while simultaneously promoting their brand and destroying PC’s. There were more than 65 of these commercials that consisted of only two men in front of a white background, with nothing more than plain clothes and a few easy-to-find props.
- Allstate — Allstate’s Mayhem character is one of the greatest characters in television.
It’s up to you to think outside the box and get creative with your advertising campaigns. The ones that are the most successful seem to be quite simple and use comedy or some sort of creativity.
Airplane banners are a great way to start a creative ad campaign because of the price, the response rate — which is nearly 20% for some campaigns — and amount of people that can be reached by one single ad. Airplane banners cost much less money than other forms of advertising — typically $450 an hour — like television and have been flying through the sky since the late 1920s.
If you want to learn more about marketing with airplane banners or any other form of advertising, don’t overthink it, try to be funny, be creative, be original, and most importantly, don’t be offensive.