The Top 10 Most Memorable Marketing Campaigns

As an online marketing agency we constantly have businesses and brands on the brain; and we’ve recently been talking about our most memorable marketing campaigns. Here’s a list of our top ten favourites.

1.    Coca Cola Share a coke with…

Coca Cola has had numerous memorable ad campaigns over the years. Their Christmas television advert is now a classic and marks the start of the Christmas season for many. The most recent advertising campaign is arguably their most successful though.

The Coca Cola name campaign sees popular first names plastered across individual 375ml and 500ml bottles and the encouragement to share a bottle of coke with friends or family. Since the start of the campaign, Coca Cola have claimed that over 120,000 messages have been tweeted when individuals find their name. Impressive. Have you found your name yet?

2.    Compare the Meerkat

This campaign, created by ad-agency VCCP, was launched in 2009 and has made Compare the Market’s business tycoon owner an amazing £220 million. The television advert campaigns feature the lovably animated character, Aleksandr Orlov, and his struggle with customers who get his website comparethemeerkat.com confused with comparethemarket.com. Orlov is so popular in the UK that he now has 55,000 followers on Twitter and 800,000 people have liked his Facebook page.

3.    Guinness noitulovE

Guinness’ backwards evolution cinema and television advert was created in 2005 to promote the company’s draught stout. The 60 second £15 million noitulovE ad shows the evolution of three male characters from mudskippers to present day humans, in reverse, after taking a sip of Guinness. It’s an ad that, once seen, is never forgotten.

4.    Reebok Belly’s Gonna Getcha

We remembered this advert not for its style or high production values but because it made us laugh. The ad featured a man wearing Reebok trainers running down a street frequently checking behind him as if he is being followed. Indeed he is being chased – not by something you may expect but rather a six foot beer belly as the statement ‘belly’s gonna getcha’ is chanted.
Reebok’s ad was made to promote their product in a humorous way while still reflecting real life concerns such as keeping fit in order to stay in physical shape. Unfortunately belly has already got many of us!

5.    You’ve Been Tangoed!

Have you ever been slapped by a little chubby man in an orange morph suit? Well the people in this television ad were. This advert saw the tango character running around slapping people as they took a sip of tango.
The slap was supposed to represent the hit of force from Tango’s flavour and refreshment but it got banned from UK television screens as it was seen to encourage happy slapping!

6.    Orange Wednesdays

Keeping with the orange theme, these adverts have their very own cinema slot directly before each film starts. These orange gold slots featured short sketches of a fictional pair of Orange executives played by Brenna Brown and Steve Furst who manipulate film ideas to promote Orange to the dismay of those in the starring roles. Famous faces such as Macaulay Culkin, Spike Lee and John Cleese have featured in the adverts.

7.    T Mobile Life is for Sharing

In 2009, flash mobs went viral with the ‘T Mobile Life is for Sharing’ advertisements in the breaks of Celebrity Big Brother. The advert had been created to get people talking about the brand after a quiet period but had surprising success with a 52% sales rise the following year.

8.    Redbull Stratos Jump

In 2012 famed stuntman Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier and free fell to earth from space above New Mexico. Redbull sponsored the record breaking event which was watched on live feed by 8 million people. After the successful jump, Redbull gained 216,000 likes on Facebook, 10,000 comments and 29,000 shares.

9.    Evian Water Babies

Have you ever seen a baby rollerblade while drinking a bottle of water? No! Then you’ve missed out. The Evian Water Baby campaign featured babies doing extraordinary things after consuming Evian water. This 2008 campaign holds the world record for the most viewed online advertisement with over 45 million views on Youtube.
2013 is set to bring back the adorable faces in the extended campaign which features a television advert where dancers see their reflections as their infant selves. This comes as Evian’s free Baby and Me app gained massive download success.

10.    McDonald’s I’m lovin’ it

‘I’m lovin’ It’ is McDonald’s longest running and most successful ad campaign ever; it’s now become a slogan and informal tag line for the company. The campaign was launched in 2003 and was McDonald’s first global advertising campaign. According to McDonald’s research in its top ten countries 86% of the population are aware of the ‘I’m lovin’ it’ campaign.

So there you have it – our top ten most memorable ad campaigns, but which one is your favourite?