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6 of our favourite PR & marketing campaigns of 2018
07 Jan 2019
Nike, “Nothing Beats a Londoner”
Nothing beats a Londoner created a huge buzz when it was released back in February. The ad tapped into subcultures, utilised influencers and provoked an emotional response in viewers. It was hailed by some (mainly Londoners) as one of the best ads of all time.
The ad wasn’t without controversy, some found the ad exclusive due to its focus on London. Additionally, Nike was forced to remove references to LDNR from the campaign after it was sued for trademark infringement. Despite this, Nike cleaned up at recent Cannes Lions awards for the campaign! It also received the most social media discussion out of all the ads we’ve covered in this blog!
Number of social media mentions in the week after its release: 100,891
KFC, “FCK”
KFC’s inventive response to their crisis in February means they’ve made it into my top campaigns list. KFC was forced to shut a large number of stores after a logistics issue led to a shortage of chicken. Instead of burying their head in the sand, they launched the below ad apologising to customers.
Number of social media mentions: 62,686 (note: some of these mentions may be attributed to the crisis itself as opposed to the ad)
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Greggs, “Gregory & Gregory”
Another excellent bit of PR in 2018 came from Greggs, who turned up at a food festival posing as posh artisan bakery “Gregory and Gregory”. Greggs fooled the public into thinking they were tasting food from a fancy bakery, as opposed to Greggs, which challenged brand perceptions.
Number of social media mentions: 31,931
CALM, “Project 84”
CALM (Campaign against living miserably) launched a campaign to put the issue of male suicide on the political agenda. 84 sculptures were placed on ITV’s Southbank building to represent the number of men who take their life each week in the UK. The campaign led to 34% more people reaching out to the charity which is a huge success in itself!
Number of social media mentions: 58,089
Twitter, “#NotaRetailStore”
A late contender to the top campaigns of 2018, but worth a mention! We all know how notorious John Lewis Christmas ads have become. Many big brands have either tried to compete or brand-jack off the back of their ads. Twitter has capitalised on this with their ad ‘NotaRetailStore’. The ad features an American man named ‘John Lewis’ who happens to hold the Twitter handle @johnlewis. Each year that JL release their Christmas ad, he’s bombarded by messages mistakenly @ mentioning him rather than the retail store. Check out their ad.
Twitters ad is a great example of successful brandjacking!
The number of social media mentions: 29,971
Three, “Phones are Good”
Another excellent campaign in 2018, is the mobile network ‘Three’ and their ‘#PhonesAreGood’ campaign, which has been watched more than a million times on YouTube. Three have taken historical figures and created scenarios where phones could have been used. For example, showing Henry the Eight on Tinder and someone Instagramming Moses parting the sea. The premise of the advert is to challenge the idea that phones are bad.
As well as the ad, Three’s social media has been on point with content around the advert.
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