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Let’s talk marketing!

Marketing campaigns are the face of a brand. They are precisely how brands come to be renowned and distinguished. A simple tagline can take a brand forward in the most unexpected way. 

Today, I have listed a few campaigns that made history in the world of marketing. 

These are campaigns from all eras, some defining moments, and some personal campaigns hitting close to home. 

De Beers- A diamond is forever (1948)

‘A diamond is forever’, I am sure you must have heard this line thrown around. It was written by copywriter Francis Gerety for the company De Beers, as a tagline of their marketing campaign. They were looking to increase their sale of diamonds after it took a hit during the Great Depression- and well, this did it. In 1999, it was named the ‘Slogan of The Century’ by the Advertising Age.

According to the New York Times 2013, De Beers’ advertisements still display this tagline to this day. 

Google- A Year in Search

This is one of Google’s ongoing campaigns by the name of ‘A Year in Search’. They make a video based on the most searched word of the year. In 2018, the word was ‘good’, and in 2019, it was ‘heroes’. You can check out all the videos here!

The videos of this campaign are indeed noteworthy. They depict the entire year in one word and connect the people from all over the world. The campaign communicates a feeling of unity and belongingness. Let’s see this year’s word, shall we?

Dove- Real Beauty Sketches (2013)

The ‘Real Beauty Campaign’ by Dove shared a gripping message. This campaign started in 2004 and lasted for more than a decade. It presented various concepts throughout the years, one of which was the ‘Dove Real Beauty Sketches’. It is a short film made to show women that they are more beautiful than they think. 

The movie formerly showed a forensic artist sketching a woman’s portrait from her own verbal description alone, i.e., he couldn’t see her.

And then, he draws another sketch of the same woman, described by someone she met a day ago. The difference between both the sketches was illustrious. It really portrayed the amount of hate and pressure we put on our appearances and how it is not as bad as in our minds. 

The campaign was well-received. It was shared immaculately and generated up to 30 million views within the first 10 days. You can watch the video here. 

Nike- Just Do It (1988)

Three words, eight letters- ‘Just do it.’ This is all it took for Nike to shoot up their worldwide sales from $877 million to $9.2 billion. This campaign is evergreen. Nike’s tagline is still as famous as it was 30 years ago. 

Although it was inspired by a notorious killer in 1970s Utah, it never grew old. The company defined the idea of ‘Just Do It’ as both ‘universal and intensely personal’. They wanted Nike sneakers to become a fashion statement in the US. And well, it did just that and more. This campaign needs no more disclaimer, it has been renewed several times!

Burger King

Burger King definitely has more than one killer campaign. Their creativity with marketing their brand knows no bounds. Here are some of their best campaigns-

1. They staged a fire on a car roadside, and the people who stopped to help got a big treat on the house.

3. During Halloween one year, they gave away free Whoppers to people who come dressed as a clown (or Mr. Ronald McDonald himself) to Burger King outlets. They created the hashtag #ScaryClownNight!

These are three from many many campaigns of Burger King full of creativity and sass. 

These five campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg. There are a myriad of campaigns that form the highlights of marketing history. I’ll definitely post a part two of the same!

Let me know in the comments below which campaign was your favorite among these! Thank you for reading!

Keep the original vibes flowing,
Pranjali Jain