This month Zayn Malik broke a million young hearts and we (supposedly) experienced the most spectacular total solar eclipse of this decade. Read on to relive the ingenious ways that marketers reacted, along with the other brilliant advertising campaigns that were released in March 2015.
Women’s Aid urged us not to turn a blind eye to The Bruised Woman
One of the best uses of face recognition technology to date came in the form of The Bruised Woman, a campaign to combat domestic violence.
The digital billboard depicted a hurt woman and was screened to shoppers, workers and commuters in London’s Canary Wharf on the 5th March. As more people looked at the image, her bruises and cuts healed, communicating the importance of addressing the problem.
Already an award winner, this advert demonstrates how facial recognition can be creatively used within advertising for more than targeted product placement.
Oreo upstaged the solar eclipse
On the 20th March, cookie creator Oreo put on a solar eclipse show that (for those of us stuck underneath an overcast sky) may have possibly been better than the real thing.
Oreo’s perfectly timed stunt coincided with a full wrap of the The Sun newspaper, in which the Oreo cookie eclipsed the front page of the tabloid with a use of advertising space that has never been utilised before.
#OreoEclipse is part of Play with Oreo, a global real-time marketing initiative aiming to shift perceptions of Oreo from a cookie you can play with to a playful brand, and has inspired many other FMCG brands to react to real-life events in order to form conversations with their followers too.
Ricky Gervais couldn’t be bothered to do an ad for Australian Netflix
On the 24th March, US streaming juggernaut Netflix launched its service in Australia and they announced it with a series of prime TV spots featuring big-time comedian Ricky Gervais…only thing was, he couldn’t really bothered to stand up or explain what the product actually does because he was only there for the cash.
A lot can be said for honest, understated advertising, especially as audiences grow increasingly tired of undeserved hype, and as Netflix have earned their stripes over the years with a fail-proof service and a real understanding of how to tickle their audience, they are able to nail this simple, tongue-in-cheek campaign by appealing to their viewers’ sense of humour.
Lidl knocked one-fifth off the One Direction Easter egg
The 25th of March was a sad day for Directioners when Zayn Malik announced his resignation from the band.
However, Lidl eased the pain with a cheeky discount on the One Direction Easter egg, reducing its price by a fifth in light of the fivesome becoming a foursome.
The simple 20p discount and one tweet scored more than 18,000 favourites for Lidl on Twitter and over 25,000 retweets, resulting in some seriously cheap marketing.
Beagle Street decided to #ReleaseThePounds
For years, insurance marketers have had to accept their fate of marketing a boring product, but on the 25th March, Beagle Street changed the game.
The insurance company states that they are 30% cheaper than their competitors and demonstrated their commitment to putting money back in peoples’ pockets by releasing hundreds of origami dogs loose on London, each one folded out of a £10 note.
The campaign was instantly picked up by the national press, including The Telegraph and The Metro, and generated a social media buzz within hours, which just goes to show how far free money and cute dogs will get you.
