Top Brands Giving Us All the Digital Marketing Ideas in 2019

2019 has #blessed us with some really creative (and effective) digital marketing campaigns that launched this year. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, brands are looking for new ways to keep up and engage audiences.

From immersive augmented reality to clever chatbots, here are a few of our favorite digital marketing ideas from the year to get you inspired for 2020.

The Dallas Cowboys and AT&T partnered together to create a unique fan experience at the AT&T Stadium. They wanted to create a fun, interactive experience that also took advantage of their new 5G capabilities.

What they came up with was an augmented reality experience that allows fans to choose their favorite players and take a photo with them. Fans can then share that photo out on social media — and they are sharing. The Cowboys reportedly garnered over 50 million social media impressions during the first weekend of the activation.

After Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004, the company continues to push for diversity and real representation. Dove found in recently conducted consumer research that 70% of women still don’t feel represented in media and advertising.

Because of this, Dove partnered with Girlgaze and Getty Images to develop Project #ShowUs — the world’s largest photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes. People could submit their photos over social media using the hashtag #ShowUs.

The omnichannel campaign took advantage of powerful video content, print, OOH, social and earned media. To date, the Project #ShowUs campaign has compiled more than 5,000 images that media and advertisers can use.

Evolving their infamous tagline “The Best A Man Can Get,” Gillette developed #TheBestMenCanBe, a campaign dedicated to tackling the stereotypes of men and encouraging men to be their best. The messaging is especially relevant coming off the heels of the #MeToo movement which has brought to light discussions around sexual harassment and assault.

As part of the campaign, Gillette created a powerful video that went viral with more than 30 million views, 231K+ retweets, 571K+ likes and 51K comments. The video was able to spark meaningful conversation, even after receiving polarizing comments. PRWeek, while conducting a mini Twitter poll, asked their audience if the ad failed, but 82% of people thought that Gillette’s ad was a success and that brands should speak up more often.

In 2016, Facebook integrated chatbots into their Messenger platform. They’ve since come a long way. There are several different types of chatbots and creative ways to use chatbot marketing within a digital strategy.

TechCrunch took advantage of this feature by using a Facebook chatbot as a way to provide users with a daily “digital digest” of their top stories.

By sending daily digest links to thousands of Facebook users each day, TechCrunch is exponentially increasing the odds of a user clicking through to their website and engaging with their content.

Consumers are increasingly looking for personalized and direct communication, and chatbot messengers are a great way for brands to deliver. Chatbots could easily be used to answer FAQs for customers, generate leads, promote content and more.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn launched a live feature to their platform, catching up to other platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It has been a slow rollout, and brands currently must request access to use this function, but the move shows LinkedIn’s commitment to video and how they see the platform evolving.

Microsoft took advantage of this new feature during #MSInspire, where CEO Satya Nadella gave his keynote speech during their partner event. The livestream generated several reactions and comments from viewers throughout the broadcast.

This new offering opens up several opportunities for B2B marketers, including live broadcasts of conferences and events, Q&As, product announcements, earnings calls and more.

As digital channels and audience interactions evolve, brands must be increasingly creative in order to stand out. These were just a few of our favorite campaigns from the year. Interested in more musings? Sign up for our Pace Insights newsletter below to get the latest industry trends and tips delivered straight to your inbox.