What a year! To celebrate, here's another list of top achievements from 2009 for you to enjoy. As you know, The Daily Breakthrough is a collection of news, opinions, and ideas presented by the creative minds at Marketing Breakthroughs. This year, the team got together and brainstormed the most memorable marketing moments of 2009.Every year millions of great marketing ideas are made. This is a list of our favourites. What do you think?
#10 - Samsung YouTube HD Camera Trick
Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn't. That was sort of the idea.
Earlier this year, Samsung developed a very clever way to get people talking about their product. They created a YouTube video to advertise the Samsung I8910 Camera Phone. It left viewers scratching their heads and thinking: "How'd they do that?"
The result saw millions of views, countless comments and video responses, and a set viral of videos that show just how creative Samsung is willing to be to get people's eyes on their products.
Watch the original:
Watch the SECRET:
#9 - Oprah Retires! (Sort of)
Just another piece of marketing/PR gold from the Queen of Media, Oprah Winfrey. After announcing her retirement two years in advance, Oprah took the Internet by storm, simply by being "Oprah".November saw a drastic spike in Oprah-related news on Google, but why?
Her retirement announcement, although absurdly early, resulted in millions and millions of conversations taking place online and offline about her importance in our world. Oprah's very powerful team recognized the importance of this announcement and capitalized on it two years in advance.
Oprah's unbeatable foresight for garnering emotional publicity is why she's made our list.
#8 - Best Job in the World
Does social media, blogging, and online promotions work? They sure do! Tourism Queensland proved earlier this year that creative online marketing works, with a global contest titled, "The Best Job in the World".
The campaign sold itself: 6 months, $150,000 Australian dollars, free airfare, and you get to live on a beautiful tropical island near Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
More than 34,000 people from around the globe applied for the job by submitting a one-minute video describing why they would be the best choice. The contest garnered overwhelming international attention and put a lot of eyes on Tourism Queensland, and the Great Barrier Reef...mission accomplished.
#7 - The T-Mobile Dance
This is viral online marketing at its best! T-Mobile, one of the world's leading cell phone companies, with their "Life's for Sharing" slogan decided to make a seemingly spontaneous event in the Liverpool Street Station in England. The result, a very clever advertisement:
Not only did T-Mobile create a memorable moment for those in attendance, but they were able to garner over 16-million + views on YouTube. It's viral, it's clever, it's a perfect example of how smart people are marketing smart companies.
#6 - Paranormal Activity Scares People into Talking
In early October, Paramount Pictures embarked on a unique social media campaign to get the low-budget horror film, Paranormal Activity, released to the masses.
Using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to name only a few, the marketing geniuses opened conversations about the uniqueness of this low-budget film. These conversations resulted in millions of people becoming interested in seeing the film, thanks much in part to an eye-catching YouTube preview:
Paranormal Activity not only made it to wide release by generating online buzz, it grossed over $141-million dollars in theatres. Considering the scary thriller only cost $15,000 to make, Paranormal Activity is now considered to be the most profitable movie of all time.
#5 - Ashton Kutcher Reaches Out to Millions!
Why? Great question. Unfortunately, it's irrelevant, because Ashton Kutcher is a marketing genius!
2009 saw a major Hollywood celebrity orchestrating a massive, social media publicity campaign that was specifically designed to promote himself and Twitter - and it worked. Ashton Kutcher's goal was to be the first person, or organization, to reach 1,000,000 followers on the social media website, Twitter. Why would this mean anything to anyone? Because it now means over a million people can now know every mundane element of Kutcher's life, instantly. Thus, keeping the entertainer's profile at the top of everyone's list... for now. Better yet, if Kutcher has a product to push, he has millions of people listening to him.
Ashton Kutcher recognized that being "first" meant being "best". And it's paying off.
#4 - Susan Boyle Dreamed a Dream in 2009
What makes Susan Boyle's story such a marketing triumph is how Simon Cowell and the team at "Britain's Got Talent" recognized how they could make a lonely lady from Scotland into an international superstar! All they had to do was tell the story and market it.
When the episode aired in April 2009, a YouTube video was posted at the same time to let the rest of the world hear Susan Boyle's beautiful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream". The result was instant stardom...
In the weeks that followed, "Britain's Got Talent" and Susan Boyle were everywhere! The ratings soared and people fell in love with the lovable Boyle and her uniquely marketed story. Interviews, merchandise, and a number one album - not bad for a women who only 10 months ago was quietly spending her evenings petting her cats.
Her online video has been seen over 82-million times and by the end of 2009, Susan Boyle's debut album, "I Dreamed a Dream", has been named by Billboard as the best opening week for a female artist's debut album ever.
#3 - The Telus Goats
"Oooohhh, they're sooooo cute."Is what women all over Canada have been saying since these goats started popping up in newspapers, magazines, billboards, and on the web earlier this year.
Saying these advertisements appeal to women is not a generalization, rather an observation.
Even while compiling this list, the women around the office would "ooooh", "hehehehe", and "ahhhhhaha!" when walking past the image.
What are they selling? Cell phones, I think. Either way, Telus Canada determined their target audience and they went for it!
Thanks to Telus, I'll be dressing up like a cute goat for Halloween next year.
#2 - No More Boring Life, Thanks to Slap Chop!
Slap Chop. Have you heard of it? You haven't?! Watch this:
Charisma, innovation, and pure marketing gold! Not only is Vince pushing an exciting new product on viewers, he's also changing the way we look the traditional infomercial. Why pay for expensive airtime on television, when you can just post your silly infomercial online?
With millions of views and hundreds of parodies, the Slap Chop video is just a hilarious way to get an innovative product out to the masses. Anyone know if this thing is as good as it looks?
#1 - What is the Pomegranate?
Talk about thinking outside the box and hitting a home-run! If you haven't heard of the Pomegranate Phone, then it'll be hard for me to describe it to you without ruining the surprise. Here's what I'll tell you:- It's a top-notch marketing campaign that will have you exploring the website asking yourself, "Is this real?"
- It's a marketing initiative that cost $300,000 to execute.
- It's garnered more than 1.1 million website hits from over 201 countries worldwide.
We believe the reason it's such a success is because it's smart and it keeps your interest to the point where you need to know what this product is.
It will surprise you.
Do you have any other great marketing ideas from 2009 that didn't make our list? Let us know, we love hearing them.
