By Hannah Belt
During the 2014 holiday season, Barnes and Noble launched a social media campaign where customers would tweet them questions about what they should get someone for Christmas, with the hashtag #BNGiftTip. Based on how the customer described the person in their tweet, Barnes and Noble would reply back with a gift suggestion.
This campaign was extremely successful for many reasons. Not only did it actually help the customer by giving them gift ideas, but it also was very personal to each person, which builds a better relationship with customers. The open conversation between customers and a brand made this a very successful campaign.
Starbucks 2014 #redcupcontest
Every year Starbucks releases its annual holiday cup, and every year there is some sort of controversy over it. However, Starbucks’ 2014 red holiday cup was a successful hit with fans.
The cup was completely red, except for the iconic Starbucks logo. The social media campaign, with the hashtag #redcupcontest, encouraged customers to create their own designs on the cup, and then share it on social media. This entered them into the contest for the chance to win some big prizes.
This campaign was successful because it capitalized on many things that customers love. First of all, customers love prizes and having the chance to win prizes easily (just by uploading a photo). Secondly, this campaign focused on involving customers in the creative process. Customers generated content for the brand itself, thus making them advocates for it, which is becoming a very successful trend among brands.
REI #OptOutside Campaign
For several years, REI has committed to closing its doors on Black Friday and paying its employees to spend the day outside, doing what they love. The campaign encourages its customers enjoy the outdoors on Black Friday as well, and share pictures of their experience with the hashtag #OptOutside. The goal of this campaign was to reconnect friends and family during the holiday season, instead of taking part in the chaos of the holidays.
Not only was this campaign just a brand effort, but it also included many other partnerships and government organizations, such as the National Parks Service. It spread across the board as people chose to forego the Black Friday deals and spend time outdoors instead.
This campaign was successful because it created customer loyalty to the brand. The brand chose to close on one of the most profitable days of the year in order to express its core values, which is a love of the outdoors. This authenticity resulted in sentimental experiences for customers, increasing their loyalty to the brand.
Despite how bold and daring this campaign was, it has proved to be extremely successful in strengthening its brand identity and creating loyal customers.
Bloomingdale's’ 2015 Holiday Ad
In 2015, Bloomingdale's released a Christmas advertisement showing a man and a woman. The woman is looking away while the man is looking at her. Next to his face it says “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.”
For obvious reasons, this campaign was an immediate flop. This tagline implies that it is encouraging date rape, which was met with outrage and disgust by consumers.
After receiving the negative feedback, Bloomingdale’s tweeted an apology and removed the ad.
The company failed to connect with a large portion of their audience and failed to recognize the offensiveness of their ad before it was published.
Coca-Cola’s 2011 White Can
During the 2011 holiday season, Coca-Cola decided to replace their iconic red can for a white can, in order to raise funds for polar bears’ Arctic habitat.
Unfortunately, this switch was met with many complaints. Due to a similar resemblance between the white can and the silver diet coke can, people were accidentally drinking regular coke instead of diet. This was an important health issue for people who need to know how much sugar they are consuming.
Another complaint was that the white can coke simply did not taste the same as coke in red cans. Others were upset that Coca-Cola would change the timeless tradition of the red coke cans since they are so iconic.
Despite the disagreements over whether or not these complaints were justifiable, Coca-Cola decided to end the sale of its white cans early.
Although the campaign was definitely for a good cause and had good intentions, it did not fit to what the customers wanted, making it a flop.