10 Yetis Insight Blog - 8 Brands That Are Smashing Digital PR Campaigns

Digital, digital, digital. It seems like everything needs to be digital these days, but the impact it can have for brands is phenomenal. Here at 10 Yetis, we love a good bit of digital. It’s like sausage to our mash, spag to our bol and Ant to our Dec.

Anyway, I think you get the picture by now. We love digital campaigns and we’ve even executed a fair few digital PR campaigns ourselves. As well as executing some exceptional examples (if we do say so ourselves) we love nothing more than seeing a brand absolutely smash their digital PR campaign out of the park. Here’s 8 brands that I think are smashing the digital scene right now.

1.Coca-Cola

The kings of the digital PR campaign, for me. The soft drink brand have been smashing them out of the park for some years now, especially with their Christmas campaigns. This year’s ‘Give a Little Happiness’ campaign sees Coke generate the Christmas buzz around the brand by unveiling their new ‘bow’ label.

Labels on bottles of Coca-Cola can be peeled off and made into a decorative Christmas bow. Obviously this is impressive enough (anyone else really want one?) but we’re looking at the digital aspects here. So what have Coke been doing?

Well, first of all this campaign has generated a whole load of interest and buzz on social media, especially on YouTube. A number of YouTubers have been creating tutorial videos demonstrating how to turn a label into a bow. It’s a great and easy way for Coca-Cola to generate a buzz around their brand with user created content.

Looking at the bigger picture, it’s all part of the ongoing ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, which is complemented with a microsite (shareacoke.com), a touring Coca-Cola Christmas truck and huge social media pushes.

Coca-Cola continue to smash it for me and show no signs of stopping.

2. Sony’s PlayStation 4

I may be a bit biased here, as I own a PS4, but for me Sony are absolutely smashing their digital PR campaign for the PlayStation 4. Compared to Microsoft’s Xbox One, it’s like watching Barcelona drubbing their arch rivals Real Madrid (4-0, in case you didn’t know. Ouch.)

So what are Sony doing in terms of a digital PR campaign for the PlayStation 4? Well, they’re leading with the ‘This Is For The Players’ campaign, which aims to create an immersive experience which blends real-life with the gaming.

They created a video experience on YouTube, which featured 50 hidden elements. These elements revealed artwork, videos and downloadable content for gamers, all of which were exclusive to the campaign. They integrated this with newsletters, Facebook and Twitter announcement posts and local digital campaigns in a number of European countries.

As a result, they received over 100,000 visitors in just three days to the Sony Playstation 4 site. That campaign, which kicked off last year, led to record breaking sales of the console. This year, Sony have led with a marketing campaign focused on gaming rather than entertainment, somewhere the Xbox One has fallen short. They’ve launched massive upgrades, including cross-platform compatibility with their past generation consoles, and have led with the slogan ‘Greatness Awaits’. It’s been an incredible digital campaign from Sony, proving the value in listening to what their customers want. By focusing on gaming rather than entertainment in their digital content, Sony have been able to immerse their customers into the gaming world of the PS4 further and have yielded the results with record sales.

3. Durex

Gaming to condoms - a natural progress, right? Well, in terms of digital PR campaigns, yes it really is!

Durex are often ahead of the times with their digital campaigns and use their position as market leader to take advantage of digital platforms. This year, Durex’s digital campaign asked the public to campaign for a ‘Condom Emoji’ for World AIDS Day.

The condom brand used a video to launch the campaign, with social media efforts promoting the hashtag #CondomEmoji.

Obviously Durex are doing good here, promoting a good cause, but it’s also incredibly clever to jump on the craze of the Emoji to further the campaign. It seems like everyone and anyone is using emojis as part of their marketing campaigns, but Durex have managed to smash theirs with a thought-led, emoji driven campaign.

Emojis make it easier to say anything.Let's make it safer with an official safety emoji Retweet it now! #CondomEmoji pic.twitter.com/ozySgTqv0D
— Durex Arabia (@DurexArabia) November 30, 2015

4.PornHub

I love PornHub. Before you rush to presumptions, no not for those reasons, but for the incredible digital PR campaigns that they execute.

You don’t see many porn brands promoting themselves or getting positive, mainstream media coverage, but PornHub manage it regularly.

The crème de la crème of PornHub’s marketing efforts came in 2014 when it launched its SFW (safe for work) advertising contest. It asked members of the public to create exclusive content that was SFW to promote PornHub. The results were incredible, as Shazza discussed back in May 2014.

Since then, PornHub has continued its digital PR campaign with devastating results. Its Sexploration campaign, to crowdfund the first adult film in space, got the brand unbelievable attention in mainstream media, blogs and on social media.

The controversial campaign continued then with PornHub releasing a spoof product in line with the rise in popularity of wearable technology. A $1,000 ‘twerking butt’ was an incredible release, supported by an entertaining YouTube video and social media promotions throughout. They proceeded this with the ‘Wank Band’ activity tracker.

PornHub really are the kings of controversial PR campaigns, knowing their place in the market, but truly executing incredibly digital campaigns which generate coverage, buzz and attention that most brands can only dream of.

Their Christmas advert is the latest offering from the adult-site and has already generated coverage on the likes of the Metro in the UK, and I can see it continuing to push the focus on the brand.

5. Under Armour

Head Yeti Andy absolutely loves Under Armour’s digital efforts, which tells you everything you need to know about the sports brand’s campaign.

Earlier this year, Under Armour made no secret about their ambitions to take on market-leader Nike after knocking Adidas off the number 2 perch. They launched their ‘Rule Yourself’ campaign this year, signing up a number of famous sports stars, including NFL’s Tom Brady and the Premier League’s Memphis Depay, to head up a series of short videos.

The videos created sharable content for the brand as part of their social media drive. As part of a wider digital PR campaign, they were even seen in The Martian, with star Matt Damon wearing the brand in the film. They’ve also focused hugely on connected devices, launching an app called MapMyFitness, which aimed to convert their customers into a community. As part of their efforts, they encouraged users to share content and create their own content on social media. Under Armour are smashing their digital PR campaign and show no signs of slowing down. Look out Nike.

“My toughest opponent has always been me.” @MuhammadAli #RuleYourself #IWILL pic.twitter.com/L2XYXcF9Op
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) November 16, 2015

6. Superdry

So I don’t know if you know or not, but we work with Superdry on their digital campaigns and well and truly believe that Superdry are smashing their digital PR campaign out of the park for a home run.

This year, the team at Superdry launched their biggest ever collaboration clothing line, with all-round Mr Cool Idris Elba. First off, they held an exclusive, invite only event to launch the range at their flagship Regent Street store.

Next, with the line being released, they held another exclusive event at the Regent Street store, in which Idris Elba held a takeover of the Superdry social accounts. There was a complete shutdown of social media activity, with no activity for 24-hours before the launch.

It was a great campaign that generated a lot of buzz and interest around Superdry and Idris Elba, providing a first-hand insight into how collaborations and celebrity endorsements can benefit your digital PR campaign.

7. Manchester City

We enter the world of football now, not a place usually associated with digital PR campaigns. Well, Manchester City have changed this in the past year, with a huge emphasis placed on a digital PR campaign to create a global brand for the club.

As part of the campaign, they have put City’s social media platforms to the front of the game, with no club matching the promotion, activity or interaction that Manchester City get. The biggest push has been providing exclusive, behind the scenes content for fans. This content has emerged fans into the Manchester City experience and has turned the club into a global brand.

Jamie Nicholson, Project Manager at Manchester City, told econsultancy.com “I think the club considers digital to be more than simply another marketing and communication tool and has done for a few years now. Our supporters want to be informed, helped, entertained and involved – and digital is often the most effective way to do this, in terms of both cost and impact.

Given the central role technology now plays in our lives, and in particular mobile devices, the motivation is always to make a big impression in the digital space with any initiative the club runs.

#citystories is a good example – we wanted to create an easy-to-digest history of the club and decided to deliver this through an online space which gives the fans a platform to populate their memories and stories of supporting City.”

The club are at the forefront of digital campaigns for football, with other clubs struggling to keep up with their traction and progress.

8. Foot Locker

We almost went with Amazon for this number 8 slot, but decided to go a bit rogue and hand the final spot on our list to the underdog, Foot Locker.

Don’t get me wrong, Amazon are amazing. They smash every single digital campaign they execute out of the park, but they almost don’t have to try. Amazon is Amazon; everyone gets up and listens when they talk.

Foot Locker, on the other hand, are a well-known brand, but have to think outside the box and compete with some major brands to generate buzz and get noticed. They did think out of the box this year when they released their Shoemojis app to smart-phone app stores.

It jumped on the back of the increasingly popular emoji trend by offering exclusive trainer emojis to users. It was a great way to engage their audience and to create sharable content on social media. It also generated a bunch of fantastic coverage on the PR front, with Mashable, AdWeek, The Drum and many more covering the news.

Get the new #Jordan XX9 Low #Shoemoji and more. Available on the Foot Locker App. pic.twitter.com/iJx6L9Fjnv
— Foot Locker (@footlocker) December 3, 2015

There we have it, what do you think? Let me know on twitter @scottsalter2 or hit up Andy at @10yetis if you think we've missed any brands smashing their digital campaign out of the park.