IAB Highlights Best Campaigns From All Over the World

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its first "What Works & Why Global Insights Report," highlighting 18 award-winning campaigns from around the world and what they did right.

An international who’s who is cited in the report and details insights into the campaigns, as well as the industry leaders behind them. Some that made the cut include Belgian Facebook users customizing Nutella jars, and a honey badger tweeting from the Johannesburg Zoo. Here are our personal favorites:

Turkey

When Turkish pop star Tarik Menguc released a song lamenting his lack of invite to play at last fall’s Rock’n Coke festival with the Arctic Monkeys, Ellie Goulding, and Jamiroquai, he was subtly plugging the event. Coca-Cola Turkey couldn’t advertise for the month leading up to the event because of Ramadan, and orchestrated Menguc’s name-dropping video, which was viewed more than 2 million times, to generate buzz. It worked: For the first time, Rock’n Coke was sold out, with more than 50 percent of tickets being sold while Menguc’s video was online.

 

Mexico

To raise awareness about the pollution in Mexico’s waters, Greenpeace and Circus Marketing launched Toxic Tours, an integrated campaign featuring famous actors raving about the great times they’re having kayaking in chemical foam, snorkeling in oil spills, and catching dead fish. "Toxic Tours is a great example of how social cause is echoed in social media if there is innovation based on relevant consumer insights," said Pablo Pozo, vice president of business intelligence at Mexico City digital agency Lunave.

 

Japan

Domino’s Pizza Japan had its employees create songs and illustrations for an app based on Hatsune Miku, a popular turquoise-haired anime singer. Customers could use the app to order pizza and then once it arrives, use the social camera function to take pictures with the character. Focusing the camera on the pizza box also activated a virtual stage where Miku performed. Downloaded more than 80,000 times, the app was the highest ranked in the App Store and contributed to Domino’s beating its sales goal by more than 500 percent.

 

Sweden

Each week during the VisitSweden Curators of Sweden campaign, a different Swede would be in charge of the @Sweden Twitter account, sharing tips and pictures from their home region. Called both an experiment in democracy and a PR stunt, the campaign succeeded in bringing more attention to Swedish tourism. @Sweden ranked 65th out of 21.5 million accounts in Follow Friday rankings. Marcel.lí Zuazua, chief executive (CEO) of Barcelona agency Herraiz Soto & Co., called the campaign "an extraordinary example of how communication is evolving during strategic innovation" and "a true source of inspiration for other countries and other brands."

Croatia

Deciding to dedicate part of its advertising budget to building a zoo, Croatian confectioner Kras saw a lag in engagement for its Animal Kingdom chocolates. To turn that around, Kras put codes on the wrappers, which consumers could trade for the virtual coins necessary to fund a user-generated online zoo. After selling 7.8 tons of chocolate and seeing a 22 percent increase in sales, Kras based the actual zoo, located 40 minutes outside the nation’s capital, on blueprints from the game.

"The creative innovation and deep intelligence captured in this report provide lessons that our entire industry will find valuable in reaching their audiences across borders and across screens," says David Doty, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at IAB. "As brands leverage digital to connect with consumers around the world, all stakeholders in the interactive ecosystem need to mindfully tailor their approaches."

The report also includes agency executives discussing the diversity within the Latin American market, storytelling in digital advertising, and the similarities and differences that can make or break an international campaign.

Homepage image via Shutterstock.