It’s no secret that people watch the SuperBowl just for the commercials; who doesn’t like to be engaged by a funny or emotional marketing campaign?  But you don’t have to wait for February to be wowed by some of the best brand’s marketing strategies; we’ve rounded up a collection of what we believe to be some of the best marketing campaigns of 2018.  Some are big businesses and some are small, but you don’t have to have a million dollar budget to make an impact.  You just have to take a risk, be creative, and figure out how and where to best connect with your audience.  Read on to learn who we think crushed the marketing game this past year.

Rip Curl

Rip Curl is a surfing company that takes marketing to the next level by publishing its own online newsletter called “The Search”.  The stories are written by surfers for surfers, and cover topics such as where to find the best waves, surfing technique, and more.  The photography is incredibly eye-catching, and overall this is an exceptional example of creating valuable, engaging content that is sure to drive company sales.

Glossier

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Makeup and skincare company Glossier started as a blog and has grown into a thriving company, partly due to their marketing efforts.  Glossier excels at using user generated content to boost their brand on social media.  They’ve made a habit of posting user’s tweets and comments on their Instagram page, and then responding to them in a positive manner.  This makes the users feel good because they’re being featured, and it’s an easy marketing strategy that generates content without having to do any work!  In addition, they use social media to their advantage by posting tutorials and Live videos on Facebook, and they published a successful YouTube series called “Get Ready with Me”.  Founder Emily Weiss believes it’s extremely important to connect with her customers, and this definitely shows in the company’s marketing plans.

Land Rover

Land Rover works hard to market their brand as outdoorsy and adventurous, so it’s no surprise that this is the route they took when marketing their latest vehicles.  If you go to the Land Rover website you’ll see a section called “Land Rover Stories”, and it contains all kinds of pictures and narratives submitted by happy customers documenting their adventures in their Land Rover.  The photos and text is engaging, and best of all is great advertising for the brand with minimal work required.  They’re also no stranger to social media marketing, with 138,000 YouTube subscribers and 3.5 million Instagram followers.

Marriott

Hotel giant Marriott went with a “choose your own adventure” type of interactive marketing by using their website to help families plan their trip to Scottsdale, Arizona.  All you have to do is go to their website, answer a few questions based on your vacation preferences, and Marriott will direct you towards an attraction that they believe is a perfect fit for your family.  The infographic is engaging and is customizable for each individual family.  This shows that Marriott cares about their customers’ happiness and has put effort into making sure they enjoy not only their hotel stay, but their trip as a whole.  And that’s a marketing win in our book!

IHOP

IHOP used mystery to get the word out about their menu change this year, and it’s no mystery that it worked!  They went to Twitter to let the world know that they’d be changing their name to IHOb, but didn’t tell anyone what the “b” would stand for.  People went crazy on social media trying to figure it out, guessing everything from “bacon” to “Bitcoin” before IHOP finally let them know it stands for burgers.  This marketing act led to over 297 million posts to the hashtags #IHOP and #IHOB, and the hype didn’t stop even after the mystery was solved!  This was a risky way to rebrand a company, but for IHOP the risk paid off.

LG

LG decided to capitalize on the large crowds that frequent the Tennessee based music festival Bonaroo by setting up a “wash ‘n fold” area for concert goers, aptly named “LaundROO”.  The festival is outside in a rural area and takes place over several days, so the ability to have clean clothes is a luxury most don’t get to experience while there.  LG let concert goers drop off their dirty clothes to have them cleaned and folded FOR FREE, and they also set up a cool hang out area with games, TVs, and phone charging stations for people to use while they waited.  This is a great example of a brand using marketing to connect with their audience, and LG was able to take advantage of the 65,000+ people who attended the festival in 2018 to get the word out about their brand.

Wayfair

Wayfair uses social media marketing to bridge the gap between followers looking at their photos on Instagram and going to their website to make a purchase.  In 2017 Instagram released their “shopping” feature, which allows businesses to tag products in a specific photo and then link back to a landing page where buyers can make a purchase.  Wayfair realized this would be a beneficial feature for their brand, because people like to see what furniture looks like in a group setting, and they’re much more likely to buy if they have a picture of the whole room in their mind as opposed to just a single lamp in front of a plain background.  Wayfair posts beautifully decorated rooms to Instagram that engage their audience with their visual appeal, and then once you click on a tagged product you can make a purchase with one click.  They also list other products featured in the photo at the bottom of the page, making it even easier to get the whole room look.

Whether it’s by content marketing, social media marketing or something else, we believe these brands hit it out of the park this year.  What do you think goes into creating a successful marketing campaign?  Are there any companies you believe we should add to this list?  Comment in the section below!