While between the Colin Kaepernick ads and the more lighthearted Nothing Beats a Londoner campaign Nike was one of the most talked about brands of the summer, there were many more on-point video marketing campaigns from 2018 you can draw inspiration from. So grab a snack and your earbuds if need be, let's dive in.
LinkedIn were looking for a way to boost engagement across their network. In the beginning of 2018, they started a social campaign simply asking, “What are you in it for?” Based on some of these answers they developed a fully integrated campaign (online video, digital display, paid social media, outdoor ads, podcasts, radio spots, partnerships, and search engine marketing) that launched around the Golden Globes.
Campaign Director Stacy Peralta of Dogtown and Z-Boys explained the campaign in Adweek:
“I knew from the first reading of the boards that this was one of those rare opportunities. They asked us to tell real stories about real people, they wanted it shot in black and white, and they wanted energy, enthusiasm and candor from the people involved. We found and documented many of the unique people who use the platform. We found avant-garde musicians, MMA fighters, physics teachers, animators, chefs and real-life cowboys, all of whom not only use LinkedIn but rave about its effect on their careers.”
You’ll notice a lot of those professions mentioned are outside of white-collar career paths. Instead of touting themselves how LinkedIn can benefit them, they found users already using LinkedIn to advance their careers. By being inclusive through the stories of their users, LinkedIn was able to show the value of their platform across many demographics.
All dreams start small. And they can come true no matter where you’re from. This is a simple message that can resonate to anyone looking to grow their small business. Alibaba’s campaign around the Winter Olympics illustrated the dream of one player from an amateur ice hockey team in Kenya and his aspirations to compete internationally.
Before this year, DJ Khaled may not have been the first person you would associate with Weight Watchers. Hoping to target younger audiences, the brand invited him to document his weight loss journey on his Instagram and Snapchat accounts. As DJ Khaled shared his experience viewers can see from his perspective that dieting is easier on The Freestyle program.
The influencer campaign was successful enough to even see a 6% boost in company shares for Weight Watchers.
You know you are doing something powerful when the crew’s in tears during production. This heartbreaking social film follows a young girl taking care of her mother who’s battling Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the brave face she puts on you can quickly see the toll it takes before the video crescendos to her mom standing in front of traffic.
Then the twist comes of what really occurred, the young woman is actually an adult caring for her elderly mother. The end message is simple but powerful: “You wouldn’t put a daughter through this when she’s young,” the copy displays. “Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen when she’s older.”
O Positive’s David Shane shared his approach to producing this film with AdAge:
“We all wanted to make this as visceral as possible, to put viewers into the girl’s shoes,” he says. “And all of our stylistic choices were really made to parachute you into this story. This is why we went with a handheld camera, which gets less and less steady as we move through the story.”
Looking for more inspiration to help you in creating your next video campaign? Check out our post on powerful storytelling tips to help make your campaign more impactful.