Profiles on 3 Businesses with Effective Marketing Campaigns

In the new-age of digital marketing, some companies find it difficult to incorporate their marketing strategies accordingly. Others accept this new challenge and create effective marketing campaigns that will be remembered for a long time. Below are just a few of these iconic campaigns.

1. Nintendo

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a Japanese playing card company before making the transition to video games in the 1970s. With the development of top-selling video game classics such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, Nintendo has solidified itself as one of the top video game companies in the world.

In March of 2017, Nintendo launched an incredibly effective marketing campaign for one of their most beloved products—the Nintendo Switch. What’s interesting about this campaign is that it essentially wrote itself. Nintendo released the initial videos for the product online, showing their target market how they can use the console, while simultaneously promoting the new games that were set to be released with it. Even with limited information, the consumer base began using social media to discuss the system’s potential. It was a bold move to hold back further information, but this ended up working out in the company’s favor as it allowed the audience to personally market the system with their excitement.

2. IHOP

The International House of Pancakes first opened its doors in 1958 in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. 15 years later, a new marketing campaign created the acronym “IHOP” which became the way loyal consumers referred to the beloved restaurant today. However, staying true to its history, IHOP recently decided to change its name yet again.

With the release of their new line of burgers in June of 2018, IHOP introduced that they would be changing their name to “IHOb” as a testament to how good their lunch items are. This change was initially announced on Twitter, merely stating that the name would be changing. Consumers were intrigued, to say the least and ended up leading a social media storm. Consumers became surprisingly passionate about the change and the campaign earned IHOP a spot at the top of Twitter’s trending list. Though the company had no intention of permanently changing their name, the campaign ultimately quadrupled their sales in the brief period of its execution.

3. Burger King

Founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, Burger King has made a name for itself as one of the biggest burger chains in the United States. Known best for their mascot, the Burger King, the company has produced a variety of successful campaigns over the last several decades. When faced with the new digital marketing atmosphere, the company decided to make a bold campaign that revolved around net neutrality.

In the midst of the FCC’s decision to repeal neutrality rules in 2017, Burger King made the risky choice to get involved in the political movement. Their campaign, Whopper Neutrality, took the internet by storm when they posted videos of select locations refusing to give customers their food right away or making them pay to get their food quicker. While angering their consumers at first, the company used this to raise awareness of the net neutrality issue—it had a huge impact on the discussions being had on social media. By connecting themselves to the political issue, Burger King made sure that a tweeter couldn’t talk about net neutrality without also talking about their campaign.