Despite 2021’s unmet promises on many fronts, certain artistic endeavors have stood the test of time. Manufacturers jumped on viral TikTok trends based on simple TV advertisements or rolled the dice on the growing concept of a Metaverse, capturing the cultural moment or feeling plugged into what’s ahead. Following a bleak 2020, a sense of fun made a welcome return.
For entrepreneurs, not all of the parts came together as planned. The spring’s increased availability of COVID-19 vaccinations sparked hopeful campaigns yearning for a return to traditional ways that have only resulted in matches and starts — and will be further delayed by the emergence of a new variation.
While trials with NFTs and emerging applications like Cameo were a nod to the future, several companies also reintroduced old favorites in new ways. Experiential marketing, which was popular before the pandemic, reappeared, but with hybrid and contactless components that did not detract from the fun.
After all, there had been a few misfires. In March, Burger King UK went too far with a “Women Belong in the Kitchen” tweet, which was meant to highlight gender inequities in the culinary field but came off as awkward and disrespectful. Volkswagen duped the media into thinking that a “Voltswagen” makeover reflecting a contract with electric cars was real, resulting in a nasty April Fool joke. Such blunders highlight the necessity for even the most successful companies to have a closer ear to the ground with tradition, which has become its own specialist in advertising and marketing services.
1) Dove’s “Reverse Selfie” campaign, which attempts to prevent the detrimental impacts of selfie culture on young girls and women, was unveiled in April 2021. According to research, 80 percent of girls alter their appearance online by the age of 13 — and Dove’s commercial highlights how this digital distortion may harm self-esteem and why it has to change.
2) Fitbit’s most recent marketing campaign is all about discovering your inner strength. The commercial emphasizes that strength may be mental or emotional as well as physical and that people should “Find out what’s strong with you” to uncover their inner power.
3) Apple is known for its innovative marketing efforts, and in 2021, the “Hollywood in Your Pocket” campaign, which showcased the iPhone 13 Pro’s new cinematic features, created an impression. The commercial demonstrates that anybody with an iPhone can produce Hollywood-quality movies, as seen by the ad’s movement through many movie-like settings, including a spacecraft on alert, a military rescue, and a western poker game gone awry.
4) What looked to be a technical issue during the Super Bowl in 2021 turned out to be one of the most ingenious marketing initiatives in recent memory. During the big game, Reddit ran a five-second commercial that began with some generic automobile video before glitching out and showing a message in the manner of a Reddit post. Despite the fact that the message didn’t stay on screen long enough for anybody to read it, fans raced to social media for additional information, and the commercial became the game’s most viral campaign.
