The Most Successful Ads of All Time

Source: Wikipedia

The economic principle I’m exploring is “People generally respond to incentives in predictable ways.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “What are some of the most successful advertising campaigns, and why are they so successful?” 

The article published in BluLeadz titled “20 of the Best Marketing Campaigns of All Time” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that campaigns like Dove Real Beauty, Nike’s “Just Do It”, and De Beers Diamonds were/are incredibly successful, particularly because of the techniques we’ve discussed in previous blog posts.

First, arguably one of the most successful and long-running campaigns of all time is Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. For those who don;t know, during this campaign Dove advertised its products with a message that people, particularly women, of all shapes, sizes, and colors are beautiful, by showing diverse and happy models in their ads. The author of the article said that Dove began the campaign after they found that “In 2004, Unilever's research found that only 4% of women considered themselves beautiful”, and thus, the Campaign for Real Beauty began. The campaign not only was successful in sales, but the author says that it was successful in getting the world to start talking about beauty standards. “Talk shows, women's magazines, and TV news began discussing modern female beauty standards. The campaign evolved into a series of viral videos, commercials, and print ads that changed how we all look at beauty.” So what advertising technique made this campaign so successful? The answer is emotion. Dove’s ads successfully carried emotional content that the viewer could easily connect to, and as we’ve shown, emotion matters more than content in the success of advertising.

Second, Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign is also up there in the charts of most successful advertising campaign. It also increased the company’s profits exponentially. The author says that In 1988, Nike sales were $800 million. They introduced their iconic “Just Do It” campaign. Within a decade, sales topped $2 billion.” Nowadays, we can look at the iconic “Just Do It.” check mark and immediately know it’s a Nike product. Why? Repetition. The phrase and symbol are used in every one of their ads, commercials, products, etc. The constant repetition of the brand has ingrained it into consumer’s minds, therefore making it one of the most popular and recognizable brands.

Third, DeBeers Diamonds, although likely less widely known due to its age as an advertising campaign, was also incredibly successful. They sold diamond jewelry, particularly engagement rings, with the slogan “A Diamond is Forever.” The author claims that “This campaign created the idea that a diamond is the quintessential token of love and started an industry!” And there is definitely some truth to that. The reason this company was so successful is that through slogans and ads, they created the association between diamonds and everlasting love. So then, when someone sees a DeBeers Diamonds advertisement, they will immediately think of eternal love, thus inciting them to buy their products.

In my next blog post I will wrap up my research on this topic.