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Our picks for this year's most important campaigns and brands
When we sat down to talk about the best marketing of the year, Target Marketing's editors brought a lot of nominations to the table. They included marketing that inspired us, campaigns that moved us ... in some cases just campaigns that made us go buy something.
These six efforts are the ones that we felt had to be recognized.
On the following pages, you'll read about an email campaign that got a 95 percent open rate, a national candy bar that changed prices based on how mad people were, and our pick for the most inspiring TV commercial in a year when there was some incredible competition.
We have no qualms telling you these were our favorites, clearly biased by our own tastes and marketing experiences. But we also think they're six brands and campaigns that every marketer needs to know. Each one of them found a way to take what they do to a level we didn't even think you could reach until we saw it for ourselves.
ONLINE MARKETING Xfinity 'Bad Weather Trigger'
It's one thing for a cable company to call out satellite for its supposedly poor reception in stormy weather. It's another to target satellite subscribers with those ads when their TVs are actually out!
That's exactly what Comcast did with its Xfinity "Bad Weather Campaign." In a program honored by the DMA ECHO awards, the goal was to "position Comcast Xfinity as a better alternative and drive satellite customers to make the switch."
Comcast used advanced targeting information to run online banner ads reflecting current weather and circumstances at exactly the times satellite was most likely to be knocked out. Like the proverbial devil on your shoulder, these banners encouraged satellite customers to make a switch exactly when they were most likely to be furious at their dish providers.
Overall, the Bad Weather Campaign hit satellite companies where it hurt. It was 9 percent more effective at driving orders than its benchmarks, had a 17...