Case Studies of Successful Digital Marketing Campaigns

Digital marketing campaigns are a crucial part of the overall marketing strategy for most companies. As a business executive or marketing manager, you need to know what a great digital marketing campaign looks like to help your brand succeed.

This guide will show you some real-world examples of successful digital marketing campaigns to give you inspiration about how to optimize your existing initiatives or create better campaigns going forward. You’ll learn about the elements that made some of the world’s best digital marketing campaigns so effective and how to use them in your own business.

What is a digital marketing campaign?

A digital marketing campaign is a strategic plan for promoting your business online. The goal of a digital marketing campaign is to grow your business in relevant online spaces to boost brand awareness, engagement, and conversions with your target audience.

Digital marketing encompasses any method that connects you to your audience via a screen. This includes methods like social media, email, video, blogs, chatbots, display ads, and more.

While there’s some value to traditional marketing like direct mail or billboards, more companies are investing in digital marketing for one simple reason it works. 

Digital marketing campaigns are beneficial because they:

• Mesh with digital marketing tools to scale easily
• Are simple to measure and improve lead attribution
• Allow for smart, omnichannel relationships with consumers
• Increase brand awareness
• Are more affordable and accessible than traditional marketing methods

Digital marketing gives your business the freedom to reach consumers in a nearly unlimited number of ways. With so many options, it can be difficult to know which digital marketing strategies will work best for your audience. That’s why it’s so important to study other successful digital marketing campaigns.

Examples of digital marketing campaigns

Some of the world’s biggest brands invest resources into pushing the limits of what’s possible with digital marketing. These 5 examples of successful digital marketing campaigns demonstrate masterful timing, targeting, and messaging that business leaders can emulate in their campaigns.

#Airbnb — “Made Possible by Hosts”

The 2021 Airbnb campaign “Made Possible By Hosts” capitalized on user-generated content (UGC) in its video “Forever Young.” The slideshow-style video showcases renters having a great time together at an Airbnb, featuring their trip photos on top of a sentimental soundtrack.

Not only did this video highlight the amazing properties and activities in a subtle nod to the Airbnb experience, but it also focused on the feeling renters have when they book weekend trips with Airbnb. 

Globally, the campaign brought in an impressive 17 million views across Airbnb’s platforms. This successful social media campaign targeted both hosts and renters, which allowed Airbnb to create an initiative that boosted property listings and bookings.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Invest in video-first content. The majority of consumers want to consume video content, and video makes it easy to tell a more compelling, emotional story.
• Create mute-friendly content that users can watch without subtitles. That’s especially important, considering 75% of people view mobile videos with the sound off.
• Feature real people with UGC. This content served as valuable social proof of the good times renters have had at Airbnb properties.
• Lean into sentimental content. Instead of loading the video with facts or stats, Airbnb told an emotional story using a combination of sentimental images and music.

#American Express — “OPEN Forum”

American Express is a large credit card company that specializes in credit cards for businesses. In 2007, the company wanted to position itself as an authority on business to improve SEO and attract more business owners to its web properties. American Express created the OPEN Forum, which invited experts from different industries to create guest posts.

This digital marketing campaign was all about collaboration. It helped American Express quickly create high-quality, expert content on marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, finance, productivity, and more. Since the content was entirely outsourced, American Express didn’t need to invest in producing material internally. The guest collaborators also promoted the content to their networks, which helped the company boost its reach.

American Express is continuing the OPEN Forum campaign today, albeit under the name Trends and Insights. It’s one of the most effective content marketing campaigns of all time it’s the company’s top lead source for new card members.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Outsource content to experts via guest posts. Content marketing is effective, but doing it regularly requires a lot of resources. OPEN Forum shows it’s possible to source high-quality, trusted content by featuring guest writers in niche industries.
• Encourage word-of-mouth content sharing. American Express guest posters were happy to reshare their content once it went live, which helped promote both OPEN Forum and the guests’ content.
• Expand expertise across verticals. The guest posting initiative delivered value to a wider range of readers through outsourced content marketing.
• Build a community. OPEN Forum did more than just position American Express as an expert in all things business. It also created a trusted hub for business professionals to connect.

#Lyft — referral program

Lyft is a rideshare company based in the United States. Faced with fierce competition from Uber, Lyft needed to convert its riders into brand advocates. The goal was to mobilize its riders into an affordable, ready-made salesforce that would grow Lyft’s platform.

Lyft’s referral program allows users to invite riders and drivers via the app, email, or SMS. With a max of $2,000 per week in free rides, the high limit incentivized users to promote Lyft.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Formalize brand advocacy. Many brands overlook the power of formalized referral programs. Lyft showed that it’s easy to add these features to an app and convert users into brand advocates.
• Offer meaningful incentives. Users won’t refer other people if the rewards aren’t worth their time. Make sure you offer valuable incentives that motivate users to act.
• Make referrals as simple as possible. Lyft offered a simple “Share” button that made it easy to share referral codes on social media or via SMS and email. The easier it is to refer, the better your campaigns will perform.
• Track performance. Each referral account should have its unique code. This makes it possible for your brand to track which users are your biggest advocates. You can reward these top performers with better incentives or leverage them for other digital marketing campaigns.

#Red Bull — “Red Bull Stratos”

Red Bull is an energy drink brand that’s known for marketing itself through adventure and sponsorship of extreme sports. But in 2012, a Red Bull digital marketing campaign called Stratos turned heads.

Red Bull live-streamed a video where a man broke the Guinness World Record for freefall skydiving by jumping from space. This campaign was all about surpassing human limits, but it also surpassed the brand’s expectations. Stratos generated an impressive 6.8 million views on YouTube.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Livestream events. Livestreaming creates a sense of immediacy and community. No one knew how Stratos would play out, which only added to the excitement.
• Lean into entertaining content over brand promotion. While Stratos prominently featured the company’s logo, the video itself had nothing to do with Red Bull. Instead, it leaned into the feelings of danger, achievement, mastery, and excitement — which are all part of the Red Bull brand identity.
• Break records. The Red Bull digital marketing campaign succeeded in part because it broke several records. You don’t have to skydive from space, but it’s possible to market yourself while breaking (or creating) world records.
• Tell stories. Stratos not only showed a man skydiving from space — it also built suspense in the story leading up to the main event.

#Heineken — “Cheers to All”

Beer brand Heineken took a similar approach to the Dove campaign to combat gender stereotypes. “Cheers to All” broke stereotypes about gender and drinking. Its “Men drink cocktails too” slogan showed that women can enjoy Heineken beer and men can order cocktails.

This campaign was about beverages appealing to multiple genders. “Cheers to All” subtly promoted Heineken beer to women while breaking down stereotypes and representation issues in the beer industry. The video received nearly 800,000 views on YouTube.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Reverse expectations. Heineken played on the expectation that women order fruity drinks and men order beer. The mix-up made for a fun twist in this digital marketing campaign.
• Keep it lighthearted. It’s easy to go negative with campaigns that subvert gender stereotypes. However, Heineken showed it’s possible to reject these stereotypes in a lighthearted way.
• Create global content. Heineken relied on imagery to tell a story instead of narration. This made it easier for the international brand to share the campaign content across geographic and language borders.
• Upload content natively to social media. Heineken didn’t reshare YouTube links to its other social media feeds. Heineken got more views and engagement by uploading the content natively.

#JetBlue — using Twitter to provide instant customer service

The airline JetBlue wanted to differentiate itself from low-cost competitors, which were infamous for offering poor customer service. JetBlue leaned into using Twitter as its customer service (and marketing) hub.

JetBlue provides customer service on Twitter, where it tries to quickly reply to every tweet. The goal is to handle customer issues immediately and forge one-on-one relationships with flyers. The ultimate goal of this approach is to build trust and create positive experiences for travellers who need immediate assistance.

Here are some takeaways from the campaign’s tactical approach:

• Create relationships with customers. By replying to nearly every customer comment, JetBlue can foster deeper relationships with travelers one-on-one, which makes them feel special.
• Lean into service as a differentiator. More and more companies are competing on customer experience instead of product features. Differentiate your brand by marketing your commitment to service and support.
• Focus on helping, not selling. JetBlue isn’t encouraging people to book more flights — it’s simply focusing on helping customers. Lean into the value you deliver to followers in your digital marketing campaigns.
• Speed matters. Travelers need information quickly, which is why JetBlue answers questions ASAP. Look for ways to speed up customer conversations, whether it’s with AI or scalable marketing software.

Set up your digital marketing campaigns for success

Digital marketing campaigns help brands stand out, and there are many ways to do them. Learn to think outside the box by following in the footsteps of these 5 successful digital marketing campaign examples.

Whether you’re just getting started or are refining your digital marketing campaign strategy, the next step is to evaluate your campaign management solution and process to ensure it gives you the workflow control, data management, and customization you need to develop compelling digital marketing campaigns that increase conversions.