5 Wackiest Marketing Campaigns That Took Off
Few marketing campaigns are just a matter of luck and any marketing blunder can either make your brand or break it in the market nowadays. High competition and expectations from the consumer side put great pressure on businesses to provide exceptional products and services.
Have you ever heard of some of the wackiest marketing campaigns that actually took off in the market and became successful? Let me tell you about some of these campaigns, I am sure you’ll be amazed when getting into the details!
Bigger brands such as KFC, Pepsi, etc have pulled off so many marketing campaigns in the past. Many of these ads make people go WOW! Despite their oddities, the campaigns went viral. Big points for creativity and luck.
Let’s dive into the top 5 wackiest marketing campaigns of all time. Sit back, relax, and continue reading!
I am going to start off with KFC’s amusing campaign of ‘The Chicken Dance’ and then continue all the way to Old Spice’s hilarious viral video which boosted the brand’s sales to 107%!!
KFC’s ‘The Chicken Dance’ Campaign
You heard it right, the Chicken Dance ance!
In the early 2000s, KFC launched a campaign centered around a humorous dance called “The Chicken Dance,” performed by costumed characters in KFC commercials and events. The campaign was a hit and helped to boost KFC’s brand awareness and sales.
This campaign caught the interest of millions of people around the globe and made headlines on several news channels. KFC attempted to beat the world record of Chicken Dance during the T20 world cup held in Australia.
By the way, T20, short for Twenty20, is like the “fast food” version of cricket for those who don’t have the attention span for the longer formats.
To my knowledge, it was described as the best performance ever in the world cup, where 26,000 people danced in the stadium.
The Chicken Dance campaign is one of the funniest yet most successful marketing campaigns ever.
Burger King’s ‘Whopper Freakout’ Campaign
Burger King is known for its innovative and fresh marketing strategies. There is a long list of some of the best and odd marketing campaigns by the king of whoppers. The most creative campaign was the ‘Whopper Freakout’ campaign.
In this 2006 campaign, Burger King employees secretly filmed customers’ reactions as they were told that the Whopper burger had been discontinued. The resulting videos, which showed customers freaking out over the news, went viral and helped to generate buzz for the brand.
On the 50th anniversary of Burger King, the brand also introduced ‘whooperfreakout.com’ as a part of its campaign and boosted the whooper sale to 29%. The website received 4 million views and 250,000 visitors by the end of the year. To date, the campaign is considered the most re-called campaign in IAG history.
Dos Equis “The Most Interesting Man in the World” Campaign
This is one of the most unusual yet successful marketing campaigns ever, making the beer quite desirable, notably in the United States.
‘His blood smells like cologne. His hands feel like Rich, brown suede.’
The tagline itself was quite attention-grabbing and is worth mentioning because of the polar opposite approach of other beer brands in the country. This long-running campaign, which featured a suave, worldly man extolling the virtues of Dos Equis beer, became a cultural phenomenon and helped to increase the brand’s sales and visibility.
Through Jonathan Goldsmith (the most interesting man in the world), the company was able to trade beer for witty one-liners. The catchphrase became an internet sensation and one of its kind marketing campaign in the history of the beer industry.
Heineken’s marketing team probably still has nightmares about trying to top Dos Equis’ campaign.
Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” Campaign
Revisiting the surreal marketing campaign of 2004 made me realize how it transformed the concept of digital marketing. This interactive campaign, which launched in 2004, featured a website where users could type in commands and a costumed chicken character would perform them on video. The campaign generated millions of visits and helped to increase Burger King’s brand awareness.
Indeed, it was one the lamest yet one of the most admired marketing campaigns and the name reflected the essence of the campaign. The chicken does exactly what you tell it to do! How amusing and creepy it is at the same time.
Nevertheless, the campaign was successful and received a lot of attention and media coverage. It was created as a way to promote Burger King’s chicken sandwiches and to differentiate the brand from its competitors.
The Subservient Chicken website is no longer active now, but the campaign is still remembered as a creative and memorable marketing effort!
Dear Burger King, Can we please have the Subservient Chicken back?
“Old Spice Man” campaign by Old Spice
This series of hilarious commercials, which featured a well-dressed man delivering tongue-in-cheek messaging about Old Spice products, became a viral hit and helped to revitalize the brand.
One of the most successful Old Spice marketing campaigns was the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, which featured actor Isaiah Mustafa as the Old Spice Guy. The ads, which aired in 2010, featured Mustafa delivering a series of humorous and confident monologues while using Old Spice products.
Interestingly, the campaign was a major success and helped to increase sales of Old Spice products. The ads also spawned a series of popular internet memes and spawned a number of follow-up campaigns featuring Mustafa and other actors!
Takeaway
There are a number of odd campaigns in history that took off and increased brand awareness and sales. To me, KFC’s ‘The Chicken Dance, is the wackiest yet the most successful marketing campaign which got attention worldwide and broke the world record of people performing the chicken dance at different events!