Here are some of the biggest cause marketing campaigns that went viral and took the internet by storm.
GoldieBlox
“There’s nothing wrong with being a princess, we just think girls can build their own castles too.”
That’s the message that greets you on the homepage of the GoldieBlox website, a company that targets the stereotypes that exist in the toy industry.
Their initial campaign slammed the idea that only boys enjoy toys that are about ‘building stuff’. The commercial was a roaring success and has over 2 million views on Youtube. It even managed to get the attention of various publications and has been written about multiple times, adding to their overall popularity. What makes it exceptionally interesting is the way it managed to capture the imagination of both children and adults in a way that can only be paralleled to Lego, in the past. It didn’t take them too long to find a spot alongside mainstream toys and within a year of being launched, they were being sold at Toys ‘R’ Us!
Oreo(Kraft Foods)
In June 2012, Oreo posted an image on their Facebook page that went viral almost instantly. The image was of a digitally remastered Oreo cookie with all the colors of the rainbow, captioned- ‘Proudly support love’. It was a bold step to take and it met with a wide range of responses from the audience. But for every hate message that was posted, there were countless supportive messages that appreciated Oreo for their brave move.
And the numbers don’t hurt either. Within a month of its release, the post had received over 50,000 comments and 300,000 likes. The most remarkable gain however, was the 80,000 shares that it garnered apart from grabbing headlines on almost every online publication at the time.
Love has no labels
If there’s one thing that’s common across the world, it’s the unfortunate reality that we’re quick to be judgemental of those that are not like us. While we like to believe that we don’t fall prey to judging and being judged, reality has a different story to tell. So, when the Ad Council came out with a simple video earlier this year, highlighting the fact that our apparent differences exist only on the surface- it was a huge hit.
The clip, which was released on March 3rd 2015, racked up 14 million views in just 48 hours. What makes this campaign exceptionally meaningful is that it wasn’t just a one time thing. With a dedicated website and social media pages, it still keeps the message going.
KONY 2012
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are that you would have come across Invisible Children’s KONY campaign that took the internet by storm in 2012. One of the biggest viral sensations of all time, it proved that the web about more than just cat videos and friday night party pictures. Critics have been divided about the success of the video, with some calling it passive activism and others applauding the efforts made to bring global attention to a problem that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Either way, the 100 million views on Youtube are a clear indication of the fact that the campaign spoke to a lot of people and did get a movement going. If the point of a viral phenomena is to start a dialogue going, then clearly this one checked all the right boxes.
Jaago Re
One of India’s most popular cause marketing campaigns, Jaago Re was launched by Tata Tea. The term literally translates to ‘wake up’ and the campaign was targeted at a growing population of more ‘aware’ Indians that were hungry for change. While it was initially started to increase voter turnout and encourage first time voters to go out and vote, it quickly expanded to include many more social issues that deserved attention.
Though the campaign was launched in 2008, it’s consistency in calling attention to important issues over the years is impressive. They have focused on various relevant issues over the years with the latest being about women’s empowerment- a theme that is gaining prominence in India. Rightly titled the ‘Power of 49’( women comprise 49% of the electorate), it aims at increasing awareness about women’s issues and how it needs to be treated as a matter of higher priority by the government.
With social media, any one can be a journalist and every one can spark off change. If radio and television were the agents of revolution in the years behind us, these campaigns show that change of even greater proportions can be sparked off by social media. All you really need is the right story. The challenge there on, is to keep the conversation going and not let it fizzle out.
If you have a campaign in mind that sparked off debates and discussion and took the world by storm, drop us a line and we’ll cover it in our next post.