The Best Digital Campaign of 2011

It’s that time of the year when the “best of” lists start coming out, so here’s another one to add to the group.  While I’m no authority on all things digital, working at an Agency provides me more exposure to campaigns than most folks.

The opinion for best digital campaign is my own and based on what I have seen this past year. I’m sure that I’ve missed a few, so please feel free to suggest your favorite in the comment section.   There is no “science” to the process.   The criteria for selection came down to four key components:

•  Boldness – How big was the objective of the campaign?  How significant was the insight?
• Innovation – How unique or innovative was the application of the technology
•  Value Proposition – How compelling?
•  Impact – Was it significant?  A Game changing?  Will it have a lasting impact on the industry, consumer and marketers? 

Overall, 2011 was good year. We saw companies becoming more humanly relevant with their messaging, like the Microsoft ad in my last post.  And the use of new digital technology was everywhere; Adidas and Hyundai wowed us with the use of 3D Building Projection Mapping. 

Intel launched their new Core i5 chip through a well-crafted video experience in the form of a short film highlighting the chip’s power for gaming and social media use.  And integrated social media campaigns, such as Volkswagen and Heineken became commonplace.

However, based on the criteria above, my vote for the digital campaign of the year goes to Tesco for a campaign executed in South Korea.  It had a big, bold and aspirational objective -- takeover the leadership position in the market from the domestic competitor with more retail stores.  And in its wake, left the retail industry rethinking the shopping experience.

But the part of the campaign that truly separated it from the competition was the compelling value proposition.  Using technology platforms to improve what I’ll call the “utility of time.”   For marketers, this is an unexplored gold mine of opportunity.  Finding and exploiting “unused or wasted” time by giving it purpose or utility, and going beyond just putting an ad in front of eyeballs to engaging consumers in a meaningful way. 

Home Life (Tesco) customers are, well, busy. South Korean productivity is near the highest in the world, so “freeing up time for them” is a true value-add. Tesco took commuters wait time for a train, and turned it into something useful…shopping for groceries; a task that is viewed as a chore and conducted during a consumer’s precious weekend time. 

Tesco creates the opportunity for commuters to use “low value” wait time, for what they believe to be a “low value” task, in the process freeing up “high valued” personal time to be used at their discretion. 

Earlier this month, Pew Research Center released the results of a study that tracked young adults online behavior over the last 11 years.   In 2000, 16 percent of young adults went online for amusement or to “pass the time.” 

On any given day in 2011, 53% of young adults, and a third of adults, said that they went online for “no particular reason, just for fun or to pass the time.”  The takeaway for marketers is that people are looking to fill their time, so give them something useful and meaningful to do with it.

And don’t settle for the safe and small next year; push your teams to go beyond Facebook “likes” as a metric.  Aim high, go after what might seem unattainable, and dream big.  Dare to change your industry, redefine the buyer journey, and/or challenge the conventional wisdom.  

Have a great holiday season and go BIG in 2012!