Summer presents many great opportunities for brands to stay relevant, strengthen customer relationships and engage with their audience.
For this reason, not only can you expect warmer weather from the shift in season but new marketing campaigns too.
As our excitement and anticipation builds for Summer each year, it’s hardly a shock that we look forward to witnessing what the world of advertising also has to offer.
Here are just some of our favourite Summer marketing campaigns of all time:
The AA – Love that feeling? (2020)
In 2020, many brands opted to create sentimental ads during the Covid-19 crisis, however the Automobile Association decided to go down a different route and share some much-needed joy.
Timed to coincide with Boris’ announcement that the nation would be coming out of the first lockdown, The AA introduced a new mascot – Tukker the puppet dog who reminded drivers, and pedestrians alike, of the feeling of freedom.
On their website, they wrote: “Tukker loves nothing more than the feeling of being out on the open road with the sun on his face and the wind in his fur. If you love that feeling too and don’t want it to stop, join the AA. We’ll get you back on the road.”
Great Holidays to remember with Park Resorts ( 2018)
In 2018, we created an engaging online summer campaign for Park Resorts to raise awareness and stimulate bookings.
Our chosen tagline was ‘Big Summer, Tiny Prices’ which we combined with the image of a hand framing a photograph of the perfect summer moment.
We reinforced the campaign with a Facebook-hosted competition which enabled holidaymakers to submit ‘photo stories’ of their favourite summer memories at Park Resorts to win a prize.
This generated huge social media activity, raising the brand’s profile and establishing a successful formula for future campaigns.
Ikea’s books on the beach (2010)
Taking ourselves back to 2010, one Summer campaign that made a lasting impression was Ikea’s Books on the Beach initiative.
To promote and celebrate the popular Billy bookshelf’s 30th birthday, IKEA placed a number of their Billy bookshelves, filled with books, on Bondi Beach in Australia. Beach-goers and book lovers were able to take home a book in exchange for a donation to the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.
According to a BBC article from 2017, there were a reported 60 million of Billy Bookcases in people’s homes around the world. This suggests that the campaign successfully boosted its sales by a substantial amount.
Samsung’s Olympic Anthem (2016)
When the Olympics in 2016 were approaching, it was no surprise that brands were attempting to tie in with the momentous event.
Kicking off the Olympic themed ads with a bang was Samsung, who combined all of the national anthems to create one singular ‘world anthem’.
Using their devices to record themselves, in the advert people from around the world sing the national anthems of various countries – not always their own.
This was incredibly clever of Samsung, as not only did it deliver the clear message of ‘bringing people closer’, but you also forgot that you were watching an advertisement.
Hassle free parking with NCP ParkPass
In the Summer of 2020 we launched a campaign for the UK’s number one car park company NCP.
NCP needed our creative expertise to support the development and sub-branding of their new parking product ParkPass which helps to drive quick, easy and hassle-free parking.
The ParkPass product provides customers with a more seamless parking experience, allowing customers to park at 250 NCP car parks across the UK and pay for their stay using a card or via the app.
We created a logo design that was inline with the overarching NCP brand as well as bespoke illustrations to help add personality to the brand.
NCP’s Brand Marketing Manager said: “The ParkPass branding provides a clean, clear and creative identity for our new parking product. The design is able to work on its own but also seamlessly fits together when used alongside our other NCP solutions.”
Ice bucket challenge (2014)
Who doesn’t remember the ALS ice bucket challenge that went viral in 2014? The campaign spread like wildfire across the globe, making it one of the most iconic viral marketing campaigns to have ever hit the digital space.
Although the campaign wasn’t originally thought up by the ALS charity itself, instead started by a sufferer, it generated an incredible amount of awareness and raised money for the disease.
One of the reasons the campaign became such a huge success was due to the social pressure that people experienced when being tagged by their friend. Plus, the heatwave at the time definitely helped encourage people to tip ice cold water over their heads.
Ultimately, what this campaign demonstrated was the power of going viral on social media and how this can be an incredible marketing strategy.
We hope you’re feeling inspired by our top campaigns released in the warmest time of the year.
Summer is always an exciting season of creative ideas and we’re looking forward to what new campaigns this year will bring.
1.) theaa.com 2.) theaa.com 3.) rawww.com 4.) medium.com 5.) leoburnett.com 6.) rawww.com 7.) time.com
