Marketing Dive Trendline on Top 5 stories from Marketing Dive

By: Peter Adams, Jessica Deyo

• Published July 11, 2023

Ad spending appears to be approaching some sort of normalcy with the digital boom of the pandemic really fizzling out and other channels reaching maturity. Yet, for brands, the moment in some ways feels as fraught as any period over the past three years, with splashy creative plays a rarity in the primary half of 2023.

A way of dullness implies that a couple of big swings — in early applications of generative artificial intelligence (AI) or an over-the-top rebrand — felt more impactful in the course of the first half of the 12 months. But looking forward to the second half, a posture of prudence is poised to endure as resources remain strapped and concerns over a divisive landscape result in risk aversion.

Some CMOs are eyeing earned media as a less expensive, more efficient approach to stay on the ball with fast-moving cultural discussions. The approach will pay dividends when timed well but additionally be deflating when a technique meant to drive chatter fizzles or confuses. The right pick of celebrity ambassadors also continues to resonate with consumers. Look no further than soaring demand for names like Pete Davidson or Martha Stewart, the latter of whom helped animate campaigns from brands as varied as Tito’s, BIC and Oreo within the opening leg of the 12 months.

Leveraging a famous face is a tried-and-true marketing tactic. Risk-taking, on the opposite hand, seems briefly supply. Purposeful messages that after scored easy accolades and promised to make brand marketing a meaningful driver of societal change have grow to be flashpoints for controversy as a consequence of the culture wars. Rather than weather the storm, many marketers have pumped the brakes to avoid becoming a political scapegoat within the vein of Bud Light.

Looming within the background, the rise of generative AI is poised to remodel marketing, from the basics of search to creative work. The technology has inspired awe and fear, together with some noteworthy promoting.

Marketing Dive here has assembled an inventory of noteworthy campaigns and branding plays from H1 2023. It is a thinner grouping than usual, reflecting an industry at a degree of deep uncertainty, but exemplifies how a couple of corporations are seizing the moment to reinvent themselves and have interaction beleaguered consumers who’re looking for something fresh.

Coke hands consumers the creative keys with generative AI

While other advertisers were earlier to adopt generative AI, Coke stood out as one among the primary to make smart, democratic use of the technology through its “Create Real Magic” platform.

In March 2023, the soft drink giant hurried to benefit from an alliance between OpenAI and Bain & Company that tests the waters of AI-driven creativity. Not long after, Coke opened a web site where artists could use OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL-E tools to make latest ads based on a wealthy library of iconic branded assets, instructions included. Users could submit their work for the prospect to be featured on marquee digital out-of-home placements in New York City and London.

Part of Coke’s larger “Real Magic” platform, the campaign also featured an academy program that invited 30 creators to collaborate at the corporate’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on ideas that might be utilized in areas like licensed merchandising and digital collectibles. As AI stokes heated debates about potentially stealing work away from flesh-and-blood creatives, Coke kept the main focus easy and handed the keys to actual artists and consumers to bring its ideas to life.

“This execution really was an amazing fit for Coke’s ‘Real Magic’ campaign,” said Kai Tier, vice chairman and executive creative technology director at agency R/GA, over email. “There’s a quote from Arthur C. Clarke that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ — and I feel the primary time people interact with the most recent generative AI technologies, many do have that moment of wondering how what they’re seeing is feasible.”

The approach helped position Coke on the forefront and supported a digital strategy that has grown sales and favor with key groups like Gen Z. Coke in 2023 landed as a top 10 most-valued global brand as tracked by Kantar’s BrandZ rankings, the primary time it has stood on the front of the pack in seven years.

Dunkin’s stars align around Ben Affleck

Some standout marketing taps into an idea that’s surprising or fresh. Other times, it realizes an concept that looks like a protracted time coming. Ben Affleck has never been shy about his love of Dunkin’ iced coffee, a habit that has been captured in candid — and infrequently unflattering — paparazzi photos and memes. But it wasn’t until the 2023 Super Bowl that the chain made the connection official through a tongue-in-cheek ad playing up the A-lister’s self-deprecating qualities. The campaign marked the Inspire Brands-owned company’s big game debut.

In the spot, which was developed with Affleck’s Artists Equity production studio, the actor-director mans a busy drive-thru lane at a Massachusetts-area Dunkin’ establishment. There, he’s greeted by customer reactions of enjoyment and occasional befuddlement, before finally being confronted by his wife, Jennifer Lopez.

During an enormous game overcrowded with lazy celebrity cameos, the industrial hit home with humor, landing near the highest of USA Today’s Ad Meter. Dunkin’ later prolonged the Affleck narrative with a follow-up ad promoting its Dunkin’ Run offer and referencing his long-running work with fellow Bostonian Matt Damon. The second industrial began as a lighthearted outtake from the unique Super Bowl shoot, but quickly evolved right into a concrete idea with assists from Affleck and Artists Equity.

“Dunkin’s 2023 Super Bowl industrial featuring Ben Affleck exemplifies the most effective lessons for marketers on the effective use of celebrities in promoting that’s each popular and effective in driving behavior change,” said Mark DiMassimo, founder and artistic chief of DiGo, over email. “Relatable, authentic, and fun. Most uses of celebrities aren’t any of this stuff. [They] focus on the celebrity or name recognition, attempt to invent myths that aren’t true or just attempt to trade on a reputation or face recognition. Dunkin’ shows the way in which.”

Beyond performing well on promoting’s biggest stage, “Drive-Thru” was emblematic of how Dunkin’ is popping a page with its marketing strategy in a holistic sense, honing in on more ambitious brand constructing, CMO Jill McVicar Nelson told Marketing Dive.

“In today’s culture, I feel that willingness to interrupt the fourth wall and be real goes a good distance,” said Nelson over email.

Pepsi ushers in latest era with vibrant visual overhaul

Marketers are at an “inflection point,” per GroupM research, with COVID habits waning but consumer tastes remaining in flux. The post-pandemic transition has inspired myriad brand refreshes and repositionings in 2023, but none as striking or expansive as Pepsi’s, which touches across channels from packaging to trucking fleets and coolers.

For the overhaul, detailed ahead of its implementation for the soda marketer’s a hundred and twenty fifth anniversary in the autumn, Pepsi ditched the minimalism and easy color palettes that defined a decade when Facebook’s Alegria style became ubiquitous. With Y2K aesthetics back in vogue, the brand embraced maximalism in electric blues and sharper blacks, complemented by a bolder custom typeface and wordmark logo. Variants like Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry and Mango are redesigned to are available in decorative, fruit-laden packaging, while the Pepsi brand broadly is rolling out a “pulse” motif to speak energy and tie back to its music history.

“It’s stark and clear, it harkens barely enough to heritage without being regressive, and doesn’t lack for dumb-simple clarity — and isn’t dumb-simple what makes good mass marketing?” said Aki Spicer, chief strategy officer at cultural agency Cashmere.

The shakeup recognizes Pepsi Zero Sugar as a master brand, with the better-for-you option now dominating key sponsorships just like the NFL. It can also be meant to accommodate the demands of an increasingly phygital landscape and emergent opportunities in areas like Web3.

As Pepsi prepares to introduce consumers to the makeover, it has continued to pump out eye-catching marketing, including a sweltering summer campaign starring global music star Bad Bunny. Kantar’s BrandZ said that the PepsiCo soda has come to be defined by “great promoting,” growing its value 17% in 2023 to $18.8 billion and landing among the many top 100 most-valued brands globally.

“With the disclosing of our latest visual identity there was a renewed excitement in regards to the brand — this latest look was a labor of affection, several years within the making, and researching and proper consumer testing was a vital a part of our overall process,” said Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s CMO, over email. “We know consumers love the brand new logo, as we’ve conducted extensive consumer research and continued to receive great responses, with fans applauding the attractive color palette, distinctiveness and overall modern look.”

Amazon’s ‘Marvelous Mile’ dominates Fifth Avenue

During a period largely influenced by tightened advertiser budgets, few experiential activations have felt quite as wide-spanning as Amazon Prime Video’s New York City pop-up event celebrating the ultimate season of its award-winning series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Appropriately titled the “Marvelous Mile,” the flashy event was hosted April 14, 2023, and touted a mile-long pink carpet stretching for 10 blocks of Fifth Avenue. The display, which tied into Prime Video’s larger “Maisel Tov” campaign, featured a handful of interactive stops harkening back to past seasons of the show together with photo opportunities and giveaways marrying themes of the series with on-brand ‘50s and ‘60s nostalgia.

Additional marketing got here from tie-ups with nearby venues, notably Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York flagship store, which is where consumers could find vintage cars and taxis, black and white cookies from Manischewitz and original clothing looks from the show featured throughout the store’s center six windows.

In total, the event saw an estimated 750,000 attendees and toppled expectations, in accordance with Jennifer Verdick, head of partnerships and consumer events for Amazon Prime Video. The exec noted that the successful effort was a part of the corporate’s larger technique to foster “stunty,” culture-driven marketing.

“You couldn’t buy the energy that took place on the pink carpet that day,” Verdick wrote in emailed comments.

Prime Video moreover managed to move the energy of the Marvelous Mile beyond New York with social-first activations inclusive of a hashtag challenge to the tune of “Pink Shoe Laces,” a 1959 hit that doubled because the soundtrack for eight surprise dance performances in the course of the event. Dubbed the #PSLChallenge, the hassle proved wildly popular, Verdick said, garnering over 50 million views across TikTok and Instagram.

“As a marketer, you bring elements that you think that will resonate with fans and this moment — with over 50MM views — continues to deliver and surprise us in one of the best ways possible,” Verdick said.

Burger King’s earworm jingle resurrects the Whopper

Original music and fresh takes on iconic songs have grow to be a widely used marketing tool, nevertheless, Burger King in pursuit of a turnaround took it to the subsequent level with its inescapable “Whopper Whopper” jingle, a remix of its Nineteen Seventies “Have It Your Way” tune that, despite its simplicity, has grow to be a viral sensation and sales-boosting success.

The jingle — which musically breaks down the Whopper’s components — is a component of the chain’s larger “You Rule” brand positioning, which was introduced in October 2022 and made with OKRP, the chain’s creative agency-of-record for the U.S. However, its claim to fame mainly stems from the NFL season, where strategic media buys handled by agency PHD elevated Burger King to command the No. 1 share of voice within the NFL amongst restaurant brands.

Unavoidable for football fans, the jingle quickly achieved social media virality, spanning memes, tweets and TikTok remixes which have carried it into the current day. In hopes of continuous the trend, Burger King also acted on consumer requests to drop the tune on Spotify, adding it to the platform early into 2023. The jingle has since garnered over 5 million listens.

“The real filter for BK and our agencies became how will we focus on the individuals who made [the jingle] go viral in the primary place,” said Zahra Nurani, vice chairman of selling communications for Burger King North America, in emailed comments.

Additionally, despite the jingle’s success around football season, the chain opted to forego a 2023 Super Bowl ad, as a substitute releasing a industrial urging consumers to share their very own twist to the song on TikTok using a karaoke version. In total, 12,000 pieces of user-generated content stemmed from the hassle, while the campaign garnered over 1 billion social media impressions and over 985 million views through #whopper on TikTok.

“We’re living in a sound-on world, and that is one other great example of the ability of music to hold a brand’s story and embed that story deeply into culture,” said Geoffrey Goldberg, co-founder and chief creative officer at Movers+Shakers, in emailed comments. “They created a straightforward, catchy, unmissable piece of content (on this case, a really earworm-y song!) that allowed it to catch fire and invite a conversation.”

The “You Rule” tagline and jingle each fall under Burger King’s “Reclaim the Flame” revitalization plan, unveiled in September 2022, that features a $150 million investment in promoting efforts. The plan up to now has shown promise, with the chain reporting double-digit same-store sales growth in the primary quarter of 2023 alongside surging Whopper sales. The chain in Kantar’s 2023 BrandZ rankings also saw its value increase to $7.7 billion, an 8% year-over-year increase.

Dove rallies for safer social media laws

While social media continues to be undeniably popular for younger audiences — and the marketers vying to achieve them — the channel has concurrently proven to be a significant contributor to the continued youth mental health crisis. While some brands have responded by utilizing less filters or looking for out more real partnerships, Dove took it a step further by calling for systemic change.

Part of its long-running Self-Esteem Project, Dove on April 12, 2023, launched the Campaign For Kids Online Safety in partnership with body-positive musician Lizzo, Common Sense Media and ParentsTogether Action. The effort advocates for the 2023 Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has yet to be passed, that may enact safeguards to guard kids’ online experiences and limit their exposure to toxic beauty content.

“What is special in regards to the campaign is that Dove is a brand that does promoting, an enormous priority for Dove is attempting to sell its products, but that does not imply that it will probably’t even be involved in activism and trying to advertise social awareness” said Ali Fazal, vice chairman of selling for creator platform Grin. “I feel it is a balance that lots of brands are attempting to strike.”

At the core of the hassle is a three-minute short film, “Cost of Beauty: A Dove Film,” which tells a real story of a young woman who developed an eating disorder while being exposed to toxic beauty content on social media. The spot, set to a version of “You Are So Beautiful,” doubles down on its intentions to resonate by later including a slew of real-life survivors of mental health issues sitting alongside their parents.

Powerful campaign materials and a transparent intent for motion by Dove are indicative of the care marketers can offer as they strive to resonate with the younger demographic, a bunch known for looking for out those with similar values, Fazal added. The move also positions the brand for example for others as the subject of mental health and social media continues to be hashed out.

“Dove has pretty consistently been a frontrunner in driving kind of body positivity and variety inside their marketing,” Fazal said. “I can only hope that other corporations will follow suit.”