Digital marketing industry case study library

You can do this online through our online submission form or by email. If you'd like to submit examples of your work then email them into CaseStudies@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com and after an initial review we'll be in touch if we feel they can be used to support learning goals.

There is also an online submission tool, here: http://www.digitaltrainingacademy.com/submit. By sending us a case study you agree we can use it in training, conference speeches, book chapters and reports and other media. You need to be confident you have the necessary rights and permissions from partners or clients to be able to do this. Case studies cannot be restricted to one particular course so we can only accept material which can be used in any aspect of our training. However, if youd like us to withdraw a case study at any point, then we can do this within two weeks.

To engage with their young adult male target audience around comedy, and to create and spread positive earned media around the brand, ice cream brand Klondike created a campaign with Twitter at its heart. The Twitterverse audience was asked, through a video call-to-action from the comedian Rob Delaney, to post a funny joke on the social media platform in less than 140 characters. The competition, over a number of weeks, generated much interest and excitement from the online fan base.

KLONDIKE COMEDY SHOWCASE CAMPAIGN from Nathan Marshall on Vimeo.

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Brand: Klondike | Country: US | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Format: Social Media, Twitter

Special K found a great way to generate online conversation / earned media around a new product launch. As part of the launch of their new Cracker Crisp product range the brand set up a temporary shop in London’s Soho and asked visitors to use Twitter in order to receive a free sample. All they had to do was post a positive message about the new product on Twitter including the hashtag #tweetshop and the product sample was theirs. This innovative way to bridge the physical and digital via the imaginative use of social media and smartphones meant that the launch received a great deal of online PR and buzz.

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Brand: Special K | Country: UK | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Format: Social Media, Twitter, PR

In summertime in Israel Coca Cola hosts a number of live, 3 day events for teenagers to come together, play and ‘share the happiness’. Looking to make the most of this live event content the brand found a clever technical solution to amplify the offline event online. By providing all the attendees with an RFID-enabled wristband, programmed with their Facebook user name and password, they were able to create a regular stream of real-time likes, content and images in the social network. This not only extended the fun for those who attended, it also spread the happiness to those who couldn’t and in so doing helped extend the reach and engagement of the event to many more thousands of the target audience.

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Brand: Coca Cola | Country: Israel | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Format: Social Media, Facebook

Converse, the global footwear brand, took a novel and innovative way to connect with their teenage audience online. They took the Google paid search channel and turned an advertising space into a game experience. Rather than trying to capture the attention of their audience in the search channel through the normal way - of bidding against other brands on popular search terms - they decided to do the opposite. Converse identified peaking search terms via Google Zeitgeist and then bid against these low competition low cost phrases. Instead of presenting the viewer with an ad – they started a dialogue through the ad copy and dozens of interconnected microsites that engaged the viewer in a deeper content rich experience. Not only did this engage the audience in a total unexpected way – but also still helped drive large volumes of traffic to converse.com

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Brand: Converse | Country: USA | | Sector: FMCG, Clothing, Sports | Format: Search, Google

While Little Baby’s Ice Cream is only a relatively small manufacturer and retailer of premium, ice cream based in Philadelphia, PA they know how to do social media well. By placing this quirky, and slightly unnerving, promotional video / advertisement on YouTube with their website URL at the end – not only can they generate over 2.7 million video views but also a constantly stream of traffic to their website. This YouTube presence, coupled with a lively and well managed online community on Facebook and Twitter, has helped the business maintain a loyal fan base of regular visitors to their ice cream parlours.

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Brand: Little Baby’s Ice Cream | Country: USA | | Sector: FMCG, Food | Format: Video

How far would you go to bring the best talent to your team? In Belgium, Ogilvy delved into murky waters by using pirate software sites to recruit cash-strapped (but ambitious) unemployed web designers. Ogilvy Brussels was looking for a new web designer with fresh ideas. They knew that unemployed web designers can’t afford the crazily expensive editing suites they need to work, and they may be tempted to download it illegally. In response, they uploaded a file supposed to provide the editing suite on many pirate sharing websites. When web designers downloaded the file, they discovered that the editing suite was not in the download. Instead, they gave them something else: a job opportunity at Ogilvy. Not only did it prevent them from becoming criminals and wasting time in the numbness of unemployment, but it also offered them a much better opportunity: a job at a leading agency.

Continue reading "Ogilvy resorts to ‘pirate recruitment’ to get top talent" »

Back in March 2012, a YouTube video of Swedish magicians promoting Stockholm using iPads and trickery took the internet world by storm, leaving audiences baffled and event organisers beaming. This ‘iPad magic’ campaign was created to promote Stockholm as a business centre. Since being posted to YouTube in March, on Friday, the clip has been viewed over 3m times.
This convention also made Scandinavian headlines after Swedish representatives placed banners and advertising with the slogan "Stockholm: The Capital of Scandinavia", outraging Norwegians and Danes who were also at the event.

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Brand: Stockholm Business | Country: Sweden/ France | Sector: Travel | Format: Video, Live event, YouTube

Continue reading "Stockholm ‘iPad magic' gets 3 million views" »

As 2012 comes to a close, we look back at some of the biggest online video virals of the year. This week, we look at the hugely successful (and rather controversial) ‘Kony 2012’ campaign, that raised a huge amount of awareness about the plight of children caught up in Uganda’s conflict. Invisible Children, a movement seeking to end the conflict in Uganda, created the film Kony 2012 back in March. They hoped it would accelerate the arrest of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony, who has been kidnapping and abducting Uganda’s youth for nearly three decades. With more than 100 million views in six days, Kony 2012 became the most viral video in history. The video worked because it used compelling content, stayed relevant and had a simple call to action.

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Brand: Invisible Children | Country: USA/ Global | Sector: Charity | Format: Video, YouTube

Continue reading "‘Kony 2012’ helps raise $26m after YouTube campaign" »

Reebok built a quick and dirty mobile marketing campaign based around the popularity of the Boston Celtics star player Rajon Rondo. In just 8 working days a mobile campaign was launched that reached a valuable target audience of potential Reebok consumers in this entertaining and engaging campaign. Building upon the catch-phrase “You got Rondo’d”, a mobile internet site was created along with supporting viral videos. These bite-sized bits of content prompted users to enter their mobile details to receive a custom ringtone and real-time information via their phones. This case study shows that even on a tight time-line and budget, a targeted mobile marketing campaign can deliver impactful results.

Reebok Rondo'd case study

Video case study

Reebok "You Got Rondo'd"

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Brand: Reebok | Country: USA | | Sector: FMCG, Clothing, Sports | Format: Mobile

Continue reading "Mobile marketing case study: Reebok’s ‘Rondo’ integrated mobile campaign" »

Viral video ad campaign superstars like Evian’s Roller Babies show they’ve got the power to spread marketing messages globally with a huge return on investment. This case study shows how Evian’s YouTube campaign became the most viewed online video advertisement. One of the first YouTube-exclusive ad campaigns, Evian’s record breaking viral video, Roller Babies, set the way for a new strategy of seeding content, testing creative, and building on a global brand. Launched as a web-centric ad campaign, Roller Babies quickly became a viral tour-de-force. It was so successful that in 2009 the Guinness Book of World Records officially declared Roller Babies as the most viewed online ad.

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Brand: Evian | Media: YouTube | Country: Global | Sector: FMCG Drinks | Objective: awareness | Agency: BETC Euro RSCG & Unruly | Format: YouTube online ad

Continue reading "Evian’s Roller Babies: The viral video that rocked so viciously " »

US flavoured milk brand Oak claimed it had been ‘inundated with fans complaining they coundn’t buy their product in their local stores. In response, parent company Parmalat staged a series of ‘reverse robberies’ and posted the results on YouTube and Facebook. The data captured from the campaign will be passed onto the OAK sales team to help pinpoint their efforts.

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Brand: Oak, Parmalat | Country: USA | Agency: The Monkeys | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Format: YouTube, Video, Facebook, Social Media

Continue reading "Oak stages ‘reverse robberies’ to promote milk drink on Facebook" »

To raise awareness around the perception of blind people in Russia as helpless, charity association “The right to smile” together with the agency Hungry Boys, launched a project called Blind. The aim of the project is to change the way of treatment to blind children around us and help to these children not just to live, but to live and be happy for those children for whom medicine help is not available now, to make their life in the aggressive environment of the modern city more convenient.

You are blind from Vlad Sitnikov on Vimeo.

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Brand: The Right to Smile | Country: Russia | Agency: Duval Guillaume | Sector: Charity | Format: YouTube, Video, Game, Social Media, Blogging

Continue reading "Charity challenges perceptions with ‘You Are Blind’ game" »

This interactive YouTube video forms part of John West’s latest £6m marketing efforts to showcase its ethical fishing practices. The ‘story in a can’ campaign invites UK consumers to track exactly where their canned fish comes from. Created by CheethamBell JWT, the ‘story in a can’ creative features a weathered fisherman aboard a trawler, holding up a can of tuna and telling a story about the fishing trip during which the tuna was caught.

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Brand: John West | Country: UK | Agency: CheethamBell JWT, Carat Manchester | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverages | Format: YouTube, Video, Facebook, Social Media

Continue reading "John West interactive YouTube video tells ‘story in a can’" »

Coca-Cola continues its Coke Zero marketing tie-in for the upcoming James Bond movie release with a promo that turned commuters into 007, for 70 heart-pounding seconds, all for the chance to win Skyfall tickets. Filmed in Antwerp central station, commuters who wanted a Coke Zero were given the chance to win tickets to see the new Bond film Skyfall. However, once they entered their name, they were given 70 seconds to collect the tickets at the other side of the station. What ensues is a mad rush filled with obstacles as they sprint to platform 6 to get the ticket. The “Unlock the 007 in you” video went viral, with over 3.8 million views and counting within 5 days of its YouTube release on 18 October 2012.

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Brand: Coke | Country: Belgium/ Global | Agency: Duval Guillaume | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverages | Format: YouTube, Video

Continue reading "YouTube case study: Coke turns commuters into 007 in race for tickets" »

TopCashBack set digital marketing agency SiteVisibility the task of increasing its search rankings and overall brand awareness using SEO and linkbuilding methods. This case study shows how by the summer, the loyalty rewards site gained 51.8% in organic website traffic and doubled its monthly average ROI.

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Brand: TopCashBack | Country: UK | Agency: SiteVisibillity | Sector: Finance | Format: Search, SEO

Continue reading "Search case study: ‘Ethical’ SEO campaign gets 52% boost in organic traffic" »

How do you make a low budget online campaign for a brand that has awareness of 4%? This campaign for Lay's potato chips shows how, with a little local knowledge and some creative thinking, a small budget social media campaign can make a big impression. Over the course of the campaign, the Lays Facebook page racked up over 4 million visits- quite some reach considering Slovakia has a population of 5 million.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Lays/ Walkers | Country: Slovakia | Agency: Mark BBDO | Sector: FMCG, Food | Format: Video, social media

Continue reading "Lays wins over Slovak market with low budget Facebook campaign" »

UK maxi pad brand Bodyform has created a viral ad with a fictional CEO responding to a Facebook user, who accused the company of lying to the public. Facebook user Richard Neill wrote a sarcastic comment on Bodyform's page earlier this month poking fun at the company's depiction of a woman's "wonderful time of the month" in its TV ads. At the time of this publication, Neill’s rant totalled 88,745 likes and 3,848 comments. The spoof video - which has so far notched up nearly 3m views on YouTube - ends with the CEO thanking Richard for lifting the veil on their lies and exposing the truth.

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Brand: Bodyform | Country: UK | Sector: FMCG healthcare | Agency: Carat | Objective: Boost brand awareness | Format: Video, Facebook, YouTube

Continue reading "Spoof Bodyform CEO responds to Facebook man’s rant- and gets 3m views in a week " »

Last Christmas, Nutella ran a cross-platform ad campaign in Germany, mixing traditional and new media spend, including TV and Facebook. This case study looks at how the Facebook campaign generated more sales than TV ads for the food brand. Nutella claims that their Facebook ads accounted for 15 per cent of sales over Christmas, far outperforming their TV campaign. The Facebook ads, which took the form of a full reachblock campaign, promoted the Nutella Deutschland page.

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Brand: Ferrero, Nutella | Country: Germany | Sector: FMCG- Food | Objective: build brand awareness | Format: Facebook, TV

Continue reading "Social media case study: Nutella Facebook ad campaign outperforms TV" »

Procter & Gamble’s Facebook campaign for its Secret deodorant smartly matched the brand to a key issue facing its target audience- cyber bullying. The “Mean Stinks” used video and social media in an ‘always-on’ approach that resulted in a 9% uplift in sales. Procter & Gamble chose to advertise on Facebook to generate awareness for Secret deodorant’s “Mean Stinks” program and selected a female audience likely to be receptive to the campaign. The ad featured a confessional-style video of a girl admitting that she had bullied others, realising the damage she had caused, and apologising. In the 26 weeks after the Mean Stinks campaign launched, Secret experienced a 9% increase in US sales and an increase in engagement with its Facebook Page.

YouTube case study |

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Brand: Procter and Gamble | Country: USA| Sector: FMCG Healthcare | Objective: build brand engagement | Agency: Leo Burnett, IMC2, Marina Maher Communications, UEG, iProspect | Format: Facebook, Video, YouTube, social media

Continue reading "Social media case study: P&G anti-bullying campaign increases Secret deodorant sales by 9% " »

To promote its drink in Sweden, V Energy ran a risqué campaign that invited friends to swap Facebook profiles for an hour. As part of its 'Switcheroo' campaign, The Australian energy drink V challenged young Swedes to write whatever they want on a friend´s Facebook wall for one hour. Their only problem is that their friend could update your profile at the same time. The campaign, created by agency Jung von Matt. aimed to reinforce the drinks brand’s easy-going Aussie roots with a tagline "No regrets, mate".

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Brand: V5 | Country: Sweden | Sector: FMCG Drinks | Objective: build brand engagement | Agency: Jung von Matt | Format: Facebook, Social Media

Continue reading "V Energy lets users swap Facebook profiles for an hour" »

Facebook is touting the success of a number of fitness apps, including Nike, as social networkers go digital to track and map their work out sessions. The site’s developers blog has highlighted four applications that have taken advantage of Facebook’s Open Graph to find success on the social network. With these apps, users can post a map of their run, gain a personal trainer in their pocket, count calories burned and share successes.

Facebook case study

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Brand: Nike | Media: Facebook | Country: US | Sector: Sport | Format: Social media and Mobile

Continue reading "Facebook and fitness apps- a social success story? " »

In a social media coup, a man who shared his name with travel agency Thomas Cook won a free holiday, courtesy of rival LowCostHolidays. The man (named Thomas Cook) was awarded a trip to Paris after the travel agency Thomas Cook turned him down for a free vacation. Cook eventually got his trip and posted a smiling picture of himself in Paris on the social news site Reddit, which was voted to the number one most-read item. The PR stunt highlights the benefits of on-going monitoring of competitor’s social media pages, whether Facebook, Twitter YouTube.

Facebook case study

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Brand: LowCostHolidays | Country: UK | Sector: Travel | Objective: Boost brand awareness | Format: Facebook

Continue reading "Social media case study: LowCostHolidays gives free holiday to ‘Thomas Cook’ after Facebook snub" »

These days every brand wants a Facebook fan page, but few brands achieve real engagement. When marketing directors asked our team to find case studies of the best Facebook fan pages, we looked for those that had great social conversations, really engaged with consumers and gave people a reason to follow.

Today’s marketers need to be able to make good judgements about social channels, and yet many brands have a weak presence, with social conversations brands that feel pretty dull. If you’re going to win in social media marketing, then you need to create vibrant conversations your consumers will love to take part in. Here are some of the best Facebook fan page case studies trainers at the Digital Training Academy have been using when coaching brands and agencies on social media strategies.

Continue reading "Best Facebook fan pages – case studies" »

Trip Advisor used Facebook Open Graph to increase engagement with its user base. The app – Cities I've Visited- maps the frequent interactions people take to maximize the number of stories people publish. It accelerated the adoption of the app by launching a targeted ads and sponsored stories campaign on Facebook. They implemented Open Graph actions and objects such as pin a city / place, updated map, favourite place or city, rate a city or place and want to go to a place or city. Since launching with Open Graph, TripAdvisor's Cities I've Visited has seen the number of monthly active users increase by 10 times through the combination of Open Graph activity in news feed, timeline and a targeted advertising campaign.

Facebook case study

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Brand: Trip Advisor| Sector: Travel | Objective: build brand engagement | Format: Facebook Page

Social music app iHeartRadio uses Login with Facebook for web login and single sign-on in their Android and iOS apps to make it easy for people to access and avoid the churn of registration forms. Also, Facebook was used to build user trust by educating people on how to turn sharing on / off and showing a facepile of friends who like the app. Consistent education of their Open Graph publishing experiences minimizes user confusion and reduces unexpected sharing. The number of Facebook-connected monthly active users has increase by 30 times since launch of Open graph.

Facebook case study

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Brand: iHeart | Sector: Entertainment | Objective: build brand awareness and increase user base | Format: Facebook Page