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.

In the age of touchscreen and interactivity, Skittles used an endearingly old-school method of engaging (and ultimately creeping out) the viewer with this series of ‘Touch’ ads on its YouTube channel. The best of the bunch was this ‘cat’ commercial, which has so far notched up 5 million views. Wrigley has long abandoned traditional advertising for their Skittles brand, and have instead decided to create one increasingly bizarre ad after another. While their earlier attempts have not really set the digital world on fire, this new campaign “Touch The Rainbow” has turned out to be an online success.

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Brand: Skittles | Media: Video | Country: US |Sector: FMCG | Agency: BBDO Toronto; | Format: YouTube

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The sight of Prince William leapfrogging Prince Harry, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams getting his groove on and other royals dancing their way down the aisle was enough to create one of the most successful virals of the year. To date it the T-Mobile video has received more than 20 million views - that's not so far off the number who watched the big day on television in the UK.
The video was conceived by the mobile carrier brand T-Mobile and has gained well over 20 million views since being uploaded to YouTube on April 15. Set to East 17's "House of Love".

YouTube case study

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Brand: T-Mobile | Media: Video | Country: US |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi | Format: YouTube

Continue reading "Viral marketing case study: The T-Mobile Royal Wedding gets 20m views" »

In a year of high-profile game releases, this trailer for the relatively unknown game Dead Island was by far the most talked about console ad this year. With an innovative 'reverse story telling' premise, the trailer charts the tragic fate of a family caught up in a Zombie outbreak on a tropical paradise (warning: trailer below contains gory violence). Unlike the typical video game ad, which usually focuses on the action and intensity of the gameplay, the Dead Island trailer tells the emotional story of a family destroyed. The trailer generated 8 million views on Youtube, and tens of thousands of likes on Axis Animation’s Facebook page.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Techland | Media: Video | Country: US |Sector: Games, Media | Agency: Axis Animation | Format: YouTube

Continue reading "Dead Island 'rewinds' official announcement trailer to get 8m Views" »

This Volkswagen ad originally aired during the February 2011 Super Bowl broadcast, featuring a little boy dressed as “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader. He tries to use The Force to get his dog to rise, open the dryer, move a sandwich across the counter, and all in vain. Finally, dad comes home in the Passat. Junior Darth starts with the Jedi gesticulations to get the car to do something. Dad uses remote start from inside the house to fire up the ignition. His son is shocked. He got the force to work. He thinks he started the car with Jedi mind tricks. The ad combines humor with feel-good cutesiness and pop culture, and was one of the biggest virals of the year, generating a huge 45 million views on Youtube.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Volkswagen | Media: Video | Country: US | Sector: Automotive | Agency: Deutsch LA | Format: YouTube

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This promotional video from T-Mobile highlighted the phenomenally popular “Angry Birds” mobile video games. Purportedly actual video of a promotional event held in Barcelona, Spain in May, the clip shows Angry Birds players at a kiosk in a public square which broadcasts their gameplay on a giant screen, followed by the eruption of large plastic bird heads into the square. The video attracted over 10 million views, and emphasised a key aspect of T-mobile offering in a fun and innovative way, while piggy-backing on the phenomenon of Angry Birds.

YouTube case study

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Brand: T-Mobile | Media: Video | Country: Spain | Sector: Mobile | Agency:Saatchi & Saatchi | Format: YouTube

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Initially launched in 2010, this ad for European correction fluid Tipp-Ex continued its success into the new year. To coincide with the back-to-school period, Tipp-ex, promoted its whiteout Pocket Mouse. The ad features two obnoxious hunters confronted by a bear, and lets the viewer choose their own ending by typing a verb into the ‘tipp-exed area’. The video has so far racked up over 26 million views, with the average number of verbs tipped in by user coming in at 15.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Tipp-Ex | Media: Video | Country: Global | Sector: FMCG, Stationary | Agency: Buzzman | Format: YouTube

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This viral video for Carlsberg beer shows what are purportedly real-life “innocent” couples entering a Belgian movie theater that happens to be filled with 148 mean-looking bikers. While most couples leave, the ones brave enough to take their seats are rewarded with a burst of applause and a toast with bottles of Carlsberg beer as the message, "That calls for a Carlsberg" comes up on the cinema screen. Brussels-based ad agency Duval Guillaume Modem came up with the stunt, which was staged in a cinema in Belgium. Carlsberg introduced its new strapline at the beginning of the year to promote itself as a beer that stands for tradition, quality and great taste.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Carlsberg | Media: Video | Country: Belgium | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Agency: Duval Guillaume | Format: YouTube

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With over ten millions views, the Smartwater video or better titled ‘Jennifer Anniston Sex Tape’ has been a smash hit. A humorous self-parody, it includes all the attributes of the ultimate viral; cute animals, dancing babies, and a beautiful woman (Jennifer Anniston) acting seductively. The real reason the video has been successful is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a clever campaign that’s able to parody successful viral videos while at the same time weaving together the same ingredients (humour, sex, celebrity) into its own.

YouTube case study

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Brand: Smartwater | Media: Video | Country: US | Sector: FMCG, Food and Beverage | Agency: Zambezi | Format: YouTube

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United Biscuit’s cake and biscuit brand McVities has launched a ‘Bring Out The Cake’ campaign, designed to get Facebook fans sharing coupons to promote the brand’s cake range. The firm is working with Coupons.com to manage the digital coupon element of its national campaign created by independent marketing agency, RPM. The campaign has generated 26,903 likes and 4,970 conversations since its launch.

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Brand: McVities | Media: Facebook, Social Media | Country: UK |Sector: FMCG | Agency: RPM |

Continue reading "Social media case study: McVities Facebook campaign gets fans sharing cake coupons" »

This heart-warming video from Coca-Cola continues the beverage giant’s ‘Happiness’ brand message, turning the negative perception of security cameras into something much more positive- boosting customers perception of Coke in the process. Historically, Coca-Cola has understood better than most that if you make people feel good while watching your advertising, it rubs off on your brand. The video has racked up over 5.4 million YouTube views and 44,500 ‘likes’.

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Brand: Coca-Cola | Media: Video, YouTube | Country: Global |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Landia

YouTube case study

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At the end of last year, Footwear retailer Foot Asylum underwent a major revamp of its mobile site, with simpler navigation and more incentives to buy the products. This case study shows how the shop saw its mobile sales increase a massive 500%, even bucking seasonal dips. The challenge for Foot Asylum was to take advantage of the increased mobile traffic they were receiving. They enlisted One Iota to design and build a fully optimised mobile site. This made navigation simple and provided an intuitive way to add products to the basket as well as the ability to checkout with ease. Revenue generated by mobile handsets has increased by a staggering 500% from August – February.

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Brand: Foot Asylum | Media: Mobile | Country: UK |Sector: FMCG | Agency: One Iota, Affiliate Window| Format: Mobile

Mobile case study

Continue reading "Mobile Case Study: Foot Asylum boosts mobile sales 500% after site revamp" »

Savoury snack maker Tohato used mobile internet and QR codes on packaging to launch two new flavours and create a buzz in Japan. A mobile phone game called "World's Worst War" was designed pitting Tyrant Habanero's Imperial Army against Satan Jolokia's Demon Army in a war to decide the ‘hottest and tastiest snack’. Players purchased their preferred product, scanning a QR code on the package into their phones to select a faction on which to side. The participants could then accumulate points and rise in rank by recruiting friends to join twice-weekly massively multiplayer online battles against countless other players. This case study shows how to make advertising money work hard, to attract, engage and change behaviour. The campaign also drove advocacy and word of mouth and demonstrates the binding power of co-creation communication strategies. The game resulted in participation of over 10,000 people and led to communities discussing the battle strategies. The campaign resulted in increase page views on the website to 100,000 per day.

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Brand: Tohato |Media: Mobile| Country: Japan |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Hakuhodo | Format: Multiplayer Online Game

YouTube case study

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This marketing stunt from Cadbury involved a giant purple ‘Joyville’ branded train pulling into select stations across Australia, rewarding surprised commuters with an array of chocolate treats. The campaign was amplified through a deeply integrated social media campaign with a Facebook page encouraging and supporting user generated content, as well as the dedicated website which features games, information and lets users share the campaign.

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Brand: Cadbury |Media: Facebook | Country: Australia |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Wonder | Format: Facebook page, website

YouTube case study | Facebook Page

Kraft’s ‘Dinner, Not Art App’ harks back to school days and macaroni art, making creative use of the way its Mac and Cheese brand is perceived in a positive and nostalgic light. The "Dinner, Not Art" campaign from Crispin Porter + Bogusky seeks to save the real noodles by encouraging virtual macaroni art projects with a free iPad app. Users can choose a canvas, cover it in noodles and manipulate them to create a macaroni masterpiece. For every digital noodle used in the app, Kraft will donate 10 real noodles to Feeding America, up to 110 million noodles. A maximum of 100 digital noodles can be used per any single piece of saved art, for a maximum 1000 noodle donation per piece of saved art. The campaign so far has led to 244790 noodles being donated. Users can also "glue down" your art and save it to a digital refrigerator. The creations will be posted on Kraft's Macaroni Masterpiece Gallery on its Facebook and Pinterest pages. The brand began promoting the initiative with the TV spot below, which broke earlier this week.

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Brand: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese |Media: Facebook | Country: USA |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky | Format: Facebook App

YouTube Case Study | Kraft App

Coca-Cola has made a foray into advergaming with their new title, Crabs & Penguins. The beverage giant made smart use of gamification techniques, with a music soundtrack and social media links, to build long-term engagement with consumers by letting players unlock levels and learn about a story.

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Brand: Coco-Cola |Media: Communities & Gaming portals, Smartphones, Mobile | Sector: FMCG | Agency: Ember Lab | Format: iPhone App |

YouTube video: Coca-Cola | Mobile App: Crabs and Penguins | Micro-site campaign: Crabs and Penguins

Continue reading "Mobile case study- Coca-Cola branded iPhone game drives teen engagement" »

South American retail chain Homecentre Sodimac used an unconventional marketing method to increase sales by 54% during the ‘Homecentre House Season’ with the campaign ‘The man who gave everything away’. This case study shows how with the campaign Homecentre created a viral effect with a common man giving away everything he owned. The campaign was to create a suspense about an ordinary man who has come up with a peculiar idea of giving away everything he owns and only and the end he reveals the reason – The Homecentre season sale. Thus, subtly emphasising the sale being so good that he wanted to get rid of his possession to be able to shop. This was done by a creation of a facebook page with videos, picture and updates of things being given away and the date when it would be done.

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Brand: Homecenter Sodimac |Agency: Young & Rubicam |Sector: Retail | Format: Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Premium Ads, Facebook Pages | Language: Spanish | Location: Colombia, Latin America

YouTube case study | Facebook case study

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Copa Airlines with a social marketing campaign 'Passport America' to grows its' Facebook fan base, generates and awareness and increase ticket sales on its website. The campaign resulted in 59% conversion and ROI expanded to 50 times. A total of 279,000 users registered for the promotion and 1.3 million invitations were sent out. This Facebook-centric campaign featured the prize draw of a lifetime: a Grand Prize consisting of round trip airfare for the winner and a guest to each of Copa's 59 destinations. To enter, people registered through Facebook Connect and to keep people engaged and the momentum going additional chances to win were integrated at different levels, including their social muscle could help them win.

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Brand: Copa Airlines |Sector: Travel | Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Pages| Agency: Nobox, Miami | Language: English (US), Portugese (Brazil), Spanish

Facebook case study | YouTube case study

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Ahead of the frantic Christmas shopping season, Patio Batel the newest and most glamorous shopping centre in Curitiba, Brazil used a Facebook campaign to generate buzz around its grand opening. Patio Batel used Facebook to generate donations of books, with one 'like' equalling one donation. Using Facebook as the main platform for the campaign, the strategy was to reach as many people as possible with ads and social awareness. People could donate their books on the street and, at the same time, share this act online by inviting their friends to participate. The campaign resulted in attaining the desired results of 5,000 likes in 30% less time. It also resulted in reaching out to 4,468,482 people and generating a donation of more than 10,000 books in 20 days. More than 7,800 books were donated through Facebook.

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Brand: Patio Batel | Agency: Lustig| Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Pages | Country: Brazil

Facebook case study

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The Brazilian campaign saw detergent brand Ace use consumer insight and an integrated use of media to reach 8.7 million people in less than three months. Ace created a campaign in soap opera style, an episode with 5 different endings, presenting five suspects for a great mystery: Whose is the grubby bra? The suspects defended themselves. The mystery was heated trough placement in TV shows, films on Facebook page and consistently engaging digital content. It also led to word of mouth in Twitter, blogs, radio stations talking about it and parody. The campaign reached 2.3 million people on Facebook with more than 60,000 fans and 227,000 visualizations on YouTube.

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Brand: Ace | Language: Portugese (Brazil) | Format: Marketplace Ads, Facebook Premium Ads, Facebook Pages| Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made

Facebook case study | YouTube advert

Continue reading "Digital case study: Ace uses soap-opera style mystery to create awareness and triple sales" »

Worldwide insurance company Allianz transformed the popular game Frogger into a live interactive experience on Facebook. By creating a virtual game, Allianz advice the consumers in an entertaining way that everyone can easily prevent real-life dangers. Allianz integrated the realtime heavy São Paulo traffic feeds with the popular game to create the Facebook App and generate awareness through a fun way. This was achieved by placing a 24/7 camera on the rooftop of a building that live-streams the view of a busy street. Using the Facebook app, people can log in to help the amphibians cross safely to the other side of the road while jumping in between real cars.

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Brand: Allianz | Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform | Agency: Ogilvy Brazil

Facebook case study | YouTube video

Looking for a retail brand who has made best use of digital media to enhance the shopping experience? Then look no further than Sephora. This US-based beauty retailer has been incredibly savvy at seamlessly integrating all the latest web, social and mobile media platforms with the physical store to drive customer engagement and sales. They have cleverly leveraged social media – through Facebook, Twitter and more recently Pinterest – to build an on-going dialogue with a large and loyal online fan-base of beauty lovers. They have developed mobile, tablet and in-store digital media platforms to interweave the online / offline shopping journey.

Continue reading "Social media case study- Beauty retailer Sephora mixes in-store, mobile and online to build brand love" »

The founders of YouTube, Skype, Lastminute and even the world wide web face their toughest grilling yet in this humourous video from Code Club, a new UK initiative to try to get more kids learning to code. The video turns the idea of a startup pitch parade on its head, giving the reigns to a panel of kids, and the job of pitching to some of the biggest successes in technology today. The YouTube ad has so far racked up more than half a million views.

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| Media: YouTube, Viral, Video | Country: India | Sector: Film | Objective: Build brand equity| Format: Viral Video »

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To promote it’s latest sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus, 20th Century Fox has run a viral marketing campaign to maintain online buzz before, and after, the films release. For cinema goers that stuck around for the end credits of Prometheus, they were directed to a new website. Created by Scott's own RSA production shingle, those videos are the latest example of a shift beyond the usual teasers and trailers. Their aim: to turn hardcore fans into mini-marketeers by giving them something unique to share with their less-engaged online friends.

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| Media: YouTube, Viral, Video | Country: India | Sector: Film | Objective: Build brand awareness| Format: Viral Video »

Continue reading "Viral marketing case study- Prometheus end credits image leads cinema goers online" »

Nike’s football tournament ads have become something of an event in themselves in recent years, but the new “My Time is Now” YouTube ad could be their most successful online venture yet. The YouTube video hit 3 million views in only three days and features an all-star cast of footballers. The video release coincided with the beginning of the European Championships. At time of writing, the has racked over 14 million YouTube views and 80,000 ‘likes’.

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| Media: YouTube, Viral, Video | Country: India | Sector: Film | Objective: Build brand equity| Format: Viral Video »

Continue reading "Video viral- Nike Euro 2012 ad gets 9 million views in 3 days" »

The International OCD foundation reached tens of thousands of people with a series of one second long videos, aimed at helping viewers experience the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Rather than explaining the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder at length, they used a 1-second text-only ad to demonstrate the frustrations people with OCD experience first hand. The ad is too short to read in one viewing so, as the title explains (and even challenges) “You may have to press play more than once …”

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Brand: NHS |Media: YouTube ads | Country: Israel |Sector: Healthcare | Agency: McCann Digital | Format: YouTube Video

YouTube video Video Case Study

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