Celebrating Brand Activation: Six Winning Case Studies from the REGGIE Awards

June 27, 2017    

By ANA Staff

Brand activation is a huge part of marketing, representing nearly 60 percent of the $1 trillion marketing ecosystem (source: PQ Media’s 2017 U.S. Brand Activation Marketing Forecast). Brand activation investments are made across the discipline’s six key platforms: promotion marketing, experiential marketing, retailer marketing, relationship marketing, content marketing, and influencer marketing. The ANA’s REGGIE Awards celebrate success at the cash register across these six brand activation pillars.

Here are highlights from 2017 REGGIE Award-winning case studies that exemplify best practices in each pillar of brand activation:

• Promotion Marketing: To combat consumer distrust of loyalty programs, T-Mobile created “T-Mobile Tuesdays,” a content delivery system that gave customers loyalty rewards through mobile and web platforms.
• Experiential Marketing: To create greater awareness of its vast library of sci-fi and fantasy titles, Audible launched a campaign at New York Comic Con called “Audible Recall,” an immersive listening game that married relevant audio content with a healthy dose of live competition.
• Retailer Marketing: In support of the nation's military, the brand partnered with Walmart to launch “Say Thank You with M.” This retailer-specific program created a new way for Mars to connect with Walmart shoppers in a mature product category, not only boosting customer loyalty but also driving sales at Walmart.
• Relationship Marketing: Comcast wanted to change the way its Hispanic consumers viewed the cable service provider industry. It developed a new entertainment system called X1 with a function that allowed bicultural Hispanic viewers to easily switch between Spanish and English when viewing a show.
• Content Marketing: In its “Drink Good, Do Good” campaign, Naked Juice leveraged branded content, ambassadors, and user-generated content to amplify its message and drive action.
• Influencer Marketing: In 2016, Aflac's “Leaving Our Duckprints” campaign leveraged its Facebook platform to help raise $1.5 million for childhood cancer treatments. The cause marketing program also strengthened Aflac’s reputation as a socially responsible brand.

Marketers should consider all the options available within the brand activation space to work out which tactics will provide the best return on investment for their brand and budget. For those looking to deepen their understanding of brand activation, use this set of 30 premium tools — including a brand new Shopper Marketing Toolkit — to get started.