Budgeting Brilliance

When Smoothie King was preparing to launch its X-Treme Watermelon Smoothie in 2023, the brand faced several challenges: a peak summer season crowded with promotions, a tight five-day timeline, and a vacant media budget.

When influencer Carly Joy posted an authentic video instructing women on how to shave their nether regions, the brand featured in the video saw it as a unique marketing opportunity. The post, which amassed over 17 million views, inspired Soyoung Kang CMO of eos products to fire off a text to Kerry McKibbin, partner and president at Mischief @ No Fixed Address, the brand’s creative agency.

As the impending demise of third-party cookies looms, marketers, particularly those in small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), are pivoting towards new data strategies. SMBs stand poised to leverage emerging technologies to meet consumers’ expectations, foster meaningful connections, and thrive in an ever-evolving market.

With their purpose-driven campaigns, healthcare nonprofits Colorectal Cancer Coalition and Iroquois Healthcare Association exemplified how nonprofit organizations can drive meaningful impact without an extensive budget.

Through their purpose-driven campaigns addressing pandemic challenges and racial injustice respectively, Big Facts, Small Acts and the Courageous Conversation Global Foundation exemplified how community organizations can inspire change and support the Black community on a small budget.

Learn how the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Taimi navigated budget constraints to deliver meaningful campaigns that supported the LGBTQ+ community.

Two SMBs that leveraged Instagram to engage consumers are Young People’s Theatre (YPT) and Erigo. Both brands were able to connect with consumers and drive measurable results with video campaigns that took advantage of the platform’s unique video strategy formats.