This year has been a rollercoaster ride for most brands and businesses. 2020 has taught many of us new concepts like being in quarantine, working remotely, and most importantly, marketing digitally. Although digital marketing has been the heart of branding for some years now, most businesses have started becoming aware of this term or its gravity only recently. And they often confuse it with content marketing Services, which might seem similar but is quite distinct in reality. So, if you are someone who doesn’t know which side to pick in a digital vs. content marketing scenario, this blog post is for you. After all, not every business needs the same marketing strategy or wants to invest in the same plan. Hence, understanding the difference between digital and content marketing and where each might come in useful is important. So, let’s start by defining each of these terms before we go ahead with some detailed insights. What is Content Marketing? As the Content Marketing Institute has beautifully defined, “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” In short, content marketing is a process that: Involves producing and publishing content that speaks to your target audience. Creates engagement and attraction towards your brand. Educates and entertains your customers with valuable and relatable content. The next question is, how does this strategy help you? Content marketing helps a business by creating a reputation in the market. It is mostly related to making potential customers aware of your brand and your expertise in the field. It also helps to establish your authority in a certain industry. For example, if customers find useful and interesting information on your website, they will keep coming back for more. Gradually, you will be able to convince and convert them, or even encourage them to share a good word about your brand. So, with content marketing, you can make people aware of your brand, help them decide to make a purchase, and let them share their experience with others. What is Digital Marketing? Digital marketing refers to any and all marketing efforts that involve the internet and digital devices. So, think of any ad that you see on the internet, content piece, or even a tweet from a brand – it’s all part of digital marketing. In fact, digital marketing is like an umbrella term that covers content marketing. Now, if you ask, how will digital marketing help you? The answer is simple. It is the same as traditional marketing, just executed on a digital platform. And so, even the goals are usually the same for both the marketing techniques i.e. conversions and sales. What is the Difference between Content Marketing and Digital Marketing? To put it in a straight forward manner, while content marketing focuses on establishing relations and engagement with the audience, digital marketing is more about conversions and sales. But then, why should one waste time on content marketing and not directly jump to getting more sales? It is because you need to follow a certain process to lead potential customers to your website and convert them into paying customers. It’s like cooking, where you need to follow a proper recipe to get a delicious outcome. Let’s take the example of Biryani to make things easy here– You need to let the meat marinate first for hours, then add some spices, let the meat sizzle, add rice, and finally let the flavours set in (I should try my hand at food blogging next!). In the same way, you need to guide prospects along a marketing funnel to get conversions. Ideally, a sales funnel goes like this: Step 1: Make people aware of your brand. Step 2: Create interest regarding your product or service. Step 3: Help them decide what they want or need. Step 4: Navigate them to take action. Step 5: Retain the customers or upsell them or let them review your products or services. And this where content marketing plays an important role to initiate the process, so that you can reach the sales phase (where digital marketing plays a big role) in a structured manner. So, if you ask me, content marketing and digital marketing are interdependent. Content marketing helps build awareness, generate interest, influence decision, and ensure retention, while digital marketing actually gives you sales. Now, let’s take a look at the various types of content and digital marketing. Types of Content Marketing If you are taking baby steps in the world of content marketing, you might be wondering what comes under it. Well…. Content marketing covers all kinds of content, be it in words, videos, images, infographics, or any other style. Even memes, GIFs and presentations are a part of this form of marketing. So, let’s check out some of the common trending styles (that will definitely help you). Blogs The reason why blogging ranks number one on the list is because it comes with multiple perks. Blogs can help you in building trust, establish domain authority, rank better on search engines, and finally drive traffic to your website. In short, it hardly has any drawbacks if your content is unique, relatable, and produced consistently. Videos Videos are among the most popular content styles these days. Since people have a very short attention span when they go online, videos do a better job of interacting with the target audience than long blogs. The human brain tends to recall visuals better than plain text, even after a long time. Plus, videos offer a more immersive experience and especially come in handy when you want to showcase how a product is made or how it works. Images When it comes to visuals, images or photos are widely used by different kinds of businesses to convey messages more meaningfully. Just make sure that they are well-shot, crisp and have a decent resolution. Most importantly, you can share these
Category: Digital Marketing
How to Write a Case Study to Convince and Convert Prospective Customers ?
As a content marketing agency, we often get these questions from our clients – “How do we actually get customers?”, “How do we convince customers that we are the best?” “How can we show clients that we are better than our competitors?” To be honest, no matter what your industry or business type is, you are sure to have these questions sometime or the other. And our answer to all these questions is writing a good case study,which showcases your past success in a detailed and data-driven manner to prove your mettle in your industry. If you want to convince and convert potential clients, this is your best bet. Not sure what is a case study and how will it help? Well, as a business, just saying you are awesome at something (like boosting organic traffic in our case) is not enough to convince customers that they should buy your services or products. You need to give them some hard data that proves your claim for real. And this is where a case study helps. Such a detailed, data-rich study can help you narrate a past customer’s success story and elaborate on how your product or service helped solve their business challenges. A case study will also include the metrics you used to measure the success – be it in terms of revenue gained or number of leads generated. Check out this case study example for a better idea, before you learn the steps of crafting one yourself. Wondering how to create a case study?Here are the steps: 1. Determine the goal or objective of the case study First, figure out what you wish to prove with your case study and which client objective do you want to focus on. While there might be several client objectives, pick the one which you want to show to your would-be customers. For example, your case study could cover any of the following client objectives like lead generation, lowering business costs, increasing profitability and revenue, converting more customers or establishing a foothold in a new market. Read on to create a case study outline. 2. Establish the case study format Now decide which format you wish to use to create your case study. Consider your target customers’ demographics and content consumption patterns to decide which case study format will work for them. Millennial customers might prefer video case studies while CXOs, CEOs, and COOs might prefer case studies in text format. While an infographic case study can be ideal for Pinterest, a textual one can appear on the website, and a video case study can be promoted on YouTube. Here is a bit more information on the popular case study formats: • Infographic –Go for a vertical and longish infographic that charts your path of success from the top to the bottom. As the reader scans down the infographic, he should be able to spot the major metrics you used and the results you achieved easily. For this, use a simple case study format with neat, big font for text and charts or diagrams. Check out some cool infographic templates here. • Textual –Your case study can also be in the form of an e-book and you can make it into a PDF (see the one by Budweiser) that can be downloaded after your site visitors fill up a short form. This will help you capture their basic details like name and email ID and generate potential leads too. • Video –A good ideafor this kind of format is to meet the client and make a video of the interview. This way, your prospective customers can see how your client had actually benefitted from your services and be more convinced. You can also get more creative ideas for a video case study here. • Podcast –This format is ideal if you wish to go the audio way. A real conversation between you and the client will convince listeners about your services or products and seem human as well. Podcast case studies are also easy to follow when you are on the go and has a direct, engaging touch. 3. Identify the right customer for writing a case study Now find the right client to write a case study. Pick a client who has knowledge about your service/product offering and can speak well about the value that he received. Choose clients who have tasted success or achieved good ROI because of your product/service and will be happy to share their success story.Between small businesses and well-known brands (names that are easy to recognize), cover the latter first since it will give more credibility to your brand. Also Read: [Free Case Study] Alliance Fintech – How we used content marketing to boost traffic by 149% 4. Request permission to write the case study Inform your customer and ask for permission before showcasing them in your case study. Draft and email a case study release form. In it, mention why you are creating the case study, how it will be used, the type of client information you will include (like name, job title, picture etc.), what kind of help you expect from the customer and what kind of compensation you will provide. Here is how a release form might look like: You can convince them for the case study by explaining: • How they will get brand exposure and reach out to more people • How employee exposure will shoot up if quotes are shared against top employee names • How they can earn product (the ones you sell to them) discounts • Mentioning that the case study will link back to the client’s website, thereby boosting its organic traffic Remember that when the client reads your request, he will be more eager to know how he will benefit from the case study rather than you. Once the customer signs, approves and returns the release form, you need to prepare a questionnaire to conduct a productive interview and get the material you need for creating a
13 Digital Marketing Trends and Innovations For 2020
If someone would have told me in 2015 or 2016 that Voice Search, AI and data-driven marketing were going to be the future of the digital marketing industry, I would have probably thought “fine, ya, let’s forget it for now and think of it when that happens; we have more important things to do now man”. And suddenly that time has come now. It’s 2020 and all these are now part of innovative digital marketing trends that businesses are adopting to remain competitive in the online landscape. If there is one thing we know by now is that consumer behaviour has become hard to predict and marketing technology is moving ahead at a fast pace. If you are a digital marketer who is still applying the old methods and taking educated guesses, it’s time to move on. So, here is a list of the top 13 top digital marketing trends that your business/brand needs to consider in order to stand out in the cut-throat world of online marketing: 1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning With such a large chunk of data harvested from ecommerce and online consumer behavior, it’s necessary to adopt a system that can compile and analyze all necessary information as quickly as possible. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are perfect for doing just that. Not only can the combination of these technologies analyze data without step-by-step instructions, but they can also work to develop more accurate ways to execute digital marketing goals. For example, AI and ML have driven product recommendations for companies as big as Amazon and been able to accurately generate content without human direction. To implement some of these strategies in your own digital marketing campaign, you can create AI-powered digital ads, or smart posters. Essentially, with this technology, you can customize content based on physical or virtual consumer interaction data. The system can understand what features are interacted with the least and automatically drive out that feature to only showcase those that are creating the maximum consumer interaction. 2. Blockchain While converting the bulk of your business’s marketing strategies to the digital world can create a vast amount of opportunities and efficiencies, it also opens the door to a number of security threats. Luckily, in recent years, many businesses have begun to implement blockchain technology. The technology can protect your general business functions and transactions from fraud and theft. For marketing, specifically, blockchain technology has helped businesses to earn more profit from their marketing data. Previously, when a business invested in Google’s search engine marketing ads for their site, Google ultimately handled the ad transactions to ensure that each site was charged fairly for the number of clicks generated from the ad. However, with blockchain digital marketing, this middleman, which is Google, is removed from the equation. Businesses now have complete ownership of the data and information they receive. They no longer have to go through Google to ensure that the data is valid and authorized by the user, because the users are able to authorize their data themselves. This allows businesses to retain 100% of the profits. 3. Personalization In order to ensure success for your business’s digital marketing campaigns, you must adopt personalization as one of your strategies. Not only will it help to build a relationship with each of your customers, but it has also proven to be successful at converting potential buyers into dedicated customers. In fact, 79% of consumers say they are likely to interact with a campaign only if it has been personalized. Similarly, about 63% say they become “highly annoyed” by a brand’s continued use of generic mass marketing campaigns. These two statistics alone give plenty of reason as to why personalization is required in today’s digital marketing. Also Read: Best Crucial Things To Keep In Mind While Building Your Digital Marketing Agency To integrate personalization with email marketing, many companies send out abandoned cart notifications. Every time a consumer shops on your site and leaves without purchasing any of the items that they added to their cart, you can send out an abandoned cart email. In doing so, you are remarketing the products that a specific consumer added to their cart. This email will be very different from the email another customer receives about their abandoned cart, which is what makes it personalized. However, this is not the only way to personalize a digital marketing campaign. So, be creative, and eventually you will appeal to those 79% of consumers. 4. Chatbots Chatbots and instant messenger are expected to grow and power about 80% of customer service this year. Given that we now know the powerful benefits of personalization in digital marketing, you may understand why the conversational component of chatbots is equally as powerful. Businesses that use instant messaging or chatbots have the opportunity to connect with customers in real time and cater to their specific needs. With the advanced intelligence that AI has introduced in chatbots, the technology is able to simulate an in-person conversation, which is typically preferred by a customer. A chatbot’s AI capabilities also give it the “brainpower” to market relevant products throughout the conversation. 5. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Given that about 60% of Google search engine queries come from mobile devices, one might assume that both the mobile device and mobile view are much more user-friendly and accessible than a desktop. While you can’t convert a desktop to a mobile device, you can most certainly add elements that make the desktop view similar to its counterpart. This is essentially the idea behind progressive web apps. They act as a middle ground between desktop and mobile views, allowing businesses to implement successful elements of mobile or app views at a fraction of the development cost. Small changes to a desktop page, like faster loading speeds, offline working, and push notifications can help improve the user experience and the digital marketing and sales process for businesses. 6. Internet of Things (IoT) When it
AskNestle Wins Bronze at the Global WARC Awards: How We Helped Build Nestle’s Strongest Digital Asset
It’s not everyday that you get to be a part of a product that promises to be change worthy, and then also goes ahead and wins one of the most prestigious international awards – the Global WARC awards. In the middle of all the gloomy news, we received this one-hell-of-a-good-news email last week. It was from the head of communications, Nestle India, RashiGoel. She was informing us that AskNestle- a cutting-edge food tech product by Nestle – had won the Bronze at the Global WARC Awards 2020 in the “Effective Innovation” category.It was the only entry from India. “I cannot help but express heartfelt gratitude from the AskNestle Team at Nestlé… This success would not have been possible without the support, encouragement and many many nights of effort that has been put in by you. The AskNestle product has been created by a community of people, each one contributing ideas, analysis, technology, content and most of all positive intent,” read the email. It was addressed to the whole team that had built the product – designers, developers, technology partners, marketers, and content creators (that’s where we came into the picture). So now that you know why are have been up and excited about this whole episode, let me explain how content plays a part in AskNestle and how we played a (small yet significant) part in the whole process. AskNestle – Helping Mothers Understand Nutrition The whole thing that drives AskNestle is content and technology. It was developed to be a one-stop platform for complete child nutrition and help mothers of children (0-12) explore, learn and understand the best of nutrition knowledge. Also Read: Recipe of a Successful Food Blog That is what makes the product so compelling. To break it down, AskNestle offers these 4 things – A GROWTH TRACKER – This allows parents to track their child’s growth against other kids of the same age and height and weight. CUSTOM MEAL PLANS– These are designed on the basis of a growth tracker, taking into account regional preferences, food choices and allergies. A REPOSITORY OF RECIPES FOR CHILDREN – These are supposed to help mothers find to give proper nourishment. A KNOWLEDGE CENTRE OF EXPERT ARTICLES – This was designed as a resource hub where parents could find easy to understand and reliable nutritional knowledge. This was also supposed to equip mothers with the right knowledge about nutrition, banish myths, clear doubts about food and nutrition and health, and finally help them use that information in building healthier childhoods for their little ones. It was to create this knowledge hub that Justwords was taken aboard. Here is a CASE STUDY on how we did it. Creating Content that was Interesting, Engaging and Reliable: We started by understanding the objectives closely and then shared our plan to achieve the same. The biggest challenge here was to create content that was not only appealing to the average Indian mother, but also to create content that was factually right from the nutrition standpoint. Also Read: 10 Perfect Taglines That You Just Can’t Forget Hence, our first job was to put together a team of nutritionist writers as well a nutrition expert who could guide us on getting the content right. With that in place, we made sure that everyone else on the team, meaning the editors and the designers were all on the same page. The second challenge was a very strict deadline. How could we manage to put together this vast project on such a stringent deadline? We knew if this had to work, every team had to work like clockwork. The process had to be super smooth. After consulting the client, we zeroed in on popular nutrition and health categories for content development, like Immunity, Balanced Diet, Nutrients, Eating Habits, Deficiencies, Concerns, Digestive Health and Breastfeeding. Growth and Development, Complementary Feeding, Fussy Eating in Kids and Recipes were some other categories covered to address the usual pain points of expecting women and mothers. The content was further subdivided into different styles, like listicles, e-books, FAQs and guides and visually rich infographics. Once this was ready, the nutrition team created briefs for each topic, the writers wrote, the editors and nutrition experts checked for quality, and the design team added visuals. While the content team made sure that the everything was factually correct and relevant for the Indian audience, the design team focused on creating rich and attractive infographics, which could easily be read and understood my busy moms. Timely delivery and rigorous quality checks for all the content areas were ensured. Taking our content journey to the next level and attempting to reach a larger group of parents across India, the content was further translated in Hindi. Throughout the process of content development, we constantly updated the client about our progress and incorporated their suggestions and ideas to ensure that the perfect content hub was created. Also Read: Start and Build a Digital Marketing Agency Like with any successful tech product, we were also building this entire content library in an incredibly short span of time. In an incredible collaborative effort, the product went live in April 2020. Here are a Few Lessons we Learned in the Process: It’s important to chalk out a broad-level plan of how the project is going to flow. Set dates at every stage, assign the teams and have a workshop so that everyone is on the same page with the project delivery deadlines. Create an editorial calender for the content hub. Use tools like AHREFS and Buzzsumo to get select topics which are trending and have keywords likely to drive traffic. Start planning early since experts have other engagements too. Use experts who have in depth knowledge of the subject and can write well. Have a strong editorial team that can ensure quality output. A knowledge of SEO will make
9 Crucial Things To Keep In Mind While Building Your Digital Marketing Agency
We’ve all dreamt of being our own boss. Having a swanky office, a gifted team, innovative work and big clients, maybe your name on the masthead. But for most marketers, these castles in the air don’t anchor to firm ground. Why? It’s not because they lack talent, or that they don’t know where to start. There’s just too much competition before you make it as the cream of the crop. As brands set aside bigger budgets for digital advertising, it’s natural for everyone to want a piece of the client cake. There’s not much investment you need to start an agency. If you know your stuff, it’s actually quite simple. Working from home is easier than ever, and there’s little overhead costs. It’s landing—and holding onto—your first clients, that becomes difficult. But when has the road to success ever been a straight line? Little orange traffic cones can show up in the form of late nights, endless meetings, and countless rejections. But don’t dwell too long on these issues. If you have the drive, the passion, and the will to succeed, anyone can make it. Here’s our no-frills guide to get you started:- 1. Identify your niche, and build on it It sounds like a good idea to offer different services to clients. More options equals more projects, right? Wrong. This is not the best approach when you’ve just started out. Reputed agencies will already be offering integrated digital marketing solutions—as the fresh young thing, you have to find ways to stand out. Draw on experience and domain expertise. Identify your core competencies and build a market reputation in that segment. Advertisers starting an agency could focus more on creatives and design, while SEO experts might push forward based on their ability to reel in traffic. If you’ve worked in hospitality, your new digital marketing agency could offer custom solutions in food, travel and hotels. This narrows down your audience, weeds out competitors, and shows clients you know what you’re doing. Once you’ve built up enough testimonials and have a stable cash flow, you can gradually expand your niche. Always pick quality over quantity—remember, Amazon started with just books! Don’t waste precious earnings on renting offices or hiring too many people. Instead, set up a talented network of freelancers with only a few core staff on the payroll. Scale up as needed, but don’t skimp out on essentials like SEO experts or web developers. That’s the beauty of digital—all you need is talent, computers and good Internet to get started. 2. Your first client gets the ball rolling From cold calling prospects, to attending seminars and conferences to build your network, to generating leads through SEM, go all out when it comes to bagging your first few brands. Don’t go for big names—they probably have a long-term agency partner—and be open-minded about the businesses you want to bring in. Focus on startups who need help getting their operations off the ground. Give a solid sales pitch to break the ice, and maybe throw in a freebie or two. As you spread the word, it’s the unforeseen meet-ups that give you your first client. Don’t forget to tap into social Media channels. You’re just starting out, so people won’t come to you. Get ready to draw attention instead! 3. Know what you’re doing At the end of the day, it’s the business leader who pulls in the big bucks. Their knowledge of sales, combined with soft skills, will determine a company’s path—no matter how good the supporting staff are. As the face of the company, people’s opinion of you will affect agency perception. Your corporate communication—or even informal chats—must be crisp, clear and convincing. Brush up on latest trends and competitors. Don’t talk fluff. Your clients are probably testing out multiple agencies, and you must win their trust. Nobody will buy your services without the assurance that the CEO knows what they’re doing. Also Read: Incredible Blogging Stats to Inspire You to Blog 4. Have a system in place Creativity runs wild, but it needs policies and procedures to keep things in check. Your agency must have a uniform process while tackling any project. Right from converting leads into customers, to handing over the last deliverable, a clear-cut workflow must be in place. Who handles sales calls? What is the turnover period? Who manages client accounts and daily reports? How many revisions can brands ask for? Equip your team with all company guidelines, so that they don’t have to consult you for every step. 5. Mix marketing chops with technology If you want to grow as a digital marketing firm, you need the right tools to get work done. Project management software, team communication apps, keyword research platforms or social media know-how—get tech that streamlines your tasks and helps you work smart. Project management tools like Asana, Trello and Basecamp organise all work communications in a single place. Teams can report their progress as you assign and track tasks, as well as chat and share documents from a single window. This works wonders if you don’t have a physical office yet. Similarly, social media tools like Hootsuite and Buffer let you manage and analyse multiple channels from one place. The automation helps prevent confusion and mistakes if you’re handling many clients at the same time. 6. Be involved in the system Try to know every inch of your daily operations. Branding yourself as an expert digital marketer? You should be able to show that when clients start asking questions. Don’t micromanage your team, but be involved in their projects. Monitor their approach, suggest changes, and step in where necessary. Communicate regularly with clients and make sure to incorporate feedback. Over time, it gives your team a better idea of what to do for each account. 7. Focus on customer experience Business isn’t just about sales. The customer’s journey and overall experience is what builds the bottom line. Treat customers with value and respect, and strive to offer
Are you making these mistakes with your About Us page?
Though the About Us page of a business website remains to be the most visited of website pages, it is almost always treated as an afterthought. Most business owners assume that since it is mostly self-branding, the About Us content and design can be pushed down the priority listings. This approach is one of the first mistakes you are liable to commit while planning this page. The About Us page is, in fact, your key differentiator from other businesses and websites and is a place to create a rapport with your clients. Before getting too overwhelmed with the job of creating the perfect About Us page, let’s look at 5 of the common mistakes to avoid: Mistake 1: It doesn’t tell me about you Your About Us page is the visitor’s window to you and your business. It is imperative to provide the key details about your work and contacts within the short attention window of the visitor. Here are some boxes you should tick: Who are you? Introduce your business and team. What do you offer? Give details about your products and services. When did you start? Mention the founding year, which is important if you want to showcase experience. How can you be contacted? Provide all your contact details – phone, email, address and also do not miss out on social links Mistake 2: It tells me too much about you One of the worst things you can do to your reader is to lapse into a narcissistic self -rant. While storytelling is fine and often encouraged, a long and winding story that goes into the unnecessary nitty-gritty of your personal career journey might easily bore your visitor. A brief and concise account of necessary details along with some great copywriting skills is all that is needed to make the cut. Mistake 3: It doesn’t take me into account As much as the About Us page is about establishing your personality and credentials, it is really not about you. The About Us page should deal with you/your business but only with respect to your service offerings to the visitor/reader. Make sure your content is in tune with the customer requirements. You should: Talk about why the visitor should spend time at your site Talk about the problems you solve Talk about how you can help Talk about what they’re interested in Mistake 4: It’s badly written Too long, too verbose, filled with grammar mistakes, no conversational quality and not SEO optimized; these are just some of the ways you could go horribly wrong when writing for the About Us page. It is important to take into account the over-communicated marketplace and ever-decreasing attention span of your present and potential customers to truly appreciate the importance of a well-written and flowing introduction that is easy on the eyes. Don’t just leave it up to your neighbourhood English geek but employ a skilled content writer and editor who has knowledge of the business category and has the capability to align content to business goals. Mistake 5: It has no visual interest There’s no denying that this is the age of visuals and videos. Long and uninterrupted prose, however skilfully written, tests the patience of today’s readers. Moreover, the photos of your office and team give your page a ‘personality’ and a voice. Customers are always more reassured with a face to go with the business as it builds credibility and authenticity. As is evident, a well written and designed About Us page can go a long way in building a rapport with the customer, which is a necessity in these days of tough competition. Want to read more check the curated list below. Preparing Your Content Strategy For A Mobile-Only Future This Is Why Even Content Marketers Need Editors A Tried-And-Tested Guide To Becoming A Better Content Writer 5 Types Of Content That Will Attract Paying Customers
2020: 3 top marketing campaigns that took risks, broke barriers and made a point
There are marketing campaigns… and then there are marketing campaigns that inspire, that aren’t forgotten easily. They are campaigns that take a risk and break barriers. These mostly revolve around a social cause that touches a nerve of a wide segment of the population. The cleverness lies in the fact that the brand happens to be incidental to the whole thing. We love to talk about strength and perseverance that manages to win in the face of adversity. We like to challenge norms in the society. We like to see that someone like us has managed to break the shackle and set themselves free… even if it is momentary. The possibilities inspire us, challenge us and threaten to change us. Taking all the above qualities and fitting it with a brand’s belief without making it look fake or corny is quite an art – an art that some brands have taught us well this year. There has been quite a few this year that had several people join them. The #MeToo campaign (though not a marketing one) is such reminder. It shook the world, brought the truth out of the closet and allowed many struggling women (and men) break free. Not all brands who tried to do the ‘inspired / courageous’ marketing got it right. Even then, here are three brands that did an outstanding job that left us inspired. 1. Vicks – #TouchOfCare How would you connect a product for a runny nose with transgender rights? India has been fighting many battles on the sexual identity front. From Section 377 (which dates back to 1861) to rights for transgenders, there are many voices rising against the notion that not everyone needs to fit into a fixed category of ‘men’ or ‘women’ and should have the freedom to choose their partner. Does this section work in today’s times when the idea of a family is being redefined in today’s contemporary society? As a brand, Vicks has stood for extending a caring touch to a loved one during their sickness. Especially, that of a mother, whose loving touch would soothe and heal. But does this love come only from a biological mother? Does it come only from a woman? Showcasing the true story of a transgender woman Gauri Sawant and her struggles in raising an orphaned girl Gayatri. The ad beautifully brings to life their story and tells us that love goes beyond gender identity and we should think before we compartmentalize people into their preset boxes. 2. Burger King: Bullying Jr. Bullying is a real problem that people of all races, religions, and castes face. The victim’s helplessness and torment become the bully’s fodder. We’ve seen it, heard about it, sometimes been victims ourselves – and maybe sometimes perpetrators of the crime too. Which is why this ad hits you on all fronts. The nice part about the ad is how Burger King weaves it all together with its brand. The act of bullying happens in a Burger King outlet in full public view. A young black boy is being bullied by a group of white boys. He is hit, teased and abused. Many don’t budge an inch, let alone interfere. The same people, when presented with a ‘mashed’ burger where then asked a question if they had a problem if their burger was ‘bullied’. It drives home a point that people are willing to stand up for bad food but not to bullies because it wasn’t ‘their’ problem. But what if it was. What if one day you were the victim and no one stood up for you? Standing up against bullies and deflating the pleasure they derive out of the victim’s torment is a responsibility that weighs in on our collective consciousness. 95% people stood up to their ‘Whopper Jr.’ being bullied. Only 12% checked upon the boy who was being bullied. What does that tell you? 3. #Always “Ha ha! You throw like a girl!” Many boys have heard that before, taken it as a straight insult that equates to being weak and fluttery and gone on to show their ‘hard, manly’ throw. This ad takes an everyday term that we are quite used to hearing #LikeAGirl and understand what this really means. Young girls don’t really understand it or let it bother them but by the time they reach puberty, #LikeAGirl feels like a humiliation. What does it mean to run like a girl, hit like a girl, swim like a girl or kick like a girl? Somewhere, somebody needs to take a stance. And Always, a brand for menstrual pads is being that voice. Girls and women are often put into pre-defined molds of the society that declares what they can and cannot do. This ad brings back a positive meaning to an everyday term encouraging women to embrace themselves for who they are. Why does running like a race not mean winning it? It’s time we changed our viewpoint. There were many other contenders for our Top 3 list. Others like the Fearless Girl, Heineken’s ‘Worlds Apart’ campaign, Nike’s Breaking 2, 84 Lumber’s “The Journey Begins”, New York Time’s ‘The truth is’ campaign, P & G’s ‘The Talk’ are all wonderful campaigns that we’ve loved too. It is campaigns like these that reaffirm our faith in advertising in going above and beyond their motive to sell and do a world of good. Check these campaign too. Fearless Girl Heineken’s ‘Worlds Apart’ Nike’s Breaking2 84 Lumber’s “The Journey Begins” New York Time’s ‘The truth is’ P&G’s ‘The Talk’ Which one is your favorite campaign, tell us in the comment.