After months of blandly monolithic “We are there for you,” pandemic advertising, some brands are finally branching out with their marketing strategies. While mask-laden montages and vague solidarity statements so often ring hollow, these companies are backing up the sentiment with action in unorthodox ways. Here’s a roundup of some recent marketing campaigns that brought smiles to our faces.
1. Auntie Anne’s encourages your inner couch potato
As Auntie Anne’s rolls out their nationwide mobile ordering app, the company is encouraging you to embrace your inner couch potato. In an effort to promote the app, they have introduced sweepstakes offering the chance to win a custom Auntie Anne’s “Recline-to-Dine” chair that lets you order pretzels with the pull of a lever.
Source: Auntie Anne’s via Mobile Marketer
Plus, you’ll also get a year of FREE pretzels and streaming services. Runners-up may receive a $25 gift card or care package.
While the recliner admittedly resembles a taxidermic cookie monster stretched over a La-Z-Boy, kudos to Auntie Anne’s for helping their customers reach peak slovenliness.
2. Bumble and Babe make pandemic breakups better
Woman-focused dating app Bumble recently partnered with wine company Babe to help women dealing with a pandemic breakup. Users could have a chance at winning free moving services and turning their breakup into a “glow-up,” according to a press release.
Source: Babe Wine via Mobile Marketer
To win a chance to have their moving costs covered by Babe and Bumble, users of photo-sharing app Instagram can tag themselves on the “moving on” post on Babe’s @drinkbabe account. The brand will choose five winners from the comments who appear to be “turning their breakup into a glow up,” per the announcement.
Babe and Bumble created a flyer showing a mock moving company named “B&B Movers” that touts its services, including moving furniture, removing all traces from an ex from a smartphone and tailoring a Bumble profile to get back into the dating scene. The promotion starts today and runs through Aug. 6.
Now that’s what “being there” for your users really looks like!
3. Popeyes Prompts Pranksters
Popeyes Louisiana Chicken is encouraging customers to choose their chicken over pizza in their latest campaign prompting users to prank their family members. The brand posted a brief three-step video instructing users how to set autocorrect to change any mention of “pizza” to “POPEYES INSTEAD OF PIZZA” on their family member’s phones. That way, any family discussion about what to have for dinner would automatically end with the choice of Popeye’s.
Anyone who posts a screenshot of their text conversations to social media with the hashtag #LoveThatAutocorrect can get $5 off their next order from Popeyes.
While the campaign depends on customers to be savvy enough to get ahold of their family members phones and change the settings without their notice, it does have the potential to expand brand reach through social media sharing.
4. Natural Light offers an escape for college students stuck at home
If you are a college student needing a sanctuary from your family as you cope with distance learning courses, Natural Light may have the solution for you. In its new sweepstakes, the beer company is giving away a portable “Dorm from Home” which is stocked with a flat-screen TV, a video gaming system, a miniature refrigerator, and a $180 gift card to buy Natural Light beer. The enclosed space, which looks like a tiny house on wheels, can be “parked” in a backyard or driveway.
Source: Natural Light via Mobile Marketer
In order to enter, you must be at least 21 and post a photo accompanied by the hashtags #DormFromHome and #Contest, while presenting an argument in favor of why you need the escape space. With only 2.5 percent of colleges and universities letting students fully resume in-person classes, the campaign is more relevant than ever.