The sun has finally graced the UK with its presence, so what better way to celebrate the start of the summer than to devise a marketing campaign, tapping into all those consumers’ summertime feels. Here are examples of some creative seasonal advertising, which should help to give your company ideas for any sunshine inspired promotions.
McDonald’s ice-cream billboard (2015)
When a heatwave struck the Netherlands, McDonald’s thought up a novel way to keep people cool. The outdoor advertising company JCDecaux and the fast food chain partnered up to create a heat activated billboard. Each time the temperature at the Damrak in Amsterdam hit a scoring temperature of 38.6 degrees Celsius, a panel opened automatically to offer 100 bystanders the chance to grab a McFlurry ice-cream cup and receive an ice-cream of choice at the nearest McDonald’s restaurant.
Uber ice-cream social marketing (2015)
Another company who successfully utilized the popularity of ice-cream in 2015 was the taxi service Uber. For one day only they created a social brand experience that spanned across 2050 cities in America, rewarding loyal Uber account holders by delivering ice creams to their workplaces. The concept was simple – bring adults back to a simpler time by harnessing the traditional summer ice-cream truck, with an Uber taxi twist.
ALS ice bucket challenge (2013)
The ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) ice bucket challenge spread like wildfire across the globe, making it one of the most iconic viral marketing campaigns to have ever hit the digital space. Although the campaign wasn’t originally thought up by the ALS charity itself, instead started by a sufferer called Pete Frates, it generated an incredible amount of awareness and raised money for the disease. It was a huge success due to many factors such as: supporting a charity – making it a selfless act, the peer pressure of not letting your friends down within the 24 hour challenge window, and the fun factor of dumping icy cold buckets of water on your head.
Sprite’s soda machine shower (2012)
Unfortunately the name doesn’t suggest the true nature of the marketing campaign – no, you could not have a shower in the Sprite drink, but yes there were showers involved. Beach-goers in Brazil were provided with giant Sprite branded showers to use to cool off as well as receive free samples of the drink. This campaign used originality and ingenuity to boost sales, by making consumers associate the flavour of Sprite with the refreshing effect of a cool shower in scorching heat.