Creating a successful social media hashtag campaign takes equal parts creativity, risk, and luck. This year saw its share of social media campaign winners and losers, but here we’ll focus on brands who successfully created engaging hashtag campaigns with the added bonus of boosting brand awareness.
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Adidas – #ORIGINALis
Adidas started 2017 with an eye toward becoming more entrenched in the hip-hop fashion industry. Knowing that their target market of millennials spends way more time engaging with social and digital media than watching television, they embarked on an Instagram campaign using the hashtag #ORIGINALis and partnered with stars like Snoop Dogg, Desiigner, and Stormzy to promote their Originals line-up.
The Originals campaign also included a video featuring Snoop Dogg and Stormzy covering Frank Sinatra’s My Way, which won Grand Prix in Entertainment for Music at Cannes. Since its January release, the video has over 25 million views on the Adidas You Tube page.
Aligning with causes that are important their audience has proven effective for brands when done with authenticity. Airbnb chose to share a message of acceptance and connect on an emotional level with their #WeAccept campaign. The campaign featured photos and stories that highlighted and supported diversity. Airbnb also pledged to provide short-term housing over the next 5 years for 100,00 people in need and $4 million over the next 4 years to the International Rescue Committee.
Since the #WeAccept campaign was launched in February 2017 at the Super Bowl, the video has accrued nearly 5 million views. This level of engagement is an indicator that taking a stand and…
