Top 20 Global Digital Brand Campaigns of 2012

Tech market observers know that 2012 has been the most promising year for digitally driven marketing campaigns of leading brands, as they brought technology at the vanguard of their promotional drives.

Companies across the market segments used latest digital platforms as well as social media and mobile channels to attract consumer eyeballs. It was, however, observed that digital dominated primarily in B2C (business-to-consumer) product categories.

While RMN Digital keeps a keen eye on all such campaigns, here it pulls out the top 20 of them – based on the editor’s choice – that happened in 2012.

Here we go:

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes fans worldwide were invited to take part in a week of celebration of the world’s most famous detective in the first annual Sherlock Holmes Week. As part of the initiative, Steampunk Holmes is stated to be an eagerly awaited interactive book in history. Several years in the making, this Steampunk version of Sherlock Holmes will have a series of books in all formats, but most importantly on the iPad. Read More

Remodeled

Remodeled, a reality series featuring a global community of model and talent agencies that is digitally connected by an online portfolio and booking system, launched a branded channel experience on DirecTV Channel 111. It was announced by Sony Pictures Television. Read More

Expedia with Bloggers

Expedia executed a series of campaigns, of varying scope, with bloggers to celebrate the Find Yours brand campaign. These included mini-documentaries with bloggers from TripStyler and The Planet D, as well as sponsored trips for bloggers to different popular locales, including to Pamplona, Spain, for the Running of the Bulls, to Las Vegas and across the U.S. on a college football tour. Read More

The Bourne Legacy

In support of its film The Bourne Legacy, Universal Pictures had launched “Operation Intel.” The new chapter of the espionage franchise was promoted with a social campaign that allowed fans to expand the Bourne series into their own lives by participating in real-world missions, creating a personalized trailer and going back to the beginning with characters from all the films in the series. Read More

Paranormal Activity

Paramount Pictures debuted the fourth installment in the horror franchise Paranormal Activity exclusively in 25 cities around the world by encouraging fans to vote to see it first with a new “Want It” application on Facebook. Users could vote for an advance screening in their city by clicking on the “Want It” button on the film’s fan page. Read More

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Mercedes-Benz invited its Facebook fans to “Best Summer,” an initiative that celebrated summertime moments surrounded by Mercedes-Benz events including Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim. Fans were encouraged to capture their favorite summertime moments while incorporating a Mercedes-Benz vehicle or the Mercedes-Benz logo. Read More

Get Your Boots Dirty

Sorel, a premium boot brand, announced its Fall/Winter 2012 brand campaign titled, “Get Your Boots Dirty.”  The campaign, which debuted in web-based video and print, showed fiercely independent, creative and inspiring women from diverse disciplines who are living out their passions. Read More

Gap’s Shine

As part of a campaign, Gap decided to showcase its cast members through an eight-week content series on Gap’s social media channels. Inspirational content included a YouTube video of Lil’ Buck jookin’, a Facebook how-to tutorial of Kaki King’s guitar tricks, style tips from Nicki Bluhm on Foursquare and a series of share-worthy quotes from the cast. Read More

Susan Glenn Campaign

AXE, a men’s grooming brand in the U.S., teamed up with Emmy Nominee Max Greenfield for a six-episode web series that humorously builds on the basis of the AXE “Susan Glenn” campaign. The name Susan Glenn – created by AXE – is a pseudonym that represents the special girl in a guy’s life he hasn’t had the confidence to approach. Read More

Lexus Blended Advertising

Leading automaker Lexus added a new layer to its 2013 ES marketing campaign with an advertisement that merges technologies with stunning visuals. The result is a convergence of print and digital advertising. Read More

Crack the Case

Heineken, the world’s leading premium beer brand, announced a new TV and digital campaign for Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond adventure, in which Daniel Craig brings his explosive portrayal of James Bond to a Heineken ad for the very first time. Challenging consumers to defy Bond’s enemies and ‘Crack the Case,’ viewers were taken on an epic train journey alongside stunning Bond newcomer Berenice Marlohe. Read More

United By Independents

Motorcycles company Harley-Davidson launched the second installment in its Dark Custom campaign called United By Independents. The campaign, featuring #StereotypicalHarley riders, was first developed on Harley-Davidson’s Facebook app “Fan Machine” by fan Harold Chase and was then cast on Twitter. Read More

Coca-Cola Journey

The Coca-Cola Company replaced its corporate website with Coca-Cola Journey, a socially enabled digital platform. Coca-Cola Journey represents a significant leap forward in how Coke will use digital communications to drive business results and share the Coca-Cola system story with the world. Read More

Love Comes In Every Shade

Gap’s global marketing campaign, “Love Comes In Every Shade,” aims to illustrate some of the many forms of love, from puppy love and married love to best friend love and sibling love. As part of the campaign in the U.S. and Canada, Gap is spreading love digitally through partnerships with online communities Postagram and Pinterest. Read More

Text Santa Campaign

Pizza provider Domino’s Pizza has teamed up with ITV to support the Text Santa Campaign. The company offers its customers the opportunity to donate money to charity everyday via Pennies, an electronic charity box. Read More

Julie & Julia

Sony Movie Channel announced the launch of a multi-faceted digital campaign to enhance the viewing and social experience for fans of the 2009 film Julie & Julia. The multi-platform campaign includes The Julie & Julia App, an application available to Facebook users. Read More

Sony Xperia Campaign

Sony launched a campaign featuring its first-ever national television commercial introducing the Xperia ion as Sony’s first LTE smartphone. The TV spot was just one part of a fully integrated campaign which included television, digital, out-of-home, social media and print components. Read More

Only LG

LG Electronics launched its “Only LG” advertising campaign. The digital and print campaign featured online videos and advertisements showing how 3D can bring content to life to create a more immersive and engaging home entertainment experience. Read More

My Burger Crowdsourcing Campaign

McDonald’s said it achieved a social media breakthrough with its “My Burger” crowdsourcing campaign. An online burger configurator gave fans the opportunity to create their own burgers and give them individual names. Read More

The Big Turn On

The Big Turn On campaign from Nissan aimed to reach one million potential electric vehicle (EV) advocates in France, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, through a combination of myth-busting achievements and direct interaction via a massive digital and social movement. Read More

With all this digital sizzle in the marketplace, technology is all set to be the harbinger of a new era for brands that can only be dubbed, in a word, bright.

[ Also Read: Top 10 Online Stories of 2012 from the Entertainment World ]