Limitation drove innovation during the coronavirus pandemic 

For the most part, the COVID-19 pandemic was a dumpster fire, and we’re still a long way from getting out of the woods yet. But among all of the negatives, one thing is for sure: We saw some exceptional creative work emerge during 2020 and the first part of 2021.

While others may say that this work happened in spite of the pandemic, I’ve long held the belief that creativity feeds on constraint and that this work emerged because of the pandemic.

There were so many clever and creative campaigns, so here I’ve pulled together my list of the best of the best. Without further ado, here are the winners.

Best User-Generated Content Campaign

Microsoft Teams: “To Every Mom Doing Their Best"

This campaign ran in time for Valentine’s Day 2020, and as a mum, it was relatable AF. Microsoft cleverly got around shooting restrictions during the lockdown, and instead relied on user-generated content, a more authentic and trustworthy alternative to brand-generated content.

Best Antimarketing Campaign

New Zealand Tourism: “Travelling Under the Social Influence”

Laughter is the best medicine, and so this hilarious spot is the belly roar we all needed right now. This is a stellar example of going beyond demographic targeting and instead focusing on psychographic targeting to zero in on-key audience insights. With this campaign, NZ Tourism has pinpointed who their ideal audience is, not just based on where they live but also on their personalities, beliefs, and attitudes.

Best Social Media Campaign

e.l.f: “Eyes. Lips. Face.” via Tik Tok

Next-gen beauty brand e.l.f didn’t miss a beat during COVID-19. For this social media campaign, they composed an original song to run alongside the brand’s TikTok hashtag challenge.

Today, there are nearly 18,000 TikTok videos using the song “Eyes. Lips. Face.” and collectively the videos tagged with #eyeslipsface have been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times. On October 11, e.l.f. announced that it had turned “Eyes.Lips.Face.” into an entire full-length song, now available on Spotify.

Just try to get this song out of your head — I dare you.

Best Influencer/Ambassador Campaign

Apple: “Creativity Goes On”

COVID-19 made us all quite a bit more sentimental, and so we saw a lot more brands launch emotionally driven campaigns. But not all of them landed. This one, however, which spoke to our human spirit and ingenuity, was a home run. It’s a close second place for the best COVID-19 campaign.

Best Referral-Marketing Campaign

MasterClass: “Buy one, share one free.”

The timing of this campaign ran like a Swiss clock. Almost as soon as the pandemic started, MasterClass mobilised with this referral promotion which was hard-to-miss across social media. With everyone stuck at home and in need of entertainment, but with purse-strings tightened, this referral-marketing campaign traded short term cash for long-term brand value. Fast forward 12 months, and now MasterClass has literally doubled the number of subscribers to remarket to.

Best Collaboration Campaign

Roald Dahl Story Company x Taika Waititi: “James and the Giant Peach” via YouTube

2020 was the year for brand-to-brand collaborations and for good reason: Collaborations can double your reach and halve your costs. What better way to maximise your marketing dollars during a downturn? Picking a favourite collab was like picking a favourite child, but this one was also a cause-marketing effort that raised money for Partners in Health, a not-for-profit organisation.

Director Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”) and a suite of star-studded celebrities recreated Roald Dahl’s classic novel “James and The Giant Peach” in 10 installments on YouTube. Any brand that entertained school-aged kids during the lockdown was a winner in my books.

Best Earned-Media Campaign

Ocean Spray: Nathan Apodaca x Fleetwood Mac

Sure, Ocean Spray didn’t create this, but they sure juiced every drop out of it. Reaction time in marketing is pretty damn critical, but the bigger the company, the slower the reaction time (usually). So I think it was pretty impressive that a co-op owned by 700 cranberry farmers was able to respond at lightning-fast speed after Nathan Apodaca posted his now cult-status TikTok video.

Ocean Spray’s CEO followed up with his spin of the video, and in a stroke of genius, Ocean Spray delivered a cranberry red truck to our protagonist, allowing this good news story to make it into yet another news cycle.

Best Storytelling Campaign

Viagra: “Love Story”

There was so much to love about this storytelling campaign informed by a human truth: When we’re buried in our devices, it leaves little room for *cough* other things.

However, it was the music that elevated this campaign from good to great. Sleeping At Last’s cover of “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” will give you goosebumps.

Best Overall Campaign

Nike: “You Can’t Stop Us”

It’s a marketing masterpiece. They’ve ticked every single box for a perfect campaign in our current global state. From their use of appeals like storytelling, emotion, hope, unity, and triumph to their articulate commentary on race, gender, and equality — and the role sport plays in those facets of our history.

And then on top of all that, they’ve tied it together using authentic, scrapbooked video content. Nothing staged or acted. Just real people.

They didn’t say the word Nike once, and yet you’re still left feeling like it’s 100% Nike filling your cup right now.

Why have I chosen these campaign categories? Because these are the marketing channels and tactics that startups and small businesses should be focusing on in 2021 to put them in good stead for the next normal.

Do you agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This article was originally published in Better Marketing on Medium.