Digital Marketing Campaigns Throughout 2024: Our Favourites

In 2024, Dove released a campaign called 'Real Cost Of Beauty'; this campaign focused on the growing global mental health crisis circling appearance-based discrimination and confidence, explicitly targeting younger people such as teenagers and young adults. This has been an ongoing project for them as, 20 years ago, they took a stand against false beauty standards. In 2024, they added several new campaigns, some even including new topics such as AI-generated photos, where they promoted a video with the message that they will ‘never use AI to create or distort women’s images’. 

Above is a screenshot taken from Dove's 'Real Cost Of Beauty' website. If you visit the website, you'll notice it's extremely interactive, tells stories, and offers support.

Dove's campaign was promoted through platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. It was even displayed during the ads in the cinemas, encouraging people to share their personal stories and join the ongoing conversation. This campaign even included a dedicated website specifically made to allow users to explore stories, data, and steps to support themselves if they are struggling. 

Within ten days, the campaign achieved over 1.9 billion possible views across all of their digital channels. The campaign sparked critical conversations about the current beauty standards and the pressure younger people face daily. This campaign supported people who were struggling, as well as made many feel heard or seen, leading to significant engagement and achieving an increase in the brand's strength and perception amongst their target audience.

'BRAT' is an album by British singer and songwriter Charli XCX. In 2024, she released Brat, which eventually became a trend, creating 'Brat Summer', in which millions took part across platforms. The campaign was a multifaceted digital marketing strategy that included fan interaction, social media, and bold visuals to promote the album. Her team took several different approaches, including leveraging pop culture, interactive marketing, influencer integration, and provocative branding. 

Above is the album cover Charli XCX chose for her 'brat' album. You'll notice it's straightforward, using lowercase, a simple font, and a solid colour background; this is to represent the tone of the album; it's not extravagant but meant to be enjoyed as it is.

Leveraging pop culture: To resonate with Gen Z, Charli embraced the 'raw' and 'messy' persona, making sure the messaging mirrored chaotic and rebellious behaviour, aligning perfectly with popular subcultures on platforms such as TikTok, which Gen Z in particular loved. 

Interactive Marketing: Charli's team organised surprise live performances, generating excitement locally and online, which drew attention to her live streams on TikTok, which would tease possible new projects or album content. 

Influencer Integration: As Brat increased in popularity, her team began partnering with popular influencers across social media, with Kelley Heyer creating the 'Apple dance', which went viral, having 1.6 million posts under the sound, and several of those posts having millions of people engage with the videos, demonstrating the power of user-generated content. Charli even had Kelley Heyer make an appearance at one of her shows, doing the 'Apple dance' as she performed the song, generating further hype online.  

The screenshot above is to display what users see when they select the 'brat' hashtag. As shown, users are able to scroll through millions of posts, the majority being user-generated content as well as videos from Charli, her record label, and her team as well.

Provocative Branding: The album cover is very minimal, with a bright green background and a simple front displaying 'Brat' on top. This sparked conversation, as some felt it was 'lazy', while many suggested that it fits perfectly with the tone of the album. Simple steps like these allowed 'Brat Summer' to have a colour and font that millions would associate with the album, making it instantly recognisable whilst also amplifying the visibility.

Charli's team taking these steps pushed the album to dominate the charts throughout the summer, not only in the UK but worldwide. 'Brat Summer' is a perfect example of how to turn music promotion into a cultural moment. 

A popular digital marketing tactic within the beauty industry is to pair the products with foods such as cherries or cupcakes. This is the approach Rhode, Hailey Beiber's brand, took, and the campaigns have been incredibly effective. Many people associate Rhode with their 'yummy factor' campaign, which connects products and delicious treats.  

In the image above, we have provided a visual example of one of Rhode's campaigns; in the photo, the products have been paired with food or silverware.

As food is a universal language, trends such as 'strawberry aesthetics' align perfectly with Rhode, especially since Hailey herself had participated in the look of 'strawberry makeup', popularising the term. Photographing products with food causes a sense of familiarity with customers, as well as allows them to have a better connection with the product, resulting in Rhode being seen as culturally relevant and visually appealing across social media. 

Throughout this process, Rhode collaborated with brands such as Krispy Kreme to actually merge food and beauty, bringing customers doughnuts and the 'Strawberry Glazed Lip Treatment'. Collaborations have attracted traffic and amplified both the customers' loyalty and brand reach. Rhode's taking the food sensory approach has allowed the brand's products to be seen more as a lifestyle aspiration instead of just makeup or skincare, bringing in taste and blending aesthetics, broadening the brand’s reach. 

Above is another example of one of Rhode's food sensory campaigns. This time, they've gone for a more 'refreshing' look, pairing the product with raspberries encased in ice.

Apple took a unique approach to display the cutting-edge camera capabilities of the iPhone. By collaborating with popular musical artists, such as Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga, and New Jeans, Apple has redefined how phones can be used in professional settings. 

The campaign proves that professional visuals, which were previously achieved through high-end cameras, can now be done using just an iPhone. This perfectly aligns with Apple's strategy of the iPhone being more than just a smartphone; it can be an efficient tool for creators, no matter the area, giving them the ability to produce content of excellent quality and convenience. 

The image above is a screenshot taken directly from the behind-the-scenes video of The Weeknd's Dancing in the Flames music video, where it displays the iPhone 16 Pro being used to record the video.

In 2024, The Weeknd released his song 'Dancing In The Flames'. The song was a hit, and the music video was filmed entirely on the iPhone 16 Pro, demonstrating the cinematic features, high quality, and dynamic range. The video perfectly demonstrated the phone's versatility with close-ups and choreography. This was just one of many collaborations, with each being strategically promoted across social media platforms, where both fans and fellow creators admired the process. Alongside this, behind-the-scenes footage would also be uploaded, furthering the interest in this campaign and leading to driving sales amongst young, creative consumers. 

In November of 2024, Wicked premiered in Cinemas, with years of anticipation as a movie adaptation of Wicked: The Musical. The musical itself has been a hit since its theatrical debut, which was inspired by the original novel. With such a strong and rich legacy, the film already had a devoted fan base. 

Above is a screenshot taken directly from Wicked's Instagram. This post came out just before the film was released, collaborating with Amazon and Fandango to provide early screenings to fans.

The film's digital marketing team capitalised on the enthusiasm with a presence across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. By launching trending hashtags such as #DefyingGravity, a popular song from the story, they amplified the excitement and increased engagement. The team also drew people in with sneak peeks of the production process, which spotlighted the movie's stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, drawing in their already large fan bases. To deepen the interactive aspect, they introduced filters which allowed people to transform into the characters Elphaba and Glinda virtually, pushing the experience to be even more shareable and personal. 

The screenshot above displays what users will see when searching the 'Wicked' hashtag on TikTok; with over 1.4 million posts, users can scroll through all content made by other users, Wicked's team, or other businesses.

In addition to the above, the campaign also incorporated several collaborations with numerous brands, from limited-time products to virtual aspects such as wicked-related content incorporated into video games. A standout viral moment emerged during the promotional interviews, where the interviewer spoke about 'holding space' causing Ariana Grande to hold Cynthia Erivo's finger. This interaction quickly gained attention on social media, inspiring memes and discussions with even other celebrities hopping onto the trend. The digital marketing team leant into this trend, engaging with the content made by fans, which resulted in millions of views across platforms. 

Within weeks of campaign launches, Wicked saw incredible success, including a significant increase in global searches for the movie and accumulating over 2 billion interactions across platforms. A lot of this engagement was driven by user-generated content, which kept the hype alive beyond its release. The success of Wicked's digital marketing campaigns demonstrates how a strategic blend of social media trends, fan engagement, and interactivity can drive not only excitement but also engagement. 

2024 saw a significant amount of incredible digital marketing campaigns; we are excited to see the creative and exciting ideas brands will come up with for 2025 and how they impact digital marketing tactics in the future! If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to check out our previous one, How Digital Marketing Supports Marine Biology. If you need any support with your digital marketing, consider checking out our services and booking a call with a member of our team.