There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to building the best digital PR campaigns. In fact, how you shape your business’ PR strategy has a lot to do with the industry you’re working in. Whether your focus is fashion or football, the right kind of PR campaign can help you to engage your target audience and increase the awareness of your brand.
Understanding how to customise your strategy to suit your intended customer base is often done best by example. Seeing how other businesses within your chosen sector have reached out to interested parties can really illuminate your own path. We’ll explore some of the best PR campaigns by industry to help you sculpt one to suit your business.
Successful Fashion PR Campaigns
The fashion industry is widely known for its use of celebrity influencers and compelling visuals. While these are proven strategies for engaging audiences, brands are starting to branch out and put their own spin on tried and tested campaigns. Successful fashion PR campaigns can recognise the changing values of their customers while understanding which promotional avenues will make the biggest impact.
ASOS
After being criticised for the way she looked on a popular dating app, an ASOS customer was given pride of place on the fashion retailer’s website. Thea Chippendale took to social media after she received an unsolicited, negative message about the dress she was wearing in a photograph on her dating app profile. ASOS showed their solidarity by using this picture alongside their official model shots on the product page.
The response from ASOS’ audience was overwhelmingly positive, with many customers stating how they appreciated seeing the dress on a woman who wasn’t a model. This presents ASOS as not only an inclusive and forward-thinking retailer, but also puts a twist on the traditional use of influencers. By choosing a regular customer to model their dress, it builds their reputation as a company that cares about its consumers.
Many successful fashion PR campaigns are now putting more emphasis on the ordinary person, aiming to diversify the audiences they appeal to.
Football Advertising Campaigns
While successful fashion PR campaigns tend to focus on influencers and diversity, football PR centres around team spirit and partnerships with big brands.
Orange Sponsors You
In this campaign, Orange turned the spotlight on football fans to reward them for their continued support for their teams. The campaign involved ‘recruiting’ the best fans and offering them free tickets to games to garner even more excitement for the Euros. Working in partnership with Paris, Orange arranged for the team with the most support to feature in a light display on the Eiffel Tower.
The PR campaign meant that more and more fans used social media and other means to show their support for their team. It added an element of competition between fans that extended beyond hoping that their team would win. When it comes to football advertising campaigns, team spirit and excitement are key.
PR for Alcoholic Beverages
The best PR campaigns of alcoholic drinks often focus on the brand’s identity and legacy. If the drink has been produced for a number of years, campaigns may highlight its origins and longevity.
Carlsberg Ad Campaign
When Carlsberg’s identity as ‘probably the best beer in the world’ came into question, the brand responded by advertising their drinks as ‘probably not’ what they first set out to be. In addition to this, a Carlsberg ad campaign featured employees reading mean tweets shared on social media about the quality of their beer.
By acknowledging the negativity towards their brand, Carlsberg appears to be a down to earth business that acknowledges the feedback of its customers. The ‘probably not’ campaign goes against traditional advertising superlatives and shows the product for what it actually is. However, reading the mean tweets makes light of those who seek to criticise the brand, showing that these anonymous messages have no real weight to them.
How to Reach Your Audience with the Best PR Campaigns
While knowing your industry is key to crafting a successful PR campaign, these examples show how connecting with your audience is just as important. Whether you use PR to uphold your brand’s status or put the customer at the centre of the action, you need to be aware of how your audience feels and what they’re looking for. This might vary depending on upcoming launches and the time of year, but carefully tailored PR strategies can always help you to increase engagement.
Don’t see your industry here? Don’t worry, PR can raise awareness about any business when the right tactics are applied. From influencer marketing to competitions and reactive responses, PR is all about improving the communication your brand has with your target customers.
Want to know more? Get in touch and let’s chat about how we can amplify your PR campaigns online.
