How to Use a Marketing Campaign to Increase Brand Awareness (with examples)

In the competitive online business landscape, brand awareness is more than just marketing jargon; it's the first step to making a single sale (beyond your family and friends). Without it, even the best product or service will struggle to find its audience. A healthy top-of-funnel ensures your brand attracts potential customers, laying the foundation for long-term success. Rather than crossing your fingers and hoping to go viral, savvy marketers use strategic marketing campaigns to build and sustain awareness.

What is a Marketing Campaign?

A marketing campaign is a series of coordinated efforts to promote a product, service, or brand within a defined period. Unlike one-off ads, campaigns are multi-channel, goal-driven, and strategically designed to achieve specific outcomes—like increasing brand awareness. A well-executed campaign doesn't just grab attention; it embeds your brand into the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Why Brand Awareness Matters

Brand awareness is the first step in the customer journey. People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist. Building brand awareness:

• Creates familiarity: People are more likely to trust brands they recognise.

• Builds your audience: Awareness campaigns drive traffic to your website or store.

• Differentiates you: In a crowded market, brand-building efforts set you apart from competitors.

• Positions you: How your brand is positioned and perceived by your audience is incredibly important, given the many choices available today. Today, consumers increasingly support brands that champion social issues and drive positive change. Positioning your brand as one that aligns with their values can deepen loyalty and advocacy.
   

Key Components of a Brand Awareness Campaign

To design a campaign that makes an impact, focus on these core components:

1. Clear goals

   • The goal of brand awareness campaigns is recall and recognition. It is, therefore, not measured by sales but by audience growth, website visits and survey respondents listing your brand as one they can think of in your industry.

2. Understanding your audience

   • Use audience personas to ensure your campaign resonates.

3. Multi-channel strategy

   • Leverage social media, email marketing, content marketing, PR, and paid social media advertising.

4. Memorable messaging

   • Develop a differentiated, compelling narrative that ties into your brand values.

5. Creative execution

   • Invest in strong visuals and creative concepts to capture attention.

      

Examples of Successful Brand Awareness Campaigns

1. ZeroCo Kickstarter Campaign

In 2019, ZeroCo had a mission and an idea but not much more. They were also a new player in the personal care market dominated by brands like Unilever, L’Oreal, and Proctor & Gamble.

Launching as the underdog, they created a brand awareness campaign that made the Aussie brand the most funded startup through Kickstarter that year.

A brand awareness campaign is intended to capture attention and gain visibility. ZeroCo did this with a scrappy but hilarious campaign video featuring founder Mike Smith speaking from the heart.

In 18 months, the brand has raised $11 million in funding and gained 60,000 customers while removing over 1 million water bottles from the ocean.

A brand awareness campaign put them on the map and kickstarted their success, and ZeroCo continues to take a campaign marketing approach.

2. The Penny Campaign, Penn & Lytics

To build brand awareness (and address confusion around her brand name), Penn & Lytics founder Brooke Huckerby created a humorous campaign starring her dog, Penny, as the faithful “sidekick” of small business owners.

Why it works? Marketing analytics is not the most exciting topic. Still, the personality-driven video captured the audience's attention, built affinity with founder Brooke, and changed how small business owners think about marketing analytics.

The hilarious 90-second brand film featured many memorable moments with adorable puns and snappy one-liners. Including this one:

"Once the penny drops, you’ll never forget our name!"

Check out The Penny Campaign

3. Spotify Wrapped

Spotify’s annual Wrapped campaign has become a cultural phenomenon. By delivering personalised data about their listening habits to its users, Spotify engages its existing audience and generates massive social buzz as users share their Wrapped stats online. The campaign highlights:

• Personalisation: Spotify leverages user data to create unique experiences.

• Social proof: The campaign encourages organic sharing, amplifying its reach.

   

Image via Spotify Newsroom

2. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign

Dove’s iconic Real Beauty campaign redefined beauty standards and aligned the brand with a worthy purpose: self-esteem and empowerment.

This campaign succeeds because it:

• Tells real stories: The messaging focuses on real people and their experiences.

• Resonates emotionally: Dove taps into a robust cultural conversation about self-esteem and beauty norms.
  
• Commitment and consistency: Dove has committed to the Real Beauty strategy and resisted the temptation to change course. There have been several iterations of the campaign and each one adds familiarity with the brand's commitment to real beauty, and brand trust. 

As M.T Fletcher says:

"Campaigns are neverending stories." 

 

Image via B&T

3. Airbnb’s #WeAccept Campaign

In November 2016, Airbnb publicly acknowledged widespread discrimination on its platform and launched the #WeAccept campaign, which attracted widespread positive (and negative) feedback. As part of the campaign, Airbnb required users to agree to "treat everyone in the Airbnb community—regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age—with respect and without judgment or bias" or else be removed from the platform. This campaign reinforced the brand's commitment to inclusion and community.

Key elements included:

• Value-Driven Messaging: The campaign aligned with Airbnb’s core values. 

• Global Reach: A mix of video content, social media, and PR ensured widespread exposure.

Image via Shorty Awards

4. Vist Oslo

Rather than your typical tourism campaign, which cherry-picks a city's highlights, Oslo Tourism told us not to come, and we all added Oslo to our dream destination list.

The now-viral campaign film uses anti-marketing and dry humour to capture attention and interest and build trust with the audience.

The reverse psychology worked brilliantly, highlighting that Oslo is a pretty cool, not-so-overcrowded city that we should plan to visit.

Result: The campaign has successfully driven a 26% increase in international arrivals and gained viral attention online.

5. Remedy Kombucha

Remedy Kombucha's bold and cheeky 'Tell Sugar to Get Fruct' campaign aimed to challenge the sugar-laden beverage industry while positioning its product as a healthier alternative. The campaign stood out due to:

Playful messaging: The witty tagline resonated with health-conscious consumers and created buzz.

High-impact out-of-home media: The striking, bright red campaign stood out in placements across Australia, ensuring strong visibility.

Switching Strategy: Remedy positioned itself as a direct substitute for sugary soft drinks, educating customers on kombucha as a healthier alternative that contains less sugar and aids digestion.

Image via Phantom Billstickers

Image via OOH

Image via FAB News

Steps to create your own brand awareness campaign

Want to create your own brand awareness campaign? Follow these steps:

1. Define your KPIs

Be specific and use benchmarks to assist you. For example, "Increase website traffic by 20% in six months."

2. Define your target audience 

Which target audience segments will your campaign focus on? The broader the audience, the more investments is required to reach and resonate with those segments. A narrower audience gives you a higher chance of crafting tailored messaging that will hit home with that segment. 

Research their habits, challenges, and where they spend their time online.

3. Create a campaign brief 

Set the parameters for your campaign, such as time frame, budget, and goals. Include audience insights and any specific deliverables.

4. Craft your message

Develop a simple, memorable message that reflects your brand’s values and mission.

5. Get creative 

Design the creative assets for your campaign,, which may include videos, social media tiles, advertising creatives and email banners.

4. Select your channels

Choose platforms that align with your audience’s preferences, such as TikTok for younger demographics or LinkedIn for professionals.

5. Launch your campaign 

After thorough testing, launch your campaign and know how to troubleshoot as the campaign progresses. 

6. Measure Success

Track metrics like impressions, engagement, and website traffic to evaluate your campaign’s performance.

Yes, it's a lot, but the results are worth the planning and investment. Helping smaller brands create, plan, and launch campaigns is what we are best known for. Start with our free marketing calendar:

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Pro tips for maximizing impact

• Channel mix: Use a smart mix of paid, earned and owned channels to maximise your reach and meet audiences where they are. This will also help your budget go further.

• Create shareable content: brands must walk the line between creating content that promotes the brand and content people want to spend time with. "Buy my stuff" is going to be scrolled past. The goal is to create marketing that doesn't feel like marketing but rather entertainment or storytelling. If this is not your strong suit, you can engage creative experts to help you build shareable assets that stop the scroll.

• Engage your community: Respond to comments, share user-generated content, and create a sense of belonging.

   

Takeaway: Campaigns build brands

When executed strategically, a marketing campaign is a powerful tool to boost brand awareness. From Spotify Wrapped to small business success stories like Penn & Lyrtics, the most successful campaigns resonate because they tell a story, evoke emotions, and align with brand values. By focusing on clear goals, creative execution, and multi-channel distribution, you can create a campaign that puts your brand in the spotlight.