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With the advancement of technology over the past few decades, brand marketing strategy has continued to evolve. With the ability to reach specific audiences with niche interests and the rise of premium, ad-less subscription options, we have seen brands work to connect more with their target demographic in ways that were impossible in the past. Now, the best brand marketing leans into humor and relatability to its consumers without needing to appeal to everyone. Social media has been the best place for brands to connect with people, and these are the top ten brands with the best marketing strategies.
Duolingo
The Duolingo brand started in 2011 and has since become one of the most popular language-learning apps. The company first became popular on social media as a meme because of its funny-yet-aggressive owl mascot who would get mad at users who lost their daily lesson streak. Duolingo decided to lean into the social media buzz through posts featuring the now-famous green owl.
@duolingo people have begun to uncover my plan… @FilmTheory #duolingo
Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube accounts keep up with all the latest social media trends. And the lore of the Duolingo bird has thoroughly expanded over the years. Most recently it “faked its own death” to get people to get back on the app. There are even plushies available! There never is a dull moment with the Duolingo crew.
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Mint Mobile
Mint Mobile is a mobile network operator company that has recently been making waves. It offers lower prices for its customers by being a completely online company. Ryan Reynolds has also played a big role in the success of the company as a partial owner by creating engaging ads that he shares through his personal social media accounts. While Reynolds is no longer the main owner of the brand, which has been sold to T-Mobile, he remains the face of the company.
One strategy behind Mint is to cut down on extra costs as much as possible and they have decided to do that through limiting their marketing budget. Their choice, however, has not come at the expense of quality. The company focuses on humor over professionalism and this mentality extends to all social media brand strategy, even the content without Ryan Reynolds.
Hinge
Hinge is a popular dating app “designed to be deleted.” Despite being a company that relies on engagement with the platform, its marketing strategy reminds its users that its main priority is to get people connected in offline settings. This message comes up through their ads and Instagram page.
The company also doesn’t shy away from its identity as a dating app. When dating sites first became popular, many people were embarrassed to admit where they met their significant other. Now that Hinge and other apps have become a major way for people to connect, this brand has decided to embrace its identity as a meeting place for long-lasting relationships rather than shy away from this purpose.
Dropout
The streaming service Dropout, previously College Humor, has brought a new option to the table for how entertainment brands that start their growth on the internet can continue to expand. By becoming a streaming service six years ago, Dropout has made a place where they are not dependent on ad revenue and therefore do not have to censor their content based on monetization standards. This model takes after platforms like Patreon that allow fans to support their work directly through a subscription-based model.
As a company that started through social media, its brand marketing strategy relies heavily on keeping to its roots. Dropout releases clips from its various shows on short-form content platforms for free as content and as ads to get new audiences interested in their projects. Fans who are unable to support the channel through the subscription model can still access the content they release to their YouTube channel which includes full episodes or complete segments of their shows.
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CeraVe
One brand that is straddling the line between traditional and relatable is CeraVe. Their recent Super Bowl commercial featuring Michael Cera shows a lot of creative freedom from the team, but upholds its identity as a well-established brand by telling viewers at the end of the commercial that it is “fake.” The dermatologist-approved skin and haircare company also has a strong presence on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
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Their Instagram account moves between well-shot promotional pictures and being a part of current trends like lie detector tests with personalities like Jake Shane and “get ready with me” style videos. On their YouTube page, they have pushed the limits of creative marketing with videos that parody different genres, like “soap” operas. The brand has also leaned into relatability through their Heads of CeraVe contest where customers can become a part of the campaign.
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Liquid Death
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The punk-look water company has really gone all out with their marketing because as they say, “For centuries, all the funniest and coolest marketing and branding was only done for unhealthy products like beer, fast food, candy, and junk food. But those days are over.” Their brand targets consumers who are not interested in alcoholic beverages but still want to be a part of the night life.
Liquid Death never shies away from the fact that it is a water company, but its marketing truly takes its hardcore aesthetic to another level with “sell your soul” memberships and the most outrageous collaboration campaigns. Liquid Death recently completed a sweepstakes for a real jet and they sell a Can of Art for five million dollars on their website. e.l.f, NIXON, Dr. Squatch, among others, have all partnered with Liquid Death to create products that feel like parodies, but are actually for sale on their website.
Yeti
Yeti was founded in 2006 by the outdoorsmen Roy and Ryan Seiders who wanted to make products fit for the wilderness. Today, they are most popular for their durable drinkware and coolers. Their products can also be customizable and feature favorite sports logos. They have even expanded into creating bags, apparel, and outdoor living essentials.
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The Yeti brand has embodied its identity as an outdoor lifestyle company through its brand marketing strategy on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. They have recently completed the Yeti Natural Selection, a snowboarding contest, where riders could show their skills and the harsh conditions that all Yeti products can withstand. The Yeti YouTube page is also dedicated to showing the wilderness lifestyle by celebrating stories from the people that use their products.
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Good.store
Internet personalities John and Hank Green have been the founders of many projects, like Crash Course, and have recently stepped into the world of selling everyday products with all profit going to charity. They sell Awesome Socks, coffee and tea, luxury soap, and now eco-friendly cleaning products through their website good.store. The main purpose of these business ventures has been to support the health and wellness of others, and they have now donated over $9 million to Partners in Health.
One of the reasons their businesses have been so successful is that they started with a strong foundation of followers through their long-running presence on YouTube as the Vlogbrothers. Hank Green is also a leader in the science community on Tiktok and John Green is the well-known author of books including The Fault in Our Stars. The influence these creators have had on the internet is far-reaching and impossible to summarize, which means that most of their marketing comes from casual videos made by the two brothers that are shared as posts and ads on social media.
Jif
Jif is a well-known peanut butter company that has moved into the social media marketing space to find a new demographic. They have come up with some inventive ways to reach the public like talking about the history of GIFs and its pronunciation as well as the Canadian branch running a campaign for people to text into the company 1,300 times to receive a free jar of peanut butter.
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Jif has a presence on Facebook and TikTok, but the way their social media brand marketing strategy shines is what they have been doing on Instagram. The Jif marketing team has taken advantage of Instagram’s feature where two accounts can share identity in posting by collaborating with home chefs that have a strong internet presence. These creators share a recipe using Jif peanut butter, which allows the marketing post to show up for people who were not already following the Jif Instagram and gives people access to more inventive ways to use the product.
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Wendy’s
If you saw Wendy’s social media presence without knowing about the brand, you probably wouldn’t expect them to be a huge corporate fast food company with over 7,000 locations in more than 30 countries. And that is kind of the point. Wendy’s brand marketing strategy doesn’t prioritize telling followers about upcoming promotions. They run traditional advertising campaigns for that. Instead, their official social media posts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube feel more like meme accounts.
@wendys DJ Nepo Burger hopefully coming soon to a music fest near you
They post under-produced content that jumps on current trends and doesn’t care too much about overall aesthetics. Wendy’s social media brand marketing truly sticks to what they say on X, “We like our tweets the way we like our fries: hot, crispy, and better than anyone expects from a fast food restaurant.”
One extra…
Marta isn’t a brand, but we had to include her because her self-marketing is truly top-notch. Marta Puerto took her layoff from a production marketing position as an opportunity to showcase her skills through advertising. She uploaded a video to her LinkedIn page that now has over 140,000 reactions. It’s safe to say that her efforts paid off because her account now shows she has been employed as a senior product marketing manager for the last year.
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