Top Influencer Marketing Examples for a Creative Campaign

What was once a trend is now part of many brands’ marketing strategies. Long past its experimental phase, influencer marketing continues to grow and offers new opportunities to leverage influencers’ creativity and reach. 

Brands of every size can get inspiration from the successful campaigns of major brands. Here are some examples of effective influencer marketing campaigns. 

#SpiritsofEurope

The ABSOLUT Company created a series of people- and planet-centered influencer activations over an eight-month campaign. The #SpiritsofEurope posts were shared across social media using influencers ranging from eco-conscious sustainability advocates to LGBTQIA+. Ultimately, the campaign generated 68.4 million total impressions, 7.7 million views, and 739.4,000 comments, likes, and shares. 

Source: X

#MyMTVStyle

MTV leveraged influencer marketing to launch #MyMTVStyle influencer marketing campaign and promote the new Capsule Collection. The campaign focused on Gen Z influencers using TikTok to reach the appropriate audience and align with MTV’s brand. The results were 16.1 million impressions, 217,000 engagement, and $0.10 CPE.

#SouthwestSaysAloha

When Southwest Airlines wanted to drive awareness and pre-sale tickets for its first-ever flights to Hawaii, it relied on travel influencers who could show off the beauty of the islands and evoke emotional responses with the #SouthwestSaysAloha. In total, the campaign gained 56 million impressions, 3 million in engagement, and a CPE of $0.03. 

#TaiwanExpoUSA

TAITRA partnered with an influencer agency to launch their first US event, the Taiwan Expo in DC. The #TaiwanExpoUSA campaign leveraged family, lifestyle, and travel influencers to share Taiwan’s culture and products, as well as to extol the virtues of the Taiwan-US relationship. 

Along with influencer marketing, TAITRA amplified the visibility with billboard ads, press releases, digital media coverage, print and digital ads, paid and organic social media, and radio ads. In total, the event reached over 8,300 attendees. 

#SaveOurShirt

Paddy Power signed a year-long sponsorship with English football club Huddersfield Town to create the Reveal campaign for the 2019-20 season. The Huddersfield Town team wore shirts with huge “Paddy Power” sashes across the front, which they later revealed to be fake. Paddy Power then “unsponsored” the shirt by giving Huddersfield the opportunity to play in a blank shirt for the remainder of the season. 

The campaign goal was to get fans talking about the shirt using the #SaveOurShirt hashtag. Ball Street Network selected creators and curators to represent the community voice. These influencers relied on their supporters to share and discuss the campaign, leading it to go viral. Once the campaign ended, the creators “revealed” the actual shirt. The final reveal received 42,000 Twitter likes. 

Source: X

#Grammarly

Grammarly leveraged influencer marketing for a six-month campaign to position the software as an essential tool for students and professionals alike, the #Grammarly campaign. The influencers were a mix of college students, NCAA athletes, and professionals in education, lifestyle, and science and tech. Their content focused on how Grammarly is used in their everyday life, leading to over 214 million impressions, 33.1 million video views, and an EMV of $15,944,034. 

#OREOShamROCKout

OREO and McDonald’s partnered with influencers to launch the #OREOShamROCKout influencer marketing campaign and showcase the exclusive OREO Shamrock McFlurry. The influencers were notable lifestyle and foodie influencers who shared their own way of “rocking out” with the OREO Shamrock McFlurry. The campaign gained 1.7 million impressions, 298,000 impressions, and a CPE of $0.06. 

Stay Curious

The HISTORY Channel created the Stay Curious campaign to debut its official TikTok account. It partnered with NeoReach to create the campaign using TikTok creators across a diverse range of audiences. They produced high-quality videos to show how engrossing the HISTORY Channel can be. The videos performed well, reaching over 21 million accounts and totaling 12.2 million views. The HISTORY Channel gained 50,000 followers. 

#VoicesThatThrive

Ricola partnered with influencers to launch the #VoicesThatThrive influencer campaign that positioned Ricola as an everyday item for consumers to stay refreshed and feeling their best. The influencers were from multiple industries, including athletic coaches, doctors, actors, singers, and podcasters, showing how Ricola throat lozenges helps them stay in top form. The campaign gained 9.4 million impressions, 4.7 million in reach, and 3.9 million video views.

#MoreThanPretty

GOLDTOE launched a female-focused influencer campaign to inspire and educate audiences on its athletic socks. Relying on the 12 top female athletes on Instagram, the campaign took viewers through daily life and showcased how they’re #MoreThanPretty. The diverse range of influencers represented the micro, high-impact, and celeb markets for 33 million impressions, 1.4 million in engagement, and a CPE of $0.035. 

Sony PlayStation VR

Sony developed an influencer marketing campaign in Canada for PlayStation VR, the brand’s virtual reality headset. Leveraging Canadian tech and gaming influencers across tiers on Instagram and YouTube, the campaign promoted positive gaming experiences gained from Sony’s products. 

Most of the posts were images, though a few creators relied on short looping video with hashtags like #PlayStationVR, #ITriedPSVR, and #PSVR. In total, the campaign gained 12,728 likes, 230 comments, and an overall 3.64% engagement rate.

#LeeInMotion

Lee Jeans partnered with influencers to launch the #LeeInMotion, a campaign to feature the new Lee Extreme Motion men’s collection. Male influencers showcased the jeans’ movement through sports, riding, travel, dance, and other activities. The results were 1.3 million impressions, 1.2 million in reach, 304,000 video views, and 8.59% engagement. 

#TMNTxWalmart

Nickelodeon partnered with influencers to launch the #TMNTxWalmart campaign to showcase the re-launched Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series exclusively at Walmart. The collection consisted of bedding, toys, and other products, so the campaign relied on interior designers and family influencers to create a “TMNT lair.” It was successful, bringing 10.5 million impressions, 389,000 in engagement, and a CPE of $0.15. 

Anthem of Us Campaign

Bedrock Real Estate wanted to produce a film to shed old images of Detroit in the past and show its bright future. Bedrock chose to produce a film that would make local residents feel proud of where they live using local influencers like Detroit Bikes, Shinola, and Slow Roll. The film was called “Anthem of Us.” 

With the influencers’ organic reach, combined with local celebrity Big Sean and his emotional endorsement, the campaign received 500,000 views before Bedrock switched to paid strategy. 

#StyleYourPlate

When Community Coffee was debuting a fresh new look and branding at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago, the brand needed a powerful strategy to drive event attendance. The #StyleYourPlate campaign also coincided with the brand’s Sweet Lemonade product line, which would debut in stores and at the event. The campaign was successful and produced 30.9 million impressions, 551,000 engagement, and $0.027 CPE.

#NationalDonutDay

Dunkin’ Donuts wanted to create an awareness campaign for National Donut Day and partnered with a digital talent network to produce a SnapChat campaign that featured visually enticing creative content. Using lifestyle creators, the brand promoted a special offer with teaser content and brand takeovers. Dunkin’ Donuts also supplied the influencers with SnapChat Geofilters that could be used in store. 

As a result, Dunkin’ Donuts gained ten times more followers to their SnapChat channel on National Donut Day than any other day. The campaign reached three million people and gained 40,000 in engagement.

Rare Country Awards

When the Cox Media Group wanted to draw attention to its country division – Rare Country – it created the fan-voted “Rare Country Awards” to expand its reach among country fans. Leveraging an already strong Facebook presence and a new Twitter account, the brand partnered with influencers for specific artists, the country genre, current brand fans, radio stations, and bloggers. 

The awards gained popularity quickly, with the top country artists then sharing links about them with fans. In total, 5,151 influencers helped with the campaign and spread to more than 55 million followers with 1.8 million impressions and nearly one million votes. 

Sickhouse

Indigenous Media produces video for a variety of platforms ranging from new media to traditional television. One of the films, “Sickhouse,’ is a found-footage style film that was shot in real time, in chronological order, on iPhones. It was the first film of its kind, so Indigenous Media partnered with influencers to post 10-second Snaps over five days to start a discussion. 

The campaign was unique in that it had to look as though it could be real, as though the influencer was sharing home videos. In the style of “The Blair Witch Project,: other actors avoided social media during the production of the film. “Sickhouse” was viewed 100 million times on Snapchat alone.

Clash of the Corp

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a celebrity influencer with a massive following. Fuse decided to partner with him to promote the original Fuse docu-series, “Clash of Corp,” which documents the lives of drum corps members on the road to the Drum Corps International Championship. The Rock broadcast the first episode of the series on his Facebook page and recorded a video introduction, leading to over seven million views, 55,000 Facebook likes, and 7,000 comments. 

Get Creative with Influencer Campaigns

There’s virtually no limit to what brands can do with influencer marketing. From sponsored posts to event appearances to innovative promotions, partnerships between brands and the right influencers can supercharge a campaign with real-world value.