Print marketing campaigns began to fall by the wayside with the rise of the digital age. But why? What had print done wrong?
The problem was that most print ads were static. Users couldn’t click on a fun content piece or share a funny ad with thousands of friends. They simply looked at the ad and—moved on. Digital ads were more interesting because they required the user to take action and made them feel involved.
But today’s print marketers are working harder than ever to create amazing, interactive designs for consumers. These five creative print campaigns will teach you how to amp up your own marketing game.
WWF’s Earth Hour Candle Box
Many digital marketers blame print ads for harming the environment, but the WWF is changing that perception. For a decade, the brand has held Earth Hour. 187 countries participated in the 2017 event by asking residents to turn their electric lights off for one hour to raise awareness about climate change.
A major event like this requires lots of marketing. The WWF’s solution? Yellow candles in boxes designed to look like buildings. When participants take out the candle to light it during Earth Hour, the “building” goes dark as a reminder to turn out the lights. It’s a powerful campaign that invites participants to save the planet—one candle at a time.
Mackinac Island, Michigan is like a time warp to the late 1800s. Visitors take a ferry to the island, where they travel by bicycle or horse drawn carriage. A favorite historical site on the island is the Grand Hotel. Opened as a coastal resort in 1887, it has been crafting unique guest experiences for 130 years.
Guests can capture the highlights of their stay in their vacation photos and display their favorites in this photo folder. The logos on front and back let their friends know where they had such a great time, inspiring them to book their own trips. The bright red covers and photo frame match the Grand Hotel’s color branding and attract attention to the design.
BKK Grill took interactive print marketing to a whole new level with this business card. The simple command “grill me” is printed along the bottom of the card. When recipients hold it over a candle flame, they see the BKK Grill logo and phone number.
What’s the invisible text made of? Lemon juice. According to the Scientific American, heat releases carbon compounds in the fruit juice, which darken and make the text visible. You can even create your own invisible lemon juice ink at home if you want to put your own spin on this creative marketing campaign.
World Water Day invites people to focus on clean water efforts and help the 1.8 billion people whose water sources are currently contaminated. To spread the word about the event, Green Belgium Mailing created this fantastic print ad. It combines the interactive properties of the Earth Hour candle box and the BKK Grill business card: an earth-saving design with invisible ink.
They sent it to businesses and press outlets across the country, with instructions for recipients to run water over the post card. Once the card is wet, information about the event becomes visible. The card even uses shades of blue to emphasize the importance of cool, clean water.
Kontor Back to Vinyl Record
Record label Kontor realized vinyl demo records stand out among the typical CDs, but musicians took a huge risk sending vinyl records that recipients might not be able to play. Kontor began using record packaging that looked like a turntable… but packaging can’t play a record.
To solve the problem, they infused some super cool record playing technology. Music execs can simply scan the record with their smart phone and listen to it on their mobile device. Scanning the record also connects users to Kontor.TV, the label’s YouTube channel, where they can hear more great songs and check out music videos.
Now that you’ve gotten to see some of the coolest print marketing campaigns around, it’s time to try it for yourself! What can you do to improve your print marketing?
