Marketing is not new to the industry; however, over the years, it has evolved and revolutionized how businesses present themselves. Different social media platforms have come up and are being extensively used to reach potential customers. But now, brands are using WhatsApp to promote their services.
What made WhatsApp, a messaging application, an ideal platform for promoting a business? The answer is the figures and the outcome it has brought with them.
The research states that WhatsApp messages have a 98% opening rate over other channels whereas emails have an opening rate of 35% to 40%.
This blog will take you through some of the top WhatsApp marketing campaigns.
Best WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns By Brands Over The Years
- Unilever: I will bring you back your beloved clothes
- Adidas: Rent a Pred
- Netflix: Stay In Touch
- Lenskart: Valentine's Day Sale, Buy 1 get 1 free
- Absolut Vodka: Doorman at the Party Campaign
- KLM: Flight Alerts
- Hellmann’s: WhatsCook
- Marie Light: Tea Time Selfie with Sunfeast Marie Light
- Flipkart: A Personal Shopper
- Maggi Germany: Chef in Your Kitchen
- Persil: Kufua Expert
- ADAC: Don't Call Mom
- Saffola: Beat the Crave
- Makro: Hello Santa
- Klook: Online Bookings
- Livon: India's Next Top Model Season 2
Let us see examples of successful WhatsApp marketing campaigns.
Unilever
Campaign name: I will bring you back your beloved clothes.
Time Period: The campaign was carried out in 2019.
About the campaign: Unilever came up with a new fabric softener, i.e., Comfort.
What Did The Brand Do? The team came up with a brilliant idea, i.e., to put up over 1,000 billboards around Sao Paulo. The message and the name of the campaign were loud and clear, with a dedicated WhatsApp number. The WhatsApp chatbot named “MadameBot” replied to those who texted.
Target: To attract the maximum number of people and to bring more awareness about the new product.
Takeaway by the Participants: Those who participated got tips on how to care for clothes. Also, they go a 50% discount and free shipping.
Outcome: The brand introduced people to its new product. The sales got increased by around 14 times. The brand got 290K WhatsApp messages. The brand also got 12K customers.
Adidas
Campaign name: Rent a Pred
Time Period: The campaign was launched in 2020.
About the Campaign: It was a WhatsApp hotline campaign set up to inspire teams that needed a player to get a ringer (High-quality football players are called ringers).
Aim: The campaign aimed at solving the eternal issue of unreliable Football teammates not turning up for the game.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand provided 6- a-side teams, London’s best predator players when needed, along with a brand’s spanking pair of the Predator 20+ Mutator.
Outcome: Influencers came up, talked about the campaign, and posted influencer-led humorous launch videos with a clear message of PRED. The campaign touched people because there was an element of surprise. As a part of the campaign, the legendary retired Brazil midfielder Kaka visited a group of players and attended the game.
Netflix
Campaign Name: “I Am In”- Personal Recommendations
Time Period: The brand ran the campaign in 2019.
About the Campaign: The campaign was all about staying in touch with Netflix. The WhatsApp users who became a part of the campaign got timely notifications and movie recommendations.
Aim: To keep the current Netflix users who canceled their subscriptions in touch.
What Did The Brand Do? Netflix partnered with WhatsApp in 2017 to provide enterprise services through the WhatsApp messaging app.
As per the campaign, the users who clicked “I Am In” got movie suggestions. But the band played smartly and took this golden opportunity to send their customers new suggestions, announcements, and notifications.
Outcome: Since Netflix took the first movers' advantage, it was able to retain its inactive customers. Not only this, but Netflix also pulled back their dormant customers to re-subscribe to their platform.
Lenskart
Campaign Name: Valentine's Day Sale, Buy 1 get 1 free
Time Period: The campaign took place in February 2022.
About the Campaign: Lenskart, an eyewear brand, took to WhatsApp to promote its products and services. The campaign was run for its Valentine’s Day sale in February.
Aim: To increase awareness and sales.
What Did The Brand Do? Lenskart promoted their offer, 'Buy 1, Get 1' free. The offer was made to be valid from 6th to 16th February. Besides this, the brand offered 14% off and 14% cash back.
Outcome: The brand witnessed that the overall cost was low as compared to conventional ads, whereas the opening rate of the text messages on WhatsApp was comparatively high.
Absolut Vodka
Campaign Name: Doorman at the Party Campaign
Time Period: The campaign was carried out in 2020.
About the Campaign: Absolut Vodka’s South American advertising firm ran the campaign. They decided to host an exclusive party where two tickets were to be given to the general public. The idea behind the campaign was to produce 4 million Absolut Vodka bottles which were uniquely designed.
Aim: To build awareness and a close line of communication with the brand just with an Absolut Unique Access.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand created a fake bouncer with the name Sven. The account was handled by their community manager. The participants who wanted to win the ticket to such an exclusive party had to convince the fake bouncer on WhatsApp, which wasn’t an easy feat.
Sven also had its own song with the name; Don’t You Worry, Don’t You Worry Sven, I Am A Cool Guy”
Outcome: Around 600 participants came forward, used 1000 unique videos, images, and audio messages, and proposals were received by Sven. Three days of uninterrupted chats with the participants. The new contacts were generated with the help of WhatsApp numbers. The brand, which generally doesn’t say a word, managed to create a buzz all around.
KLM
Campaign Name: Flight Alerts
About the Campaign: KLM, the Royal Dutch airline company, as a part of the campaign, sent flight alerts to their customers.
Aim: The campaign aimed at informing the passenger’s near and dear ones about their flight information.
What Did The Brand Do? As per the brand’s WhatsApp marketing campaign, on booking a flight, customers receive information on flight details, boarding pass, etc., on WhatsApp. The best part of the campaign was that KLM also sent alerts to the family and near ones too.
Family members of customers were also kept in a loop, and they were also given real-time flight updates too.
Outcome: According to the sources, in 2015, KLM became the first to have a verified WhatsApp Business Account. Through the campaign, KLM was able to spread the word not just to their present customers but also to their potential customers.
Hellmann’s
Campaign Name: WhatsCook
About the Campaign: Hellman used WhatsApp to engage with their users. They wanted to help them cook a meal by using the ingredients they had in their fridge.
Aim: To engage with the users and help them choose cooking items. The brand wanted to assist those who find it a challenge to decide to cook by giving them a solution.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand asked the consumers to register themselves for the WhatsCook campaign on a website. After signing up, they received a WhatsApp message from a chef about their ingredients. Based on the ingredients, the chef advised what the person could cook with the leftover ingredients.
How Was The Campaign Different? There were many other brands that gave tips on how to cook and what to cook. But it was Hellmann who used WhatsApp as a medium to create different content and also provided real-time guidance.
Outcome: This WhatsApp marketing campaign is not quite new; however, it is a fair example to put forward. 99% of users were satisfied with the service. The results added great value to the users as they were not only able to understand the product, but they were also able to make the best use of their own ingredients. If we talk about the figures, around 13,000 people had registered on the site and average users interacted with the cook for about 65 minutes, showcasing brand loyalty.
Marie Light
Campaign Name: Tea Time Selfie with Sunfeast Marie Light
About the Campaign: Sunfeast Marie Light wanted to increase its sales of biscuits in India through a new and unique campaign.
What Did The Brand Do? As per the campaign, the user had to send a selfie to Sunfeast's WhatsApp number. The winner was sent a 42-inch LED TV. To participate, the consumers had to buy the packet of biscuits and send their selfies with it to the official number given by the brand.
Outcome: The sales of ITC were boosted by using WhatsApp as a marketing channel.
Flipkart
Campaign Name: A Personal Shopper
About the Campaign: Flipkart ran a campaign named,' Big Billion Days.' The aim was to reach potential customers in a manner that captured the maximum attention.
Aim: To help people shop for products and services.
What Did The Brand Do? Flipkart launched an automated chatbot. The brand featured India’s Bollywood film star, Amitabh Bachchan.
The brand used different communication formats, such as images, audio, videos, etc.
Takeaway By The Participants: The customers learned more about sales through unique forms such as emojis and puzzles.
Outcome: The brand made the best use of WhatsApp. Just in 2 weeks, the brand got great results. Flipkart got 3.5 times more conversions, 7 times more quality visitors, and $2.5 million USD in revenue.
Maggi
Campaign Name: Chef in Your Kitchen
About the Campaign: Maggi wanted to be an integral part of the people's lives. They wanted to get along with their customers on an individual level. An International brand like Maggi wanted people to remember its name forever.
Aim: To motivate people to make great meals just in a few easy steps.
What Did The Brand Do? As per the WhatsApp campaign, the brand created a free cooking curriculum wherein people could connect and seek support in their cooking journey, all virtually.
The brand created a WhatsApp-powered virtual assistant called Kim. The assistant, Kim, guided the customers step-by-step, answered their questions, and shared cooking technique videos.
Outcome: Three months after WhatsApp-powered virtual Assistant Kim launched, Maggi got 200,000 messages in the first 8 weeks. There was a 4.2-point lift in the standard ad recall and a 3-point lift in campaign awareness.
Persil
Campaign Name: Kufua Expert
About the Campaign: Persil, a leading laundry detergent brand, wanted to increase its customer interaction and build a loyal customer base.
Aim: To encourage consumer familiarity with the brand name and make consumers feel that they are part of Persil.
What Did The Brand Do? People were asked to send 15-second videos on tips to wash clothes on the WhatsApp number displayed.
Takeaway By the Participants: The winners were rewarded with Persil hampers, and those who gave the best tips were declared winners. They were given hampers.
ADAC
Campaign Name:"Don't Call Mom"
About ADAC: It is a Germany-based automobile club. It provides its members with roadside help. The brand has a customer base of about 20 million.
About The Campaign: So the brand ran its first digital campaign. The "Don't Call Mom" campaign on WhatsApp was to open up the hotline for youth and welcome them with any queries they have. The participants were allowed to ask any question that they were hesitant to ask their parents.
Aim: To relate to the generation who did not own a car.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand employed 20 ADAC experts. They played the role of 'mom' and replied to all their messages for 14 hours daily on WhatsApp. Influencers were also invited to play the role of ‘mom’ and reply to the questions asked by the participants.
Outcome: The campaign ran for 6 weeks, and the brand earned 20 million impressions. The brand received about 1,40,000 messages. The figures showed the success of the biggest automobile club getting in touch with the young population.
Marico’s Saffola
Campaign Name: ‘Beat the Crave’
About The Campaign: Marico’s Saffola launched a campaign for their new product, i.e., Saffola Active Slimming Nutri-Shake. This was the maiden audio-driven digital campaign.
Aim: To help consumers follow a healthy lifestyle and achieve their fitness goals by giving them solutions.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand, with an agency called WATConsult, came up with a marketing strategy using an array of activities on social media and WhatsApp. Different microsites were created with audio skits, and each skit was crafted to distract the audience from eating junk. The skits helped the participants in learning about the reasons and psyche behind craving junk food items.
Saffola's chatbot tried to distract people in creative ways, i.e., pre-recorded messages, songs, puzzles, sketches, and expert advice when the participants tried to look for food that was not good for their health.
Outcome: Saffola's WhatsApp campaignwas a success, as can be seen in the figures below. Saffola received more than 6,000 WhatsApp subscribers. Also, it saw about a 483% increase in sales. Moreover, the campaign made it to the news and created a buzz all around.
Makro
Campaign Name: Hello Santa
About the Campaign: Makro is a departmental store in South Africa. The store wanted to gain huge sales. They wanted to go creative in order to grab maximum eyeballs.
Aim: The goal was to get leads and sales.
What Did The Brand Do? The brand resorted to WhatsApp on Christmas. During the campaign, the participants were asked to send a message. Santa was on WhatsApp and replied to all the messages that were received. The users were sent a festive toy guide in return. They were asked to select a toy from the list sent to them. After the participants had selected the gift, they were asked to send another message. By following all the instructions, the users entered a competition to win different prizes.
Outcome: Gained new customers. The brand promoted more services.
Klook
Campaign Name: Online Bookings
About the Campaign: Klook is an online travel platform. The brand wanted to improve its customer service, so it took to WhatsApp to conduct a marketing campaign. Klook wanted a convenient channel to reach out to its customers, so it chose WhatsApp as a medium. As per the campaign, visitors were invited to sign up to get notifications.
Outcome: The brand’s customer retention rate got an instant boost of 40%.
Livon
Campaign Name: India's Next Top Model Season 2
Time Period: The campaign ran in 2016
About the Campaign: Livon carried out a WhatsApp campaign for wild card contestants of a modeling show.
What Did The Brand Do? As per the campaign, the entries were asked to send their selfies to the official number of the show. The idea created a buzz in the modeling world so much that models started to send their selfies to participate in the contest.
Outcome: By running this campaign, Livon was able to build a vast customer base that they could use in their upcoming campaigns.
Platform To Use For WhatsApp Marketing
As the name itself suggests, WhatsApp marketing is carried out on WhatsApp but not through a personal WhatsApp account. Through the WhatsApp Business API account, one can send away messages, greetings, offers, discounts, etc., as per the business requirement. Other than these, businesses can also send discount codes, promotional messages, abandoned cart messages, out-of-stock alert messages, feedback, and customer support messages, and the list is endless.
WhatsApp Marketing Is Here To Stay
Whether it is about launching a new product or a new service, or it is about sending any vital message or greetings, brands, as we have seen from the above examples, are resorting to WhatsApp because of the following reasons:
- Brands can connect with customers on an individual level.
- Brands are able to build long-term relationships.
- WhatsApp marketing assists in increasing customers.
- One can engage and interact proactively with the audience and build authenticity and trust between the customers and potential clients.
Because brands have realized that WhatsApp marketing is one of the most innovative and effective ways to boost sales, at the same time, it is important to be creative to generate results and reach a wider audience.
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