While it might feel like the trusty hashtag has been a part of our world – both online and offline – for centuries, the term only burst onto the scene in 2007.
Since then, these little icons (which were once relegated to the bottom right of a phone keypad) have revolutionized the social media marketing industry.
Ten years after the hashtag appeared on screens across the globe, and four years after it nabbed a spot in the Oxford English Dictionary, it has become a stalwart part of any marketing department.
And, with proof that hashtags have the ability to explode even the most mundane social media status, marketers are scrabbling to come up with the best hashtag for their campaigns.
Good hashtag campaigns are powerful. To prove this, we’ve put together a list of some of the most memorable, mind-boggling campaigns of the past few years. #SitTight.
1. Coca Cola’s #ShareACoke Campaign
When Coca Cola brought out its range of name-stamped bottles, the world went crazy. It was a novelty seeing our names splashed across one of the most famous brands in the world, and people clamored to find their bottle namesake to share with friends and family.
The idea behind Coca Cola’s named bottles drove a huge number of sales and generated millions of social media posts from fans and buyers eager to share. On Instagram, consumers snapped shots of bottles tagged with their friends’ names and new parents even used the bottles “Mom” and “Dad” as props to shout about their pregnancies.
Why Coca Cola’s #ShareACoke Worked
The internet is a pretty faceless, anonymous entity, but Coca Cola managed to make a worldwide campaign feel personal to each and every individual.
Using personalized bottles (without actually being personal), it managed to reach people on a mammoth scale and create a sense of community and buzz around the brand.
It also helped that the word “Share” was integrated into the hashtag, prompting people to do exactly that.
2. The ALS Association’s #IceBucketChallenge
Who can forget the year that we all threw ice over each other to raise money for charity?
Source
The #IceBucketChallenge was a hugely successful social media campaign by the ALS Association (even though they had nothing to do with the birth of the hashtag).
The campaign managed to simultaneously raise awareness about ALS which, before the campaign, was relatively unknown, and raise millions for the Association.
It was an excellent show of a nonprofit using the power of social media and its connective nature to create a fun and engaging campaign that, at its core, did something good for the world.
Why the ALS Association’s #IceBucketChallenge Worked
The biggest reason the #IceBucketChallenge took off is because it was for a good cause. People love to post statuses and pictures of themselves doing good deeds on social media, and the challenge tapped into this.
Not only was it a fun way to raise money for charity, but the scale of the campaign attracted several big-name celebrities that propelled it forwards – on 20th August 2014, the campaign peaked at more than 1.3 million mentions in just 24 hours when Justin Bieber did the challenge twice in one weekend.
3. Nest’s #CaughtOnDropCam
A company like Nest faces a lot of objections from consumers.
It’s all a little voyeuristic, FBI-fuelled conspiracy theory fodder, and it’s understandable why a lot of people feel uncomfortable at the prospect of being watched all the time.
But Nest managed to create a campaign that counteracted the major creepiness of being watched and instead focused on the human side of their brand. #CaughtOnDropCam encouraged users to share videos from around their home that were funny and, well, human.
As a result, the hashtag was filled with a selection of great content, ranging from pets gone wild to hilarious family moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-VRceQZA4on
Why Nest’s #CaughtOnDropCam Worked
Despite being a fairly serious brand that has a lot of consumer objections to get past, Nest managed to bring the human side of their brand to life with the hashtag campaign.
The content shared was incredibly relatable and built a community of fans around the brand who were eager to see more funny moments captured in the home.
4. Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins
You can imagine the discussion in the Calvin Klein boardroom around what ad campaigns would cause the biggest stir – selling underwear can’t be difficult when you’ve got the ripped bodies of celebrities showing it off.
But the #MyCalvins campaign aimed to do something a little different.
Instead of parading around public figures, the brand decided to use its customer base and fans as models for their underwear.
Why Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins Campaign Worked
Perhaps the most striking thing about this particular campaign, though, is that they didn’t offer anything in return. In most cases, brands will essentially “bribe” consumers to posts pics of themselves in exchange for the chance to win a prize.
But for Calvin Klein there was no such reward, yet they still managed to get a huge amount of engagement around the hashtag (maybe this just goes to show that underwear can sell itself).
Editor’s Pick: My favorite Tool for Hashtag Campaigns – Social Pilot!
5. Charmin’s #TweetFromTheSeat
You might feel sorry for brands that have boring products to sell, but Charmin blew any pity out of the water with its massively successful #TweetFromTheSeat campaign.
Creating a buzz around toilet paper of all things kind of feels like running a marathon without even training. But, in a genius move, Charmin made the bathroom break a hoot with their hashtag-fuelled campaign.
Essentially, the brand encouraged customers to Tweet while they were on the loo and even shared a few of their own Tweets to set the tone of the campaign.
Why Charmin’s #TweetFromTheSeat Campaign Worked
Quite simply, they made a boring product fun.
Everyone uses the loo, so their audience had the potential to be mind-blowingly huge. And, even though their product isn’t the most glamorous thing in the world, it’s a necessity.
With this campaign, Charmin showed everyone that thinking outside the box always wins, and generating a little humor around a product is never a bad thing.
6. Audi’s #WantAnR8
Who doesn’t want an Audi?
This is the exact mindset the brand tapped into when they launched their #WantAnR8 campaign.
But the hashtag wasn’t started by Audi.
In fact, it was created by Twitter use Joanna McCoy who simply wanted to let Audi know she’d love a ride in their new R8 model.
Audi came up trumps with their response, and offered McCoy te chance to drive an R8 for a day.
And you can image the activity that ensued.
As a result, Audi encouraged people across social media to share their reason for wanting an R8 alongside the hashtag and surprised a few happy Tweeters with the prize of driving their new model for a day.
Why Audi’s #WantAnR8 Campaign Worked
This campaign worked so well for two reasons.
Firstly, Audi showed a playful, human side to their luxury brand and, secondly, they listened to their audience.
The campaign was started by a loyal fan and Audi ran with the sentiment of McCoy’s Tweet to power an entire promotional campaign. As a result, the hashtag was used more than 75,000 times and Audi’s R8 became something a lot of people coveted for their driveway.
7. Kellogg’s #GreatStarts
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say.
And, as one of the world’s biggest breakfast cereal brands, Kelloggs tapped into this sentiment with their #GreatStarts hashtag campaign.
The aim? To inspired everyone to start their day with a bang.
Using the hashtag, fans and social media platform users could share their morning rituals on Twitter to inspire others. After a while, huge names like Sir Steve Redgrave and Rebecca Adlington were joining in, spreading their morning messages far and wide.
Why Kellogg’s #GreatStarts Campaign Worked
As well as having top-name celebrities and athletes chiming in, the campaign also featured a 100-day countdown that added a sense of scarcity to the hype. Every day during the countdown, Kelloggs recreated a scene from a famous movie and gave away amazing prizes, making breakfast so much more than just the most important meal of the day. 
8. Ryu’s #WhatsInYourBag
Clothing retailer Ryu used the hashtag #WhatsInYourBag to drive curiosity around their various products. When users posted what was in their bag, they were entered into a competition with the chance to win an awesome prize.
On top of this, Ryu also promoted the giveaway and the hashtag campaign on their Instagram Story, which was the main way their audience interacted with them.
Why Ryu’s #WhatsInYourBag Campaign Worked
As well as offering participants the chance to win a special prize, Ryu also promoted the campaign where they knew their audience was most likely to engage with it. When users logged onto Instagram, they immediately saw a new story from Ryu which kept the brand at the top of their mind and helped reach even more people.
9. Back to the Future’s #BTTF2015
Back in 1985 when Marty McFly traveled to the future, hashtags were probably the last thing on his mind.
This fun campaign by Back to the Future (official) celebrated the momentous day in 2015 that Marty travels to in the film. It was only a short-lived campaign (promoted for just one day), but it received an incredible amount of media attention as fans of the classic film franchise celebrated the date Doc and Marty traveled to in the future.
Why Back to the Future’s #BTTF2015 Campaign Worked
The date in 2015 was always going to be a momentous moment for Back to the Future fans, but the integration of a hashtag campaign generated even more buzz around the major event.
Fans of the series could celebrate their love of it in a weird juxtaposition of past meets future.
10. Heineken’s #OpenYourWorld
In 2017, many big-name brands moved towards a more purposeful approach with their marketing, and that seeped over into hashtag campaigns, too.Take beer giant Heineken, for example, who encouraged people from different walks of life to get together and discuss their differences over a beer using the hashtag #OpenYourWorld.
Why Heineken’s #OpenYourWorld Campaign Worked
Heineken moved away from “selling” and products to focus on the real-time emotional driver behind sales – people’s values. This campaign wasn’t centered around Heineken, although it was used as a tool to generate discussions and, more importantly, the campaign came at a time when opening up discussions about sensitive topics was high on everyone’s priority list.
Hashtag Campaigns That Really Hit the Spot
So many marketers spend hours trying to dream up the perfect hashtag – many of which, unfortunately, dribble out into nothing. But coming up with a campaign surrounding that hashtag that generates buzz and creates a community around a brand has been proven to drive sales and grow customer bases beyond some brands’ wildest dreams.
These top nine examples are some of the best in the world, but what will your successful hashtag campaign look like?