Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has been around for decades, and it’s an essential part of the online advertising landscape.
It has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes, allowing them to reach a targeted audience and generate leads and sales more quickly than ever before.
However, with so many businesses using PPC advertising, it can be extremely challenging to stand out from the crowd.
In today’s digital age, consumers are bombarded with advertisements wherever they go online. It’s become more important than ever to think outside the box and step out of advertising norms to catch your audience’s attention.
“To make PPC worth your while financially, don’t underestimate your content marketing. Getting users to your site is one thing, but converting them while they’re there comes down to killer copy and engaging visual content.”
Some of the best PPC advertising campaigns of all time have been successful because they dared to be different. They took risks, broke the rules, and stood out from the crowd in a way that resonated with their audience.
These campaigns were memorable, captivating, and effective, helping to drive traffic, boost sales, and increase brand awareness.
In this blog, we’ll explore some of the best PPC advertising campaigns of all time and the strategies they used to stand out from the crowd.
Whether you’re a small business owner or a seasoned marketer, Amax Marketing is here to help you find inspiration in these remarkable PPC advertising campaigns.
Let’s dive in!
Alec Brownstein and His Innovative Way to Landing His Dream Job
In 2009, Alec Brownstein was a senior copywriter looking for a new job. He was tired of the traditional methods of job hunting and decided to take a more creative approach.
Brownstein’s idea was simple, yet effective.
He decided to create a series of Google AdWords ads that would target the names of five creative directors he admired.
Whenever these directors searched for their own names on Google, they would see an ad with Brownstein’s name and a message saying, “Hey [Creative Director’s Name], Googling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too.”
The beauty of Brownstein’s approach was that he only had to pay for the ad clicks when the creative directors clicked on the ad themselves. This made it a highly targeted and cost-effective way to get in front of the people he wanted to impress.
The results were more than impressive.
Within days of launching the ad campaign, Brownstein received calls and emails from all five of the creative directors he had targeted.
Four of them offered him a job interview, and one even offered him a job on the spot!
Brownstein ended up taking a job at one of the companies he had targeted.
Alec Brownstein’s clever approach to creating a pay-per-click ad shows that thinking outside the box can lead to seriously impressive results.
Glowyy’s “Don’t React”: Going Against the Norm of Traditional Advertising
In 2020, Glowyy, a beauty retailer, revolutionized the world of pay-per-click ads with their “Don’t React PPC” campaign. The campaign was a clever way to create a pay-per-click ad that went against the norm and caught the attention of consumers in a unique way.
The “Don’t React PPC” campaign was designed to target consumers who were searching for beauty products online.
Instead of showing traditional product ads, Glowyy’s ads showed a woman using the product and then not reacting to it. The ads were accompanied by the tagline “It’s that good,” implying that the product was so effective that the user didn’t need to react to it.
Why was this approach clever?
Simply put, it went against the norm of traditional product ads that often feature models with over-the-top reactions to products.
This made the ad stand out and caught the attention of consumers who were tired of seeing the same old thing. The results of the “Don’t React PPC” campaign were impressive.
The ads generated a whopping 15% increase in sales for Glowyy, and the company received significant media attention for their innovative approach to pay-per-click advertising and has since revolutionised ads for beauty brands forever.
How Slack Addressed Common Workplace Frustrations
In 2019, Slack, the popular workplace communication tool, launched a clever pay-per-click ad campaign called “Honesty Is The Best Policy.”
The campaign featured a series of ads that highlighted common workplace frustrations and communication challenges that many people experience.
One of the most memorable ads from the campaign featured a frustrated employee staring at their computer screen with the headline “When you’re trying to get an answer from someone who doesn’t use Slack.”
The ad was accompanied by the tagline “Honesty is the best policy. Unless you’re trying to reach someone who doesn’t use Slack.” The cleverness of this campaign was in its relatability and honesty.
Slack recognised that many people struggle with communication in the workplace, and they positioned themselves as a solution to that problem.
By being honest about the challenges of workplace communication, Slack was able to connect with its audience on a much deeper level. The results of the campaign were pretty insane.
The ads generated a 30% increase in website traffic and a 17% increase in brand awareness for Slack …. Impressive, right?
Ann Summers: A Cheeky Way to Reach your Target Audience
In 2019, Ann Summers launched a clever pay-per-click ad campaign called “Sexy Paid Search”.
The campaign was a unique and effective way to target their audience and drive traffic to their website.
The “Sexy Paid Search” campaign was designed to target people searching for cheeky keywords online. The ads featured provocative headlines and images that were designed to catch the attention of the target audience.
The campaign was also highly targeted, with ads appearing only to users who were searching for those keywords.
This made it a highly effective way to reach the right audience and drive traffic to the Ann Summers website.
The cleverness of this campaign was in its ability to create attention-grabbing ads that were also highly relevant to the target audience. The “Sexy Paid Search” campaign generated a seriously impressive 68% increase in revenue.
Kudos to you, Ann Summers.
Matt Simpson and His Quest to Find Love
In 2019, a man named Matt Simpson went viral for his clever use of Facebook ads to get a date. Simpson, who was struggling to find a date on dating apps, decided to take matters into his own hands and create a pay-per-click ad campaign to find love.
Simpson created a series of Facebook ads targeted to women in his area.
The ads featured a photo of Simpson, a brief bio, and a call-to-action asking women to click through to his website and learn more about him. The website featured more photos and information about Simpson, as well as a contact form where women could get in touch with him directly.
The results of Simpson’s campaign were impressive.
Within days of launching his Facebook ads, he received dozens of messages from women who were interested in getting to know him better. He eventually went on several dates and even found a long-term girlfriend through the campaign.
Who said romance was dead?
The Wrap-Up
PPC Advertising doesn’t have to be boring.
In fact, stepping out of advertising norms and daring to be different (and slightly wild) can reap so many benefits for your business’s long-term goals.
In an overcrowded marketplace, stepping out of your comfort zone and having fun with carefully creative advertisements is more important than ever.
Feeling stuck on where to begin?
At Amax Marketing, we focus on delivering real results with our tailored approach to your business.
Why not get in touch with us today and let us help you achieve the recognition you deserve?
We have been working with Amax Marketing for the last few weeks and have already been impressed with the results we've seen.
As experts in outreach and digital PR, we knew we'd be in safe hands. We are looking forward to the coming months, and getting some fantastic results!