Today I want to show you a campaign, which has delivered its message in such a powerful, yet simple way and has so managed to make people think again and take the necessary actions to change their lives. This was an ad created by Ogilvy for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation aiming at reminding people of how bad smoking is and encouraging them to make the healthier choice.

I am not going to describe and retell this brilliant idea because I just can’t! I can’t explain what an impact it has with words, you have to see the video yourself. It is truly powerful!

I would love to hear your thoughts and what you felt after seeing it.

You already know about my love for great campaigns, and from the 2012 Google Analytics stats I can see that you love great campaigns too! So, here’s another really cool stunt, I’m sure you’ll be impressed with.

This time, it’s Sony who came up with a brilliant idea.

The action took place during the premier of the latest James Bond movie in Sweden. Sony decided to give people free sodas at the theatre entrance and then right before the movie began, actual drinks started ringing in the hands of the winners who discovered a brand new Sony waterproof Xperia acro S phone in their soda! What a creative giveaway! It sure managed to engage with the entire audience in the theatre and communicate the desired brand message, namely the launch of the new phone and its clear waterproof advantage over other mobile devices.

This campaign only shows that to be successful nowadays a campaign doesn’t necessarily have to focus on social media and new communications platforms, but can be just as effective offline if you find the right communication channel and timing, which in this example was the premier of such a popular movie at a cinema.

Remember the famous TNT Drama campaign in Belgium I shared with you last year? Yes, that one, with the amazingly surprising and shocking end that left you breathless and laughing? Well, TNT has now produced the second guerrilla marketing stunt of its drama series, as I am naming them now (hopefully we'll see more in the future).

The sequel took place in the Netherlands to promote the launch of the TV channel in the country. The video has already reached more than 1 million views in less than two days!

This time the campaign involved the public into all the ‘drama.’ It’s really entertaining to watch the people, who were drawn into the action, not understanding what’s going on around them.

I’ll stop talking now because I don’t want to ruin it for you; just watch it for yourself!

With 2012 just behind us now it’s the perfect time to think about what happened in marketing last year and learn some valuable lessons to help us be more creative and clever with our PR and social media plans and campaigns in 2013. This is why I thought I should share with you what I think was the best communications campaign of 2012 and why.

One of the most successful brands when it comes to organisational PR activities is admittedly Red Bull. For years they’ve been coming up with adventurous and sometimes pretty extreme stunts and have managed to position themselves as a brand that ‘gives content wings’. They have never directly promoted the actual flavour of the energy drink, but have instead focused on what values it offers to consumers, namely to boost energy.

And they’ve certainly managed to do so with the brilliant Red Bull Stratos – an example of PR at its best.

Last week I saw a campaign by fashion chain Topshop that I thought was not only creative, but also absolutely brilliant because it managed to successfully integrate advertising, PR and social media. The campaign comes right on time for Christmas, and I just had to share it with you; I’m sure you’ll be impressed.

This year Topshop decided to run a Christmas advert for the first time ever and called the production ‘Winter Wonderland’. The fashion chain announced that the ad would feature a Hollywood celebrity, but said that they would not reveal who the ‘mystery lady’ was until the 4^th of December.

Topshop encouraged people to use the hashtag #whosthatgirl? and tweet @Topshop to guess who the star of the advertisement was with the chance to win a £500 shopping spree.

The fashion retailer shared six short videos on their YouTube channel, each one of which revealed more about the celebrity than the previous video giving clues to fans (check them out here: teaser 1, teaser 2, teaser 3, teaser 4, teaser 5, final clue).