Remember last year when we broke down the most impressive and innovative social media campaigns devised by the brightest in Bristol’s social media community? Well, we’re back and ready to do it all again.

Whilst researching campaigns for this blog, it was clear that 2019 had provided us with another year of really engaging social content, conveyed creatively using a wealth of digital technologies. There was plenty of great content to pick from but for this blog, we’ve narrowed it down to our favourite five so without further ado, here are the social media marketing campaigns from Bristol based businesses that really turned Noisy Little Monkey’s head in 2019.

City to Sea - Plastic Pollution Education

Though a Bristol-based charity, City to Sea are making waves across the UK by encouraging everyone to clean up their act when it comes to polluting our rivers, seas, oceans and coastlines with plastic.

You may have heard of their national Refill campaign which encourages people to ditch single-use plastic water bottles in favour of the reusable kind. They’ve installed refill stations across the country and sought the support of businesses both independent and corporate, around Bristol and nationwide. The cause even has the backing of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

@Refill’s Twitter page - they have a strong following and their aims are clearly and succinctly defined in their messaging

This year, they introduced new campaigns to broaden their scope including Plastic-Free Travel and Be A Good A**hole - a scheme to educate on the dangers of flushing non-flushable wipes, featuring Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis playing an animated talking anus (yes, you read that correctly).

Why do we love it?

To support their campaigns old and new, they have a strong social presence, adapting their content and tone of voice appropriately across LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. They’re able to target a number of personas by adapting their messaging and content appropriately for each platform, making plastic pollution education accessible for many. Rather than being super serious with their new campaign, they’re stopping the scroll with comedy and making the information memorable - thumbs up from us!

Pukka Herbs - Presenting Their Purpose

Remember when market leaders for organic tea Pukka Herbs spoke at Digital Gaggle? Fox, their Marketing Director, explained the importance of brands with purpose and their ‘Feel Your Power’ campaign embodies this message. Take a look at the video they produced to launch this campaign and think about what makes it successful:

Pukka Herbs are committed to sustainability which is why they filmed most of this video content in the South West (can you believe it?). You can find out more about the foundations of the campaign and how it reflects their brand purpose in this video:

Conveying their commitment to sustainability doesn’t start and end with their video content either: they also use their static imagery and social copy to present their purpose to the world. As consumers are wising up to shopping ethically and sustainability, tapping into social issues can only be a smart move.

@PukkaHerbs’ Instagram feed is bright, colourful, youthful and concerned with social justice

Why do we love it?

Pukka Herbs have tackled the tricky issue of advertising something sold by the taste and smell - senses you can’t appeal to in video advertising. Instead, they capture the essence of tea: the audio and visual effects do the hard work instead, hammering home the at-one-with-nature feeling that drinking their teas gives you.

They also understand the issues that their audience cares about: if they want to feel close to nature through drinking tea, it's likely they’ll care about wellness - physical, mental and for our planet. Therefore, their brand purpose has manifested in different ways across their social media while remaining consistent. It’s never unclear where Pukka Herbs stand.

Caring in Bristol - Sparking Conversations Through Innovation

Local homeless charity Caring in Bristol implement a new campaign every winter as, while we’re often preoccupied with the season’s festivities, this is when our city’s homeless are at their most vulnerable. Their campaign uses #BristolCares to start conversations - be it engaging with the hashtag on social or discussing the issue in our day-to-day lives - so the community can better understand homelessness.

Beyond just their usual work and amped-up awareness around the festive season, however, this year saw the charity launch their innovative #TapForBristol scheme, which has been praised as pioneering by local and national media. The scheme has implemented contactless pay points around the city where you can quickly and easily donate a small fee to charity with simply just tapping your card on one of their readers.

Teaming up with Bristol City Centre BID and Quartet Community Foundation, they launched their campaign with an animated video explaining how you can donate when you’re about town:

And it's been met with nothing but applause on social media:

Why do we love it?

Not only does the campaign tap into your average Bristolians love of their city, but their posters and GIFs use localisation to add impact. By going through the names of Bristol neighbourhoods - Southville, Clifton, Montpelier, etc. - rather than just the wider city of Bristol, their campaign becomes more personal to people living in those areas. Often, a barrier to giving is having change on hand. By evolving with the times and adapting to new technology, they remove some of the barriers and make helping others easier. When you #TapForBristol, you feel like you’re helping someone that could be right outside your door.

The Wave - How To Build Hype

Launching the UK’s first inland surfing lake will mean needing to branch out to a very niche market of thrill-seekers yet it’s still peaked plenty of people’s interest. With such a unique experience, how did The Wave use digital media to convey their concept and spark intrigue?

The Wave in action photographed by Global Shots

Their social channels are very visual with highly saturated colours in various appealing shades of blue. Their Instagram feed, for example, is aesthetically pleasurable to view, drawing those who reach their social media to connotations of activeness, well-being and a deep connection to nature:

@wavebristol’s Instagram feed makes you inquisitive to know what they’re advertising: is it a natural surf or a man-made attraction?

And it’s worked - since launching their social channels just over a year ago, the current count stands at about 28k Facebook likes, 9k Instagram followers, 7k Twitter followers and just over 1k on LinkedIn, thanks to building hype through sleek announcement videos:

And updates on the build:

After discovering this content, it’s unlikely any outdoor adventurer wouldn’t dream of riding the waves at this surfer’s paradise.

Why do we love it?

The sleek videos and real-time coverage on the status of the project increases anticipation and provides talking points. Influencer marketing was also used as a range of athletes from across the sporting world as well as DJs and Love Island contestants were invited to try out the attraction in exchange for social media coverage, increasing The Wave’s reach and sparking curiosity.

The Wave’s Instagram geotag - by clicking on the profiles of the top posts we can see they’ve carefully selected influencers who’ll appeal to their target audience

Natracare - Using Brand Voice Effectively

There’s so much good that can be done with social media and sanitary hygiene brand Natracare’s digital presence shows that you can make a social stance while still pushing your product.

Their most recent campaign centered around fatbergs: an unflushable mass of plastic-based products like baby wipes, period products and more that congeals together and blocks sewers. In fact, a couple of their own Instagram posts could probably explain the problem better:

Paired with a series of blogs (great for their organic traffic and sharing across their channels), their social media campaign raised awareness of fatbergs, how they’re caused and that they’ve found a solution - the world’s first truly flushable wipe, approved by Water UK.

For those curious about how it works, there’s video content that helps hammer the message home:

Why do we love it?

Much like Pukka and City to Sea, Natracare understands that educating their audience on important issues comes from speaking to them on a level - not talking down, patronising or making you feel embarrassed for the gap in your knowledge. If you’ve got a brand message, it's important to support it with well-written social copy and exciting, interesting and surprising imagery. Plus, their brand voice is totally appropriate for memes, helping drive engagement and allow those following sustainability hashtags to discover them. And now, because of a great social media campaign, you have too!

Nice work, Bristol!

So that’s it: Noisy Little Monkey’s favourite Bristol social media campaigns of 2019. A large theme we’ve noticed this year is brand authenticity and using their voice for good - seen in such digitally creative ways all across our city and in all sectors. We’ve also seen an increase in the use of video because, if it does the job of attracting attention, it also makes your audience stop and stare for a while, allowing them more time to think about your brand message and the product or service you’re trying to sell to them.

Is there something you think has been missed? Let us know who’s inspired you to up your social game.