When digital marketing campaigns actually work

    In January 2009 the agency hired the digital-marketing firm Cummins Nitro, now part of Sapient, to start a global online recruitment race for "the best job in the world," an advertising campaign that would be run more like a reality show. The new position as Island Caretaker would come with a generous six-month salary of AU$150,000 (about $144,000 U.S.), plus luxury accommodations. As part of the job, the caretaker would experience everything the islands had to offer as a holiday destination. The winner would then report his or her experiences to the world through the associated blog, online video, and other social media channels.

    News of the opportunity spread quickly online and was picked up by traditional offline media channels. The response was so overwhelming that the agency's server crashed for a short time. All told, the agency received more than 34,000 online video applications from 195 countries. Fifty applicants were shortlisted, and those were whittled down to 16 candidates who were flown to Queensland for the final selection process.

    A 34-year-old Englishman named Ben Southall emerged victorious, with the news garnering a spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show. All told, nearly 8.5 million visitors flocked to the website, well surpassing the pre-campaign target of 400,000, and visitors spent an average of 8.22 minutes each on the site. More than 530 hours of user-generated video was created, and discussion was rampant across blogs, social networks, and traditional media channels worldwide. Despite the down economy, tourist bookings to Hamilton Island, the campaign's main destination, shot up 25% for the year.

    Pizza Hut and Tourism Queensland launched two utterly different campaigns, for two completely different products, on different technology platforms. But they both used digital channels to devise innovative ways of engaging with their brands. Both campaigns had a built-in attention-grabbing factor that broke through the online clutter.

    Both campaigns also succeeded by integrating multiple channels, blurring the lines between digital and traditional media -- leveraging online buzz to drive mass media exposure that in turn compels people into action.