2022 Wrapped: The Best Digital PR Campaigns of the Year

  ●   December 9, 2022 | PR
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December 9, 2022 | PR

As the end of the year quickly nears, it’s that time (again!) to reflect on our favourite Semetrical digital PR campaigns of 2022.

From revealing the top stoner movies in all 50 states to ranking the best UK cities for women in tech, this year produced a whole host of exciting, creative and highly clickable content and campaigns.  

So, as 2022 wraps up, here are some of our favourite campaigns… 

#1 – Top Stoner Movies 

For our seltzer brand client, we were tasked with creating an original content campaign that would garner links across US press. With this in mind, we set out to create content that would have a strong link with the industry, while still being relevant to a range of media – whether it be regional, or national – as well as the average consumer.

With ‘stoner movies’ being a subgenre of comedy film where marijuana is often central to the plot, this campaign researched and revealed the 50 states’ favourite stoner movies. 

From the Big Lebowski and Dazed and Confused to We’re the Millers and even Scary Movie, using Google Trends data, we were able to examine the most popular and well-loved stoner movies to see the most searched-for in each state. The results? Coverage and links in everything from industry press, such as Leafly and Cannabis News World, to business publications, like Investor Ideas. 

#2 – The Most Instagrammed

Tasked with creating a campaign for our remittance client to generate links to specific country pages on their website, we brainstormed how to create a link between each of these corridors and an exciting, engaging topic. This resulted in us creating ‘the most Instagrammed landmarks’ campaigns. 

As the winter months set in, many of us start to dream of warmer weather and turn to social media for some aspirational travel content. So, through scouring thousands of hashtags, we were able to collect data on the most Instagrammed landmarks and beaches in Brazil, Mexico, India and the Philippines, revealing a fantastic list of must-see places and a wealth of inspiration for individuals planning their next trip! 

Gaining links in top-tier publications from Esquire Philippines to Travel and Leisure India, this campaign picked up coverage in highly-relevant media, while spotlighting priority countries for our client. 

#3 – The Best Cities for Women in Tech 

Across the UK and the rest of the world, diversity in the workplace is something businesses and organisations have been working towards – and is something our client FDM wanted to focus on. For this project, our aim was to create a campaign that would be relevant to the organisation and highly topical to a range of journalists and publications. 

To do this, we built a digital PR campaign around women in tech, one of the fastest-growing movements in the country. For this data-led campaign, we started by selecting UK cities experiencing the largest growth in the tech sector. From there, each city was assigned a rank based on factors, including the average tech salary, the number of current tech job vacancies, the level of tech investment they received, and the average gender pay gap. 

All in all, this campaign was able to generate links from priority publications for our client, including a range of business, female-led, and regional press. 

#4 – Weird Things Banned Around the World

As post-pandemic travel has picked up again throughout the year, this is the time to start lending fresh advice – as unusual as it may be. In creating a digital PR campaign for our international property client, we needed to think of an idea that would be both relatable and newsworthy, and tied into moving abroad. 

With so much travel and property content already out there, this was the time to think a little bit outside the box. So, we created a story revealing the 10 weirdest items that are outlawed in countries around the world – from baby walkers and plastic shopping bags to chewing gum and even vapes.

This campaign was able to generate interest from a huge range of publications – picking up coverage in the likes of MSN, The Sun, and the Daily Mirror, in addition to regional and even international press. At the same time, tying our client into relevant content and gaining links to high-priority pages. 

#5 – America’s Scariest States

As the spookiest time of the year approached, it was time to create the ultimate Halloween campaign. Across the US, each state has its own infamous horror stories, from UFO sightings to ghost encounters and everything in between, so we set out to pinpoint the scariest states. 

To work this out, we analysed data to decipher all the known serial killers in the country and the state they were from. From there, we looked at the number of haunted places in each American state, the number of UFO and ghost sightings per state, and even the amount of horror films set in each location. From these data points, we were able to conclude that Vermont is officially the scariest state in America!

This generated buzz in popular publications like TimeOut, regional publications across the states, and Halloween and horror-related press, such as The Haunted File. 

Want to start creating your own out-of-the-box campaigns? Read all about how to develop a Digital PR campaign or check out our digital PR services for more information

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