Let’s say you are scrolling through your social media feed and see an ad that catches your eye.
It’s a short video of a man running on a treadmill, sweating profusely, while a voice-over says, “Don’t let your sweat ruin your day. Try SweatStop, the ultimate antiperspirant spray.”
The video ends with a catchy slogan: “SweatStop. Stop sweating. Start living.”
You are intrigued by the product, and you click on the link to learn more.
Unknowingly, you’ve been exposed to Fastvertising.
What exactly is advertising?
In this article, you will understand what advertising is, why it’s so effective, some examples of successful advertising campaigns, and how to use it to achieve your marketing goals.
What is Fastvertising?
Fastvertising is a relatively new form of advertising created and distributed rapidly in response to current events, cultural moments, or emerging trends.
One well-known example is Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us” ad campaign launched during the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The campaign highlighted the resilience and determination of athletes, and its message of unity and perseverance resonated with people worldwide.
The fashion brand was able to quickly respond to the changing landscape and create a relevant and timely campaign.
The ad received over 20 million views on Twitter in less than a week, making it one of the most-watched sports ads of the year.
However, this type of marketing relies on the speed and agility of digital marketing as well as the creativity and ingenuity of advertisers.
This means that brands must be able to monitor social media and other digital channels for trends and then quickly develop and produce content that capitalizes on those trends.
This advertising technique can be a very effective way to reach a large audience and generate buzz for a brand.
However, it is important to be aware of the risks involved. If an advertising campaign is not well-executed, it can backfire and damage the brand’s reputation.
The History of the art of Fastvertising
“fastvertising” was coined in the early 2010s to describe creating and distributing advertising campaigns quickly and in real-time.
This is made possible by the rise of digital media, which allows brands to reach their target audiences instantly and globally.
One of the earliest examples of advertising was Red Bull’s “Stratos Jump” in 2012. The company live-streamed the event on YouTube, which attracted over 8 million concurrent viewers.
This was a major coup for Red Bull, allowing them to capture global attention and solidify their brand image.
Top personalities who made instant advertising popular
- Ryan Reynolds
- Kim Kardashian
- Pete Davidson
- Keanu Reeves
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds is one of the most prominent figures in instant advertising.
He has popularized this approach by leveraging his celebrity status and social media presence to create timely and relevant ads for his brands.
Reynolds’ agency, Maximum Effort, is known for producing high-quality ads in hours, often responding to trending topics or current events.
His advertising efforts are exemplified by his response to the Peloton ad controversy in 2019.
Reynolds, who owns the gin brand Aviation, swiftly created a sequel ad that mocked the Peloton ad. The ad was a huge success, garnering millions of views on Twitter and ultimately boosting Aviation’s sales.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is one of the top personalities who has mastered using social media to promote products and services in real time.
Her posts are often highly visible and generate a lot of engagement, which makes them ideal for instant advertising. She currently has over 360 million followers on Instagram.
This influencer employs a variety of effective instant ad techniques. She often posts photos or videos of herself using or wearing the product she promotes while using relevant hashtags and tagging the brands she works with.
For example, in 2022, she posted a photo of herself wearing a Skims bodysuit on Instagram.
The photo was taken at the Met Gala, one of the most high-profile events in the fashion world. Kardashian’s post generated over 3 million likes and tens of thousands of comments.
Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson is a popular personality known for his quick wit, irreverent humor, and willingness to make fun of himself and others.
He has used fame to promote various products and services, from popular luxury brands like Adidas to everyday items.
Davidson’s success in instant advertising can be attributable, in part, to his understanding of the medium.
He is aware of how to create content that is brief, catchy, and visually appealing. He is also aware of how to use humor to connect with audiences.
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves is also popular for using his social media presence to create and distribute interesting ads for various products and services.
These ads are often humorous, relatable, and timely, which makes them highly effective at capturing attention and generating excitement.
Reeves has used both advertising and fast advertising to promote various products and services, including his line of NFTs.
He has also starred in a number of commercials for brands such as Squarespace and Activision Blizzard.
The key elements of Fast Advertising
- Rapid creative
- Brand safety
- Contextual
- Fast ads in the wild
Rapid Creative
Rapid Creative is a process for creating and delivering creative advertising that is fast, agile, and data-driven.
It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate many creative production tasks, such as brainstorming, copywriting, and design.
This frees up human creatives to focus on the process’s more strategic and high-level aspects, resulting in more effective and engaging ads.
Brand Safety
This is a critical consideration in fast advertising, as the speed and scale of programmatic advertising can make it difficult to control where ads are placed.
Brand safety ensures that advertising does not appear alongside inappropriate or harmful content.
One common way businesses ensure brand safety is to use keyword blacklists to prevent ads from being displayed on pages that contain certain keywords.
For instance, an advertiser might blacklist the words “hate speech” and “violence” to prevent their ads from being shown on pages that contain those terms.
Contextual
Contextual advertising is a type of advertising that targets ads to users based on the content they are viewing.
This makes it more likely that users will be interested in the ads, which can lead to higher click-through rates and conversions.
Additionally, contextual advertising does not require personal data, making it a more privacy-friendly option for both advertisers and users.
Fast Ads In The Wild
This is a strategy that involves creating and distributing ads that are relevant to real-time cultural and social trends.
Fast Ads In The Wild can be done by monitoring social media, news outlets, search engine optimization (SEO), and other sources for emerging trends and then quickly developing ads that capitalize on those trends.
Brands that have optimized Fastvertising
Below are a few examples of how brands have used advertising to connect with their target audiences in real-time:
- Nike
- Wendy’s
- Pepsi
Nike
Nike is a good example of a company that has effectively utilized advertising, employing various methods to reach its target audience with relevant and engaging advertisements.
One practical example of Nike’s use of advertising is its “Dream Crazy” campaign. This campaign was launched in 2018 and featured a series of ads featuring athletes and artists pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo.
It also featured athletes like Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James, known for their activism. The campaign successfully generated buzz and awareness for Nike and helped the company connect with its target audience on a deeper level.
Wendy’s
Wendy’s, a popular American international fast-food restaurant chain, has also successfully optimized advertising by using humor, engagement, and targeted ads. This brand is known for its witty and sometimes even snarky X (formerly Twitter) roasts of its competitors.
One notable instance of Wendy’s exhibiting a humorous yet critical tone towards one of its competitors occurred on November 24, 2017, when McDonald’s posted a tweet regarding Black Friday that lacked proper formatting (Black Friday *** Need Copy and Link ***).
In response, Wendy’s quipped, “When the tweets are as broken as the ice cream machine,” a reference to the frequent customer complaints about McDonald’s ice cream machines being out of order.
This issue arises because McDonald’s staff must disassemble and sanitize seven parts of the machine, often during business hours, leading to frustration among customers who are told the machine is “broken.”
Pepsi
Companies have utilized fastvertising since the 20th century, and Pepsi is a master of this technique. It uses various methods to target the right audience, create engaging content, use social media effectively, and partner with influencers.
The “Pepsi Challenge” in the 1970s is a classic example of how the brand used advertising to its advantage. The challenge, which pitted Pepsi against Coca-Cola in a blind taste test, was a huge success and helped boost Pepsi’s sales.
While there is no surefire formula for making a campaign go viral, there are a few crucial tactics that top businesses and marketers use that you can also use to improve your chances of success.
- Know your target audience
- Create high-quality content
- Make it emotionally engaging
- Use strong visuals
- Make it easy to share
- Promote your campaign
- Controversy
Know your target audience.
The first step in any marketing campaign is to understand your target audience.
- Who are you trying to reach with your message?
- What are their interests?
- What kind of content do they consume?
- What social media platforms do they use?
Once you understand your target audience well, you can tailor your campaign accordingly.
For example, if you are selling a product targeted at millennials, you would want to ensure that your campaign uses the right channels and messaging.
You would also want to ensure that your content is relevant to their interests and that it is being shared on their platforms.
Create high-quality content
Your content should be interesting, informative, and engaging. It should also be relevant to your target audience. If you can create content that people find valuable, they are more likely to share it with their friends and followers.
Make it emotionally engaging.
Content that evokes strong emotions is more likely to be shared because it will capture people’s attention and make them feel something.
This could include content that is funny, heartwarming, or even thought-provoking. When people feel something firmly, they are more likely to want to share it with others.
This is why content designed to evoke strong emotions is often used in marketing and advertising. It is also why social media platforms are full of content designed to make people laugh, cry, or think.
Use strong visuals
Visual content is more likely to be shared than text-based content because it is more engaging and easier to consume.
Images, videos, and infographics can capture people’s attention and help them understand your message more quickly and easily. They can also create a more visually appealing and memorable experience for your audience.
Include social sharing buttons on your website and landing pages. Make sure your content is mobile-friendly, as many people will share it on their smartphones.
You can also use social media scheduling tools to make it easy to share your content on multiple platforms at once.
Promote your campaign
After you have produced your content, you must spread the word.
Promote your campaign on email, your website, and social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. You may also contact influencers and request they share your content with their followers.
Controversy
After doing all these things, you have to create controversial posts.
You can create controversial posts by mentioning unpopular opinions about religion, patriarchy, feminism, climate change, nerd guys, Web3 investors and users, traditional media, etc.
The key is to look for a set of people who are part of your audience and need what you are selling but have not gotten their attention.
How can advertising supercharge content marketing?
- Reach a wider audience
- Generate leads
- Build brand awareness
- Drive sales
Reach a wider audience.
Advertising can help you reach a larger audience than organic content marketing alone.
This is because advertising can target specific demographics, interests, and even behaviors.
For instance, you could run an ad on Facebook that is only shown to people who have expressed an interest in your products or services.
Generate leads
Generating leads by driving traffic to your website or landing pages is one of the fundamental principles of any successful brand, and advertising can help you achieve this goal.
When people click on your ad, they permit you to contact them. You can then use this contact information to nurture them through the sales funnel and convert them into customers.
Build brand awareness
Advertising also raises brand awareness by getting your name and message in front of a larger audience.
People who see your ads repeatedly become more familiar with your brand and what you offer. This can lead to increased consideration and purchase intent.
Drive sales
This is the ultimate objective of every business.
Advertising can directly increase sales by promoting your products or services to a target audience.
For instance, you could run an ad that offers a discount on your products or services. This can be a very effective way to increase sales, especially during specific times of the year, such as the holiday season.
Are real-time marketing campaigns the way forward for brands to make an impact?
Yes, real-time marketing (RTM) can be effective if done correctly.
It allows you to connect with your audience more directly by creating marketing messages relevant to what people are talking about. This makes them more likely to pay attention.
RTM can also help you build relationships with your customers by showing that you pay attention to what they say.
Moreover, this strategy is also helpful in generating buzz and excitement around your brand by creating something timely and shareable. This can go viral and help you reach a large audience.
There are numerous examples of successful real-time marketing (RTM) campaigns. Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark” tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout is a great example and was a huge success, with thousands of shares and likes.
Marketing technology trends to keep an eye on
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
- Data Analytics
- Wearables
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing field that is having a significant impact on marketing.
AI-powered marketing solutions can automate tasks, personalize experiences, and predict customer behavior. This allows marketers to reach the right people with the right message at the right time, which can lead to improved results.
This is because AI algorithms are trained on large datasets of historical data, such as customer purchase histories, website browsing behavior, and social media activity.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
AR and VR are still in their early stages of development, but they can potentially revolutionize how brands market their products and services.
AR overlays digital information onto the real world, while VR creates a completely immersive virtual environment.
These technologies can create various marketing experiences, such as product visualization, training and education, gamification, and customer support.
Data Analytics
Data analytics collects, cleans, analyzes, and interprets data to gain insights into customer behavior, trends, and opportunities.
In marketing, data analytics can be used to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, target the right audience, and measure the return on investment (ROI) of marketing activities.
Meanwhile, the rise of big data, the increasing use of machine learning, the growth of real-time analytics, the focus on privacy and security, and the increasing use of open-source data are five big trends in data analytics that marketers should keep an eye on.
Those aware of these trends will be better equipped to use data analytics to their advantage.
Wearables
Wearable technology is also a fast-growing market that marketers use in various ways.
One of the most promising trends in wearable marketing technology is the use of biometric data.
Biometric data, such as heart rate, body temperature, and location, can create personalized marketing campaigns that are more relevant to the user.
For example, a fitness tracker could send notifications to users when they are not meeting their fitness goals or a smartwatch could be used to deliver coupons to users near a certain store. This is known as “geofencing.”
How can brands better prepare for customer retention and loyalty?
There are many ways or tips on how brands can improve customer retention and loyalty, but the following are some of the most common ones popular businesses use.
- Understand your customers, what they want and need, their pain points, and what motivates them to buy.
- Provide excellent customer service
- Personalize the customer experience
- Create a sense of community
- Surprise and delight your customers by sending out unexpected gifts and offering discounts or promotions.
Unleashing Web3’s Potential in Advertising
Web3 is the third iteration of the internet, built on blockchain technology. It is more decentralized, secure, and transparent than the current internet.
Interestingly, Web 3.0 can potentially revolutionize advertising, with advertising being one of the most promising applications.
This is because fast advertising can use blockchain technology, thanks to its speed and immediacy, to create timely and engaging marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences.
Blockchain provides a secure and transparent database that can be used to track and record ad impressions, click-through rates, and conversions.
This information can be used to optimize ad campaigns in real-time, ensuring they reach the right people and achieve the desired results.
Meanwhile, this innovative marketing approach can utilize smart contracts to automate the development, distribution, and evaluation of advertising campaigns.
This eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as ad agencies and networks, which can slow down the process and increase costs. Learn two simple strategies to make money in Web3.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is so special about Ryan Reynolds?
Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian actor, film producer, and entrepreneur. He is known for his roles in films such as Deadpool, The Proposal, and Free Guy.
Reynolds is also known for his witty and self-deprecating humor, which he often uses in his results-driven marketing campaigns.
What is an example of advertising?
One example of Fastvertising is when Ryan Reynolds’ company, Mint Mobile, responded to a tweet from Verizon by offering a free year of service to anyone who switched to Mint Mobile.
This timely and relevant response generated a lot of attention and buzz for Mint Mobile.
What brands does Ryan Reynolds own?
Ryan Reynolds owns several brands, including:
- Mint Mobile (a mobile phone service provider)
- Aviation Gin (a gin brand)
- Maximum Effort (a marketing agency)
- Wrexham AFC (a Welsh football club)
What provider does Ryan Reynolds own?
Ryan Reynolds owns Mint Mobile, a mobile phone service provider. Mint Mobile is a prepaid wireless service that offers plans starting at $15 per month.
What is the fastest-growing type of advertising?
The fastest-growing type of advertising is mobile advertising. Mobile advertising delivers ads to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
Why is mobile advertising becoming more popular?
Mobile advertising is becoming more popular for several reasons, including:
- The increasing number of people who own mobile devices
- The amount of time people spend using their mobile devices
- The ability to target ads to specific demographics and interests
- The ability to measure the effectiveness of mobile ads
What is the most successful type of advertising?
There is no one “most successful” type of advertising. However, some of the most successful types of advertising include advertising, word-of-mouth advertising, content marketing, native advertising, social media advertising, and influencer marketing.
Which is the quickest and oldest form of advertising?
The quickest and oldest form of advertising is word-of-mouth advertising. Word-of-mouth advertising is when people talk about a product or service with friends and family.
It is the quickest form of advertising because it happens instantly, and it is the oldest form of advertising because it has been around since the beginning of time.
Which form of direct marketing is the fastest growing?
The fastest-growing form of direct marketing is email marketing. Email marketing is sending promotional emails to a list of subscribers.