Growth hacking is a tactic usually linked to start-ups, but it’s older than you think! Marketing folks have been coming up with clever ways to increase sales since businesses first hung signs on their doors. With a tad of creativity and strategic thinking, you can take your brand to new heights too. In this post, we’ve picked 5 growth-hacking examples that broke the mold and were successful. Ready to get your inspo going? Let’s dive right in! 🚀✨
Hack Your Way Through This Blog! 🔎
- First Things First, What Is Growth Hacking? 🤔
- Growth Hacking Strategies That Broke the Mold and Succeed! ⭐️
- 1. Cigarette Cards
- 2. The “Funny Jungleland Moving-Pictures” Book by Kellogg’s
- 3. “Roll up the Rim to Win” by Tim Hortons
- 4. McDonald’s Monopoly
- 5. “Share a Coke” Campaign by Coca-Cola
- Growth Hacking — Key Takeaways 💡
First Things First, What Is Growth Hacking? 🤔
💡 Key Insight: Growth hacking is a strategy that uses cost-effective resources and marketing tactics to help increase a business’s user base, conversion rates, and exposure.
It can be summed up by the phrase “thinking outside the box” as it focuses on customer acquisition and retention without breaking the bank. That’s why growth hacking is an excellent alternative for small businesses and savvy entrepreneurs! Still a bit unsure if it’s the right option for you? No worries, let’s take a quick look at some of its advantages. 😊
🌟 Growth Hacking Benefits
As an entrepreneur, more often than not, you’ll have to prioritize on a tight budget. Enter growth hacking! This is a great option as it focuses on data-driven decisions and creative strategies to enhance customer acquisition. The best part? Is all about being resourceful with low-cost solutions.
While this time we’ll focus on growth hacking strategies from the off-line world, know that there are many digital solutions you can implement to enhance customer satisfaction and acquisition. For example, website optimizations, automated emails, and social media sharing features.
Growth hacking allows you to embrace curiosity and boost your creativity, ultimately coming up with solutions that are far from a cookie-cutter approach. As standards and customer expectations grow, you set your business apart from the competition by offering a unique value proposition.
🤯 Running out of your creative streak? Let all your ideas spark with How to Be Creative — Tips for Staying Ahead in the Industry!
Growth Hacking Strategies That Broke the Mold and Succeed! ⭐️
Curiosity picked? You’ve come to the right place! For this growth hacking selection, we picked five examples based on three parameters:
As we mentioned above, growth hacking focuses on budget-friendly solutions aimed at increasing customer base and revenue. So, for this list, we made sure to share examples with key takeaways you can easily implement in your own business. Plus, we’ll also share our top tools and resources for scaling your brand with Placeit by Envato, so stay tuned!
Creativity and innovation are a must for every business and there’s a lot to uncover in this blog! In this selection, we’ve included growth hacking examples going back to the 1900’s. So, buckle up, cause you’re in for a journey through time! With more than a century of marketing tactics to draw from, you’ll certainly find inspiration for your brand.
The brands we’ll cover are leading powerhouses in their respective industries. And while you may be familiar with them, their growth hacking strategies might just surprise you. We hope these examples inspire you as much as they’ve inspired us, sparking new ideas for your own business!
Without further ado, let’s dive into these top five growth hacking examples:
1. Cigarette Cards
➡️ Cigarette cards are one of the earliest examples of growth hacking. Let’s dig into the archives for this one! 🤓
Back in the 1880s, tobacco companies would stick blank cards known as “stiffeners” in the back of their product packages to protect the cigars from being crushed. Later on, detailed illustrations and text were added. Can you guess why? They served for advertising purposes and to encourage customers to buy more cigarette packages.
While the original objective was merely functional, soon cigarette companies began placing beautifully drawn cards with common themes. As seen in the image below, some popular topics were racehorses, transport, military heroes, landscape views, and sportsmen. Noted, these illustrations were meant to resonate with their target audience.
➡️ Growth Hacking Breakdown
💸 Cost-Effectiveness
It’s worth noting that the cost to produce these collectible cards didn’t increase much since the panel was something they already had in place. It wasn’t until 1940 when the British government banned cigarette cards stating they were a waste of raw materials during wartime.
💫 Creativity
As their popularity arose, cigarette cards were designed to be collected as sets. This encouraged brand loyalty among eager customers excited to collect these beautiful and intricate illustrations.
🌟 Popularity
Today, cigarette cards are very much valued by collectors worldwide as they retrace the historical steps of earlier times. From Etsy options to private auctions, there’s no doubt that what started as a growth hacking strategy has now a high historical and sentimental value for customers.
2. The “Funny Jungleland Moving-Pictures” Book by Kellogg’s
Kellogg’s created on brilliant example of growth hacking with its patented promotional book “Funny Jungleland Moving-Pictures. This colored edition was initially issued in 1907 as an in-store promotion (which we’ll dive more into in the breakdown!) and it has a creative design of tri-fold pages containing adorable animal illustrations in silly depictions.
The back of this book features a cheerful ad of children dancing around box cereal and a little boy in a small carriage being pulled by a rooster. Bellow these funny cartoons, the reader could find a four-line nursery rhyme talking about Kellogg’s. This sweet and creative growth hacking strategy perfectly captures this company’s enthusiastic and energetic branding catered toward families.
➡️ Growth Hacking Breakdown
💸 Cost-Effectiveness
Starting as an in-store promotion, customers were gifted this children’s book in exchange for two boxes of cereal. Later on, in 1909, this changed to a premium mail-in offer. You would mail in your 2 cereal box tops and 10 cents for the book, so they made quite a profit from this growth hacking strategy.
💫 Creativity
As we’ve mentioned, the book features detailed circus animal illustrations in silly situations, making it an all-time favorite for children through its interactive content. What’s interesting is how they kept their branding front and center by incorporating Kellogg’s name and products into the storyline, ensuring that families associated the fun experience with their breakfast cereal.
🌟 Popularity
Kellogg’s “Funny Jungleland Moving-Pictures” was quite a hit! It remained a premium offer until 1937, which means it stayed on the market for 30 years! Later editions featured different advertisements, but the adorable animal illustrations remained. Fun fact, you can still find versions of this book sold on eBay and Amazon. Needless to say, it’s a product that has sentimental value for tons of customers who are children at heart.
3. “Roll up the Rim to Win” by Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons manages to get lines upon lines of people for their “Roll Up The Rim To Win” campaign each year. Let us explain. This one-of-a-kind contest began as a way to show appreciation to customers. As its name implies, clients used to “roll up” the rim of their cups to reveal a fantastic surprise like gift cards or free coffee for a year.
As of 2020, the coffeehouse and restaurant chain announced significant changes to its popular contest. Adapting to current health environment initiatives, it switched its modality to the digital world. Users could now participate whether through the Tim Horton’s app or its official website, proving that growth hacking is also about staying at the forefront of innovation and effortlessly adapting to the current times.
➡️ Growth Hacking Breakdown
💸 Cost-Effectiveness
The “Roll Up The Rim To Win” contest first began in 1964 with snacks as prizes. The rewards have since gotten bigger, just take a look! To celebrate its 60th anniversary, in 2024, Tim Hortons gifted vacations, gift cards, electronics, free drinks, baked goods, and more.
💫 Creativity
While other companies were doing this type of contest at the time, the highlight of this strategy was the idea of rewarding loyal customers. Moreover, its hit also relies on the effectiveness of contest marketing. It comes down to two factors: the simplicity of the competition (as easy as removing a brim and nowadays just a few clicks to participate!) and the value of the prizes. This drives sales while encouraging customers to engage with the brand!
🌟 Popularity
This campaign has been running for 60 years, so it’s fair to say that it’s become a highly-anticipated tradition among customers. This contest now holds over 1 million prizes to be won, talk about numbers!
🌐 Want to make your mark in the digital world too? Here are 6 Social Media Platforms Your Brand Should Use This Year!
4. McDonald’s Monopoly
This strategy began in 1987, and since then, McDonald’s has run sweepstakes to win various prizes by buying specific menu items. Here’s how it worked: customers received two tokens after certain purchases. When grouped into color-matched properties, they could be redeemed for cash. As you can see, this business made its own unique twist to the classical board game!
In 2015, this Monopoly-based promotion was replaced in the US by “Game Time Gold” with an NFL-inspired theme which they featured in a commercial. This time, all customers had to two was peel off a sticker from specific products and text the featured code for a chance to win free food. A top favorite for foodies and football fans alike!
➡️ Growth Hacking Breakdown
💸 Cost-Effectiveness
This could probably be the least cost-effective growth hacking technique, being that the grand prize is 1 million dollars. Nevertheless, the odds of winning it are very slim.
💫 Creativity
At the time, this was incredibly innovative and went around the conventional schemes. It wasn’t just a sweepstake but rather a highly engaging game as you had to collect pieces to win. Again, as a contest marketing strategy, it’s very attractive to customers as the prizes are valuable for them and it’s fairly easy to participate in this Monopoly-themed promotion.
🌟 Popularity
While this contest is no longer running, it’s fair to say that it was highly successful during its time. Just take a peek at the numbers! In the UK alone, over 8,006,175 prizes were claimed in one year. Plus, another key takeaway from this growth hacking strategy is the fact that McDonald’s found a way to revolutionize the contest by adapting it to the digital era.
5. “Share a Coke” Campaign by Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola introduced this brilliant campaign that involved the consumers having their names printed on the cans and bottles. Let’s break it down to understand its global success! Launched in Australia in 2011, the iconic logo was replaced from one side of the drink with a short phrase stating “Share a Coke with” followed by the most popular names in the country.
Just that summer, this popular brand sold more than 250 million named goods. What started as a campaign in Australia soon was a hit and made its way around the world! Since then, it has been constantly updated to maintain its relevance. For instance, in 2015, nicknames such as “bro” or “sidekick” were added to broaden its reach while appealing to eager customers excited to share a Coke. 😉
➡️ Growth Hacking Breakdown
💸 Cost-Effectiveness
Like the trading card example we mentioned at the beginning of this growth hacking strategy, the company didn’t have to change a thing about the actual product. Though it may seem like a simple change, it boosted Coca-Cola’s brand awareness by thriving on the power of personalization. More on this in the next sections!
💫 Creativity
This growth hacking campaign was brilliant since it played on the consumer’s desire for personal connection. Its strategy changed the act of buying a soda from a transaction to a personal interaction, making customers engage with the brand on a deeper level. Thus, increasing loyalty and awareness.
🌟 Popularity
The novelty of having your name on the can was so massive that when people couldn’t find their names, they attended events to have it customized. Cans were Instagrammed and posted on Facebook, continually driving brand awareness. All in all, a huge marketing triumph!
Wow, what a journey! As you can see, this century has been full of brilliant growth hacking examples. While we’ve highlighted some well-known brands, there are a few key lessons we can take away from their success and apply them to our own strategies. Let’s go over them! 😌
Growth Hacking — Key Takeaways 💡
As we’ve seen throughout this selection, growth hacking has to do with being resourceful, not necessarily necessarily having a big budget or following traditional methods. It’s rather about thinking outside the box. Here are a few takeaways we can gather from this:
💬 Connect Where It Counts
While they started in the offline world, most of these campaigns then switched to the digital landscape as businesses embraced new opportunities to connect with audiences. With more than half of the world’s population now active on social media, it’s only natural to reach out through creative, shareable campaigns that spark engagement. By meeting your audience where they already spend their time, you can connect more effectively and make a lasting impression.
🤩 Dive Into Contest Craze
As seen with these growth hacking examples, contests generate buzz around brands while encouraging active participation from audiences. By offering enticing rewards, you can motivate customers to engage with your content, boost your brand’s visibility, and expand your reach without a massive budget. Plus, it doesn’t have to be super complex! As seen, it’s best to keep things simple, have a clear goal in mind, set rules, and define a specific timeframe for your contest.
🌟 Don’t Miss: How to Grow Your Business and Blog By Running a Contest
🌟 Simple Enhancements for Big Results
Take the cigarette cards or Coca-Cola as examples! One of the many lessons we can learn from that strategy is that growth hacking isn’t always about reinventing the wheel, but rather finding innovative ways to make your existing product even more appealing to your audience. For instance, if you’ve got a blog, you could a feature that facilitates content-sharing for your readers or revamp the design to improve UX. A few tweaks can make a big difference and create new opportunities for driving growth.
💡 Keep Reading: Best UX Practices in the Age of Personalization
Ready to take on your brand as a growth hacker in marketing? Remember, be innovative; sometimes simple things can drive crowds to you. While we’re wrapping up this blog, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Which growth hacking strategy surprised you the most? Drop a comment below and let us know. 😊✨
🌟 If you enjoyed this post, don’t miss out on 7 Crazy App Marketing Ideas That Worked!, Digital Marketing Tips for Non-Marketing Companies, and How to Create a Brand Identity From Scratch With Placeit.
