Some of my favourite campaigns are reactive, simplistic and nothing less than creative. And using PPC creatively to capitalise on search is RARE so I bring to you some of my favourite examples including some of our own work.

Here are some ways that brands have used PPC tactics to capitalise on search creatively, driving brand awareness and traffic online:

1. PrettyLittleThing bids on Topshop terms with cheeky Google ad

Topshop sadly went into administration following the covid pandemic and dying death of the high street. Leading online fashion retailer, ASOS, then bought the brand - with plans to redirect the Topshop site into the ASOS domain.

However, despite the Topshop website being down - people STILL searched for it. It was clear that customers and online users weren't fully aware of the closure - with many still in hope to be able to buy something onsite. Whilst the website was down, we worked with Pretty Little Thing to capitalise on that search traffic and drive them to our clients site instead.

This caused a bit of a storm, debate on social and press picking up on the activity. Traffic was driven to Pretty Little Thing's site and capitalised ahead of Topshop being redirected.

2. Samsung bid on Apple with "did you mean... S6 instead of 6s?"

Samsung launched the S6 around the same time as the Iphone 6S launch and decided to hijack and troll the brand by bidding on every Iphone 6s search with oops ... did you mean S6?

The campaign not only had a 1316% click through rate but landed 30+ media placements on all the big nationals LOVING the cheekiness of this creative paid strategy.

3. Snickers bid on misspelt words with "you're not you when you're hungry"

Whats the words you misspell over and over again? I seem to just be able to get b-e-a-utiful right but users misspell in their online searches every single day.

Playing on the famous Snickers tagline, Snickers bidded on every misspelt keyword displaying "you're not you when your hungry" ppc message with link to a website for snickers.

The campaign drove 558,559 ad impressions, 5874 website clicks AND numerous press coverage in creative, digital and marketing press.

4. Ann Summers do newsjacking using PPC reactive ...

British airways went on strike one Christmas and the 2010 election was the most talked about event of the year. Newsjacking is a way of putting brands at the centre of a big trending conversation and Ann Summers absolutely nailed it and went down the cheeky ppc route instead.

Ann Summers bidded on all British Airways Strike searches back in the day catching the attention of MILLIONS.

They then took it further, driving noise and traffic during the 2010 election with some creative ad copy.

The strategy drove 1.5 million ad views, NUMEROUS media placements including BBC, Guardian and Independent. AND they only spent £4,500.

Bored of your search strategy? Just book in a chat, I'm confident you wont regret it.