The best online campaigns don’t start online.
It’s a paradox in modern marketing. For all our obsession with reach, clicks, and conversions, the campaigns people actually talk about often begin elsewhere: in the real world. In something that feels discovered, touched, passed on. But make no mistake they’re rarely accidental.
This summer, the city of Basel threw a new light on phygital. To mark the UEFA Women’s Euros, they replaced dozens of pedestrian light figures with silhouettes of women footballers in motion: dribbling, striking, celebrating. It looked like a civic gesture. Subtle. Understated. But it wasn’t some spontaneous urban act of feminism. It was planned. It was branded. It was PR-perfect.
Phygital From blow-up to dark social
And it worked. Because it was what I’d call a blow-up campaign: a small, physical action designed to blow up online. Built not for mass scale, but for maximum photogenicity. You didn’t need to explain it. Just show it. And so people did. The images travelled across social platforms, news outlets, and DMs. Not (only) through media budget, but through meaning.
Same thing with Coca-Cola’s now iconic “Share a Coke” campaign. The brand adds something more valuable to the consumer to their cans and bottles: their own names. Suddenly, the product becomes a medium. You don’t buy a Coke. You buy a message. I didn’t post about it publicly. But I did send a photo of a friend’s name on a can via WhatsApp. A small moment. A private share. A phygital success.
Why offline triggers drive online conversations
Because that’s what phygital really means: not just merging online and offline, but choreographing a story that starts in one world and spreads in the other.
Not gimmicks. Not QR codes and filters for the sake of it. But designed moments of tangibility. Objects, gestures, environments that are inherently shareable. Not because they beg to be shared, but because they’re worth it.
In a world of infinite content, real still wins. And the smartest brands know: to make a dent online, you often have to leave one on the sidewalk first.
