Digital tech makes shopping more convenient for consumers, but it creates sticky marketing conundrums for companies trying to make their products stand out in a sea of infinite choices.

If you’re a B2B marketer, this probably doesn’t sound like earth-shattering news. One of your biggest, most longstanding challenges is to create the engagement required to make your buyers pull the trigger on a purchase.

Thankfully, advertising history is full of teachable moments. Here’s a look at how three of the world’s biggest brands kicked off weird, wacky and attention-grabbing ad campaigns to create memories with consumers.

Taco Bell frees the cheese

The world can be divided into two groups: people who love golden, gooey nacho cheese sauce and people who are boring. Whatever camp you’re in, you have to appreciate the genius behind Taco Bell’s latest experiential marketing gambit.

In the third weekend of January, the fast food giant erected a nacho-cheese dispensing billboard beside its flagship Toronto restaurant.

Let the scale of that sink in a little bit... Okay, got it? The billboard promoted the launch of Taco Bell’s new entrée, the Naked Chicken Chalupa, a diet-busting concoction that replaces a typical taco shell with a folded, deep-fried chicken breast.

The campaign was a great example of how the brand-in-hand experience gives a little more bang for your marketing buck.

KFC: Much ado about the new ‘do

Few people will admit to ever liking a bowl-style haircut. That said, the attention garnered by KFC’s latest Famous Bowl Cuts campaign shows there is still some underground love for the hairstyle preferred by everyone’s favorite limo driver.

The chicken chain tapped into that love in a recent campaign for its new bowl meals. The Colonel created five new takes on the classic nerd look, and even made a catalogue just in case you’re inspired to start the trend anew.

It goes to show that brands can take big risks in the name of hilarity — and cash in on camp — to score big marketing points.

Bag it and tag it

This one is an oldie but a goodie. In 2012, pet food brand Pedigree got the scoop on the competition with its bus stop ad campaign near Toronto’s most popular dog-walking park.

Eschewing the typical bus stop billboard, Pedigree offered local dog walkers complimentary poop bags to dispose of their little buddies’ number twos.

While the name — Pedigree Poop Bags Bus Shelter — lacks creativity, the campaign itself was a beauty.

Make memories without breaking the bank

So, what’s the core lesson from our studies on nacho cheese, chicken and poo bags? Creating memorable moments with your buyers is still the marketing holy grail.

Most B2B brands won’t have the budget or the profile to pull these off, but a little creativity can go a long way. There are endless ways to leverage video, print ads, online interactives and content marketing campaigns to make products stick in your customers’ minds — and we have plenty of examples to prove it.

Give us a call to find out what we mean.