DİMES' Murat 124 Campaign
How Did Nostalgia, Humor and Social Media Come Together in One Idea?
Brands do not only need high-budget commercials to attract attention on social media. Sometimes a single, well-chosen idea can both convey the spirit of the campaign and turn into a story that people will talk about voluntarily. The "Refreshing Content" competition organized by DİMES COOL Mix within the scope of the "More Than What You Get" campaign was one of the best examples of this. While Duygu Kaya was the winner of the competition held on Instagram and TikTok, the prize was not a classic phone, holiday or cash. DİMES gave the winner a 1976 model green Murat 124.
The symbolic turnkey delivery of the competition was held at Feriköy Antique Market on August 23. The official delivery of the vehicle was made the next day at DİMES head office. The winner of the competition, organized with the permission of the National Lottery Administration, was determined by the jury evaluation. However, what made the campaign really interesting was its harmony with the creative world established by the brand, rather than the financial value of the award.
Why is Murat 124 More Powerful than an Ordinary Award?
Prizes in brand competitions generally try to attract as wide an audience as possible. A new car, phone, travel or cash reward are the safest ways to do this. However, DİMES chose a different path here. The 1976 model Murat 124 is not a car that can only be considered as a means of transportation today; It is part of the cultural memory of a certain period in Turkey.
For this reason, the reward is not just a promotional product that stands outside the campaign. On the contrary, it turns into one of the main elements that complete the visual and cultural codes of the campaign.
The "More Than You Get" campaign, prepared by DİMES with Reklamania Creative, utilizes the television aesthetics and popular culture of the 90s. Even though Murat 124 is a car of the 1970s, it is a model that was frequently seen on the streets in Turkey throughout the 80s and 90s and has a place in a wide collective memory, from Yeşilçam to family albums. Therefore, the choice of vehicle does not leave the nostalgic atmosphere of the campaign only in the advertising visuals but carries it into the real world.
The creative approach here is important: Nostalgia is not only used as a design language, it turns into a physical object that the consumer can own.
Why Is Nostalgia Marketing Still So Effective?
Nostalgia has long been one of advertising's most powerful emotional tools. Because it doesn't just show the product to the consumer; it brings back a particular feeling, period, or cultural reference from his past. For this reason, old television credits, VHS effects, period typographies, analog cameras, cassettes, old automobiles and advertising language of the past years have been frequently reinterpreted by brands in recent years.
But there is an important difference when using nostalgia. It's easy to imitate the past only visually; It is more difficult to recreate that feeling of the past with today's communication styles.
The remarkable aspect of DİMES's campaign is exactly here. On the one hand, there is the 90s television aesthetic, on the other hand, the main channels of the competition are Instagram and TikTok. In other words, the brand uses the visual codes of the old world, but runs the campaign within today's most powerful social media behaviors.
This transforms nostalgia from a retrospective remembrance into a current communication tool.
Young users may see Murat 124 as retro, fun and an extraordinary object that can be shared on Instagram. The older user may associate the car with his childhood or youth. Thus, the same creative idea can connect with different generations for different reasons.
“Refreshment Content” Competition Makes the Brand Talk About the Product Without Directly Explaining
The naming of the campaign is also important here. DİMES COOL Mix builds the competition around the idea of "Refreshment Content" instead of directly saying "produce content that describes our product" in the classical sense.
This approach is more natural for social media communication.
Because the user is not asked to produce advertisements; It is expected to participate in the world created by the brand with its own interpretation.
This is the powerful side of user-generated content. The brand ceases to be just the broadcaster and enables the audience to be involved in the production process of the campaign. People participate in the contest, create content, see other people's content, and the campaign itself can circulate longer on social platforms.
The extraordinariness of the award is another factor that increases participation motivation.
The statement “You can win a car” is already strong.
But when you say "You can win a 1976 model green Murat 124", the campaign takes on a more distinct character.
Because the second expression can be visualized.
One can visualize the car in one's mind.
He can send it to his friend.
He can say, "Look at this, Murat, they give 124."
This makes the campaign itself shareable content.
In Good Campaigns, Rewards are Part of the Creative Idea
I think this is one of the strongest creative lessons to be learned from the campaign. In promotional campaigns, rewards are often treated as a mechanical element. The campaign idea is prepared, then a high-value reward is added to motivate the consumer.
Here, the reward itself is a continuation of the creative idea.
Imagine removing Murat 124 from the campaign and replacing it with a random new model car. There may even be a more financially valuable reward, but the cultural character of the campaign will be weakened.
Green Murat 124 is content on its own.
Photograph may be taken.
Video can be produced.
The delivery ceremony can be turned into an event.
It can be discussed on social media.
It is a brand memory that continues to circulate in the winner's life even after the campaign is over.
This extends the reach time of the campaign beyond the classic ad display.
The question that should be asked in good promotional design is not only “What do people want to win?” shouldn't happen. One more question needs to be added: “Which award expresses our campaign idea more strongly?”
The DİMES example shows the importance of this second question.
The choice of Feriköy Antique Market is not a coincidence
Carrying out the symbolic turnkey delivery at Feriköy Antique Market is also a choice compatible with the world of the campaign. The antique market naturally carries a sense of nostalgia with old objects, records, analog products and cultural pieces from bygone eras.
Therefore, giving the keys to a car with a high retro character like the Murat 124 in this environment instead of a modern and sterile event hall carries the creative idea to the design of the space.
Such details are important in the brand experience.
If the visual language of the ad is one thing, the event venue is another, and the award is telling a different story, the campaign can feel fragmented. However, when all touch points belong to the same world, a stronger and more consistent brand story appears before the consumer.
From this perspective, the product, competition, automobile and event venue in the DİMES campaign work as parts of a common retro-popular culture atmosphere.
Why Is the 90's Aesthetic Important Again for Brands?
In recent years, we have seen Y2K, analog photography, old television graphics, VHS textures, low-resolution typography and 80s-90s advertising aesthetics become popular again. One of the important reasons for this is that the digital world is becoming more and more perfect.
Among artificial intelligence-generated visuals, clean 3D renderings, flawless motion designs, and algorithmically optimized social media designs, the mistakes and excesses of the old world began to look more characterful.
90s television commercials were loud compared to today's minimal design approach.
Bright colors.
Large text.
Exaggerated acting.
Strange transition effects.
Jingles.
Obvious references to popular culture of the period.
In today's advertising world, consciously reusing them does not mean "bad design". On the contrary, when applied to the right brand, it can create a strong differentiation.
The fact that DİMES COOL Mix's campaign leans on this aesthetic is compatible with the young and fun character of the product. The brand plays with cultural references rather than trying to appear serious and corporate.
The Interesting Side of Selling Nostalgia to a Young Audience
There is a little paradox here. A significant portion of the young users in the target audience of products such as DİMES COOL Mix may not have experienced the period when Murat 124 was used extensively. He may not even personally remember the television culture of the 90s.
But here's the interesting part of nostalgia marketing today.
Nostalgia is no longer just the remembered past.
It is also an aestheticized past.
For Gen Z, cassette tapes, analog cameras, or '90s graphics don't have to be personal childhood memories. These can also gain value as aesthetic codes discovered on the internet.
For this reason, brands do not sell history only to those who lived through that period.
It redesigns the past and presents it to the new generation as a cultural style.
Murat 124 works similarly here. For one user it may be a family souvenir, for another it may be a retro car, for another it may be an extraordinary visual object that attracts attention on social media.
A good creative idea can reach wider audiences when it can attribute more than one meaning to the same object.
Why Is the Campaign Right for TikTok and Instagram
Announcing the campaign in which Bir Murat 124 was an award only through television advertising would have limited the potential of the idea. Instagram and TikTok allow users to be part of the campaign.
Because the natural behavior of these platforms is already based on producing, interpreting, remixing and sharing content.
You just watch a television commercial.
You can also participate in a social media campaign.
This difference is especially large for young consumers.
Brands have been planning what to tell consumers for years. In the age of social media, the more important question has become:
“How can we get people to create something about us?”
In this respect, DİMES's "Refreshing Content" competition is a participatory brand activation rather than a classical advertisement.
The reward also increases the talkability of participation.
A Real Object Can Make a Digital Campaign More Memorable
It is also noteworthy that physical objects are gaining value again in a period when marketing is increasingly digital.
People see hundreds of ads every day.
The video is passing.
The story disappears.
Banner is forgotten.
The algorithm fetches the next content.
But the 1976 model green Murat 124 physically exists.
Someone actually owns a car.
On display at the event.
Photo is being taken.
Can be used on the street.
This gives concreteness to the digital campaign.
There is a similar reason behind brands reinvesting in pop-up stores, experiential events, extraordinary packaging and physical activations, especially in recent years. As the abundance of digital content increases, things that can be touched and experienced in the real world become more striking.
Murat 124 is not just an award here; It works like the physical media surface of the campaign.
The Lesson That Can Be Learned Here for Brands
DİMES's campaign reminds us of something simple but important about creative communication: A campaign does not necessarily need an extremely complex idea to be powerful.
A product.
A clear period aesthetic.
A fun competition.
The right social media platforms.
And an extraordinary reward that completes the world of the idea.
Sometimes that's enough.
But all these pieces need to tell the same story.
If you use a 90's aesthetic and give a completely irrelevant reward, the idea is weakened. If you deliver a retro car but don't build that world for the rest of the campaign, the car will just be a gimmick used to attract attention.
In the DİMES example, Murat 124 does not stay out of the campaign; It completes the idea of the campaign.
I think this is one of the differences between good advertising and advertising that is just trying to attract attention.
Result: DİMES Provided a Story to Talk About, Not a Car
DİMES COOL Mix's winning of a 1976 model green Murat 124 by Duygu Kaya as a result of the "Refreshment Content" competition may seem like an entertaining brand news at first glance. However, from a creative communication perspective, there is a very clear strategy behind the campaign.
The brand does not use nostalgia only as advertising decoration. It extends to the competition's prize, the event's venue, and social media content. Thus, the “More Than What You Get” discourse is not only a product promise but also reflects on campaign behavior.
The most important thing is that DİMES gives the consumer more than an ordinary promotional reward.
Of course, the vehicle is a real prize for the person who wins the Murat 124.
But for thousands of people who see the campaign, Murat 124 is a topic of conversation.
“Do they really give Murat 124?”
A content you can send to your friend.
A campaign symbol you can recognize when you see its photo.
And that's exactly what brands are looking for most in the age of social media: an idea that people want to tell each other without thinking it's an advertisement.
What DİMES has achieved here is not just giving a car as a gift. To give the campaign its own character by combining nostalgia, humor and social media participation around a single object.
Sometimes a powerful advertising idea isn't about inventing something new.
It is reusing an old thing that everyone knows, in a place that no one expected.
Nur Oğuz