Let’s take a look at the best social campaigns and stories from March.

Judge rules against Chipotle’s social media policy

A judge ruled in favour of a fired Chipotle employee last month in a blow to the restaurant chain’s employer reputation.

James Kennedy was dismissed after posting the following tweet:

@ChipotleTweets, nothing is free, only cheap #labor. Crew members make only $8.50hr how much is that steak bowl really?

But a Pennsylvania judge ruled that Kennedy was unfairly treated and that Chipotle’s social media policy violated US labour laws.

Chipotle has been forced to display signs acknowledging the illegality of some of its employee policies, offer Kennedy his job back and reimburse him for any lost wages.

#MakeWhatsNext – Microsoft

To mark International Women’s Day this year, Microsoft launched a video campaign titled #MakeWhatsNext.

The video aimed to highlight the often undervalued contribution that female inventors have made to science.

Each girl was asked to name an inventor and inevitably reeled off the usual famous male names, but when they were asked to come up with female inventors they struggled.

‘Fair’ campaign – Fairy

Opening with the statistic that women in the UK spend an average of 117 minutes more than men doing household chores every day, Fairy aimed to highlight inequality in the home between genders.

The brand dropped the ‘Y’ on its iconic bottle to spell the word ‘FAIR’, indicating that men should take their fair share of housework.

Fairy fair campaign Facebook

#OneDayIWill – Google

Another great International Women’s Day campaign, this time from Google, in which the search giant created a video asking women from around the world to complete the sentence ‘One day I will…’

Make a pledge – Oxfam International

Oxfam International called upon followers to make a pledge of support to women around the world with its International Women’s Day campaign.

Users could click through to a site where they could promise to carry out various actions – from signing a petition against wage inequality to pledging to purchase Fairtrade products to support women farmers – in the name of advancing gender equality.

Instagram introduces 60-second video length

Instagram announced last month that it is increasing the maximum length of videos on its platform from 15 to 60 seconds.

According to Instagram, “in the last six months, the time people spent watching video increased by more than 40%.”

Some are speculating that the move is designed to bolster the company’s ad business.

Instagram makes its timeline algorithmic

In another example of a social media platform doing something completely at odds with what the majority of its users want, Instagram announced a new algorithmic timeline that shows users’ posts based on what it thinks they want to see.

The reactions to the move have been somewhat negative…

Somebody even started a petition about it…

Pop-up chocolate bar – Carlsberg

Another fantastic piece of experiential marketing from Carlsberg, in which the brand created a pop-up bar made entirely out of chocolate (apart from the beer pumps, of course).

As with all of Carlsberg’s marketing stunts, the campaign resulted in a huge amount of user-generated content on social.

Carlsberg pop-up chocolate bar

Carlsberg pop-up chocolate bar

#TheBeauBunny – Hotel Chocolat

Encouraging user-generated content is an effective way to spread your brand message on social, and Hotel Chocolat’s Easter campaign was a perfect example of how to do it right.

The brand had someone dress up as a dapper rabbit and tour around its shops across the country, inviting people to take a selfie with the suited mascot and upload it to Twitter using the hashtag #TheBeauBunny.

#EggsEverywhere – Cadbury’s

Cadbury’s – no doubt keen to soften the blow after it completely ruined Crème Eggs – pulled out all the stops by dropping three giant branded eggs into Lock Ness.

The stunt was part of its #EggsEverywhere campaign, which also saw people finding chocolate treats hidden around the country and uploading pictures of them to Twitter.

Cadbury's #EggsEverywhere campaign