Conor Brophy: Stranger things have happened

In the year of the outsider, targeted and often free marketing paid off for Netflix - and the Trump campaign

Donald Trumps team ran a very good social media campaign Pic: Getty

Brexit, Donald Trump, marijuana. Respectively, one of the most effective campaigns of 2016, the most impactful brand and one of the fastest growing categories, according to the end-of-year reviews published last past week by Advertising Age and Marketing Week.

It’s the year of the insurgent and the success of those people and products from outside the establishment is rightly reflected. The usual suspects are well represented, of course. Adidas is favourably mentioned, for ...