The world of marketing doesn’t slow down for anyone. Brands are constantly trying to outdo each other with their next viral campaign, forever jostling for the top spot in their consumers’ minds.
Marketers need to be a conveyor belt of fresh ideas, making their lives a misery when inspiration runs dry. It happens to everyone, leaving you painfully unaware of where your next light bulb moment is going to come from.
So, if you’re stuck in a creative rut, we’ve compiled a list of 17 exceptional marketing campaigns that will hopefully inspire your next big idea.
17 inspiring marketing campaigns to learn from
1. Nike – Just Do It
Sometimes, inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources. In Nike’s case, the company’s iconic ‘Just Do It’ slogan was born after it was uttered by a death row inmate before execution. Now, we’re not saying you should be scouring true crime archives to find a slogan to use for your line of bath soaps. Just keep an ear out for short, snappy lines that could have relevance to your brand.
Nike has achieved success with their Just Do It slogan as it is both universal and focused. In truth, it has very little meaning. You could just as easily apply it to a building demolition company as you could an athlete about to run a 100-meter race.
In addition to being universal, it’s also catchy. Made up of just three syllables, it’s clinical and doesn’t take up much room in the consumers’ minds.
Inspiration to take:
- Slogans don’t have to be focused
- The shorter and snappier, the better
2. Barbie – brand partnerships
In 2023, a sea of pink rained down on the Western world as promotion for the Barbie movie ramped to extraordinary heights. You almost couldn’t move for Barbie merchandise as Mattel and Warner Bros. organized partnerships with every brand under the sun.
Partnerships included:
- Pasta G. di Martino pennette rigate: Yes, Barbie pasta was indeed a thing
- Burger King: The global fast-food joint released a pink (!) burger
- Crocs: Crocs aren’t averse to movie partnerships, adding Barbie to a list including Cars and Shrek
- Moon: For a limited time, you could purchase a Barbie-themed toothbrush
- UNO: The popular card game had its own Barbie set for true collectors
These were just a handful of partnerships, and as you can see, they’re quite varied. The campaign wasn’t discreet, as Mattel and Warner Bros. attempted the marketing equivalent of pirouetting eyes closed with your arms flailing in a busy piazza.
They were ensuring nobody, absolutely nobody was going to remain blissfully unaware of the movie about to hit their local cinema. To be fair, it worked, with Barbie going on to be one of the biggest movies of the year.
Inspiration to take:
- If you’ve got the budget, hitting your audience from all angles does work
- Partnerships are a great way of reaching new audiences
3. Spotify – Wrapped
Unless you have a deep interest in the musical tastes of your friends, colleagues, and former schoolmates, entering social media on December 1st is eye-roll-worthy. That’s because the turn of December marks the release of Spotify users’ annual Wrapped report, showing them their listening statistics for the calendar year.
Spotify Wrapped is made to be shared, with eye-catching aesthetics and links to add images to your Instagram story present throughout the entire process.
Clearly, as is evident each year, people cannot resist showing off their superior music taste.
Such a bombardment of content from one source provokes herd mentality, with non-Spotify users itching to get in on the trend.
The campaign really took off in December 2020, with 60 million Spotify Wrapped posts being shared, prompting a 21% increase in Spotify downloads that month. Wrapped exploits both people’s willingness to flaunt a unique part of themselves, as well as the fear of missing out, making it hugely successful.
Inspiration to take:
- People like to show off their personal taste
- Social media integration is the perfect tool to help you grow
4. Coca-Cola – Share a Coke
For the company’s hugely successful ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, Coca-Cola used the age-old trick of personalization to increase sales of its world-famous brown beverage. The company added 150 different popular names onto the front of its bottles, where the Coca-Cola logo formerly stood.
In a similar manner to how people spend ages spinning keyring racks at souvenir shops to find their name, people did the same with Coca-Cola. In the US, Coke sales increased by 2%, putting an end to a decade-long decline in Coca-Cola consumption.
As expected, the Janes and Joes of this world had no issue finding bottles with their names on the front. Thankfully, Coca-Cola had a solution for the Joslyns and the Jarvises. They integrated the Share a Coke campaign onto their website, allowing people to order their own personalized bottles, generating another income stream from the campaign.
Inspiration to take:
- Personalization is an effective tool
- Brand name doesn’t always have to be the center of attention
5. Pepsi – Is Pepsi OK?
Let’s divert from Coca-Cola to its arch-nemesis, Pepsi. The drinks brand actually used the notoriety of its greatest competitor to fuel its 2019 Superbowl marketing campaign. In a refreshing display of self-awareness, the company tackled the question, “Is Pepsi OK?”, something commonly asked by waiting staff when customers request a Coke.
The campaign is a perfect example of how to use humor to hammer home your product’s credentials. The advert then goes on to explain why Pepsi is more than just an alternative to Coca-Cola, subverting brand expectations.
This approach can be utilized by small independent companies, that lack the financial might to take on the leaders in their field. Openly acknowledging that you’re not the leader in the market with humor will help you endear your brand to potential customers. It will also give you a platform to explain why you differ and what benefits you have to offer.
Inspiration to take:
- People are endeared by humor
- It’s acceptable to acknowledge you’re not the biggest brand in the industry
6. Oatly – negative comments
In 2023, oat milk brand Oatly pulled off a sensationally self-aware campaign, setting up an entire website dedicated to negative events faced by the brand. This included how they were sued by the Spanish Milk Lobby, and how the drink was banned in Ireland.
This goes against all marketing traditions, as you’d usually be wanting to big your brand up rather than putting it down. However, it worked in Oatly’s favor, further cementing their tongue-in-cheek brand voice into consumers’ minds.
Self-awareness is always endearing, especially for a brand that knows it’s fighting against an army of milk purists. Sometimes, having a laugh at yourself is the perfect way to get people to connect with what you’re doing.
Inspiration to take:
- Self-awareness is a magic tool
- Addressing your negatives can be a positive
7. Heinz x Lick – ketchup-colored paint
In 2023, Heinz took everyone by surprise when they announced a partnership with interior design company Lick, creating a limited-edition ketchup-colored paint, named HTK 57. While this originally seemed like the gimmick to end all gimmicks, there was some method to Heinz’s madness.
It turns out, there’s a rather large overlap of people who enjoy both home improvements and barbecuing, with Heinz being heavily invested in the latter. Heinz took the statistics and ran with them, creating a brief but memorable partnership.
This crossover proved that not only is ketchup a suitable color for your interiors, but there is more to consumer bases than one product. By analyzing other things your customers are interested in, you can forge mutually beneficial partnerships with seemingly unrelated companies and brands.
Inspiration to take:
- Customers are not one-dimensional
- Brand partnerships are an effective way to branch out
8. Workday – Rockstar
Trying to generate excitement for a platform that caters to HR and finance teams is far from a simple task. However, the marketing team behind Workday’s Rockstar campaign had a good go at it. They did so by drafting in some of the world’s most notorious rockstars, from Ozzy Osbourne to Billy Idol.
The premise of the 2023 campaign was to tease office managers over the use of the word ‘rockstar’ in corporate settings. The ad pokes fun at, but also celebrates the very people that use the platform. This is reflected in a spike in brand consideration after the ad first aired during the 2023 Superbowl.
Workday proved that by showing you understand your audience and the language they use; you can cement yourself as a trustworthy option. Also, the advert showed that humor is always a good idea, even if it isn’t something your brand is usually associated with.
Inspiration to take:
- Showing you understand your audience is important
- Using humor is always endearing
9. Old Spice – Smell Like a Man
Old Spice’s 2010 advertising campaign seemed to subvert the logical rule of marketing that you should aim your campaign toward those who will use it. Instead, the marketers behind the ‘Smell Like a Man’ campaign noticed an interesting statistic. A large portion of their target market was actually made up of women buying body wash for their male partners.
They used this information to create a campaign aimed at women, rather than men, an idea that would have previously been seen as self-sabotage. Not only did they aim for a different gender than usual, but they also worked at targeting their products at a different age demographic.
Old Spice had developed a reputation for being the ‘old guy’s body wash’, prompting a focus on the company’s digital presence. They wanted to put Old Spice back on the map for younger people, and with the Smell Like a Man campaign, they succeeded.
Inspiration to take:
- Sometimes your target market isn’t who you expect
- Pivoting your demographic is possible
10. British Airways – Windows
British Airways decided in 2024 that it was going to ignore all of the traditional marketing rules for its next advertising campaign. This included scrapping any slogans, calls to action, and even the brand name itself. What the airline did instead, was focus on pictures of its passengers looking out of the aircraft windows.
The billboards prove that in a world where we are bombarded with QR codes and persuasive copy, minimalism will always get people talking. There is an air of self-assurance about the campaign as if it’s assumed people will associate the three cropped letters on show with British Airways.
The campaign proved that sometimes, the rules of marketing are there to be broken. There is of course a time and a place for general marketing techniques, but sometimes, by saying less, you can provoke more conversation.
Inspiration to take:
- Minimalism can get people talking
- Just because there are rules in marketing, doesn’t mean they always need to be followed
11. Apple – Shot on iPhone
Apple has always approached marketing with attention to detail and care, but its 2022, ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign, may have been its best work yet. It offered iPhone 13 users the chance to have their photos appear on billboards across the globe. All they had to do was upload a picture to Instagram accompanied with #shotoniphone.
This campaign was genius on two fronts. It encouraged people to buy the iPhone 13 in order to take part and showed off the capabilities of the phone’s camera to the masses.
Social proof is an effective tool in marketing as people will often need to see what your product is capable of before buying. Incentives like competitions with cool prizes also bleed more temptation into the minds of undecided customers.
Inspiration to take:
- Generating social proof does wonders
- Competitions can provide incentives to buy a product
12. Monopoly – All is Fair
When trying to revive the love for the classic board game Monopoly in 2023, Hasbro played on one of the strongest emotions of them all, nostalgia. The adverts focused on how Monopoly changes people, often for the worse, while playing.
The relatability of the adverts will undoubtedly have provoked many memories of playing the board game in times gone by. They served as a reminder that the game still has the ability to bring families together, as well as almost tearing them apart.
The campaign shows that emotions should always be at the forefront of a marketing campaign. It is, after all, incredibly common for people to buy with their hearts rather than their minds.
Inspiration to take:
- Using strong emotions such as nostalgia is very effective
- Relatability is a useful tool
13. Chanel No. 5 – Mother’s Day
When you think of perfume adverts, your mind is likely to drift toward topless men with washboard abs, soundtracked by an operatic Italian ballad. Chanel decided to steer away from this stereotype in 2015 with its Mother’s Day billboard campaign.
Instead, the fashion house asked the children of its employees to hand draw the various fragrances in the company’s perfume line. It demonstrated a human side to a brand that you’d be forgiven for thinking to be slightly uptight and inaccessible to regular folk.
Not only did the ads subvert people’s expectations of the brand, but they also helped it to stand out from its competition. Chanel’s approach got people talking, while also catching the eye of last-minute shoppers in desperate need of a Mother’s Day gift.
Inspiration to take:
- Demonstrating a human side to your business is endearing to customers
- Sometimes it’s good to step away from the image that people expect of your brand
14. McDonald’s – I’m Lovin’ It
In 2003, fast food giant McDonald’s debuted its I’m Lovin’ It campaign for the first time, complete with an unforgettable jingle. The jingle originally featured the lyrics, “ba da ba ba ba, I’m Lovin’ It”, sung by the familiar voice of Justin Timberlake. Some of his best work, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Well, the jingle is so short and recognizable, McDonald’s is still using it over 20 years later. In fact, it’s so memorable, that the company decided to ditch the lyrics entirely, replacing them with a simple whistle of the melody.
The main lesson to be taken from the campaign is that sound is a tool that can help lodge your brand into people’s brains. While you may not be running TV ad campaigns, you can integrate a short jingle into social media posts or YouTube videos.
Inspiration to take:
- Sound is an effective tool in marketing
- Jingles shouldn’t be complicated
15. Red Bull – Stratos
Not all adverts involve catchy slogans and memorable jingles. Sometimes, all that’s required is for someone to free-fall 24 miles from the stratosphere wearing a spacesuit with your logo emblazoned all over it. This is the exact route Red Bull took when it decided to sponsor Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking Stratos jump in 2012.
Red Bull did have to part with $330 million to fund the project, but the exposure the company gained was monumental. The jump was broadcast in 50 countries, shown on 80 different TV stations, and watched by 8 million live viewers on YouTube. Red Bull’s branding was on-screen for the entirety of the stunt.
While there aren’t many companies that can splash the cash that Red Bull did on this occasion, there’s a lot to be learned from their endeavors. Marketing isn’t all about yelling your company’s name the loudest during TV commercial breaks, it’s often about being present.
Inspiration to take:
- Being seen is just as important as being heard
- Effective marketing isn’t just about creating memorable adverts
16. Tinder – It Starts with a Swipe
Despite being the leading name in online dating, Tinder reached a point where it became synonymous with casual hookups rather than meaningful relationships. To counteract this point of view, which Tinder deemed undesirable, the company launched its ‘It Starts with a Swipe’ campaign in 2023.
The adverts are narrative-driven, depicting the dating journey that the app’s users have in store for themselves. The aesthetics, humor, and protagonists presented in the ads were designed to be appealing to the app’s Gen Z users.
The set of adverts is a prime example of targeting a specific demographic within an app’s user base in an attempt to redefine its image. The company analyzed where its image issue was coming from and acted cleverly to rectify it.
Inspiration to take:
- Singling out specific demographics can help to balance out your user base
- Narrative-driven ads can be more engaging when executed well
17. Heineken – Not all nights out are out
One of the most important things a marketer needs to remember is that social changes take place all the time. Heineken’s marketing team nailed this point with their 2023, ‘Not All Nights Out Are Out’ campaign.
While it previously would have been able to market its beers to a traditional, pub/bar-going audience, the company realized that social lives have changed. That’s why the campaign focused on those who prefer to stay in and drink with friends in a virtual setting.
The adverts focus on a group of gamers, even creating a computer that can cool beers for you while you game. This PC understandably never hit commercial shelves. The ads are a great example of how connecting lesser-mentioned demographics to your brand can grant you an even broader audience.
Inspiration to take:
- Staying on top of social changes is key for a marketer
- Connecting with smaller social groups can broaden your clientele
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