20 of the Best

Marketing & Advertising

Campaigns

(And What to Steal From Them)

1 1
 CONTENTS

...
Intro 1

...
Tech & Software 2
…
Arts & Entertainment 7
…
Retail & Ecommerce 12
…
Food & Drink 17

2
 INTRODUCTION
When you think about marketing and advertising content, it’s not
uncommon for the following questions to come to mind: How can we
earn more customers? How can we upsell our existing customers?
How can we position ourselves in the best light against our
competition?

And it’s not wrong to think about these things. In fact, advancing your
business should always be a priority -- something you are constantly
working towards. Though, have you ever stopped to consider how
asking those questions alone might be clouding your creativity?

Think about it: What if you pair those questions with something like,
“What are the needs of our audience?” or “What is blocking our
audience from seeking out our solution?”

These slightly more developed questions have the ability to draw out
untapped opportunities and fresh brand stories. And that’s exactly
what you can expect from the campaigns featured in this guide.

That being said, the campaigns featured on this list made the cut for a
variety of reasons -- from timeless, powerful messaging to thoughtful,
innovative distribution channels. And despite their variety, each
featured campaign had a positive impact on the growth of the
business and left a lasting impression on the consumer -- two critical
success metrics in the world of marketing and advertising.

As you work through each example, don’t forget to make note of the
lessons distilled in the “steal this” section. We’ve done our best to boil
down precisely what made each campaign so effective, so you can
take those learnings back to your team and your next brainstorm.

1 1
Software & Tech

2
 Image Credit Adweek

Ø  Campaign: 2018 Goals Need help setting your New Year’s

resolution? Spotify has just the thing.
Ø  Brand: Spotify
Inspired by its own hilarious user data,
Ø  Creative: Spotify
the music-streaming giant crafted a
series of colorful end-of-year ads
dubbed: “2018 Goals.”

- Do your homework and

collect some data on your The goals included quips like: “Be as
consumers.  It will give you loving as the person who put 48 Ed
a wealth of information to
Sheeran songs on their “I Love
draw upon for campaigns
and product or service Gingers” playlist” and “Take a page
development.   from the 3,445 people who streamed
- Spotify has proven that the Boozy Brunch playlist on a
data doesn’t have to be Wednesday this year.”
boring. Use your data to
elicit a feeling of connection
from consumers.  Translate The ads instantly resonated with
it in a way that makes Spotify users because the messages
people be able to relate
and visualize themselves in served as an honest, humorous
that position. reflection of their own habits.

3 2
 Image Credit Adweek

Ø  Campaign: Blank Me Venmo, the app that lets you make

and share payments, is on a mission
Ø  Brand: Venmo to become a verb.

Ø  Creative: Venmo In an effort to achieve this goal, the

app chose to target millennials
through a mad-lib style campaign
called “Blank Me.” The ads contained
- Post-purchase
communication is vital. It sentences with a blank space (where
pays to keep the the word Venmo seemed to fit
conversation about your
brand going to keep perfectly) were placed around bars,
people coming back for restaurants, and college towns to
more — and telling their
drum up conversation about the app.
friends.  
The campaign also included digital
- Don’t forget to reinforce ads across networks and services like
the role your product or
service plays in people’s Twitter, Facebook, and Spotify.
lives. Use campaigns to
highlight how much easier
The cheeky campaign wasn’t
life if with the help of your
offering.  necessarily aimed at new user
acquisition, but rather brand
reinforcement. And it did just that.

4 3
 Image Credit: LaoFuSu/Reddit

Ø  Campaign: Y-U-No? At the time, if you mentioned the

company Hipchat, chances are
Ø  Brand: Hipchat people would look at you with a
confused look and would have no
Ø  Creative: Hipchat idea what or who it was.  And Hipchat
knew that.

They decided to run an out of home

- Not everything you put out
billboard campaign to bring
there has to be complex
and have a lot of layers to awareness to their brand. But then
it. Sometimes simple and were then posed with the problem of
funny is just what you need.
how do they attract attention while
- Having trouble generating telling people who they are?
awareness for your product
or brand? Make people feel
like they are missing out on They designed the billboard on the
something — like Hipchat tenant: make it simple but significant.
did here by asking people
why they weren’t using its Using the popular Y-U-No guy from
service yet. They don’t call it Rage Comics, and pairing it with a
FOMO for nothing!
simple question asking people why
they don’t use their product, the
company had a 300% spike in direct
online searches.

5 4
 Image Credit: Google

Ø  Campaign: Building a Better Corporate philanthropy is definitely

Bay Area on the rise. Between 2012-2014, 56%
of companies increased charitable
giving, and Google is no exception.
Ø  Brand & Creative: Google
But when the search engine giant
gave away $5.5 million to Bay Area
nonprofits, it let the public decide
where that money would go -- in an
- Keep it local! It’s always
unconventional, interactive way.
nice when a large
corporation gives some
love to its community -- in Google allowed people to cast their
fact, 72% of folks say they votes online, but they also wanted to
would tell friends and family involve the Bay Area community in a
about a business’s efforts tangible way. So they installed large,
like these, according to a interactive posters -- in places like bus
Cone Communication shelters, food trucks, and restaurants
study. -- that locals could use to vote for a
cause.
- Remember the “you’re
already there” approach. With the help of the online voting
Find out where your integration -- and a branded hashtag:
audience is already hanging
#GoogleImpactChallenge -- the
out and engage them
campaign ended up
there, instead of trying to
get them to take action generating 400,000 votes over the
where they don’t usually course of about three and a half
spend their time. weeks.

6 5
 Image Credit: Getty Images / YouTube

Ø  Campaign: The Non Silent Film Over the years, Getty Images has
made a name for itself as one of the
most popular destinations for royalty-
Ø  Brand: Getty Images free stock imagery.

Ø  Creative: AlmapBBDO & But did you know Getty also offers
Punch Audio stock music and sound effects?

To raise awareness for their expansive

library of other stock offerings, the
folks at Getty Images decided to show
- If you’re going to invest a instead of tell.
lot of resources into a
campaign, be sure to have a The brand partnered with Brazil-
value-packed promotion based agency, AlmapBBDO, to
plan to extend the reach. recreate the classic 1922 silent film,
This particular campaign Nosferatu, in a … well … not so silent
was accompanied by way.
reimagined movie posters,
a timeline of production, a The reimagined film set the classic
file list from the film, and visuals to a soundtrack composed
more.
entirely of Getty Images’ stock audio.

The end result? A fresh, innovative

twist on a classic – and a shareable
way for Getty Images to showcase the
power of its audio files.

7 6
Arts
& Entertainment

8
 Image Credit: 29rooms.com

Ø  Campaign: 29 Rooms The popular digital media and

entertainment company, Refinery29,
Ø  Brand & Creative: Refinery29 gave a whole new meaning to
experiential marketing when it
and Various Partners
launched “29 Rooms”: an interactive
exhibition for the senses.  

Refinery29 gave non-profit

organizations and companies, that
- People spend a lot of time would otherwise have trouble getting
in front of screens these out in front of the Instagram-minded-
days. That’s why being able millennials, the opportunity to do so
to interact with a brand in by sponsoring one of its 29 rooms.
person is something we
now crave. If you really want Each of the rooms were designed
to connect with your differently and meant to be explored.
audience, consider Experiences ranged from Casper
switching up the medium
filling a room with over 150 pillows for
by bringing your digital
content to life in some way.
people to play on and take photos
with, to Aldo creating a runway and
encouraged people to let their inner
model shine.

While attendees knew the purpose of

these rooms was to advertise the
brand, they were able to get lost in
the fun of it all thanks to the clever
execution.

9 7
 Image Credit: AdAge

Ø  Campaign: #RoastJoffery Joffrey Baratheon, let us count the

ways we hate thee.
Ø  Brand: Game of Thrones
In an effort to drum up some
Ø  Creative: 360i engagement during the Game of
Thrones off season, HBO launched its
first “internet roast.” The network
asked fans (and haters) to let all that
- Give people a reason to built up anger towards Baratheon out
come together around a
common passion point, on their favorite social media
whether it be something platform. The roast was launched
they love or hate. The
beauty of promoting across Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and
something like this on social Instagram -- and featured multiple
media is it give the celebrity “roasters.”
participant the option to
give as much or as little as
they feel comfortable HBO released a video that explained
sharing.
how to join in on the fun using the
hashtag #RoastJoffrey. In just 48
hours, Baratheon received over
60,000 messages. What kind of name
is Joffery, anyway? #roastjoffrey

10 8
 Image Credit: Adweek

For one day, Gilmore Girl fans were

Ø  Campaign: A Taste of the able to have a taste, quite literally, of
Gilmore Life what it’d be like to share a cup of
coffee with their favorite Stars Hollow
Ø  Brand & Creative: Netflix residents.

Netflix partnered with more than 200

coffee shops and bakeries around the
country to promote the series reboot
- Snapchat filters are a great by converting them into Luke’s Diner
way for brands to join -- the Gilmore’s favorite coffee haunt.
conversations consumers Throughout the day, servers (outfitted
are already having. If you in Luke’s famous flannel shirt and a
are having a photo-worthy backwards baseball hat) handed out
event, why not let your
free cups of coffee.
brand get in on the fun?

- These days, people are

Each coffee cup donned a Snapcode
interacting with brands in a (Snapchat’s version of a QR code) that
physical space less and unlocked a special Gilmore Girls filter
less. As a result, it’s less -- available for just one hour after
common for a brand to being unlocked.
come to life, making
experiential marketing an Signs in the participating shops
interesting and valuable encouraged fans to take a selfie with
play. the coffee cup and tag who they’d be
watching the reboot of the popular
show with.   

11 9
 Image Credit: Tidal

When banner ads displaying the

Ø  Campaign: 4:44 mysterious code "4:44" began
popping up on various music
Ø  Artist: Jay-Z websites, it started to raise some
eyebrows.
Ø  Creative: Outfront Media
The more suspicious part? The ads
didn’t direct you anywhere, though
the source code revealed yet another
code: “tidal- 444.”
- It is our nature to want to
give the consumer as much That’s when Jay-Z fans took note, as
information as possible to Tidal is the name of the rapper’s
make a decision. However, premium streaming service.
sometimes, given the right
circumstances, withholding Shortly after the ads launched, an
information can actually outside advertising campaign rolled
make the public want more out featuring the same “4:44” graphic.
and help you build buzz. What’s more, one of the ads was
Remember: People like the
placed at the “Jay St” subway stop in
thrill of the hunt and the
NYC. For fans, that confirmed it: an
reward at the end.
album launch was surely in the works.

When Jay-Z finally released the

album, he was met with 800K+ tweets
overnight.

12 10
 Image Credit: Disney

Ø  Campaign: #DreamBigPrincess Disney did it again. Known for its

inspirational and impressive
Ø  Brand: Disney campaigns, Disney partnered with 15
photographers around the world to
create a series of images highlighting
Ø  Creative: Disney & 15 real, inspirational women and girls.
global photographers
The media conglomerate also invited
the public to get in on the curation
using the hashtag #DreamBigPrincess
on Instagam. For every photo posted,
- Empowering your Disney would donate $1 to the United
audience is a great way to Nations Foundation’s Girl Up.
create brand loyalty.
It wasn’t long before it hit the goal of
- Collaborative campaigns $1M.
turn passive marketing and
advertising into an Disney also made a point to localize
actionable experience. the hashtags for the campaign to
ensure inclusivity. Global variations
included:

•  #soyprincesasiendoyo
•  #souprincesasoureal
•  #GlaubeAnDichPrinzessin
•  & more!

13 11
Retail
& Ecommerce

14
 Image Credit: Lacoste / Instagram

Ø  Campaign: Save the Species To kick off a three-year partnership

with the International Union for
Ø  Brand & Creative: Lacoste Conservation of Nature, Lacoste
temporarily traded in its signature
& IUCN
crocodile logo for 10 endangered
species. This logo swap marks the first
time in history that the brand has
changed its logo.
- If businesses want to keep
Proceeds from the polo sales were
up with modern consumer
used to help the IUCN and Lacoste
demands, social
responsibility has to be part fight for wildlife conservation
of the conversation. It’s worldwide.
never too late to start
making a difference – and The limited-edition polos sold out
rallying your audience almost instantly after being
around a cause can be announced at Paris Fashion Week
extremely powerful. 2018.

Needless to say, this campaign serves

as an excellent example of how to
combine creativity with a cause to
highlight your brand values and earn
the respect of an extended audience.

15 12
 Image Credit: Ikea

Image Credit: Allbirds / YouTube

Ø  Campaign: Tree Collection Light. Breezy. Tree. Shoe.

Ø  Brand: Allbirds Those are the only four words used in

the latest video ads from Allbirds –
and that’s really all you need to know.
Ø  Creative: Opinionated
The wildly successful shoe company
partnered with the Portland-based
agency, Opinionated, to craft a series
- Allbirds does a great job of quick and quirky ads to get the
crafting marketing and word out about its latest sustainable
advertising messages that material: eucalyptus tree fibers.
help customers connect
with the brand through The ads are intended to elicit feelings
simple shared values. If you of comfort and simplicity to reinforce
want to foster deeper the brand’s commitment to creating
connections with you shoes that you can feel good about
audience, start by defining a wearing.
set of guiding values and
principles that can be used
While it may seem overly
to inform your larger brand
straightforward, the ads serve as a
message.
great reminder that sometimes less is
more.

16 13
 Image Credit: Katespade.com

Ø  Campaign: #missadventure Shoppable content, like the

#missadventure video series from
Ø  Brand: Kate Spade Kate Spade, brilliantly simplifies the
purchasing process by inviting the
consumer in for an immersive
Ø  Creative: Cinematique & experience.
Google (shoppable video)
Rather than passively watching
branded video content, the
#missadventure series presents Kate
Spade products through entertaining
- When brainstorming
stories about “interesting women
content, think about what
leading interesting lives.”
you can do to actively
involve the viewer or reader
in the experience. The videos star fan favorites like Anna
Kendrick, Zosia Mamet, and Lola
- Strive for content that Kirke, which amplifies the credibility
lowers the barrier between of the brand and the hilarity of each
your prospect and the “missadventure.”
action they must take to
become a customer. The content was also repurposed on
the Kate Spade website, where items
were available for purchase below the
star-studded video.

17 14
 Image Credit: @meatwreck & @polynor

Ø  Campaign: #TFWGucci Memes: They are a dime a dozen

these days -- but people are still
Ø  Brand: Gucci finding them as entertaining as ever.

For that reason, Gucci took advantage

Ø  Creative: Various meme of this trend to promote their new line
creators of luxury watches. In an effort to
create excitement amongst a younger
demographic that could afford their
products, the brand launched a
- If you want to reengage a collaborative Instagram-based
particular segment of your campaign along with a supporting
audience or expand your microsite.
audience into a new
market, consider meeting The campaign leveraged the hashtag
those people where they #TFWGucci (That Feeling When
already are – like Gucci did Gucci) where Gucci posted memes
here by joining millennials they created and encouraged the
on Instagram.
public to submit one’s they created,
too.
- Humor is a smart tactic for
businesses in highly-
competitive or saturated The result was an online gallery of
industries. Letting your perfectly curated Gucci pictures, both
personality shine helps to beautiful and funny, featuring their
differentiate you from new line of watches.
everyone else in your lane.

18 15
 Image Credit: Ikea

Ø  Campaign: Ikea Place Ikea is using augmented reality to

help seal the deal with potential
Ø  Brand: Ikea customers by allowing them to
preview how furniture would look in
their very own homes via their
Ø  Creative: 72 and Sunny, smartphones.
Amsterdam
The app shows customers over 2,000
different pieces of furniture as 3D
renderings, from any angle, in the
preferred room of their choice in their
- Buyer’s remorse is a very home.
real thing -- especially after
a purchase with a big price If they decide on a piece that suits
tag. Give consumers the their needs, they can buy directly from
reassurance they need that the app.
they will be happy with their
purchase.
Ikea is one of the first home furnishing
brands that is making this technology
available to the masses.

19 16
Food & Drink

20
 Image Credit: Lookwhatwedid.co

Ø  Campaign: Test Kitchen by Taco Bell is no stranger to clever

marketing campaigns, but opening
Taco Bell
up its exclusive test kitchen with the
help of Open Table tops the list.
Ø  Brand & Creative: Taco Bell
x Open Table In honor of National Taco Day, Taco
Bell hosted a five-course dinner
featuring some of its top chefs and
creators. An exclusive group of fellow
taco lovers were able to make a
- Exclusivity drives fast reservation via Open Table to attend
action and increases the event at the brand’s headquarters
demand. Give it a try by in Irvine California.
incorporating a level of
#FOMO (fear of missing But the events didn’t stop there – Taco
out) into your next
Bell released several other dates to let
campaign.
more fans join in on the fun.
- Don’t underestimate the
power of a good co- The campaign spread fast, resulting in
marketing or co-branding over 323 million media impressions,
partner. It’s a great way to with zero media buy.
get your brand in front of
new eyes.

21 17
 Image Credit: Denny’s Twitter

Instead of posting simple pictures of

Ø  Campaign: Zoom in its food, Denny’s took to Twitter and
led viewers on a scavenger hunt of
Ø  Brand & Creative: Denny’s sorts. The diner-style chain posted a
& Erwin Penland picture and told viewers to “zoom in
on the syrup.”

Once they zoomed in, it continued to

give them other instructions to follow.
- Let the conversation you The final message being, “has this
are having with consumers distracted you from overwhelming
reflect how you want them existential dread lol.”  
to feel when they think of
you. Do you want them to Who knew Denny’s was so deep?
feel like they are talking to a
friend? Or would you prefer
While the messages had nothing to
they think of you as a
trusted, professional
do with pancakes, or anything really
partner? Use the answers to for that matter, it got the attention
those questions to define hundreds of thousands of people.
the way you communicate
and engage your audience. As of June 2018, over a year since it
was posted, the original tweet has
amassed over 118K retweets and
nearly 170K Likes.

22 18
 Image Credit The Cheetos Brand

Ø  Campaign: Cheetos Museum Cheetos was inspired by an

interesting social media trend they
were seeing of people posting
Ø  Brand: Cheetos pictures of Cheetos in unique shape,
like dinosaurs or giraffes. Someone
Ø  Creative: Goodby Silverstein had even started a full Instagram
& Partners account decided to the wonders.

The brand saw the consumer

behavior and wanted to join in on the
fun. Cheetos encouraged people to
- See what people are buy a bag and see what shapes they
already saying about your could find in it.  And that is when the
brand online and join in on
Cheetos museum was born -- a digital
the conversation. If people
platform where people could see and
are already talking about it,
chances are you are setting vote on what they thought was the
yourself up for success. most impressive Cheeto shape, and
submit their own.
- If you sell a product or
products, give people The campaign received thousands of
another reason to media placements and
purchase. For example, you recorded its strongest week in sales,
might offer an entry into a ever, while the campaign was running.
contest in exchange for a
purchase.  

23 19
 Image Credit Ogilvy Melbourne / YouTube

Ø  Campaign: 360-degree Easter With the help of Ogilvy Melbourne

Egg Hunt and Alt.vfx Sydney, Cadbury was able
to deliver a little Easter magic and a
touch of nostalgia to its Australian
Ø  Brand: Cadbury
market.

Ø  Creative: Ogilvy Melbourne Using 360-degree video on

& Alt.vfx Sydney Facebook, the brand invited its
audience to participate in a virtual
egg hunt, attracting over 220K
visitors.

- Tapping into a nostalgic Those who were the first to comment

memory – like childhood the location of an egg in the digital
Easter egg hunts – is a great experience were rewarded with real
way to elicit an emotional Cadbury treats.
response from your
audience. Thanks to the creativity and
playfulness of the campaign, visitor
- Don’t underestimate the
power of innovation. While
engagement was at an all time high:
new technologies can be
at the end of the one-hour stream, the
intimidating, taking a video had amassed over 70K
chance on an emerging comments.
format can have a major
impact on your brand’s
reputation.

24 20
 Image Credit: YouTube / Bud Light

Ø  Campaign: Dilly Dilly! Bud Light’s infamous “Dilly Dilly!”

Super Bowl LII commercial was equal
Ø  Brand: Bud Light parts good timing and good fun. The
medieval setting for the “trilogy” of
commercials was well-received by
Ø  Creative: Wieden + Kennedy Game of Thrones fans, who felt an
instant connection to the content.
That familiarity, mixed with the sheer
catchiness of a tagline like “dilly dilly,”
helped the commercial become a
- Drop a little bait and give pop culture success.
consumers something they
can take ownership of. The It was only a matter of time before
more they own it, the more sportscasters were pulling the phrase
fun they will have with it. into broadcasts, athletes were
dropping it on the field and in
- Don’t be afraid to let go interviews, and apparel companies
and be a little silly -- as long began recognizing an increased
as it suits your brand. demand for “dilly dilly” merch.
Sometimes the best
campaigns stem from
In January 2018, Bud Light
taking a risk.
reported brand metrics to Adweek
highlighting the positive impact the
campaign had, including:

•  Over 2 billion earned media

impressions
•  300K monthly Google searches for
“ Dilly Dilly”

25 21
Thanks for reading.
For more marketing, sales, and service content,
check out hubspot.com/resources.

26