Need inspiration for your 2025 marketing plan?
We’ve selected 17 marketing campaigns that have connected with their audiences and delivered amazing results.
They cover a whole range of industries, channels, and formats.
Let’s take a look at what made each of them work so well.
1. “London Bus Tour” by Semrush
- Campaign type: Influencer and offline marketing
Semrush decided to give influencer marketing a twist—by turning it into a weekend adventure.
The team invited a select few influencers for a weekend bus tour of London. The attendees included founders, marketers, content creators, and social media managers.
This is one of the best marketing campaign examples because it works on two levels to build brand awareness:
- A branded bus running through the streets of London piques curiosity
- Influencer content about Semrush increases brand mentions and conversations
Here’s how Ashleen Narula, the founder of Grad **** Marketing, shared her experience from the trip:
Key Takeaways
Semrush’s marketing campaign example offers a new take on influencer marketing—and lots of people who saw it agree:
Instead of the traditional approach to collaborating with influencers, Semrush brought together a group of thought leaders for meaningful conversations.
The campaign garnered several influencer videos on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. Here are a few examples:
All this helped Semrush strengthen its influencer community and generate both earned media (from influencers) and owned media for its channels.
2. “Feel Good, Not Bad” by Crunch Fitness
- Campaign type: Social media ads and out-of-home advertising
Crunch Fitness is a gym membership platform.
The brand knows how daunting the idea of working out can be, and it wanted to flip the script.
The “Feel Good. Not Bad.” campaign was born from that idea. It promoted Crunch Fitness’s core brand positioning: fitness doesn’t have to feel like a chore.
As a multichannel campaign, it targeted young people aged 18 to 34 on social media and in outdoor spaces.
Its messaging struck a chord with the target audience. It promised a more fun approach to fitness with the message that everyone deserves to feel good when working out.
As a result, Crunch Fitness saw a 13% increase in brand awareness.
The brand also generated a large number of leads, with a 5% year-on-year growth.
Key Takeaways
Crunch Fitness’s example highlights that a successful social media campaign relies on effective messaging that focuses on specific pain points.
In a crowded fitness market, Crunch’s upbeat approach helps them stand out.
The campaign targets the all-too-common pain point: working out is exhausting. And it connects with its audience by conveying a powerful message—how to make workouts enjoyable.
💡 Pro tip:
You can use Semrush’s Ads Launch Assistant to set up and optimize such multichannel ad campaigns.
This tool lets you create Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google ads in one place:
It then helps you design the actual ads, optimize them for your target keywords, and improve your overall strategy.
3. “RV-Clipse Solar Glasses” by Go RVing
- Campaign type: Video marketing
Go RVing, a platform for buying or renting RVs, pulled off an April Fools’ Day video marketing campaign that was equal parts clever and hilarious.
The brand invented a fictional product called RV-Clipse glasses.
This absurdly oversized pair of shades for your RV’s windshield was supposed to let you enjoy the eclipse without needing your own pair of glasses.
This way, they showed that RVing is about enjoying extraordinary experiences—like viewing an eclipse as a group, right from your van.
As a result, this video got over 41,000 views, and connected online content with real-world touchpoints to engage customers:
In addition to digital content, the brand also handed out human-sized eclipse glasses at a few of its RV dealerships.
This lent a physical, shareable element for the campaign, making it more experiential and memorable for the audience.
Key Takeaways
April Fools’ Day is a great opportunity to launch a unique marketing campaign for enhancing brand awareness.
Go RVing created this campaign to capture its buyers’ attention organically through a hilarious product.
It also used the eclipse as a natural hook to generate buzz, while distributing gigantic glasses added a more interactive element to this campaign.
4. “NEXT 50” by RevGenius
RevGenius is a community of marketers and founders in the B2B space.
The team launched the “NEXT 50” campaign to recognize the top up-and-coming 50 brands and thought leaders in the B2B marketing industry.
This social media campaign set out to recognize a diverse set of emerging GTM creators rather than the famous ones.
Jared Robin, RevGenius’s founder, asked his LinkedIn community to find talented creators in the B2B marketing space.
The result? A flood of comments and reactions, as marketers rallied to celebrate promising new talent.
Once the Next 50 Creators had been announced, each of the influencers posted about the campaign, generating even more visibility for RevGenius.
Here’s what Lashay Lewis, a content marketer and GTM strategist, posted about her feature in the NEXT 50 list:
RevGenius also partnered with 150 thought leaders and 100 campaign ambassadors to lend credibility to the campaign.
Through this collective effort, the campaign earned 1.2 million impressions across different platforms.
Key Takeaways
With this campaign, RevGenius recognized some of the top voices in the B2B industry.
It generated enough hype to reach an audience of over 6 million people across LinkedIn, email, and Slack.
Jared Robin shared the campaign results, detailing the impressions garnered across all channels:
The campaign also built social proof, establishing credibility for the brand by showing that the top creators are a part of RevGenius.
Eventually, it became a movement to support emerging talent in the B2B space.
5. “The Future of Soda is Now” by Poppi
- Campaign type: Television and YouTube ad
Soda brand, Poppi took a bold step with its Super Bowl ad, imagining a future where soda is no longer seen as unhealthy.
This futuristic campaign showed a world where Poppi reigns as the healthy soda alternative, packed with clean ingredients and fewer calories.
It’s a great marketing campaign example because it emphasizes Poppi’s positioning of healthy soda and sells an idea and not just a product.
Key Takeaways
According to Samba TV, Poppi’s “Future of Soda is Now” campaign was the most-watched ad of Super Bowl 2024, reaching over 29.1 million households.
The ad also increased activity on Poppi’s social accounts by 250% and boosted their Google search volume tenfold.
This campaign offers a key lesson for implementing a high-stakes marketing campaign like a Super Bowl ad: you must focus on building a rapport with your audience rather than simply promoting your brand.
6. “All Together on Linktree” by Linktree
- Campaign type: OOH advertising and creator marketing
Linktree is a platform that helps you compile multiple links on a single link-in-bio page—a feature often used by digital creators.
The SaaS brand launched an out-of-home advertising campaign with billboards in the heart of Times Square, featuring creators who are currently making waves.
From Challan Trishann to Paige Gallagher, these emerging influencers represented Linktree’s commitment to giving creators a voice.
Here’s the billboard and blog created for comedian Tina Friml:
Besides billboards, the brand also interviewed each of the creators on their blog as a way to share their stories.
This all made the campaign feel personal and grounded.
The brand also collaborated with celebrated authors, singers, athletes, and others to give the campaign more weight and maximize the hype.
Key Takeaways
Linktree combined creative storytelling with OOH advertising to create a sense of community and strengthen its brand image.
These billboards and blog posts offered visibility to creators who use Linktree, showcasing how the brand truly cares about its audience.
This also makes it a great example of building customer advocacy through marketing campaigns.
As a result, the campaign posts gained significant visibility on social platforms like TikTok.
Here’s a TikTok post on Linktree’s profile that’s gained over 200k views and 8,000+ likes:
7. “Wholly Fruit” by Welch’s
- Campaign type: Television ad
Welch’s is a family-run brand that sells fruit jams, jellies, juices and more.
They partnered with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay for their “Wholly Fruits” advertising campaign.
This campaign showcased how the brand prepares its products using the entire fruit—peel, pulp, and skin. It also informed people about Welch’s high-quality manufacturing processes.
While the message in itself was great, involving a relevant celebrity like Gordon Ramsay amplified this campaign further.
Gordon Ramsay explained that, as a father of six, he’s had Welch snacks in his pantry for a long time. He shared that his role as Welch’s “Chief Fruit Officer” was personal and authentic.
Key Takeaways
What makes this one of the best marketing campaign examples is its meaningful celebrity endorsement.
Instead of a random celebrity, Welch partnered with a long-time customer, Gordon Ramsay.
The campaign also presented an important contrast between Welch’s premium products and those of its low-quality competitors.
It created a strong narrative delivered by a respected celebrity in the food industry—that’s a win-win.
8. “So Yeah, We Tried Slack …” by Slack
- Campaign type: YouTube advertising
Slack, the popular team communications platform, released a YouTube ad titled “So yeah, we tried Slack.”
With over a million views, this video became a great ad campaign example because of its realistic and humorous messaging.
In the video, employees of a fictional company, Sandwich Video, are caught in the daily grind and struggle to communicate effectively.
Through creative storytelling and funny, relatable scenarios, the ad visualizes the headaches of poor communication—and how Slack can make them disappear.
Key Takeaways
Slack’s example shows that advertising doesn’t need to be boring.
You can create engaging ads with a touch of storytelling to appeal to your target audience.
The video has gained over a million views, with 100+ comments praising the unique storytelling, or nodding at recognition of their own office struggles.
Many viewers also realized Slack’s value as a communication tool.
The campaign shows how you can weave a fictional story to share the real problems your buyers frequently face.
An approach like this can make your ads more realistic and help people better understand your product or service in their own context.
9. “It Starts with a Swipe” by Tinder
- Campaign type: Video marketing
****** app Tinder produced a unique and exciting video marketing campaign entitled “It Starts with a Swipe.”
The video campaign immerses you in playful yet relatable narratives that bring familiar ******** scenarios to life.
It features a male and female character enacting common ******** clichés with a humorous, modern-day twist.
There’s the swoon-worthy slow-motion encounter, the awkward mishap, and the inevitable grand ******** gesture.
But just when it feels like you’ve seen it all before, the video introduces a modern-day spin inspired by real-life conversations.
In turn, the campaign videos have gained millions of views and likes.
Key Takeaways
By using humor and familiar pop-culture references, Tinder made sure its Gen Z audience felt seen.
The campaign poked fun at the overly dramatic and romanticized stories of past generations to add authenticity.
The message was simple: while your life may not play out like a movie, Tinder can help you create real, memorable experiences.
It’s a great marketing campaign example that resonates, showing the brand truly understands its audience.
10. “Gaby” by Semrush
- Campaign type: Social media marketing
Semrush’s global marketing campaign, “Gaby,” stands out for its ability to humanize the B2B brand through authentic storytelling.
Gaby is a real customer who embodies Semrush’s personality traits: energetic, friendly, and bold.
The campaign showcases Gaby’s life as an SEO marketer by day and DJ by *****. It aims to inspire marketers to work effortlessly with Semrush and enjoy their personal lives.
The campaign increased social media engagement by 370%, with each video gaining millions of views.
Key Takeaways
This campaign highlights how showcasing real and raw customer stories can make your brand more relatable to customers.
By showcasing your product through a real customer’s perspective, you can build trust, demonstrate its use cases, and present an authentic brand image.
11. “Holiday Marketing” by Ethel M Chocolates
- Campaign type: Social media ads
Ethel M Chocolates is a 40-year-old gourmet chocolate brand.
During the gift-giving season, the brand launched its biggest social media campaign of the year to promote its holiday edition gifts.
The campaign included a series of video ads designed to capture the joy and warmth of the festive season.
The videos also tied the beauty of Ethel M’s chocolates to the emotions of giving thoughtful, high-quality gifts to loved ones.
With the sights and sounds of the festive season woven throughout, Ethel M’s campaign was a hit. The ads were so memorable, they increased brand recall purchases by 17 points.
The ads also boosted brand awareness, with a 4.7-point increase in purchase intent.
Key Takeaways
Ethel M’s holiday ads lean into the storytelling of the festive season.
As well as advertising its products, the brand focuses on the tradition of gift-giving. It builds emotional context around chocolates as an essential part of holiday celebrations.
Like Ethel M Chocolates, you can launch holiday campaigns that showcase your products with a strong emotional pull.
Grab people’s attention with meaningful visuals and add a compelling offer to generate more leads.
12. “Dil Se, Design Tak” by Canva
- Campaign type: Localized marketing
Canva, the design and communication tool, ran a localized marketing campaign for its fifth-largest market, India.
The six-minute video tells the heartwarming story of a young professional putting together a farewell presentation for a beloved colleague.
Using Canva, the protagonist brings their emotions and creativity to life in a way that resonates deeply with viewers.
The campaign visualizes the idea that Canva helps you express your creativity and turn your instincts into reality.
Key Takeaways
Canva’s video gained over 3 million views, as well as hundreds of positive comments showing how much people loved it.
Here are some comments praising the ad’s story and concept:
Localized marketing campaigns like Canva’s are great for tailoring your message to a specific community.
It tells the local audience how well you understand them, and helps strengthen your connection to people.
13. “Meet Your Shoes” by Allbirds
- Campaign type: Video and audio ads
Allbirds, a footwear brand, collaborated with Spotify to launch their “Meet Your Shoes” holiday marketing campaign.
It was based on the premise that Allbirds shoes take you on an epic journey to find their source.
In a series of videos, the main character takes a lengthy journey to discover the materials used to create Allbirds’s Tree Runners and Wool Runners: eucalyptus groves and humanely raised Merino sheep.
The brand also made video ads for different social media platforms, which were converted into audio ads for Spotify.
The campaign produced solid results on Spotify, with 1.5x higher ad recall and a 457% boost in brand awareness for Allbirds.
Key Takeaways
Allbirds created a unique cross-platform experience by combining video and audio ads to reach its target audience with a consistent message.
The campaign’s creative first-person storytelling approach works well because it doesn’t commoditize shoes.
Instead, it presents Allbirds’s product as part of an adventurous experience.
14. “Open the Bar” by Cutwater
- Campaign type: Offline marketing
Cutwater is a craft spirits brand that sells flavored cocktails in cans.
The brand launched the “Open the Bar” campaign to promote its holiday concierge service during the festive season.
The campaign provides a hotline number where callers can get the best cocktail recommendations tailored to their personal preferences.
It’s a great example of experiential marketing, where people can directly interact and engage with a brand.
Cutwater also updated its canned cocktail packaging to promote the hotline to holiday shoppers.
Finally, they created short videos to illustrate how Cutwater cocktails can transform holiday get-togethers.
Key Takeaways
This campaign was timed around the festive season to capture peak holiday demand.
Cutwater wanted to make its award-winning cocktails more accessible, and this campaign offered a visual refresh to boost sales for its canned cocktails.
Some of these video ads garnered millions of views, like this one:
The special packaging for this campaign maximized its visibility right at the point of purchase to engage the audience.
This multichannel marketing strategy also delivered a personalized experience with cocktail recommendations tailored to individual preferences.
15. “Demo Dundies” by Storylane
- Campaign type: User-generated content (UGC) marketing
Storylane, which produces interactive demo creation software, launched a campaign called “Demo Dundies.”
Inspired by the hit show The Office, the campaign encouraged Storylane users to showcase the best demos they had created using the platform.
The team collected this user-generated content and asked its community to vote for the best demos across different categories.
Here’s a list of the winning demos for the six categories in Demo Dundies:
Key Takeaways
This campaign was instantly relatable because of its pop culture tie-in with The Office. It likely attracted participation from fans of the show and generated a level of excitement.
It’s also a great example of tapping into UGC for brand and product marketing.
Over 100 Storylane users nominated their interactive demos for these awards.
By encouraging users to create and nominate their demos, Storylane showcased how people use its platform and highlighted various use cases and features.
16. “AR Lens Ads” by Wagner Pizza
- Campaign type: Social media ads
Wagner Pizza is one of Germany’s leading brands of frozen pizzas.
The brand ran an exciting social media ad campaign to launch its newest products, Brezel Pizza and Brezel Piccolinis.
This campaign was run exclusively on Snapchat in January 2024.
Wagner created an augmented reality Snapchat filter where people could play a game to create a pizza from scratch.
The brand also used other ad formats on Snapchat and partnered with 14 popular creators to promote its latest launches.
The campaign increased ad awareness for Wagner Pizza by 10 points, and product awareness.
Key Takeaways
This is a great campaign example because it combines multiple tactics: creator marketing, advertising, and interactive content.
It also shows how campaigns with a narrow focus can help you reach a high-intent audience.
Since it focused only on Snapchat, Wagner Pizza targeted a younger audience and delivered an entertaining experience.
17. “I **** You, Acrobat” by Adobe
- Campaign type: Television ad
Adobe Acrobat launched a video marketing campaign with popular comedian Hasan Minhaj.
The ad highlighted the transformation experienced by replacing manual workflows with Adobe.
The video depicts a real-life scene of a typical office where employees are bogged down with paper documents.
Hasan Minhaj introduces them to Adobe’s Acrobat suite of tools. The employees could then digitize their entire operations and get work done faster.
It’s a funny, edgy, and relatable ad, and Hasan’s presence makes it all the more memorable.
This campaign earned 29m+ impressions across social channels. Acrobat also saw a 7% increase in its subscribers and a 10% boost in brand value, compared to the previous quarter.
Key Takeaways
Adobe uses an engaging and humorous tone to highlight its image as a forward-thinking company.
And, as an actual Adobe user and a small business owner with a product company, Hasan was the perfect choice for this campaign.
More importantly, the ad campaign communicates a clear and direct product message.
It highlights (and visualizes) how Adobe helps businesses move away from outdated processes to build greater efficiency for the entire organization.
Common Traits That Make These Campaigns Effective
Let’s break down some parameters behind the success of these marketing campaigns:
- Emotion-driven storytelling: Relatable storytelling is one of the most common traits across all our marketing campaign examples. When you speak your audience’s language, you can win their trust and encourage engagement.
- Cross-platform marketing: Successful campaigns reach a broad audience across different platforms. This is where tools like Ads Launch Assistant can automate campaign management and maximize your reach on different platforms.
- Clear and targeted messaging: A strong message is the hallmark of every great marketing campaign. You can discuss your audience’s pain points or the brand’s mission, but the message has to be clear, direct, and easily understandable.
- Creator partnerships: Creators can give your campaigns an added layer of trust and influence. Whether you collaborate with A-list celebrities or upcoming creators, you can use these partnerships to build brand credibility.
With these tips and examples, you’re all set to build your next marketing campaign.
Create a Marketing Campaign that People Will ****
That’s a wrap for our handpicked recommendations of the best marketing campaign examples. Bookmark this list to ideate, create and launch a campaign on any channel.
Remember: there’s no secret sauce to cooking up a viral marketing campaign. It all comes down to your messaging and targeting strategy.
If you’re planning ad campaigns for Google and social media platforms, automate your efforts with Ads Launch Assistant.
Sign up for free and create your first campaign to see how it can help.
Source link : Semrush.com
