Every December we publish a rundown of innovative marketing campaigns for the year. We handpick campaigns from established companies that have received awards and recognition or that we encountered directly.
Here is a list of outstanding marketing campaigns for 2024. The campaigns feature collaborations, dupes, celebrity spots, mobile apps, mascots, dance routines, pop-ups, and AI-powered videos.
Heineken – Boring Mode
Heineken – The Boring Phone
In a campaign to help people socialize, Heineken released The Boring Mode app. With a single swipe, The Boring Mode turns a smartphone into a boring phone, blocking other social and work apps, notifications, and even the camera for a set period. During events, including the Amsterdam Dance Event and Live Out Festival in Mexico, Heineken activated hidden messages when people held up their mobile phones to encourage them to turn their smartphones boring and keep the moment in their memory, not on their phones.
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McDonald’s – McDonnell’s Chicken Big Mac Pop-Up
McDonald’s Chicken Big Mac
McDonald’s secretly introduced a Chicken Big Mac, a spin on the classic menu item through a dupe of an L.A. pop-up called McDonnell’s by Chain. McDonald’s also enlisted influencer Kai Cenat to stir debate on whether or not a Chicken Big Mac is a Big Mac. McDonald’s then launched the Chicken Big Mac on October 10, allowing followers to order the item and decide for themselves.
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Squarespace – Rick Rubin
Squarespace teamed up with creative visionary Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and former co-president of Columbia Records, to build Tetragrammaton, an online world of curated materials, and a new website template, Transmission. Inspired by Rubin’s Tetragrammaton, Transmission is a minimally designed, customizable framework for anyone to share their interests, with layouts showcasing audiovisual media and members-only content.
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Qatar Airways – Star in Your Own Adventure
Qatar Airways launched an AI-powered “Star in Your Own Adventure” campaign, in which viewers select from multiple scenes within a film to star in the leading roles. Through AI technology, the characters become a reflection of the viewer’s appearance, adapting to their facial features and skin tone. The immersive experience now offers holiday-centric moments, including an elf, snowman, gingerbread person, and cheerful characters, inviting participants to star in their personalized holiday-themed Qatar Airways film.
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Calvin Klein – Jeremy Allen White
Calvin Klein has launched its winter 2024 collection campaign, starring Jeremy Allen White from “The Bear” television series. This is the third global campaign with White. While the previous two focused on White in Calvin Klein’s emblematic underwear, the new campaign features classic, understated styles, demonstrating the brand’s ability to remain relevant and give fans what they want.
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Liquid Death – E.l.f. Cosmetics
Liquid Death canned water collaborated with E.l.f. Cosmetics to launch Corpse Paint. Liquid Death wants to help consumers “murder” their thirst and prefers irreverent and organic marketing over advertising. Brand collaborations allow Liquid Death to inject its spirit and provide the partner brand with an opportunity to expand and do something unexpected. The Corpse Paint collaboration captured more than 250 million social impressions. Other recent collaborations with Liquid Death include sparkling water with ice cream chain Van Leeuwen and a casket cooler with Yeti.
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Airbnb – Polly Pocket
Mattel is celebrating Polly Pocket‘s 35th birthday by making the pocket-sized doll an Airbnb host and opening her two-story Slumber Party Fun compact, a 42-foot-tall structure in Littleton, Massachusetts. Guests experienced a retro picnic, beauty fun with Polly’s vanity, fashion try-ons with Polly’s closet, slumber party fun in Polly’s Action Park Tent, and more. Guests booked stays for September 12 to 14. Polly’s home was also opened for 21 daytime experiences for up to 12 guests each from September 16 to October 6. Guests were responsible for travel to and from Littleton, Massachusetts. The location showed the popularity of Airbnb.
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Gap – “Get Loose” with Troye Sivan
Gap ran a fall 2024 campaign called “Get Loose,” which starred global pop star Troye Sivan and the dance group CDK Company. Set to Thundercat’s viral hit “Funny Thing,” the film features original choreography showcasing dancers in baggy and loose-fit denim. Sivan is known for his music videos, featuring elaborate and sometimes racy dance routines, and has a combined social following of over 39 million. As part of the campaign, Sivan created an in-store playlist on Spotify. With the Thundercat soundtrack, Gap is tapping into viral TikTok songs, celebrity ambassadors, and dance-heavy advertising to reach Gen Z consumers.
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Pop-Tarts – Edible Mascots
In 2023, Pop-Tarts signed a multi-year agreement to become the title sponsor of the college football Pop-Tarts Bowl game, originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic. To celebrate the event, Pop-Tarts launched the “first edible mascot” last December. The Kansas State football team devoured a Frosted Strawberry mascot in a viral event on social media. For this year, the game’s MVP will select one of three flavors to “ascend to ‘mouth heaven.’” In the run-up to the game, consumers can guess the third flavor, purchase limited-edition Pop-Tarts Printed Fun Mascot Packs, and follow along on Instagram and TikTok.
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Coca-Cola – AI-powered Christmas Ads
Coca-Cola launched three short AI-generated video ads for Christmas, and the results have sparked backlash on social media and in the press. Three AI studios (Secret Level, Silverside AI, and Wild Card) produced the ads using the generative AI models Leonardo, Luma, Runway, and Kling. The ads highlight the weaknesses and limitations of current video-generation models, such as difficulties with proportionality and natural movement. While the ads are essentially derivatives of the Coca-Cola Christmas ads from 1995, the new AI-powered experiments have drawn much attention and sparked conversation, which is not necessarily bad.
