As we reflect on a transformative year in the world of marketing, it’s clear that creativity and innovation have reached new heights.
In an era where it’s becoming harder and harder to beat the noise and generate engagement, brands have had to push boundaries and explore new ideas to captivate and connect with their consumers.
In this article, we have pulled together six of the best video campaigns, social media campaigns, and campaigns using advanced technology that we thought stood out and left lasting impressions.
Video campaigns
Norwich City FC - You Are Not Alone
Norwich City launched a mental health campaign video to mark World Mental Health Day this year. The video, which has now been viewed over 55 million times, is titled ‘You Are Not Alone’, focuses on the significant message that is not always obvious when someone is struggling with their mental health, and how it is important to check in on those around you.
The story of the campaign, which shows one man who is clearly struggling with his mental health and one who appears to be ok, packs a powerful ending that hits home with viewers.
The video campaign was produced in partnership with Samaritans, a 24/7 suicide prevention helpline, received global acclaim and has recently been made available to all to download, after receiving numerous requests to use the video in educational settings.
JD - Bag for Life
JD Sports Christmas video campaign this year takes a different style to the usual Christmassy ads of John Lewis, M&S and more. It is an embodiment of British Youth Culture, focusing on their famous yellow crossbody drawstring bag.
Featuring rappers such as Central Cee and Kano, the video follows a group of JD customers throughout different genuine Christmas moments, getting together with family and hanging out with friends, all whilst wearing the JD crossbody bag. The focus on the JD bag and the authenticity scenes of the ad shows the huge role that JD has played, and still does in youth culture today.
Chris Waters, Marketing Director at JD Europe commented “JD has always been the force behind propelling youth culture forwards, and we want to commend the unique place that the brand is fortunate enough to occupy,”
The video ad complements their out-of-home campaign, which showed shots of ‘unknown’ models wearing the iconic bag. The campaign then switched the images of the around to reveal the models identities; celebrities and youth culture icons.
Generative AI / CGI Campaigns
The North Face - Big Ben
The North Face Campaign (Big Ben, London) pic.twitter.com/ZnYRn0I282
— Shtreetwear (@Shtreetwear) November 9, 2023
A video of the famous Big Ben in London wearing a North Face jacket went viral online this winter when it was posted by fashion company Shreetwear on X.
In the short clip, Londoners were seen stopping to take pictures of the famous landmark and commenting on how crazy it was. With limited context to the video, viewers were left amazed, confused, and discussing the frenzy online.
The video, which has now received 25 million views on its original post, was altered using CGI, but was praised online for its original creativity.
Coca-Cola - Y3000
Coca-Cola has well and truly harnessed the power of artificial intelligence, using AI to assist create a brand new limited edition flavour that evokes the future, called ‘Y3000’.
The new flavour aims to understand how Coca Cola fans, together with AI, envisioned the future of the soft drink, from colours and flavours to capturing emotions and aspirations, helping appeal to younger audience.
As part of the campaign, Coca Cola took over the new Las Vegas Sphere to showcase its future-inspired drink and take passers-by into a futuristic cityscape. The sphere-takeover goes hand-in-hand with Coca Cola’s Y3000 AI Cam, which encourages users to take pictures of their surroundings and transform them into futuristic visuals using AI.
The campaign was developed by WPP Open X/Ogilvy and Virtue.
Social Media Campaigns
Dove - #DetoxYourFeed
Dove is a brand that usually focuses on social causes in their campaigns, from body empowerment, to inclusion, diversity, beauty stereotypes and now focusing on the toxic messages that can be sent to young girls directly through influencers, when scrolling on their phone.
The #DetoxYourFeed campaign is part of the Dove Self-Esteem Project, a project that helps build up young people’s self-esteem through providing educational resources and programmes and has empowered over 94 million young people since 2004.
The #DetoxYourFeed social media campaign video above, involves inviting mothers and their daughters to discuss the beauty industry on social media. Use face mapping technology, Dove created fake videos of the mothers sharing toxic beauty advice with their daughters, creating shock to both the daughter and the mother, who was adamant she would never say such a thing.
The video left with the powerful message of ‘You wouldn’t say that to your daughter. But she still hears it online, every day.’
The #DetoxYourFeed campaign has been used over 27,000 times on Instagram and its video has over 3 million views on YouTube.
McDonalds - #RaiseYourArches
Everyone knows McDonalds for their famous golden arches. McDonalds launched their #RaiseYourArches campaign in January 2023.
Rather than showing the actual product in their campaign video, McDonalds uses raised eyebrows as a symbol for the anticipation that awaits when you are waiting for your McDonalds order and invites fans to use the facial expression to suggest the idea to their friends.
Even though the product wasn’t shown, research company System1 tested the ad with 150 consumers, of which 98% recognised that the campaign was McDonalds before the end of 60 seconds, showing how exceptional their brand identity and recognition is.
The campaign included a series of videos, social media posts, influencer marketing and AR filters on Snapchat and Instagram to encourage fans to engage with the content online.
This year has been the start of a new benchmark for advertising. These campaigns have not only pushed the boundaries of technological creativity but used exceptional storytelling to foster real emotional connections with its audiences.