How the best marketing campaigns of 2025 navigated uncertain times

The savviest marketers cut through chaos with strategies and tactics that portend where advertising could head next year.

By Chris Kelly , Jessica Hammers , Peter Adams , Sara Karlovitch • Dec. 9, 2025

How Hershey remade its iconic holiday ad as an interactive experience

The snack company modernized its 1989 “Holiday Bells” creative by bringing it to life in Rockefeller Center and on digital platforms.

By Chris Kelly • Dec. 5, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Influencer Marketing

Amid a surge in confidence and new platform approaches, brands continue to turn to influencers for fresh content that can reach online consumers.

By Marketing Dive staff

Skims ventures into live entertainment with shoppable TikTok livestream

The apparel brand co-founded by Kim Kardashian sought to draw inspiration from classic holiday variety shows for a 45-minute shopping experience.

By Aaron Baar • Dec. 4, 2025

Glad teams with Oscar the Grouch to revive ‘Don’t Get Mad. Get Glad.’

The Clorox-owned brand partnered with the iconic “Sesame Street” character to reimagine his song, “I Love Trash,” and for a social media giveaway.

By Jessica Hammers • Dec. 4, 2025

PepsiCo’s Mug brand finds Gen Z sweet spot: Fragrance, dogs and TikTok

The quickly growing brand leans into its recent social media successes by launching Daddy’s Home cologne on TikTok Shop.

By Aaron Baar • Dec. 3, 2025

Columbia challenges flat-earthers as part of bolder marketing revamp

In an open letter and social videos, CEO Tim Boyle tasks conspiracy theorists with proving their beliefs for a chance at winning the company’s assets.

By Peter Adams • Dec. 2, 2025

Boss, Lancôme open virtual boutiques with Snapchat’s shoppable AR

Chopard and other luxury brands are featured in the Snapchat Winter Village, a digital activation meant to mimic the in-person shopping experience.

By Jessica Hammers • Dec. 2, 2025

Burger King’s CMO on how a ‘SpongeBob’ collab cuts across generations

The partnership spans new ads, a special menu, toys, packaging, an app takeover, experiential activations and more.

By Chris Kelly • Dec. 1, 2025

Maybelline taps into microdrama trend with holiday content series

The five-part “Maybe This Christmas” reunites the co-stars of Netflix’s “Hot Frosty” with a twisty story promoting Instant Eraser Concealer.

By Peter Adams • Nov. 26, 2025

Why American Eagle tapped Martha Stewart to extend beyond Gen Z

After making headlines with its fall campaign, the retailer is targeting gift givers and recipients alike for the next chapter of its “Give Great Jeans” holiday push. 

By Jessica Hammers • Nov. 25, 2025

Why Kraft Mac & Cheese went hypercontextual for ‘Best Thing Ever’ push

The brand will make its largest media investment to date with a campaign that seeks to reach consumers in unexpected and disruptive ways.

By Chris Kelly • Nov. 24, 2025

Creator ad spend to reach $37B as marketers turn to AI for scale: IAB

While nearly three-quarters of advertisers already use or are planning to use AI in the next year to boost efficiency in the creator space, concerns remain.

By Aaron Baar • Nov. 20, 2025

Carnival combats screen-induced ‘fun deficit’ with new brand platform

New ads starring Nick Offerman tackle doomscrolling while showing the actor enjoying cruise activities like waterslides and bungee jumping.

By Peter Adams • Nov. 20, 2025

How Danone optimizes creator-driven ads as investment surges

CreativeX has developed creator content benchmarks to help advertisers bridge the gap between authenticity and measurable effects.

By Chris Kelly • Nov. 20, 2025

How Unilever is pushing sports marketing beyond broadcast convention

Set to nearly double its spend on U.S. sports marketing, the CPG giant sees the category as emblematic of a shift to “many-to-many” marketing.

By Peter Adams • Nov. 19, 2025

How Gen Z is reshaping holiday marketing — and what brands can do about it

The cohort’s reliance on social media and influencers for product discovery remains, while new levels of comfort with retail media and AI take shape.

By Jessica Hammers • Nov. 19, 2025

E.l.f. bets on power of sound for kinder social media algorithms

A campaign timed to World Kindness Day includes audiovisual stories designed to interrupt consumers’ feeds and combat doomscrolling.

By Jessica Hammers • Nov. 13, 2025

Disney, Snapchat blur the lines between AR and IRL for ‘Zootopia 2’

The multichannel campaign includes activations in popular Los Angeles spots and a Snapchat cameo within the film that reimagines the app as “Snapcat.”

By Aaron Baar • Nov. 13, 2025

Instacart’s animated holiday ads aim to ease pressure amid seasonal chaos

Spots that take a page from Rankin/Bass stop-motion classics were created with Starburns Industries, RadicalMedia and internal shop Local Produce.

By Peter Adams • Nov. 13, 2025

Why marketers like Unilever, State Farm are headed to NBCU’s BravoCon

Bravo’s fan convention for its reality shows led to double-digit lifts in brand recall, purchase intent and emotional engagement for participants in 2023.

By Chris Kelly • Nov. 13, 2025

How McDonald’s turned K-pop fandom into a mass-market cultural play

An experiential activation crafted by the IW Group helped the fast food giant benefit from buzz around the return of BTS.

By Chris Kelly • Nov. 12, 2025

Home Depot’s heartfelt holiday ads showcase Christmas tree farmers

“The Right Tree” tells the story of how the home improvement retailer helps families find their perfect tree and is accompanied by a series of social videos.

By Jessica Hammers • Nov. 10, 2025

Sociable: Documents show Meta earns billions from scam ads, Reuters reports

Meta is aware of the situation and penalizes some scammers with higher ad rates, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters.

By Andrew Hutchinson • Nov. 6, 2025

Chewy ramps up creator storefronts ahead of holiday season

More than 600 creators have signed up for the Chewy Storefronts platform, enabling them to curate shoppable product lists relevant to their audiences.

By Sara Karlovitch • Nov. 6, 2025

Sociable: Snapchat brings Perplexity AI to inboxes

Early next year, Snapchatters will be able to pose questions to the conversational chatbot directly in the Chat interface. 

By Andrew Hutchinson • Nov. 6, 2025