Campaign Trail
Campaign Trail is Marketing Dive's look at some of the best new creative efforts from the marketing world.
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Courtesy of StreetEasy
ColumnCampaign Trail: StreetEasy illustrates house-hunting odyssey as Renaissance art
Created with Mother New York, “Let The Journey Begin” imagines the steps of buying a home in New York City in the style of Renaissance frescoes.
By Chris Kelly • April 12, 2024 -
Courtesy of Skims
ColumnCampaign Trail: Skims clones Kim Kardashian for first TV push
Created with Wieden + Kennedy, the cinematic effort looks to launch the shapewear brand for a national audience with a bold but playful story.
By Chris Kelly • March 29, 2024 -
Courtesy of Manscaped
ColumnCampaign Trail: Manscaped envisions ‘the boys’ as mini-mes in branding push
The male grooming brand known for raunchy innuendo leans on Pereira O’Dell and a striking visual metaphor as it reaches beyond performance marketing.
By Chris Kelly • March 15, 2024 -
Courtesy of Kayak
ColumnCampaign Trail: Kayak shows limits of DIY with absurd, AI-powered ads
Despite using AI at nearly every stage of the creative process, Supernatural’s Paul Caiozzo says, “AI is not magic — it's just people using different tools.”
By Chris Kelly • March 1, 2024 -
Courtesy of CeraVe
ColumnCampaign Trail: CeraVe got weird with Michael Cera to win the Super Bowl
Led by Ogilvy PR North America, the social- and influencer-focused campaign used earned media to amplify the brand’s first big game ad.
By Chris Kelly • Feb. 16, 2024 -
Courtesy of Teleflora
ColumnCampaign Trail: Teleflora tells real stories to overcome love cynicism
The floral delivery service and the in-house agency at parent The Wonderful Company used a documentary approach to prove that romance isn't dead.
By Chris Kelly • Feb. 2, 2024 -
Retrieved from Dr. Squatch on January 18, 2024
ColumnCampaign Trail: Dr. Squatch uses hypnosis to inspire ‘Big Bricc Energy’
The digitally native men’s grooming brand goes beyond raunchy puns to address men's mental health through hypnotic videos.
By Chris Kelly • Jan. 19, 2024 -
Dec 28, 2023; Orlando, FL, USA; Pop Tart mascot signals the end of the celebration after the game at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports
ColumnCampaign Trail: Pop-Tarts’ edible mascot made ‘ultimate sacrifice’ to win bowl season
The Kellanova brand dominated social media with a game-day activation that embraced dark, weird humor.
By Chris Kelly • Jan. 5, 2024 -
Courtesy of Campbell Soup Company
ColumnCampaign Trail: Snyder’s pretzels save gingerbread people from houses made of themselves
The effort includes a PSA-style spot for YouTube and social video that riffs on a macabre observation about a longstanding holiday tradition.
By Chris Kelly • Dec. 15, 2023 -
Courtesy of Steak-umm
ColumnCampaign Trail: How Steak-umm deepfaked real vegans into meat eaters
Created with agency Tombras, “DeepSteaks” arrives as generative AI makes it even easier for bad actors to manipulate peoples’ likenesses.
By Chris Kelly • Dec. 1, 2023 -
Courtesy of Postmates
ColumnCampaign Trail: Postmates animates food-fueled fever dreams
Created by Mother in LA, “This Is Your Brain on Food” uses different illustrators to visualize the emotions created by BBQ, boba tea and beyond.
By Chris Kelly • Nov. 10, 2023 -
Courtesy of Pom Wonderful
ColumnCampaign Trail: Pom Wonderful transforms free radicals into monsters
An effort from in-house shop Wonderful Agency timed to spooky season pits the brand’s signature juice against vampires, ghosts and aliens.
By Chris Kelly • Oct. 27, 2023 -
Courtesy of Intuit Mailchimp
ColumnCampaign Trail: Mailchimp has a ball turning ‘clustomers’ into customers
In-house agency Wink Creative used generative AI to come up with a “circus act” production that shows how the brand wants to be Coinstar for marketers.
By Chris Kelly • Oct. 13, 2023 -
Courtesy of Hi-Chew
ColumnCampaign Trail: Hi-Chew imagines a fruit-full world with Gen Z in mind
Crafted with creative agency Gigasavvy, the cult-favorite candy brand's new spot asks young consumers to "Choose Different. Choose Fun."
By Chris Kelly • Sept. 29, 2023 -
Courtesy of Samsung
ColumnCampaign Trail: Samsung unleashes interns on a tablet in metatextual ad
Instead of the usual spec-focused spot, BBH USA parodied the creative process to promote the Galaxy Tab S9 Series.
By Chris Kelly • Sept. 15, 2023 -
Courtesy of Tractor Beverage Company
ColumnCampaign Trail: Tractor escapes soda dystopia through hand-drawn animation
The organic beverage company tapped an agency created for progressive challenger brands and crafted a fully realized world to take on industry giants.
By Chris Kelly • Sept. 1, 2023 -
Courtesy of Adidas
ColumnCampaign Trail: Adidas takes football off the pitch to elevate female stars
Created in collaboration with several TBWA shops, “Play Until They Can’t Look Away” celebrates the players helping to bring full equality to the game.
By Chris Kelly • Aug. 18, 2023 -
Courtesy of CSAA Insurance Group
ColumnCampaign Trail: CSAA Insurance unites boy band vets as ‘Boys No More’
Deloitte Digital and Heavy Duty Projects brought together pop culture icons for a pitch-perfect song and video that tap into nostalgia.
By Chris Kelly • Aug. 4, 2023 -
Courtesy of Guerlain
ColumnCampaign Trail: Guerlain engages AI to take its iconic bottle back to the future
Creative agency Mnstr used generative AI art to reimagine 170 years of the LVMH brand’s past — and predict 170 years into its future.
By Chris Kelly • July 21, 2023 -
Courtesy of Samsonite
ColumnCampaign Trail: Samsonite taps into nostalgia for golden age of travel
Gen Z and millennial consumers saw the brand as one their parents favored, an insight that informed a campaign created with ad agency Iris.
By Chris Kelly • July 7, 2023 -
Courtesy of U by Kotex
ColumnCampaign Trail: U by Kotex unapologetically normalizes periods
A bold, multichannel approach by the Kimberly-Clark brand ditches euphemisms as part of ongoing efforts to reduce stigmas around menstruation.
By Chris Kelly • June 23, 2023 -
Retrieved from Waterloo Sparkling Water on June 06, 2023
ColumnCampaign Trail: Waterloo Sparkling Water taps AI to bring brand to life
Created with agency Agent A, an evolution of the “Water Down Nothing” campaign helped the challenger brand bring buzzy tech to a growing category.
By Chris Kelly • June 9, 2023 -
Permission granted by Don Julio
ColumnCampaign Trail: Don Julio’s fantastical disco day party introduces a new innovation
The Diageo distiller created a vibrant, pink-hued world to position its new Rosado expression as the daytime counterpart to its popular 1942 product.
By Chris Kelly • May 26, 2023 -
Courtesy of Squarespace
ColumnCampaign Trail: Squarespace showcases how it makes anything possible
In the follow-up to its Super Bowl spot, the website-making company explores the outer limits of its “Everything to Sell Anything” slogan.
By Chris Kelly • May 12, 2023 -
Courtesy of DoorDash
ColumnCampaign Trail: DoorDash proves McDonald’s food is iconic — even in motion
No Fixed Address reduced the Big Mac and McMuffin to their essential elements for a print and out-of-home effort that ran in Canada.
By Chris Kelly • April 28, 2023
