Creativity confirmed indicators of rising from a darkish interval throughout 2024’s first half as entrepreneurs shook off the hangover from a pair of years that pummeled budgets. A resurgence in model constructing might be a response to the perceived overcorrection towards efficiency advertising for the reason that pandemic. Entrepreneurs are additionally vying to show their price as many firms mull adopting generative synthetic intelligence, a know-how that has already spurred some companies to trim their human expertise, to a lot consternation.
Signaling the vibe shift, 2024 started with folks nonetheless buzzing over a headline-grabbing stunt from the vacations, when Pop-Tarts launched a pastry mascot to its school bowl recreation that was willfully sacrificed as a meal for the successful workforce. A mix of grotesque and humorous, “The First Edible Mascot” ploy created with Weber Shandwick helped set the tone for the months forward and went on to say the Model Expertise and Activation Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in June.
Entrepreneurs didn’t at all times land on assured footing in H1. Tone-deaf adverts — together with a number of produced in-house — ignited the fallacious kind of PR whereas events just like the Tremendous Bowl delivered few water-cooler dialog starters. Danger-taking remained uncommon as entrepreneurs felt torn between wanting to maintain tempo with tradition and keep away from touchdown within the social media sizzling seat.
“There’s a lot promoting on the market that it’s straightforward to turn out to be wallpaper,” mentioned Chris Bellinger, chief artistic officer at PepsiCo Meals U.S., who was behind one of many yr’s finest campaigns to this point this yr. “Placing one thing on the market that nobody feels something [about] or reacts to it’s simply not price it.”
Beneath, Advertising Dive has assembled essentially the most impactful advertising from the yr’s first half that confirmed manufacturers mastering media technique, new know-how and different bets that resonated with shoppers.
Stephen Tobolowsky stars in a Lay’s advert that nods to his function because the infernally annoying Ned Ryerson within the movie “Groundhog Day.”
Courtesy of Frito-Lay North America
Lay’s provocative media purchase channels ‘Groundhog Day’
Seeing the identical advert a number of occasions throughout a single broadcast (and even advert break) is a well-recognized frustration. On Groundhog Day, Lay’s leaned into advert frequency insanity by working eight spots a complete of 75 occasions on ABC, a media purchase representing one-third of the Disney community’s business stock. Most Effort, Kimmelot and OMD assisted on “Groundhog Lay’s,” which obtained 1.4 billion earned media impressions.
To hammer house the repetitiveness, artistic paid homage to “Groundhog Day,” with Stephen Tobolowsky (who performed Ned Ryerson within the movie) visiting the checkout counter a number of occasions and reliving the identical anodyne dialog. Every of the adverts reveals a distinct Lay’s chip, constructing on the storyline as Tobolowsky realizes he’s trapped in a time loop.
“Groundhog Lay’s” got here collectively in simply two weeks based mostly on a Most Effort pitch whereas the commercials have been filmed in a single day, breaking the standard method to vacation advertising campaigns which are normally months within the making. With little room to check, the PepsiCo snack model was capable of take greater dangers.
“I feel that really gave us much more freedom and leeway to take some swings and have some enjoyable,” mentioned PepsiCo’s Bellinger.
“Groundhog Lay’s” represented the uncommon revolutionary media purchase in 2024, a yr that has seen linear TV advert spending decline additional. And whereas some viewers — notably these of “Normal Hospital ” — griped in regards to the blitz, general sentiment was 93% optimistic.
“You possibly can’t purchase that form of dialog,” mentioned Bellinger. “Stay TV was the explanation this was capable of work, as a result of [the spots] have been in sequence … It was appointment TV, which was nice.”
CeraVe scores a Tremendous Bowl win with Michael Cera
Amid a sea of play-it-safe adverts at this yr’s Tremendous Bowl, few have been as well-received as CeraVe’s gloriously bizarre activation with Michael Cera. The advert, which positioned the actor because the wannabe mastermind behind the L’Oréal skincare model, was additionally an outlier for its reliance on earned media. The ultimate spot served because the fruits of a weekslong hype-building play spanning Instagram movies, paparazzi photographs, influencer unboxings and podcast appearances.
“We didn’t have a Tremendous Bowl TV advert with an influencer 360 extension, we had a guerrilla influencer marketing campaign that had a TV advert,” mentioned Adam Kornblum, world chief artistic at L’Oréal.
The hassle, which teased CeraVe’s first-ever large recreation advert by leaving shoppers questioning what its ties to Cera have been, climaxed days earlier than the sport with the launch of iamcerave.com and a video spot. The sport day business — the place Cera asks shoppers to “let my cream hydrate you” — ended with the model asserting it’s truly dermatologist developed.
I feel this marketing campaign in all probability modified the way in which persons are going to method the Tremendous Bowl subsequent yr.
Adam Kornblum
World chief artistic, L’Oréal
The marketing campaign was developed and executed with WPP, led by Ogilvy PR North America, and was strategized to align with the model’s social-first technique, which has helped it win over Gen Z, whereas additionally assembly CeraVe’s dedication to “edutainment,” mentioned Charlie Tansill, Ogilvy North America’s president of PR, affect and social.
In whole, the marketing campaign achieved over 32 billion earned impressions and was ranked the simplest Tremendous Bowl marketing campaign on TikTok by advert analysis firm Daivid. The hassle, which received the Social and Influencer Grand Prix on the Cannes Lions Worldwide Competition of Creativity, additionally skyrocketed gross sales for the model within the weeks following the sport, Tansill mentioned.
“I feel this marketing campaign in all probability modified the way in which persons are going to method the Tremendous Bowl subsequent yr,” mentioned Kornblum.
E.l.f. Magnificence’s “So Many Dicks” marketing campaign facilities round edgy out-of-home visuals in New York’s Monetary District that decision for extra range in U.S. company boardrooms.
Courtesy of E.l.f. Magnificence
E.l.f. facilities on objective with ‘So Many Dicks’ marketing campaign
Goal-driven advertising performs have been few and much between in 2024 as manufacturers proceed to tug away out of worry of backlash, making E.l.f. Magnificence one thing of a trailblazer for its “So Many Dicks” marketing campaign calling for extra range in company boardrooms.
“So Many Dicks” launched in Could and takes its title from the discovering that there are practically as many males named Richard, Rick or Dick as girls from numerous teams on U.S. company boards. E.l.f. is an outlier, because the agency is one among solely 4 U.S. publicly traded firms with a board that’s two-thirds girls and one-third numerous.
An important time to get a message like this out is when the message is being drowned out.
Lisa Topol
Managing accomplice and government artistic director, Oberland
Consideration-grabbing visuals calling out the preponderance of “Dicks” have been positioned round New York’s Monetary District and stretched to the model’s social channels. The range advertising effort, created with company Oberland, notably arrives at a time when others have scaled again their DE&I efforts.
“An important time to get a message like this out is when the message is being drowned out,” mentioned Lisa Topol, managing accomplice and government artistic director for Oberland. “E.l.f. is a purpose-driven model, they usually actually signify that board range.”
The marketing campaign is themed equally to different efforts from E.l.f. and in addition arrives amid a interval of explosive gross sales development. The transfer garnered an overwhelmingly optimistic response, together with calls from others wanting to become involved themselves, mentioned E.l.f. Chief Model Officer Laurie Lam.
“This marketing campaign positively achieved each single one among our objectives and it lives true to our mission,” Lam mentioned.
Heineken’s limited-edition “dumb telephone” lacks web entry and is impressed by brand-commissioned analysis that signifies a need by youthful generations to unplug.
Courtesy of Heineken
Heineken unplugs with ‘The Boring Cellphone’
Regardless of the world rising more and more digital, youthful generations have indicated a need to unplug, a pattern that Heineken tapped into with the discharge of a limited-edition “dumb telephone,” entitled “The Boring Cellphone,” that lacks web entry. The machine was impressed by a brand-commissioned survey of Gen Z and millennial smartphone customers, 37% of whom mentioned they examine their telephones extra usually than they need to whereas out.
The Boring Cellphone has one week of standby time and 20 hours of discuss time. Although a novelty merchandise, the machine is supported by a number of adverts, created in partnership with LePub, that heart on people placing down their smartphones throughout nights out to stay within the second.
“We got here to the belief that smartphones are simply too fascinating for social life. And so the Boring Cellphone concept was born,” mentioned Sol Ghafoor, chief technique officer at LePub, in emailed feedback.
The telephone debuted in April at Milan Design Week in collaboration with streetwear retailer Bodega, a transfer that sees Heineken becoming a member of the pattern of forming non-endemic partnerships to succeed in new audiences.
Inside an hour of launch, over 24,000 people had signed as much as attempt to safe the machine, mentioned Nabil Nasser, world head of Heineken, in emailed feedback. The transfer arrived amid a interval of gross sales development for the model, and up to date recognition at Cannes Lions for different artistic swings.
“The marketing campaign has been one among our most profitable thus far and it’s been nice to see the correlation between robust PR outcomes and shopper engagement,” mentioned Nasser.
Starburst’s new model platform makes use of generative AI for instance the multitude of the way its candies may be eaten.
Courtesy of Starburst
Starburst vividly illustrates taste selection with generative AI
Backlash towards generative AI in advertising is boiling up as platforms produce suboptimal outcomes whereas moral and authorized considerations mount. Some manufacturers are nonetheless threading the needle of their experiments by making use of the emergent tech towards a transparent artistic objective.
Starburst hit the candy spot with “Totally different Each Time,” a marketing campaign that leverages generative AI to boost over 300 bespoke belongings and spotlight the multitude of the way shoppers get pleasure from flavors of the Mars sweet collectively. Developed with Omnicom’s Crew OMC, the trouble marks the introduction of Starburst’s first new model platform and repositioning in over a decade. Snapchat and Spotify integrations spherical out a Gen Z-friendly media plan.
In video adverts, generative AI helps visualize a range of incredible eventualities with completely different aesthetics, from origami-inspired animation to a stroll via of a neon-lit futuristic metropolis. Starburst relied on Getty’s licensed moral AI fashions for the execution and enlisted actual actors and expertise behind the digital camera, addressing considerations that AI would possibly destroy the human contact.
“It was shot with actual expertise and supported with a big manufacturing workforce, in accordance with our coverage on accountable use of AI,” mentioned Heather Stuckey, vp of manufacturers and content material, North America, at Mars, in an e-mail. “The result’s a marketing campaign not solely reflective of the Starburst model, however an instance of what may be achieved when human creativity is augmented by accountable use of AI.”
NBA icons Grant Hill (left) and Anthony Edwards convey again an “Obey Your Thirst” marketing campaign for Sprite that first bowed 30 years in the past. Hill featured within the authentic adverts from 1994.
Courtesy of The Coca-Cola Firm
Sprite reinvents an iconic advert for Gen Z
Dipping into an outdated effectively may be harmful territory for a model. In a tradition beset by remakes, the prospect of coming off as stale or failing to stay as much as previous glories is excessive. Sprite prevented the lazy nostalgia entice with the return of “Obey Your Thirst,” an iconic tagline first launched 30 years in the past that has been up to date for Gen Z.
Sprite established itself as a real challenger model with the unique ‘Obey Your Thirst.’
A.P. Chaney
Senior artistic director, Sprite North America
For the modernization, the lemon-lime tender drink enlisted NBA Corridor of Famer Grant Hill for adverts that reinvent his authentic spots from 1994 whereas passing the baton to Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, recent off an on-court sizzling streak, and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, anticipated to be a star at this summer season’s Olympics.
“Sprite established itself as a real challenger model with the unique ‘Obey Your Thirst.’ As we proceed to push boundaries and have a good time counterculture, we’re deeply linked to the evolving wishes and receptiveness of in the present day’s audiences — which suggests understanding that what it means to ‘obey your thirst’ could also be interpreted in another way in 2024 than it was in 1994,” mentioned A.P. Chaney, senior artistic director for Sprite North America, in an e-mail.
Chaney referred to as out a standalone spot with Richardson that strikes a defiant tone, celebrating resilience and following “the sprinter as she rejects societal expectations and stays true to herself within the face of adversity.”
Businesses Majority and WPP OpenX aided within the effort that speaks to the significance of selling to Gen Z and options “Obey Days,” digital experiences shoppers can entry by scanning QR codes on packaging.
A reminder of a deep cultural connection to basketball and sport comes as Coca-Cola-owned Sprite goes toe-to-toe with Starry, a more moderen providing from rival PepsiCo that signed as an official NBA sponsor final yr. Whereas Starry remains to be attempting to make its mark, “Obey Your Thirst” offers a breezy reminder of Sprite’s legacy in addition to a glance towards the long run.
The Pop-Tarts edible mascot eagerly anticipates its demise at a university bowl recreation sponsored by the model.
Courtesy of Pop-Tarts
Honorable mentions:
‘The First Edible Mascot’ from Pop-Tarts with Weber Shandwick
The Pop-Tarts edible mascot grabbed headlines by balancing the humorous with the disturbing as a model character was gleefully devoured by hungry collegiate athletes. Its absence from the listing is usually the results of a timing technicality: The stunt occurred on Dec. 28.
Samsung’s ‘Creativity Can’t be Crushed’ with BBH USA
This video responding to rival Apple’s “Crush!” artistic misfire — one of many yr’s most controversial adverts — represented a return to the kind of tit-for-tat advertising that has helped drive innovation. However it might’ve been kicked up a notch additional with a stronger paid media plan.
Dove’s ‘The Code’ with Soko and Media.Monks
Dove made a daring proclamation about not utilizing generative AI in lieu of actual fashions in its promoting, however an accompanying marketing campaign despatched blended messages about picture mills. Is the know-how an existential risk to “Actual Magnificence” or a possible empowerment instrument for ladies? Can or not it’s each?
