Let’s look at the strategies that last year ensured the rapid growth of world-famous brands. And together with Dmitry Trepolsky, PRonline’s development director, we’ll talk about what a businessman with a limited budget can learn from top companies.
Lay’s – TV commercial
Photo source: Lay’s
While other companies are investing in online advertising, Lay’s is launching TV ads. And proving that TV spots can still make a splash. The chip maker aired eight spots a total of 75 times on ABC on Groundhog Day, recreating the disorienting time loop from the movie of the same name.
In the story, Groundhog Day actor Stephen Tobolowsky plays a grocery store shopper who gradually realizes he’s stuck in “checkout hell.” The strategy was to use a news hook that other companies were ignoring. And it worked: The ad was viewed 1.4 billion times.
What we can learn from this campaign is that it is not worth focusing only on March 8, February 14, New Year and other holidays, for which brands usually prepare the release of new products and advertising messages. Other days of the calendar can be no less successful for attracting customers.
Heineken – Mobile Phone Advertising Campaign
Photo source: Heineken
Heineken decided to use the feeling of nostalgia and take its customers back to the era before smartphones. To encourage disconnection from gadgets, the beer brand launched a mobile app that turns any phone into a “boring phone”: it temporarily blocks applications, notifications and the camera, allowing the user to live in the present. And to enhance the nostalgia for the “good old days”, the brand released a limited series of push-button phones and held a series of music events without smartphones.
The campaign was inspired by a Heineken study that found that 35% of Zoomers and millennials check their phones more often than they would like while at events, while just over 40% of respondents said they were annoyed by the phones used by audience members to film concerts and other events.
In 2025, brands will continue to use the nostalgia trend in their advertising campaigns. Along with the call to live “here and now,” they will seek to establish a deeper connection with consumers by reminding them of pleasant moments from the past and offering the opportunity to relive them, but in a new, modern context.
Calvin Klein – Collaboration with a Celebrity
Photo source: Calvin Klein
Every year, marketers try to get world stars to participate in brand advertising, and many succeed. But in 2024, everyone was eclipsed by Calvin Klein’s collaboration with rising star Jeremy Allen White, an actor of films and TV series.
In January, the brand released a spring ad campaign starring White. The images and videos showed the actor working out on a rooftop in his native New York City. The campaign quickly went viral on social media, generating a slew of excited TikTok posts. Calvin Klein said the campaign generated about $74 million in sales thanks to the buzz, with the ad generating $12 million in media coverage in the first 48 hours after its launch.
According to the brand, the main reasons for choosing White were his role in the series “The Bear” and the support of numerous fans. These factors played a decisive role in the brand’s decision to invest in the actor’s potential.
What can we learn from this campaign? That working with rising stars with a dedicated fan base can be much more effective and cost-effective than attracting established but perhaps less relevant celebrities. Instead of spending huge budgets on A-listers, brands can “discover” a new star.
Gap – Using Music in Marketing
Photo source: Gap
TikTok has given musicians instant fame and viral dance trends, and Gap has capitalized on this phenomenon in the past year with an advertising strategy built around rising stars and carefully staged commercials.
For example, the company invited pop star Troye Sivan to perform a complex dance routine to Thundercat’s “Funny Thing,” which went viral on TikTok. The ad inspired viewers to create their own reels featuring the choreography and music from the video, making the message even more viral.
The ads achieved an average engagement rate of 8.72% and an average view rate of 50.3% in the first weeks after launch, which is higher than industry benchmarks. The conclusion is clear: to attract zoomers, it is necessary to use platforms, formats and cultural codes in advertising that are familiar to them.
Chili’s Restaurant Chain Taps into Nostalgia
Photo source: Chili’s Grill & Bar
Heineken isn’t the only one to tap into the nostalgia trend. Restaurant chain Chili’s isn’t afraid to look to the past to move forward either. In 2024, it used ’80s arcade game nostalgia to underscore its pricing and differentiate itself from other fast-food chains.
In June, the chain introduced Chili’s Big Smasher: Burger Time, a game inspired by the original games. The app helped promote the signature Big Smasher burger and allowed Chili’s to take on a greedy and evil “fast food corporation.” In just 20 days, the game has accumulated 8,184 hours of playtime, or nearly a year.
The campaign showed that it doesn’t always make sense to look for sophisticated and complex ways to the hearts of your customers. Sometimes simple and familiar ways, such as returning to favorite childhood games, can be the key to success and evoke warm feelings in the audience associated with the brand.
Beer maker Liquid Death – marketing a new brand
Photo source: Liquid Death
Liquid Death is a buzzword in the American internet. The brand seems to be constantly collaborating and launching big advertising campaigns to stay in the spotlight on social media and the media.
Liquid Death’s most successful projects in 2024 were unexpected collaborations with other brands, such as a “corpse makeup” line with Elf Cosmetics (over 250 million views on social media), a limited-edition “hot chocolate ice cream” dessert with Van Leeuwen (the product sold out in 7 hours and became the most successful limited-edition product in Amazon grocery stores), and a coffin refrigerator with Yeti (sold for $68,000 at auction).
In general, we have something to learn from the brand: constant collaborations, even if not the most logical, bring in reach, views and clients.
Cosmetics brand Elf Cosmetics – socially-oriented marketing
Photo source: Elf Cosmetics
Elf Cosmetics aims to achieve outstanding results through socially conscious marketing and powerful messages of self-expression and equal rights. Launched in May, the “So Many Dicks” campaign got its name after it discovered that there were nearly as many men named Richard, Rick, or Dick on corporate boards in the United States as there were women. To highlight the issues, the company hung banners with the slogans throughout New York City’s financial district.
Launched in October, the campaign was called “Dupe That!” and appealed not to customers but to other companies, inviting them to join in caring for employees and providing equal rights. The initiative received 99% positive feedback.
Such advertising strategies show that companies’ concern for workers, equal rights for all employees, and the environment can not only improve a brand’s image in the eyes of society, but also become a powerful factor uniting people around common values.
