The 5 Best Marketing and Advertising Campaigns of All Time

Why are these 12 marketing campaigns some of the best of all time? Due to the influence that they had on the growth of the brand, and because they manage to hit on some universal truth that allows us to remember these campaigns years after they first began. In fact, some of us might not have even been alive when these campaigns first aired!

Listed below are 5 of the Best Advertising and Marketing Campaigns (And What Made Them Successful)

1. Nike: Just Do It

Did you know that once upon a time, Nike’s product catered almost exclusively to marathon runners? Then, a fitness craze emerged — and the parents in Nike’s marketing department knew they needed to take advantage of it to surpass their main competitor, Reebok. (At the time, Reebok was selling more shoes than Nike). And so, in the late 1980s, Nike created the “Just Do It.” campaign.

It was a success.

In 1988, Nike sales were at $800 million; by 1998, sales exceeded $9.2 billion. “Just Do It.” was short and sweet, yet encapsulated everything individuals felt when they were exercising — and people still feel that feeling today. Don’t want to run 5 miles? Just Do It. Don’t want to walk up 4 flights of stairs? Just Do It. It is a slogan we can all relate to: the drive to push ourselves past our limits.

So when you’re trying to decide the best way to present your brand, ask yourself what problem are you solving for your customers. What solution does your product or service provide? By hitting on that core issue in all of your marketing messaging, you’ll connect with customers on an emotional level that’s hard to ignore.

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2. Absolut Vodka: The Absolut Bottle

Despite having no distinct shape, Absolut made its bottle the most recognizable bottle in the world. Their campaign, which featured print adverts showing bottles “in the wild,” was so successful that they didn’t stop running it for 25 years. It is the longest uninterrupted advert marketing campaign ever and includes over 1,500 separate adverts. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

When the marketing campaign began, Absolut had a measly 2.5% of the vodka market. When it ended in the late 2000s, Absolut was importing 4.5 million cases per year, or half of all imported vodka in the U.S.

So what’s a marketer’s lesson here? No matter how boring your product looks, it doesn’t mean you can’t tell your story in an interesting way. Let me repeat: Absolut created 1500 adverts of 1 bottle. Be determined and differentiate your product in the same way.

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3. Miller Lite: Great Taste, Less Filling

Think it’s easy to create a whole new market for your product? The Miller Brewing company (now MillerCoors) did just that with the light beer market — and they dominated it. The objective of the “Great Taste, Less Filling” marketing campaign was getting “real men” to drink light beer, however, they were battling the common misconception that light beer can by no means actually tastes good. Taking the debate head-on, Miller featured masculine models drinking their light beer and declaring it great tasting.

For many years after this marketing campaign aired, Miller Lite dominated the light beer market they’d essentially created. What’s the lesson entrepreneurs can learn? Strive to be totally different. If individuals tell you there isn’t room for a product, create your own category so you’ll be able to quickly become the leader.

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4. Volkswagen: Think Small

Many marketing and advertising professionals prefer to call Volkswagen’s “Think Small” campaign the gold standard. Created in 1960 by a legendary advertising group at Doyle Dane & Bernbach (DDB), the marketing campaign set out to answer one question: How do you change peoples’ perceptions not solely about a product, but also about a whole group of individuals?

See, Americans always had a propensity to purchase huge American vehicles — and even 15 years after WWII ended, most Americans were still not buying small German vehicles. So what did this Volkswagen commercial do? It played proper into the audience’s expectations. You think I’m small? Yeah, I am. They never tried to be something they weren’t.

That is the most important takeaway from this marketing campaign: Don’t try to sell your organization, product, or service as something it’s not. Consumers recognize and appreciate honesty.

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5. Marlboro: Marlboro Man

The Marlboro Man adverts, which began running as early as 1955, represented the power of a brand when it creates a lifestyle around its product. Want to be free? Want to be a person? Want to be on the open range? That was the very definition of a Marlboro Man. The adverts have been effective because they captured an ideal life-style to which many men aspired at the time.

The lesson here? Keep in mind that whatever you are selling needs to fit somehow into your audience’s life-style — or their idealized life-style.

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