With every passing year marketers are forced to get more and more creative when it comes to selling their brand. Throughout this year I have enjoyed watching as brands exercise this newfound originality from The Ordinary selling eggs to Duolingo killing their mascot, Duo, to gain some extra buzz. Regardless, some campaigns performed better than others. Whether it comes down to a company’s ability to quickly respond to a situation or their ability to perfectly execute something that seems rather simple, some things will excel while others flop drastically. We have certainly seen our share of wild campaigns this year! That being said, let’s explore some of my personal favorite advertisements of 2025!
- Better in Denim – Gap
As an employee of Gap Inc., their Better in Denim campaign featuring KATSEYE filled me with pride. In response to the insanely controversial Sydney Sweeney has Good Genes advertisement released by American Eagle, the Better in Denim campaign had very good feedback. Consumers valued the diversity and joy from Gap which American Eagle failed to include in their campaign. Rather than making a dull and creepy advertisement, Gap showcased different body types, people of color, and a generational unifier: dancing. It was fun and the timing was incredibly strategic. This campaign is exactly what the modern consumer was craving and I am confident that Gap will see an increase in brand preference and brand loyalty because of it.
- Put Imagination to Work – Canva
Canva is a brand that never disappoints me. Since it was founded in 2012 they have grown to become a multi-billion dollar company. How were they able to do this? By making creativity and design accessible. Due to this background, it comes as no surprise to me that their latest campaign, Put Imagination to Work, was a culmination of expressiveness. This campaign housed three playful and effective advertisements that exhibit how Canva can be used to fulfill all your business and marketing needs. Their Slayyy, Spellbound, and Vamped Up advertisements ring in the Halloween season while demonstrating how Canva can bring your wildest ideas to fruition. It was unique, triumphant, and wonderfully conveyed their message!
- One of A’Kind – A’ja Wilson x Nike
It is not often that advertisements actually succeed at making me emotional. I understand that the objective of most campaigns is to persuade the consumer to purchase a product or a service, so it takes a seriously masterful advertisement to invoke true emotion in me.I am happy to say that the One of A’Kind campaign from Nike’s collaboration with A’ja Wilson did fill me with joy. This advertisement was centered in community, female empowerment, and the overall strength of black women, something that is so frequently overlooked in America. In my opinion this campaign perfectly represented A’ja Wilson and honored her ongoing journey as a basketball player. Plus, the song that they’ve created for the advertisement is quite catchy.
- Severance
I would say that Severance had very outside the box thinking however, I think their Grand Central Station pop up at the beginning of this year was very…inside the box. Not in terms of creativity of course, but Apple TV decided to have the show’s actors sit, work, and act in a literal glass box within Grand Central Station. This engaged and captivated their current audience but also achieved the attention of everyday commuters who might now be aware of the show. Aside from this initiative, Apple TV created a LinkedIn account for Lumon Industries, the fictional business at the center of the show Severance, and they featured Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in their Season 2 announcement. These unexpected, seemingly simple promotions were artfully done and I think that’s what made this campaign such a fascinating one to behold.
- The Anthropologie Rock
Although this was a more recent social media campaign, I think that Anthropologie saw an amazing opportunity and swiftly took advantage of it. Many companies fail to act on trends with the speed necessary for success. A TikTok user posted a video of herself pranking her boyfriend into believing that she had purchased a rock from Anthropologie for upwards of $100. He was understandably shocked and immediately recoiled at his girlfriend’s supposed actions. Soon, other TikTok users began repeating this prank on their boyfriends and it briskly became a trend. Six days after the initial creator’s post, Anthropologie posted their own TikTok captioned “the season’s hottest décor: ROCKS.” The video pans over a collection of rocks and reveals a price tag on one of the rocks to be a whopping $1000. This satirical and witty response from Anthropologie allows customers to have fun with a brand that is typically seen as more buttoned up, and I think it is very entertaining.
Of course, this is only a short list of my favorite marketing campaigns this year. I am always on the look out for fresh and exciting media that rewrites the industry, and I hope to see much more creativity in the remaining months of 2025. I only wish that next time you are on the hunt for jeans, a new show to watch, or even a rock, you consider the marketing campaign that led you to that decision!