My 15 Favorite Ad Campaigns of 2024
Highlights include self promotion, tasty mascots, lots of Dicks, and the world’s two best marketers at the top of their game.
When you put out a marketing creativity newsletter every Friday, it forces you to keep tabs on all the new ad campaigns that come out each week.
Looking back at everything that caught my eye in 2024, here are my top 15 favorites.
(Of course, we’re proud of the work OUR agency did this year — especially this campaign we did for ElementAL Wines and this campaign for Gametime — but this is a celebration of stuff from other shops.)
1. Marta markets Marta
In a year when WAY too many people in advertising got laid off and/or struggled to find a job, the ad of the year goes to an individual who decided to advertise herself.
Marta Puerto, a product marketing manager from Madrid, found herself unemployed. She put together a terrific ad, posted it on LinkedIn, and was flooded with opportunities.
Ironically, a lot of people in marketing are terrible at marketing themselves. But in this job market, you should be like Marta and remember that promoting yourself may be the most important than you can do for your career.
Watch Marta’s ad here. (And check out the THOUSANDS of responses below her post.)
2. Spotify Spreadbeats
Spotify Spreadbeats was probably the most impressive thing I saw this year. Watch the case study here (or watch the extended case study for a more technical deep dive.)
Yes, it was a project entirely designed for the case study and crafted to win awards, but it was still a great idea and the technical expertise to pull it off is eye-popping.
Was it “real?” How many media planners actually received it? Did the tech work as advertised when it showed up in their inbox? 🤷🏻♂️ When you craft such an exquisite case study that tells such a juicy story, does it even matter?
In the end, it’s as much an ad for the agency that made it as it is for Spotify. A terrific idea (in a B2B category ripe for more creativity) executed with mind-blowing craft. It won big at Cannes and other shows and deserved all the flowers it received.
3. Sir Kensington Mayo Mouth
Loved these surreal spots from Sir Kensington (and VML) to move the mayo. Dig the visual style, the quirky haiku VO, the take-no-prisoners announcer performance, and “Obey tongue” is a great line. And whoever made that mouth tongue prop? Give that person a raise!
Watch “Tongue Grows Restless,” “Tongue Plots Revolution,” “Tongue Blows Mind,” and “Anthem.” Read about the campaign.
4. Liquid Death
Liquid Death is the envy of marketers everywhere because they’re having so much damn fun! Their mantra is “make entertainment, not marketing” and that’s what makes them one of the most successful brands today. They create stuff that garners eyeballs because people want to watch it, not because they were forced to sit through a paid placement. It gives them enormous freedom to try lots and lots of stuff, as long as they keep their product as the “core character” at the center.
Here’s just SOME of what they put out into the world in 2024:
🪓 An animated series called “Murder Man.” The CEO explains why.
📢 Offered brands a chance to run an ad on their packaging. Coinbase bought it for $500K.
🩸 Spilled blood to launch electrolyte mix.
☠️ Teamed up with e.l.f. beauty and wants you to “look like hell.”
🥤 Auditioned models to take on pure sugar.
🤘 Tapped Ozzie Osbourne to launch Death Dust.
🍫 Introduced hot fudge sundae-flavored water in a very Liquid Death way.
🏎️ Took their own spin on NASCAR sponsorship.
🥠 Made misfortune cookies.
⚰️ Teamed up with YETI to create a casket cooler.
🧷 Launched an adult diaper so you don’t have to leave the mosh pit to pee.
BONUS: hear from their VP of marketing about their approach to unconventional marketing and their VP of creative how they cut through without big media buys. Or watch this WSJ video report.
5. Pop Tarts makes a meal of mascot
The culmination of the American college football season has changed a lot in the last 30 years. In the early 90s, corporate sponsors rushed to attach their name to end-of-season “bowl games.” The result has been ripe for parody for a long time.
So when a sponsor finds a way to transcend the ridiculousness of it all and elbow its way to the forefront of pop culture, you have to tip your hat. That’s exactly what Pop-Tarts did at the Pop-Tarts Bowl. At the conclusion of the game they TOASTED THEIR MASCOT AND LET THE WINNING TEAM CONSUME IT. The Internet lost their minds. (Watch the mascot get eaten: Last year. This year.)
At a time when mascots have fallen out of favor, Pop-Tarts went all-in on their googly-eyed pastry. It went on to win a well-deserved Cannes Lions Grand Prix a few months later. Watch the case study.
Later in 2024, they released some additional 15s that prove the power of a goofy mascot costume and a willingness to just have fun. Watch “Heaven,” “Bus,” “Swing,” and “Small Munch.” Read about it.
6. e.l.f. asks why there are so many Dicks
Did not have “beauty brand takes on corporate board diversity” on my bingo card, but it was a terrific strategic play by e.l.f. Cosmetics.
The “Soooo many Dicks” headline grabs attention, but highlights a real statistic: there are more men named Dick (Richard, Rich, and Rick) on corporate boards than entire groups of underrepresented people.
Sometimes these “purpose” campaigns are just empty virtue signaling, but this one’s design and use of humor elevated it to something special. (And props to the team that got this through a gauntlet of legal reviews where I’m sure more than one suit said, “You can’t do this.”)
The campaign included a microsite, video, splashy out-of-home, and a big PR push. Visit the site. Watch the video. See the outdoor.
7. Tile tales
“Storytelling” is one of the most overused words in advertising and, usually, it’s just a label slapped on top of a hard-sell pitch to make us ad-makers feel less crummy about ourselves.
But this campaign from Life360 (the Tile app folks) and agency Alto are legit mini-stories with a delightful product payoff at the end. Dark and funny, all three are worth a watch.
Watch “Funeral,” “Curfew,” and “Coat.” Read about the campaign.
8. Roku deploys the scream team
Hopefully, “make the commercial louder” won’t become the new “make the logo bigger,” but in the case of the these shout-y ads from Roku (and agency Fellow Kids) it’s pretty great. They command attention and the payoff line “Less screaming. More streaming.” is delightful.
Watch “Remote,” “Couple,” and “Parents” Read about it.
9. Seed packaging perfection
In an era where A.I.-generated designs are flooding feeds, true design craft stands out. This is one of the best identity systems that I’ve ever seen and it’s for…seeds.
Piccolo Seeds’ The Botanical Alphabet showcases the impact of thoughtful branding and the art of storytelling. Gorgeous work.
See it.
10. So over Oslo
Kudos to the tourism officials in Norway took a risk with their new campaign and delivered one of the all-time great city promos.
Instead of blathering on about all the wonderful things about Oslo, the Norwegian tourism board found a guy to tell you how much he hates it. He asks, “Is it even a city?” Sly, smart, super good.
11. JanSport sings the backpack blues
When you’re marketing to the GenZ on the TikTok, it’s important not to take yourself too seriously. JanSport (and agency Party Land) got the memo with their back-to-school campaign. It positioned the humble backpack as the #1 defense against relatable (but slightly absurd) everyday moments in 9 (!) different spots. (Hey, olds, hate the off-key singing? That’s the point!)
Watch “Murder of Crows,” “Toilet & Texting,” “Why Don’t They Make Men Like JanSports?” “People Pleaser,” “Buffer Bag,” “R.I.P. Jiggy,” “Lack of Outdoorsiness,” “Why Am I On a Plane?” and “Existing in Your Existence.” Read about the campaign.
12. Jif’s nutty texts
This is just such a silly, playful, smart idea. There are 1,300 peanuts in every jar of Jif peanut butter. To honor that fact, the brand sent out free jars of Jif if you text them the word “peanut”…1,300 times. Fun work from Leo Burnett Toronto.
13. Louis Vuitton’s large luggage
“Faux out-of-home” became a thing in the last few years. Videos of slightly surreal “outdoor activations” that feel too fantastic to be real. And they’re not…they’re digitally created fakes, but shot in such a way that makes you ask, “Did bus-sized purses really drive down that street?” “Did a giant bottle of hot sauce really emerge from that cruise ship?”
This year, Louis Vuitton created something that, at first blush, feels like it’s probably Faux OOH, but it’s actually real — they turned their flagship store into a 16-story tall stack of high-end trunks. Instead of covering their building in scaffolding for its remodel, they invested in something that will generate millions in earned media attention. And the up-close craft showcased in the IRL execution is something special. Practical and magical, it was the best outdoor execution I saw this year.
See it. Read about it. More here.
14. Auto Glass Now goes full flappy cheeks
I’m obsessed with great 15-second ads. With diminished attention spans, they are the workhorses of modern ad campaigns. And yet, too many are just cut-downs from the :30 (or :60!) that the creatives wanted to make.
A great 15 is built to purpose, structured like a Swiss watch, and focuses on one thing. IMHO, there may be no better agency at making them than Erich & Kallman, which delivers 15-second gems for different clients, year after year.
This year, it was for Auto Glass Now. Sometimes a great visual unlocks a whole campaign. Those slow-mo films of faces getting warped by leaf blowers have been around for awhile, but E&K found the perfect use for the technique: a joke about driving without a windshield.
Watch “Phone,” “Feeling Alive!” “Regrets,” and “Forgot.” Read about the campaign.
P.S. E&K makes great 30s, too. Their Reese’s spot was a Super Bowl fave.
15. Apple
I realize that putting the world’s best advertiser at #15 on this list is ridiculous. But they don’t really need another accolade, and their stuff is so consistently great, it’s easy to take it for granted. They put out a ton of terrific work in 2024; here’s some of it:
🚙 “Relax, it’s an iPhone.” Watch “New Driver,” “One More,” and “Swoop.” Read about the campaign.
📷 “Don’t Let Me Go” as a silly storage song.
💥 Apple smushes a lot into their new iPad. (This ad was weirdly controversial.)
🍎 Delightful spots for Apple Card.
🐶 The fifth installment of Apple Underdogs. (This, too, was controversial and Apple actually pulled it.)
🏅Olympic outdoor campaign.
💻 Apple goes moody for back-to-school.
🦅 “Flock” is a Hitchcockian metaphor about privacy. Read about it.
🏋🏻♂️ “No Sweat” is an ad about a microchip that never mentions speeds and feeds.
🤖 Apparently, A.I. is going to be good for lazy people.
👂🏼 AirPods’ hearing aid functionality spot tugs at the heartstrings. Read about it.
🧑🏻🚀 New iPhone goes slo-mo.
🥽 Can you imagine what it must be like to have Apple’s licensing budget?
And finally…Applehas no equal when it comes to product launch events. In 2024, they hosted a 1-hour-and-40-minute event (watch the whole thing here) that included TEN product videos, each made with their signature craft. Most brands would kill for just one. Watch all 10.
Bonus Bits
🍔 The best story I heard this year was a 19-minute-long tale about a McDonald’s mural.
📚 Terrific books that I read this year that you should read, too: The Life Brief and A Story Well Told.
🎥 Four great documentaries about creativity that are worth your time: The Last Repair Shop, Jim Henson Idea Man, Music by John Williams, The Cactus of Klaus.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Did we miss your favorite campaign of 2024? Leave a comment below, drop a link, and share your favorites. We’d love to see ’em.
If you REALLY want to go crazy, here’s everything that caught our eye in the first half of 2024 and here’s everything from the second half. See last year’s favorites.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Kovacevich is a creative director and the founder of Agency SOS. He writes a weekly email highlighting three bits of creative inspiration for modern marketers. You can subscribe, if you’d like.
