Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Hey there, I’m the community manager at Descript, and we’re hosting a tutorial for marketers this Thursday, at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET. We’ll be demoing how marketing teams of all sizes quickly create compelling content like social media assets, podcasts, YouTube videos, you name it, with Descript. We’re super excited to showcase how our AI-powered tools free marketers from the technical grind, so you can stay focused on storytelling, creativity, and collaboration. Sign up to joins us here: descri.pt/3ZHgD6I https://preview.redd.it/eyeshcmaxnca1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=d483d6a0a6ab0ece4096a87086b28de6f96badda submitted by /u/cromer98 [link] [comments]

https://app.livestorm.co/ortto/email-deliverability-101-webinar submitted by /u/sysadministrator_ [link] [comments]

You may have heard the news that ContentCal is shutting down. While it’s always sad to see a valued tool go, the good news is that there’s another great option out there for managing your social media: Buffer. In this blog post, we’ll give you the lowdown on why you should give Buffer a try and how it can help take your social media game to the next level. So grab a cup of coffee and let’s chat about all the features that Buffer has to offer.What’s happeningContentCal is shutting down completely, which means as of the 31st March 2023 the tool will no longer operate in the future. The company has announced that they will be discontinuing their service and users will no longer have access to the platform after that. However, they are suggesting their users to test out Adobe Express as an alternative. Adobe Express is a content creation and marketing platform with some similar features to ContentCal. You’ll get the ability to schedule and publish posts on a few core social networks, which is great, however there are a number of key features like TikTok, analytics and reporting missing. Comparing Adobe Express to other social media management toolsContentCal and Adobe Express are two very different tools that are used for different purposes. ContentCal was a social media management tool that allows users to schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with their followers across multiple social media platforms. Adobe Express, on the other hand, is an app mainly allows users to edit and share photos.That said, Adobe Express does have some sharing functionality. Here’s what you get:Content Planning: Utilize tools that assist in creating and finalizing your social media themes, topics, and campaigns, and manage your social schedule through a user-friendly calendar interface.Scheduling: Optimize the reach of your content by scheduling it to go live at pre-determined times.Preview mode: Get a sneak peek of how your scheduled posts will appear to your followers before they go live.Publish: Streamline the publishing process by scheduling and publishing content across five social media platforms, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.That said, there are some key features that we expect many ContentCal customers to miss. Here’s what you’ll miss: Analytics: No ability to track the performance of your social media campaigns and gain valuable insights with detailed analytics and reportingChannels: No TikTok, Google Business Profiles, or Mastodon channels available.Collaboration features: No social-specific features to work with your team in real-time with features such as team member permissions and approving on scheduled posts.Integrations: No integrations with popular apps like Canva, IFFFF, Dropbox, Google Photos, and One Drive.Engagement tools: No ability to monitor and respond to comments, messages and mentions directly from one app.Reporting features: No bird’s eye view of your social media performance and ability get detailed reports that include metrics such as engagement, clicks, and reach.Browser extension: No browser extension to easily share articles, images, and videos from any webpage,Affordable pricing: No free plan to test out the social media planning, scheduling and publishing features.These features may not be dealbreakers for you, and if so we’d encourage you to test out the Adobe Express to see if it’ll meet your needs. But if some of these features are important to you then it might be worth checking out another tool like Buffer.  What Buffer offersBuffer is primarily used by businesses, agencies and creators who want to manage their social media presence efficiently. It provides a single platform for scheduling posts across multiple social media accounts, including Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Business, and soon Mastodon and YouTube. It also offers analytics to track the performance of these posts and engagement with followers. Additionally, Buffer includes features for team collaboration and content approval workflows, making it a great tool for larger organizations or teams that need to manage multiple social media accounts.Adobe Express, on the other hand, is a mobile app that is geared towards photography enthusiasts and professionals who want to edit and share their photos on the go. It offers a wide range of editing tools and filters, including cropping, resizing, color adjustments, and more. Users can share their edited photos directly to social media or other platforms, or save them to their device’s camera roll. Adobe Express is also integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud, which allows users to edit their photos with other Adobe apps, such as Lightroom or Photoshop, on their desktop.Here are all the features Buffer offers that aren’t available in Adobe Express 👇Advanced Analytics that allows you to track the performance of your social media campaigns and gain valuable insights with detailed analytics and reporting.A wide range of social media channels, including TikTok, Google Business Profiles, and Mastodon channels, providing flexibility and options for your social media needs.Collaboration features that allow you to work with your team in real-time with features such as team member permissions and approving scheduled posts.Integrations with popular apps like Canva, IFFFF, Dropbox, Google Photos, and One Drive, expanding the capabilities of your social media workflow.Engagement tools that enable you to monitor and respond to comments, messages and mentions across all your social media channels directly from Buffer.Reporting features that give you a bird’s eye view of your social media performance and detailed reports that include metrics such as engagement, clicks, and reach.A browser extension that enables you to easily share articles, images, and videos from any webpage, directly to your social media channels, schedule them for optimal timing, and view and manage your scheduled posts all from one convenient location.Affordable pricing options to fit any budget (including friendly agency plans), with a free plan available for testing out the social media planning, scheduling and publishing features.Overall, Buffer and Adobe Express are two different tools that serve different needs. Buffer is a social media management tool that helps businesses and individuals manage their social media presence, while Adobe Express is a mobile app for photo editing and sharing.Fancy giving Buffer a spin? Try it out for free.

I run events in my local area and certain venues do not allow me access to the ticketing information of attendees. I want to be able to have people buy tickets on my website and provide me with the funds for me to then have an automation that buys the ticket for the attendee using my credit card and has the ticket sent to them in their name. Having this process happen on my own site would allow me to properly be able to retarget the attendees using ads and I could also ask them to sign up to my mailing list in the process. Is there a way for me to execute this? submitted by /u/Impossible-Ad2808 [link] [comments]

Have you ever read a post that you knew was an advertisement, but it was so interesting that you felt delighted anyway? Chances are that particular piece of content was an advertorial. In this article, we’re going to define what an advertorial is and how it can be an excellent marketing choice for you and your team.

What is an advertorial?
Benefits of Advertorial Marketing
Advertorial vs. Editorial
How to Write an Advertorial
Advertorial Examples

A good advertorial doesn’t clearly state that an advertiser made the post in the copy, but it also doesn’t hide that fact. An advertorial should provide the same high-quality content as a blog post or video but give a spotlight to the product being advertised.
For example, let’s say I’m on the marketing team for a company that offers social media services, and I’m in charge of writing an advertorial. I might write a listicle that talks about the top social media tools in the marketing industry and include my company’s software somewhere in the list.
This approach accomplishes promoting my company’s services but also provides valuable information to readers about other tools, like an editorial piece. Advertorials can be used as a valuable marketing technique for visibility and conversion, so let’s explore that next.

Benefits of Advertorial Marketing
In an advertorial, you’re using a marketing technique that’s often used for brand exposure, conversion, and lead generation. Here’s how:
1. You can convert leads.
If you have blog post ideas relating to your industry, consider sourcing out a publication interested in advertorials for your industry. For instance, if you run an eCommerce technology business, you’ll want to consider a publication like TechCrunch, which specializes in all things technology and commerce.
Your advertorial would be shown to audiences that are the most interested in your industry, so you can increase exposure to the right people. This method can convert quite a few leads.
2. Advertorials build brand awareness.
An advertorial can be an excellent investment if you want to build brand awareness with paid ads but are looking to advance your efforts past social media or TV ads. An advertorial post, unlike ads, is paid for less often but has the potential to be found by readers long after the publish date.
If you pay for an advertorial, you won’t have to keep paying to boost its visibility, like you would with other ads. Instead, you can earn organic traffic continuously with an advertorial post.
3. Retarget your existing customers.
When an advertorial is posted, how can you fit it into your content plan to provide value to your existing customers?
If your advertorial is a filmed interview with an industry thought leader, and your customers respond really well to video. You can post the advertorial on your social media accounts and boost the fact that you partnered with a publication to bring a new video to your audience.
Similarly, you can embed the advertorial into your email list. Your email subscribers are likely devoted customers, so sharing the post with that audience is most likely going to earn you some traffic.
Encouraging your customers to share the post on social media and tag your company is a great way to increase brand awareness online, promote your advertorial, and gain user-generated content from your audience. User-generated content is a fantastic content idea that gives a voice to satisfied customers to market your product from their point of view.
So, now you know the many ways an advertorial can benefit your brand. Now, let’s talk about writing an advertorial.

Advertorial vs. Editorial
Just like there are multiple ways to market products, there are multiple ways to create an advertorial. Ultimately, how you structure your advertorial is dependent on the brand voices of your company and the publication for which you’re writing.
If your brand voice is more formal, but you’re writing for a publication that uses a less-formal tone, blend the two harmoniously so your advertorial can speak to both audiences. (Alternatively, perhaps your target audience for this campaign supports a change of tone, which is 100% okay).

To make sure you write an effective advertorial that doesn’t sound too much like a blog post or too much like an ad, follow these tips:
1. Write for value, not to promote.
Your advertorial should include valuable copy. You don’t need to write a blatant ad for your product or company. Instead, advertorials should take the tone of a blog post.
Blog posts are meant to provide information that audiences can find value in. So, when you sit down to create the concept of your advertorial, think about how you can serve your target audience with educational content first.
Maybe your campaign goal is to increase the visibility of your new product. If that’s the case, think of writing a listicle that mentions competitive products and includes yours at the top. This provides valuable information to audiences you’re interested in, as well as the other way around.
2. Stick to what your title says.
When your advertorial pitch gets accepted by a publication, or after you’ve written a draft, read it for continuity: Does your advertorial accomplish what you said it would in the title?
For instance, if your post title is “Marketing Tips for a Team of One,” but you spend the advertorial talking about how wonderful your marketing agency is at building brand awareness, your post is going to sound more like a product page.
It’s important to align the information in your article with your title so readers know what they’re getting into. Additionally, you won’t lose credibility for false advertising, and you can be sure you’re serving your audience.
3. Solve for the customer.
Serving audiences should be one of your top priorities with an advertorial. Yes, advertorials help your company out, but ultimately, solving for the customer generates new ones.
Advertorials aren’t a chance for you to shout out how your company solves all of the challenges presented in your advertorial. Instead, this is a chance for you to reach a new audience with high-quality content.
If you want to place an ad for your company in tandem with an advertorial, discuss the possibility with the publisher. You may be able to purchase ad space that will separate the purposes of your content.
4. Inspire action.
Remember, your advertorial should still be some sort of an advertisement, and, with all ads, you should inspire action by the end of the post.
Instead of including a huge CTA button, weave action into the narrative of your advertorial. For example, if you are going to write one about your latest data report, include a link to read it or a screenshot of a compelling part of the report that links to the content offer for it.
Similarly, you can make an interactive advertorial, like a quiz, that tests your readers’ knowledge about the subject, then provide a resource where they can learn more about the subject by accessing one of your offers.
5. Avoid only talking about your company.
To ensure your advertorial doesn’t take the form of a long-form ad, avoid only talking about your company.
Even if your content includes a quiz, you can have a couple of the questions mention competitors and how they fit into the lives of your customers.
Similarly, if you’re writing a “How-to” guide, when you include your company as a resource, be sure to mention another option or two. To diversify your content, add value to the reader, and show your knowledge of the industry, mentioning other brands in the post is key.
6. Delight your readers with exceptional content.
An advertorial is a good chance to try something new to delight your customers — for instance, maybe include animations instead of photos, emojis instead of text, or even a different style of writing that’s different from your typical brand voice.
The chance to participate in something new will engage with those leads. If you’re writing for the needs of your audience, you want them to feel like their experience reading your advertorial was a delightful one.
You can also try out some new optimization techniques. You can create a content offer that’s specific to a campaign. You can experiment here and cater to new leads with your piece.
Now that you have some tips about how to create an advertorial, let’s go over some examples you can refer to if you get stuck writing, formatting, or finalizing your post.

Advertorial Examples
If you’re wondering about the effectiveness of your advertorial, we’re going check out these examples to get an idea of how to make one that’s stunning.
1. Adobe x New York Times
Adobe partnered with the New York Times to produce a paid post about virtual shopping. The advertorial provided insight into virtual shopping trends using statistics and in-depth research studies. Adobe used the advertorial to promote its brand while also giving valuable information readers can use when shopping online.
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2. Metro Parent x Alpine Academy
Metro Parent is an online community giving parenting advice, support, and stories on trending topics and issues. Alpine Academy wrote an article for Metro Parent explaining the benefits attending of attending the school. Thought the advertorial is clearly an ad for Alpine Academy it also provides helpful information about what children need in a healthy educational environment.

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3. Ikea x The Telegraph
Ikea advertises itself on The Telegraph website via a quiz that teaches readers how to have a sound sleep at night. To take the quiz, click here.

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4. Cole Haan x Forbes
Forbes runs a series on their website called BrandVoice, which is a series dedicated to expert advice from marketers. This BrandVoice in particular is an advertorial from footwear company, Cole Haan, about exploring creativity:
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At the top of this post is a banner ad for Cole Haan. Putting this ad at the top of the post, rather than the body, reinforces that the post is an advertisement, but doesn’t make the copy suffer for it.This advertorial supports balancing your mind, and moving productively inside your home. While the post itself doesn’t mention the words “Cole Haan,” or promote the company’s products, the content still relates to the concept of moving your feet, which aligns with what the company sells.
If you want your advertorial copy to be a little more low-key, but still include an advertisement for your post somewhere on the webpage, think about adding in a paid ad, similar to Cole Haan’s.
5. Sapphire x Thrillist
Sapphire is a credit card rewards card offered by Chase Bank. Cardholders can earn points and rewards based on how much they spend at restaurants using the card. This advertorial gives a spotlight to must-try restaurants, in efforts to get readers thinking about how to use the Sapphire card:
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This advertorial shows how a listicle doesn’t need to include your product to be successful. Instead, you can write about keywords that reflect your company or industry. As long as the advertorial supports your company in some way, it’s still effective.What’s great about this advertorial is that it takes an intriguing angle. Diving into restaurants that offer unique and futuristic food is an exciting topic. And, in keeping in line with Thrillist’s laid-back, friendly brand voice, the post’s language isn’t as formal.
6. Captain Morgan x BuzzFeed
Similar to the last example, this advertorial for Captain Morgan, an alcohol company, is a listicle from BuzzFeed Germany (Non-native speakers have the option to translate the page). What’s not similar to the last example is that this advertorial mentions the company and its products by name. Even so, this advertorial provides valuable information to the reader, so the advertorial is still effective.
The advertorial’s structure and copy make it an engaging, helpful read, even though it mentions the product more than once. It contains drink recipes that you can make at home, along with pictures to use as a guide:
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Recipes, along with guided pictures and ingredients, accomplishes two things. First, it gives plenty of ideas for fans of Captain Morgan, who may already have the products mentioned, but need inspiration for what to do with it. A simple Google query like “recipes with Captain Morgan” would bring the fan to this BuzzFeed advertorial.
This post can also catch the eyes of readers who want simple rum recipes to try out and need inspiration. It gives enough recipe variations to spark inspiration, and capitalizes on the seasonality, since this post went up during a summer month.
7. Love Beauty Planet x The New York Times
Sustainability is a big focus for beauty company, Love Beauty Planet. One of the company’s values is to produce their products ethically and with recycled materials to reduce their carbon footprint. This emphasis on going green is the focus for the company’s advertorial that was featured in The New York Times:
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Creating an advertorial that’s a little more interactive than a text-only blog post is a strategy you could use to make your advertorial more engaging. If your quiz is shorter, like Love Beauty Planet’s, you can provide valuable, actionable takeaways at the end, to keep your brand in the reader’s mind as they implement the tips. This editorial is an interactive one, which first quizzes the reader’s knowledge of recycling and reducing waste. After answering the five questions, the post shares small things readers can do to reduce their carbon footprint.
8. PwC and RYOT Studio x The Huffington Post
For this advertorial, two companies collaborated to make a paid post that mixed copy with video. PwC and RYOT Studio worked together to produce an entry in PwC’s new series for diversity and inclusion for CEOs. The company offers business solutions for customers, so the angle keeps consistent with PwC’s industry:

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What this advertorial does really well is provide readers with a video to go along with the blog post. The video presents the content really well, so those who don’t usually enjoy interacting with long-form content don’t have to read as much.
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If you have a video that tells the story of your company really well, and want to build some brand awareness, consider submitting it along with a couple of paragraphs of supporting copy for an advertorial. It can expose your company to a new audience, and be awesome for generating leads.
Now, you know how to spot an advertorial and even write one of your own. Advertorials can spice up your content marketing strategy and bring a community of new audience members to your brand, so make sure to put your best foot forward and good luck!
 

I’ve always been a little leery of proclaiming anything “the best.” I never declared anyone my best friend as a kid because I was afraid my other friends might assume I thought less of them.
So it was a little difficult for me to come up with just one “best” advertisement of all time—which is why there are 18 in this post instead.

But why are these some of the best ads of all time?
Because of the impact they had on brand growth and because they hit on some universal truth that makes them memorable years after they first began. In fact, some of us might not have even been alive when these campaigns first aired.
But to know what makes an advertisement great, you must first understand what an advertisement is.
Advertisements

Types of Advertisements

Advertising Campaign

The Best Advertising Campaigns of All Time (And What Made Them Successful)
Nike: Just Do It.
Coke: Share a Coke
Absolut Vodka: The Absolut Bottle
Anheuser-Busch: Whassup (1999)
Miller Lite: Great Taste, Less Filling (1974)
Always: #LikeaGirl (2015)
Volkswagen: Think Small (1960)
Google: Year in Search (2017)
Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World (2006)
California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk? (1993)
Metro Trains: Dumb Ways to Die (2012)
Apple: Get a Mac (2006)
Clairol: Does She or Doesn’t She? (1957)
De Beers: A Diamond is Forever (1999)
Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (2010)
Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef? (1984)
Procter & Gamble: Thank You, Mom (2012)
KFC: “FCK” (2018)
Use These Advertisement Examples to Inspire Your Own Ads

Advertisements
Advertisements promote products, services, or campaigns through written or visual messages. Businesses can pay the owner of a channel or platform that reaches a similar audience to broadcast these messages. Two of the biggest challenges in advertising are measuring the value of the advertisement and ensuring it resonates with the right people.

As you can imagine, there are many types of advertisements—all of which run in different mediums, on different channels, and have different goals in mind for their business. People can advertise anywhere, and today’s best type of ad might not be the best type tomorrow. 

Types of Advertisements
Here are four basic examples of advertising from the past few centuries (yikes), from earliest to latest.

1. Print Advertising
The first print ad ran in England in 1472, according to Infolinks. Since then, this type of advertising has become available in newspapers, magazines, brochures, billboards, flyers, and similarly portable methods of carrying a brand’s message to its ideal end user. In this ad method, the advertiser pays the publisher to place their ad in the publication.
2. Radio Advertising
United States radio stations launched their first commercial broadcasts in 1920. And while we might all drive around with our iPhones plugged in for music these days, don’t let that fool you.
Radio is still a viable marketing and advertising platform today for expanding the reach of sponsored events and new products. In this ad method, the advertiser pays the radio station to play their ad during designated breaks between music or a radio show.
3. Television Advertising
Television ads originated in the 1940s with the promotion of practical items and political campaigns. Advertisers can now use television to promote food, toys, stores, business services, and more—both to local TV channels and to national broadcast networks. In this ad method, the advertiser pays the TV network to show their ad during designated breaks in the network’s regular programming.
4. Internet Advertising
Internet advertising took root in the mid-1990s with the launch of “banner” advertisements for various telecommunications companies. 
Marketers place these ads in interstitial spots on a webpage. Basically, advertisers pay the website owner to place their ads in exposed spaces peripheral to the website’s own content. 
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Internet advertising has gone on to include video, search engine marketing, sponsored social media posts, and more.
In essence, the advertising types listed above have evolved dramatically since their inception. What were once quite one-dimensional messages now carry clever, funny, or profound undertones that make the ads memorable years after they first ran.
So how do you create an advertising strategy that resonates? Well, this post should help with that as we explore how we can learn from ads and campaigns. 
But, first, an important distinction:

Advertising Campaign
An advertising campaign is a group of similar ads with a unified tone or message. The advantage of a campaign over a standalone ad is the ability to push the same idea in different ways, across multiple mediums, and for a longer period of time without getting too repetitive or stale for the audience.

Featured Resource: Advertising Campaign Planning Kit
Download for Free
Use HubSpot’s free Advertising Campaign Kit to plan out your advertising project and learn more about which advertising type is the best for your project. 

The Best Advertising Campaigns of All Time (And What Made Them Successful)
Without further do, here they are in no particular order: 18 of the best advertisements of all time and the lessons we can learn from them.

1. Nike: Just Do It.
Ad Campaign: Print, Television, Internet

Source: brandchannel
Did you know that once upon a time, Nike’s product catered almost exclusively to marathon runners? Then, a fitness craze emerged, and the folks 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 hit.
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 people felt when exercising—and people still feel that feeling today. Don’t want to run five miles? Just Do It. Don’t want to walk up four flights of stairs? Just Do It. It’s a slogan we can all relate to: the drive to push ourselves beyond our limits.
The Lesson
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 messaging, you’ll connect with consumers on an emotional level that is hard to ignore.

2. Coke: Share a Coke
Ad Campaign: Print

Big brands are often hard-pressed to do something ground-breaking when they’re already so big. So, what did Coca-Cola do to appeal to the masses? They appealed to individuals by putting their names on each bottle.
The Share a Coke campaign began in Australia in 2011 when Coca-Cola personalized each bottle with the 150 most popular names in the country. Since then, the U.S. has followed suit, printing first names across the front of its bottles and cans in Coke’s branded font. You can even order custom bottles on Coke’s website to request things like nicknames and college logos.
This was a breaking story across the marketing and advertising industry. It enchanted many consumers, but it confused others. Why make something temporary so personal? 
Either way, Coke received immediate attention for this campaign. Pepsi even released some sassy counter-ads shortly after the campaign launched. Theirs focused on mocking the bottle names, questioning how people truly felt when they got the wrong name.
The Lesson
Coke fans are regular buyers, and the company fully leaned into that sense of individual ownership. Wondering what name you’ll get out of the vending machine was a fun thrill in and of itself—even if it isn’t yours, it encourages you to “share a Coke” with whoever’s name is on the front.

3. Absolut Vodka: The Absolut Bottle
Ad Campaign: Print

Source: Burning Through Journey Blog
Despite having an ambiguous shape, Absolut made its bottle the most recognizable bottle in the world. Its campaign, which featured print ads showing bottles “in the wild,” was so successful that it didn’t stop running for 25 years. It’s the longest uninterrupted ad campaign ever and comprises over 1,500 separate ads. So, as the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
When the campaign started, 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.
The Lesson
No matter how boring your product looks, you can still tell your story in an interesting way. Let me repeat: Absolut created 1500 ads for one bottle. So, don’t feel afraid to be determined and differentiate your product in the same way.

4. Anheuser-Busch: Whassup (1999)
Ad Campaign: Television
 

 
When’s the last time an advertisement literally changed the way we talk to one another? Allow me to answer that question with another question: “Whassup?!”
This series of commercials, which first appeared in late 1999, features a group of friends connecting on a group phone call (not very common anymore, huh?) while drinking beer and “watching the game” on TV.
It starts gently: “What are you doin’?” Someone asks. “Watching the game, havin’ a Bud” (a Budweiser), someone replies. As more friends pick up the phone, hilarity ensues: “WHASSUP!?” is yelled back and forth, becoming a classic catchphrase and an icon of beer-drinking culture that constantly ran on sports networks over the next few years.
The Lesson
The ad took pop culture by storm during the Super Bowl in 2000, and you can still hear its echoes today. Why? Anheuser-Busch showed us just how silly and informal an ad can be without ruffling feathers or going off-brand. Dare to celebrate your audience’s absurdities. The more genuine your ad is, the more valuable your product is.

5. Miller Lite: Great Taste, Less Filling (1974)
Ad Campaign: Print, Television

Source: BuildingPharmaBrands blog
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 dominated it. The goal of the “Great Taste, Less Filling” campaign was getting “real men” to drink light beer, but they were battling the common misconception that light beer can never actually taste good.
Taking the debate head-on, Miller featured masculine models drinking their light beer and declaring it great tasting.
The Lesson
For decades after this campaign aired, Miller Lite dominated the light beer market it had essentially created. What’s the lesson marketers can learn? Strive to be different. If people tell you there isn’t room for a product, create your own category so you can quickly become the leader.

6. Always: #LikeaGirl (2015)
Ad Campaign: Television, Internet
Always, the feminine product brand, hit a home run with this advertisement, not because it went viral after the commercial ran in the 2015 Super Bowl, but because it was a groundbreaking message that hundreds of millions of people repeated long after the campaign was over.
The campaign began as a commercial explaining the stigma behind playing sports “like a girl”—implying that the boy’s way is better or correct. By the end of the ad, the message is both clear and inspiring: girls are just as fit and capable as boys are, particularly during puberty—a stage of life that’s extremely important to Always and its women’s products.
The message is now a holistic initiative by Always and a hashtag that’s still used on social media today.
The Lesson
Acknowledge not just your audience but the challenges they face—especially the ones that reflect your time or culture. Not every societal issue is off-limits to marketers and advertisers. Take a stand on the ones you know your audience supports, and you’ll access a customer base that identifies with your passion.

7. Volkswagen: Think Small (1960)
Standalone Ad: Print

Source: design shack
Many marketing and advertising professionals like to call Volkswagen’s “Think Small” campaign the gold standard. Created in 1960 by a legendary advertising group at Doyle Dane & Bernbach (DDB), the campaign set out to answer one question: how do you change people’s perceptions not only about a product but also about an entire group of people?
See, Americans always had the propensity to buy big American cars—and even 15 years after WWII ended, most Americans were still not buying small German cars. So what did this Volkswagen advertisement do? It played right into the audience’s expectations. You think I’m small? Yeah, I am. They never tried to be something they weren’t.
The Lesson
That’s the most important takeaway from this campaign: don’t sell your company, product, or service as something it’s not. Consumers recognize and appreciate honesty.

8. Google: Year in Search (2017)
Ad Campaign: Internet
 

 
This isn’t the oldest or most well-known advertisement on our list, but it’s become the most powerful over its nine-year (and still going) existence. So powerful and so true you forget it’s an advertisement.
Year in Search began in 2009 as “Zeitgeist,” a written report of the public’s most common Google searches over the previous 12 months. The following year, Google adapted it for a three-minute video. Since then, it’s been a bold, yearly reminder of how much we depend on Google for information on the news and events that give the entire world pause. Check out the company’s latest video from 2021 above.
The Lesson
Remind your customers how much you care that they care. These stories elicit a variety of emotions but ultimately unite everyone—no matter what Google products they might like—through an uplifting message of how our usage of the company reflects the best in all of us.

9. Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World (2006)
Ad Campaign: Television, Pre-roll

Source: The Open Field
You know who he is. The man smokes Cuban cigars, surrounds himself with beautiful women, and drinks Dos Equis beer.
Cooling down indulgent vices, such as beer, desserts, or luxury items, is key to creating a successful campaign. And The Most Interesting Man in the World is one of the coolest commercial guys out there.
At the end of every commercial, he says: “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty, my friends.”
The Lesson
The hilarious hyperbole employed in this campaign makes it memorable the next time viewers head out to buy some beer. And even though Dos Equis recently replaced The Most Interesting Man with a new actor, the original actor’s popularity in meme culture will never decline because of his short, sweet, and memorable tagline—and the cool dude vibe it makes viewers harken back to.

10. California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk? (1993)
Ad Campaign: Print

Source: Broward Palm Beach New Times
Thanks to the California Milk Processor Board’s “Got Milk?” campaign, milk sales in California rose 7% in just one year. But the impact ran across state borders, and to this day, you still can’t escape the millions of “Got [Fill-in-the-Blank]?” parodies.
Note, though, that the ad didn’t target people who weren’t drinking milk; it instead focused on the consumers who already were.
The Lesson
It’s not always about getting a brand-new audience to use your products or services. Sometimes, it’s about getting your current audience to appreciate and use your product more often. Turn your audience into advocates, and use marketing and ad content to tell them why they should continue enjoying the product or service you’re already providing.

11. Metro Trains: Dumb Ways to Die (2012)
Ad Campaign: Internet, Radio

Yes, you read that right: Dumb Ways to Die.
In Melbourne, Australia, Metro Trains wanted to convey a simple message: no horsing near train tracks. Disorderly conduct could lead to injuries or even death. Still, instead of typical warning signs or announcements inside train stations, Metro Trains came up with Dumb Ways to Die, a song that has garnered 157 million YouTube views since it debuted in 2012.
The song is, unsurprisingly, about dumb ways to die. For example, poking a grizzly bear with a stick or taking your helmet off in outer space. 
Frankly, it features a catchy little chorus you won’t be able to stop humming to yourself (because singing it is a little morbid): “Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die.”
At the end of the video, after you’ve watched adorable cartoon characters dying in the dumbest of ways, you get to the moral of the story: there are many dumb ways to die, but the dumbest possible way would be if you died while standing on the edge of a train platform, drove through a railroad sign, or tried to cross over a train track.
The video ad went viral on YouTube. The song was available on iTunes and even played over the radio with an accompanying ad.
The Lesson
This beloved, now-famous campaign communicates a simple idea in a creative and memorable way—and you don’t feel you’re being nagged the way some public service announcements do. Consider using creativity to convey your message if your subject matter is grim or boring.

12. Apple: Get a Mac (2006)
Ad Campaign: Television
 

 
While there have been many great Apple campaigns, this one takes the cake. The video above is just one of a series of iterations of this campaign, and the Mac vs. PC debate ended up being one of the most successful campaigns ever for Apple. The company experienced 42% market share growth in its first year with its help. These commercials tell Apple’s audience everything they need to know about the product without being overt.
The Lesson
Just because your product does some pretty amazing things doesn’t mean you need to hit your audience over the head with it. Instead, explain your product’s benefits in a relatable way, so consumers can see themselves using it.

13. Clairol: Does She or Doesn’t She? (1957)
Standalone Ad: Print

Source: Current360
The first time Clairol asked this question in 1957, the answer was 1 to 15—as in, only 1 in 15 people were using artificial hair color. Just 11 years later, the answer was 1 of 2, according to TIME Magazine. The ad was apparently so successful that some states stopped requiring women to denote hair color on their driver’s license. You know you’ve hit a nerve when your ad campaign changes things at the DMV.
Clairol did the opposite of what most marketers would do: they didn’t want every woman on the street running around saying they were using their product. They wanted women to understand that their product was so good that people couldn’t tell if they were using it or not.
The Lesson
Sometimes, simply conveying how and why your product works is enough for consumers. Showing becomes more effective than telling.

14. De Beers: A Diamond is Forever (1999)
Ad Campaign: Print, Television

Source: BBC News
In 1999, AdAge declared De Beers’ “A Diamond is Forever” the most memorable slogan of the twentieth century. But the campaign, which proposed (pun very much intended) the idea that no marriage would be complete without a diamond ring, wasn’t just riding on the coattails of an existing industry. De Beers actually built the industry. It presented the idea that a diamond ring was a necessary luxury.
According to the New York Times, N. W. Ayer’s game plan was to “create a situation where almost every person pledging marriage feels compelled to acquire a diamond engagement ring.”
The Lesson
Advertising can make a relatively inexpensive product seem luxurious and essential.

15. Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (2010)
Ad Campaign: Television, Internet

Source: Coloribus
The very first part of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, created by Wieden + Kennedy and launched in February 2010, was the following commercial. It became a viral success practically overnight:
That video has over 51 million views as of this writing. Several months later, in June 2010, Old Spice followed up with a second commercial featuring the same actor, Isaiah Mustafa. Mustafa quickly became “Old Spice Guy,” a nickname Wieden + Kennedy capitalized on with an interactive video campaign in which Mustafa responded to fans’ comments on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites with short, personalized videos.
In about two days, the company had churned out 186 personalized, scripted, and quite funny video responses featuring Mustafa responding to fans online. According to Inc, these videos saw almost 11 million views, and Old Spice gained about 29,000 Facebook fans and 58,000 new Twitter followers.
“We were creating and sending miniature TV commercials back to individual consumers that were personalized, and we were doing it on a rapid-fire basis,” Jason Bagley, former creative director at Wieden + Kennedy and a writer for the campaign, told Inc. “No one expects to ask a question and then be responded to. I think that’s where we broke through.”
 

The Lesson
If you find your campaign’s gained momentum with your fans and followers, do everything you can to keep them engaged while keeping your messaging true to your brand’s voice and image.

16. Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef? (1984)
Ad Campaign: Print, Television

Source: AdSoft Direct
Is it enough to say this campaign was successful because it featured a giant hamburger bun and a cute set of old ladies? No? I didn’t think so.
Wendy’s took a more daring approach in this advertising campaign: it targeted its competitors. The simple phrase “Where’s the beef?” was used to point out the lack of beef in competitors’ burgers—and it quickly became a catchphrase that encapsulated all that was missing in their audience’s lives.
While you can’t predict when a catchphrase will catch on and when it won’t, Wendy’s (wisely) didn’t over-promote their hit phrase. The campaign only ran for a year, allowing it to gently run its course.
The Lesson
Be careful with your campaign successes and failures. Just because you find something that works doesn’t mean you should keep doing it repeatedly to the point it’s played out. Allow your company to change and grow, and you may find that you can have even greater success in the future by trying something new.

17. Procter & Gamble: Thank You, Mom (2012)
Ad Campaign: Television

Seriously, you wouldn’t expect a household and cleaning products company commercial to pull at the heartstrings like that, would you? Lately, though, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has launched some of the best ads we’ve ever seen from the consumer goods industry.
That’s because P&G identified the story behind the story of Olympic athletes—the stories of the supportive moms who pushed these world-class athletes throughout their entire lives leading up to that crowning moment. And yes, they probably had to do a lot of laundry and cleanup along the way (presumably using P&G products).
The Lesson
Make your audience cry (just kidding). The season or time period of your ad is important. But even if you run an ad during the Olympic Games, like P&G did, make sure it has longevity and a message that can influence people no matter when or where they see it.
Emotional and nostalgia marketing are powerful tactics to get people to make buying choices, so if there’s a bigger, more universal story behind your product or story, tap into it—and showcase it front and center.

18. KFC: “FCK” (2018)
Standalone Ad: Print

The ad above isn’t just an empty bucket of KFC with the company’s letters jumbled around. It’s also not a normal, unprompted promotion of fried chicken.
This ad is an apology and perhaps the most creative one of all time.
In February 2018, KFC’s business in the U.K. ran out of chicken. You read that right: a poultry company ran out of poultry. It’s not every day that a business stumbles upon the most ironic PR crisis in company history, so when it happens, all eyes are on the business’s response. Well, we’re happy to report that KFC stuck the landing.
With the help of the creative agency Mother London, KFC took out a full-page ad in Metro, the U.K.’s newspaper, rearranging its three famous initials to create a hilarious, albeit explicit, response to its product shortage. The ad depicts a KFC bucket that reads, “FCK”—as if to say, “FCK, this is embarrassing.” (You can fill in the missing letter…)
Beneath this design, the company apologizes for what it realizes is an inexcusable, if not slightly funny, failure.
The Lesson
No business is above a good old-fashioned sorry. And if you can laugh at yourself in the process, you’ll only make it better. KFC’s ad shows how to combine humility, class, humor, and ultimately company pride in a message that can help you bounce back from the bad press—and even come out the other side with a net-positive result for your brand.

Use These Advertisement Examples to Inspire Your Own Ads
Advertising is one of the most important aspects of any business, and it can be a make-or-break factor in terms of success. 
What makes a great advertising campaign? It must be memorable, catchy, and above all else, it must effectively sell your product or service. 
With careful planning and execution, your next advertising campaign could be the one that takes your business to new heights.

 

Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team.
Artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT has been the center of debate online because there are still so many unknowns when it comes to using AI. 
Is it ethical? Will it eliminate jobs? How can marketers use it to their advantage? 
Ryan Reynolds is offering a potential answer to the latter in his latest ad for Mint Mobile.

In the video, Reynolds shares the ad criteria provided to ChatGPT and reads the AI-generated script directly to the camera. He finishes the read calling the technology “mildly terrifying, but compelling.”
Reynolds is no stranger to jumping on trending topics quickly through his media company Maximum Effort. Past examples include:

The 2019 Aviation Gin ad that served as a response to the infamous Peloton wife controversy was released immediately after the original commercial went viral. 
The now-pulled 2021 Peloton ad starring actor Chris Noth aired just days after his character Mr. Big was killed off of the “Sex and the City” reboot “And Just Like That…” On the show, the character suffered a heart attack after riding a Peloton.

Back to Mint Mobile. Though we don’t know if Reynolds really used ChatGPT to generate the Mint Mobile script, the video offers a glimpse into how marketers can use AI tools to streamline their efforts and describes how many people feel about the possibilities of artificial intelligence — mildly terrified but compelled. 
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