Category: Campaigns

On January 10, 1984, an 81-year-old former manicurist peered into a hamburger bun so enormous it swallowed a patty the size of a coin, and demanded to know: “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s was the smallest of the three major burger chains at the time, competing against McDonald’s and Burger King’s much bigger advertising budgets. Within […]

In the 1970s, Swedish drinkers were being actively encouraged to stop drinking hard liquor entirely — a government-backed campaign called “Spola kröken” was designed to push people toward wine instead. It’s an unlikely starting point for what became, by most measures, the longest-running print advertising campaign in history: 1,500-plus executions over roughly 25 years, an […]

In 2010, Snickers was a well-known chocolate bar with a forgettable ad strategy — sales growth lagged both its biggest rival and the broader candy category. Sixteen years later, “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” hasn’t just survived; it’s still Snickers’ active global platform, generating new campaign extensions about AI, air travel, and football as […]

In 1998, a Philadelphia filmmaker and his childhood friends made a two-minute short film for a few hundred dollars, built around nothing more than the way old friends greet each other on the phone. Two years later, a version of that same idea aired during Super Bowl XXXIV and became, by some measures, the second […]

Few brands in history have wielded advertising as a competitive weapon as effectively as Apple. Since its founding in 1976, Apple’s commercials have not merely sold products — they have sparked cultural conversations, challenged societal norms, and positioned technology as a vehicle for human liberation. Each campaign represents a deliberate chapter in Apple’s brand story, […]

In 2006, Cadbury recalled more than a million chocolate bars after a salmonella contamination scare — the kind of crisis most brands spend years quietly recovering from. A year later, the company’s answer wasn’t a reassurance campaign about food safety. It was 90 seconds of silence, a man in a gorilla suit, and a Phil […]

In August 2026, Coca-Cola quietly paused new orders on its personalized-can website. It was the third time in five years the company’s own “Share a Coke” customization tool had gone viral for blocking one set of names and phrases while waving through another — a strange, ongoing footnote to what is still one of the […]

In the second quarter of 2000, Taco Bell posted the worst same-store sales decline in its history — a 6% drop — and fired the ad agency behind its most famous mascot in response. That failure is the real starting point for “Think Outside the Bun,” the campaign that replaced the Chihuahua and, in one […]

American Express’s “Don’t Leave Home Without It” turns 50 in 2025 — and unlike most advertising anniversaries, this one isn’t just a nostalgia moment. Amex brought the exact phrase back into its marketing in 2018, and the underlying idea (a card so essential you’d feel exposed traveling without it) still shapes how the company talks […]

Imagine a marketing campaign so powerful it has run for over 27 years, reached more than 120 countries, and is now sponsoring a Formula 1 team and premiering music videos at the Grammys. That’s the ongoing story of Mastercard’s “Priceless” campaign. Launched in 1997 as a single TV commercial, it has become one of the […]

The verdict, up front: While most sponsors tried to convince Americans to care about football, Lay’s did something far smarter — it gave them permission not to, and turned the insult “bandwagon fan” into a national invitation. It’s the single sharpest piece of cultural strategy at the 2026 tournament, weighed down only slightly by a […]

The verdict, up front: “Tap In” is the smartest single piece of wordplay any sponsor brought to the 2026 World Cup — a double-meaning so tidy it does the work of an entire creative brief. But the more delightful Jason Sudeikis gets, the more the football fades into the background, and that is a real […]

Taco Bell is a well-known fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-inspired cuisine. Founded in 1962 by Glen Bell, the company has grown to become one of the largest and most recognizable fast-food brands globally. With a menu that features a variety of Tex-Mex favorites such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos, Taco Bell has built […]