12 Best Digital Ad Campaigns to Inspire Your Brand in 2025

In a world that groans under the number of ad campaigns launched daily, a standout campaign can be nothing short of transformative. It has the power to elevate your brand from obscurity to cultural relevance, sparking immediate recognition, engagement and long-term loyalty.

According to GIA market research, the global digital advertising and marketing market is expected to reach $786.2 billion by 2026. Clearly, digital advertising is booming, and businesses that get it right are reaping the rewards.

Take Nike's 2019 “Dream Crazy” digital advertising campaign featuring American football legend, Colin Kaepernick, for example. The campaign achieved remarkable ROI, with a 31% increase in online sales in the weeks following its release. Its powerful message resonated with consumers, boosted brand engagement, and reinforced Nike’s bold, socially conscious brand identity.

Sure, not many brands can pull off a Nike-level campaign. However, working with a creative partner like Superside—experts in delivering world-class design solutions and marketing strategy services for ambitious brands—can significantly boost the success of your business’s next digital advertising campaign.

To help inspire what might just be your most iconic campaign yet, we’ve compiled a curated list of some of the world’s best digital marketing campaigns.

We also explore the importance of digital advertising for brands and businesses, and why Superside is the best creative partner to help your enterprise reach your business goals.

The Importance of Digital Ad Campaigns for Brands and Enterprises

First up, let’s look at the opportunities digital advertising presents—opportunities your business can’t afford to miss out on if you want to stay competitive in a crowded market.

See How Top Brands Do It

Looking for extra inspiration? Check out more of Superside's brand projects.

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Superside: Your Creative Team’s Creative Team for Ad Campaign Success

Before we dive into our round-up of standout digital advertising campaigns, here’s a quick reminder of why making Superside an extension of your in-house creative team can make all the difference to your campaign success.

• Our experience in campaign development and maximizing ad spend gives our creative and strategy teams the edge when it comes to delivering end-to-end solutions that drive results for enterprises, from ideation to execution.
• Our dedicated project teams ensure on-brand creative work and on-demand support for our customers. Supersiders make up the top 1% of global talent, so our customers have the cream of the crop working on their digital marketing campaigns.
• Data-driven insights guide our campaign strategies and allow our customers to make real-time campaign adjustments as needed—leading to greater creative performance.
• We offer scalable solutions for enterprises managing large ad campaigns. Our Craft & Productivity Team recently revamped existing ad design processes with a solution that allows us to scale digital advertising up to 70% faster.
• Our proven track record speaks for itself. We’re trusted by more than 500 of the world’s biggest brands to create standout campaigns at speed.

If you want to create social media buzz for your brand, book a call to explore our digital advertising campaign services.

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12 of the Best Digital Ad Campaigns To Inspire Your Brand

To start, let’s take an in-depth look at two of our most successful campaigns.

1. Reddit by Superside

Campaign overview

When we were approached by Reddit to create “first-of-their-kind” social media ads using case studies to prove the value of advertising on Reddit, we knew this was our chance to deliver an outside-the-box digital advertising campaign.

Reddit wanted the campaign to build brand awareness, engage audiences, drive traffic and boost leads and sales.

The big idea

At the time, brands were unsure of what Reddit was, and advertisers were struggling to understand how Reddit communities worked. Superside’s move? Explore how Redditors communicate within the platform. Turns out, Reddit users love memes. And so, the idea of using memes to advertise Reddit on social media platforms was born.

Target audience: B2B and B2C advertisers in the tech, eCommerce, telecom and financial services industries.

Creative elements: Video, photography.

Channels and platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn.

Results and impact

A 50% higher click-through rate (CTR) for Reddit—evidence that memes can be a powerful, engaging tool in digital advertising strategies.

Why it worked

The memes provided a fresh, fun, less formal way to connect with audiences. They were also relatively simple and cost-effective to produce.

Key takeaways for brands

Embrace humor and authenticity—memes work because they’re funny and feel natural (many of us already use them in our communication with each other).

2. D2L Brightspace by Superside

Campaign overview

When D2L Brightspace, a leader in educational technology, set about redefining its advertising strategy, it turned to Superside to develop a visual narrative that would transcend the limitations of conventional stock imagery.

The big idea

Harness the power of AI to create a series of new ad visuals that worked with a number of versions of the “A Future This Bright” copy line.

We initiated a series of experiments, fine-tuning AI’s response through various prompts. After honing in on the desired style, we carefully adjusted the prompts to replicate the required aesthetic across different image concepts, ensuring they complimented the copy perfectly.

Target audience: Edtech consumers

Creative elements: Midjourney and Adobe Photoshop AI tools

Results and impact: A 70% reduction in production time, thanks to AI, and significantly increased audience engagement and brand awareness.

Why it worked

The innovative, striking ads captured attention, reinforcing D2L Brightspace’s position as a forward-thinking leader in edtech advertising and .

Key takeaways for brands

AI can save huge amounts of time. This boost in efficiency can accelerate getting assets to market and transform creative workflows.

3. Google Search (“Parisian Love”) by Google

Campaign overview

Demonstrating the power of Google Search to shape life experiences, Google’s “Parisian Love” video tells a touching love story through a series of search queries—without featuring any characters or dialogue. This is an all-time classic that every marketer should know of.

Results and impact

With more than 8 million views on YouTube and more “Search Stories” campaign videos to follow, “Parisian Love” went on to become Google’s first major television ad, airing during coverage of the 2010 Super Bowl.

Why it worked

The strong human element of the series gave the campaign global relatability. Personal touches like the initial misspelling of “Louvre” in “Parisian Love” made it easy for audiences to connect with the campaign.

Key takeaways for brands

Personal, heartwarming stories resonate with audiences. Keep them simple.

4. #IceBucketChallenge by the ALS Association

Campaign overview

Most of us will remember the ALS Association’s #IceBucketChallenge of 2014, which flooded social media feeds with videos of people dumping buckets of ice water over their heads for a good cause. (Even celebs like Bill Gates got involved.)

Results and impact

While not strictly an advertising campaign, the #IceBucketChallenge raised over $115 million for ALS research in just six weeks. It also saw more than 17 million people participate, making it one of social media's most successful viral campaigns.

Why it worked

The power of social media virality!

Key takeaways for brands

Online brand challenges such as these are an easy, inexpensive and potentially highly effective way to connect with audiences. The funnier and more entertaining a campaign, the greater the chances of it going viral.

5. ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ by Dove

(Source: Dove)

Campaign overview

On a mission to challenge the toxic beauty standards women are bombarded by, Dove’s 2013 short film saw a trained FBI forensic artist sketch several women based on their descriptions of themselves—and then on the descriptions of the same women by total strangers.

The moving film shows how many women have a distorted image of their appearance, with strangers often able to see their beauty more clearly.

Results and impact

Over 50 million people viewed the video content within 12 days of its release. To date, “Real Beauty Sketches” has been viewed almost 180 million times and has been a powerful part of Dove’s wider campaign to raise awareness of our warped beauty standards.

Why it worked

The film combined a strong message for young women with effective storytelling and social media engagement.

Key takeaways for brands

Content marketing campaigns that spark meaningful conversations and make an emotional connection with audiences in online channels are likely to resonate in a big way.

6. #InMyDenim by GUESS

(Source: TikTok)

Campaign overview

Fashion giant GUESS was the first U.S. brand to partner with TikTok in a six-day campaign using a TopView TikTok ad format. This format meant every TikTok user in the U.S. would be sent to the brand’s #InMyDenim hashtag challenge when they opened the app.

The goal: To capitalize on the back-to-school shopping season and promote the brand’s Autumn 2018 Denim Fit Collection by encouraging users to showcase their own denim looks.

Results and impact

Over the six days, #InMyDenim saw more than 5,550 user-generated videos created, 10.5 million video views, a 14.3% engagement rate, and 12,000+ additional followers for the brand’s TikTok business account.

Why it worked

The campaign resonated with the target audience, tapped into TikTok’s trend-driven nature, and used the digital playground of choice at the time for the target audience—millennials and Gen Z consumers.

Key takeaways for brands

User-generated content (UGC) can be a powerful campaign tactic thanks to its authenticity and ability to make users feel like they’re part of a brand’s family or community.

7. ‘Share a Coke’ by Coca-Cola

(Source: Brandvm)

Campaign overview

While not purely a digital campaign, the online element of Coke’s “Share a Coke” campaign drove its wild success.

Launched in Australia in 2011, the campaign saw the brand’s iconic logo replaced by popular first names in countries around the world. The campaign encouraged consumers to find and share photos of bottles featuring their names on social media, using the #ShareaCoke hashtag.

Results and impact

“Share a Coke” became a personalized experience that resonated worldwide—from America to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between, thanks to the inclusion of popular names and phrases specific to local markets.

Why it worked

Several factors contributed to this campaign’s success, but its genius lay in deep personalization. Coca-Cola tapped into the very human need for recognition and personal connection, fostering a sense of inclusivity and ownership—and turning a common product into a keepsake.

Key takeaways for brands

“Share a Coke” is perhaps the greatest example of how personalization, emotional storytelling, localization, interactive experiences and building a brand community are essential ingredients to successful marketing.

8. #ShotoniPhone by Apple

Campaign overview

First launched in 2015, this Apple campaign invited iPhone users to shoot photos and videos that celebrate cultural diversity and make a connection with diverse audiences—while also showcasing their phone’s high-quality camera features.

Users (predominantly young adults) were encouraged to share their creations on social platforms using the hashtag #ShotoniPhone. Apple then curated a selection of these photos for billboards, print ads and online galleries.

Results and impact

“Shot on iPhone” is one of the most successful UGC advertising campaigns ever. It generated significant buzz and positive sentiment, with 70 million+ interactions on Instagram alone.

The campaign also won a number of advertising awards, including a Cannes Lion Grand Prix. Some #shotoniphone videos have received millions of views on YouTube.

Why it worked

The powerful combination of authenticity, emotional resonance and global-local adaptability is the secret to this marketing campaign’s success.

Key takeaways for brands

Your customers are more talented than you might think! Keep this in mind when developing new digital marketing strategies and use them to showcase your brand or product’s features on social platforms. You’ll build a community and brand loyalty in the process.

9. ‘You can still dunk in the dark’ by Oreo

(Source: Wedostories)

Campaign overview

Oreo’s somewhat unintentional “You can still dunk in the dark” campaign is a hallmark example of real-time marketing—and what’s sometimes referred to as “newsjacking,” where brands use current events to promote their message.

During the 2013 Super Bowl, a power outage halted the game, leaving millions of viewers in suspense. Seizing this unexpected moment, Oreo’s marketing team swiftly tweeted an image of an Oreo cookie against a dark background with the tweet and image caption, "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark."

Results and impact

Oreo’s timely tweet became an instant viral sensation, garnering around 15,000 retweets and 20,000 Facebook likes within an hour—showcasing the brand's agility and creativity and leading to widespread media coverage and discussions about effective real-time marketing strategies.

Why it worked

The campaign resonated with the target audience in a big way. Three key factors came together to drive engagement: Timeliness, relevance and simplicity.

Key takeaways for brands

Stay agile, keep a keen eye on current events and trends, and keep real-time content aligned with your brand voice to ensure authenticity—and, ultimately, successful digital marketing campaigns.

10. ‘Spotify Wrapped’ by Spotify

(Source: Moengage.com)

Campaign overview

Launched in 2016, “Spotify Wrapped” is an annual campaign that provides users with a personalized summary of their listening habits over the past year, including most-streamed songs, artists, genres and total listening time—all wrapped up in an engaging, easily shareable format.

Over the years, Spotify has introduced new features, such as listening personality types, to keep the experience for their target market fresh.

Results and impact

The campaign has significantly boosted user engagement and brand visibility. In 2020, “Spotify Wrapped” led to a 21% increase in app downloads during the first week of December.

The campaign's success has prompted other music streaming services, such as Apple Music and YouTube Music, to develop similar year-in-review features.

Why it works

Personalization, shareability, data utilization and community building are all key factors in this campaign’s ongoing success.

Key takeaways for brands

Your customer data could be the secret to your next big marketing campaign. Leveraging user data to create personalized experiences that resonate with audiences can help generate buzz.

11. #LikeAGirl by Always

Campaign overview

Launched by Always in 2014 to challenge the negative connotations associated with the phrase “like a girl,” the campaign featured a video asking participants to perform actions “like a girl,” highlighting the impact of societal stereotypes on self-perception.

The #LikeAGirl hashtag became a powerful call to action on social media, encouraging women to share the many amazing things they do “like a girl.”

Results and impact

The campaign video got more than 90 million views globally across multiple platforms within months of its release, won multiple awards (including a Grand Prix at Cannes Lion), and led to a noticeable increase in Always market share and sales.

Moreover, #LikeAGirl has become a rallying cry and movement far beyond the initial campaign video. Post-campaign research showed that 76% of viewers reported they would no longer use “like a girl” as an insult, and two-thirds of men said the campaign changed their perspective.

Why it worked

Emotional storytelling, cultural relevance, authenticity and strong social media engagement all contributed to the success of this campaign.

Key takeaways for brands

Along with bringing about positive change, purpose-driven, successful digital marketing campaigns that address real societal issues can be very profitable, too!

12. Barbie Selfie Generator by Warner Bros.

(Source: MarketingDive)

Campaign overview

In 2023, to promote the “Barbie” movie, Warner Bros. launched the Barbie Selfie Generator, an AI-powered tool developed in partnership with PhotoRoom.

The tool allowed users to upload their photos and transform them into personalized movie posters, complete with customizable backgrounds and text. The user-friendly interface enabled fans to create and share their unique "Barbie" personas across social media platforms.

Results and impact

The Barbie Selfie Generator became a viral sensation, attracting 13 million users by July 2023. This social media campaign also heightened excitement and anticipation of the movie’s release, contributing to its cultural impact.

Why it worked

This playful, experiential marketing campaign put the user at the center of the experience, fostering a personal connection to the movie that fans wanted to share. It’s also a great example of how effective user-generated content can be.

Key takeaways for brands

Embracing interactivity and technology like AI in digital marketing strategies can set businesses apart from the competition and help them appeal to the right audience.

Ready To Launch Your Most Successful Digital Advertising Campaign Yet?

Digital advertising can help you reach your target customers with precision and foster engagement.

As our round-up of brilliant campaigns shows, online marketing campaigns can also create lasting brand impact through memorable, shareable experiences that resonate emotionally, establish a strong brand identity, and build brand loyalty,

If you’re ready to take your business’s digital marketing and advertising to the next level, making Superside your creative team’s creative team is your best move. Book a call to boost your overall marketing strategy with a standout design.

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