Marketing campaign examples: 10 campaigns and the idea behind each
Ten marketing campaign examples: five famous ones from Dove, Apple, Spotify, Heinz and Duolingo, and five live on Meta right now, from IKEA to Outdoor Voices. The one idea behind each, and what a small brand can copy.
Marián Cabadaj
9 min read
Many small-brand "campaigns" are a discount code and three ads that say different things. They run for two weeks, nobody remembers them, and the next one starts from zero.
The campaigns people remember have one idea that every piece repeats. This post looks at ten of them. Five are famous, and each one is sourced to the brand, the award body or the trade press that covered it. Five are running on Meta right now, taken from Meta's public Ad Library in October 2026. We show those as patterns. We do not know how each one performed, so we make no claim about results.
What makes a marketing campaign a campaign?
A campaign is a set of ads, posts and other pieces that carry one idea to one audience for a set time. A single ad is one piece. Three ads with three different messages are three pieces that do not help each other.
One idea, many products
IKEA's English-language ads in the US show it well. Each ad sells a different product: a cactus decoration, a butcher block, a basket. Each opens with a line about the same promise: "bring your dream home to life", "turn your vision into a dream kitchen", "make your vision for your dream space a reality".
What to copy. Write the one line first. Then let every product ad open with a version of it, so each ad makes the next one easier to recognize.
One brand, a second message for a second audience
IKEA's Spanish-language ads in the same library do not translate the "dream home" line. They run a price line instead: "Renueva tu cocina con IKEA por un precio sabrosísimo", roughly "renew your kitchen with IKEA at a delicious price".
What to copy. One campaign can have two lines when it talks to two audiences. Keep each line the same across all ads for that audience.
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Add as preferred sourceWhich famous campaigns made the customer the ad?
Three of the best-known campaigns since 2015 used the customer's own work as the creative: their photos, their listening data, their drawings.
Apple, Shot on iPhone (2015)
Apple's "World Gallery" put photos and video taken by iPhone 6 users on billboards, in print and on TV, starting in March 2015. It won the Outdoor Lions Grand Prix at Cannes in June 2015, plus five Gold Lions for single posters (MacRumors, 2015). Apple still runs the idea as a contest: for the 2019 Shot on iPhone Challenge, the ten winning photos went on billboards in select cities, in Apple stores and online (Apple Newsroom, 2019).
Why it worked. The ad is the proof. A billboard photo shot on the phone says more about the camera than any spec line.
Spotify, Wrapped (2016)
Spotify first ran a year-end recap in 2015 as "Year in Music", and it drew more than 5 million unique users. In 2016 Spotify renamed it "Wrapped" and added the "Your Top Songs" playlist. In 2019 Wrapped moved into the app, and in 2023 it engaged a record 227 million monthly active users (Spotify Newsroom, 2024).
What this means for a DTC brand: a recap built from the customer's own data gives them a reason to post about your brand for you. Your version can be small: a "your year with us" email with their orders, their favorite product and one share card.
Heinz, Draw Ketchup (2021)
The agency Rethink asked people on five continents to "draw ketchup", without telling them Heinz was involved. Heinz says most of them drew a red Heinz bottle from memory. The sketches became a Kraft Heinz Canada campaign, and Canadians could send in their own drawing at drawketchup.ca, with 250 of them printed on custom bottle labels (Muse by Clios, 2021).
Why it worked. It turned a claim every ketchup brand would like to make ("we are the ketchup") into something the audience proved on paper.
The small-brand version: lend the ad to another voice
A small brand can borrow a voice too. ELLE DECOR with IKEA is listed in the Ad Library with two names on one ad, and the headline reads like a magazine story: "Make Your Bedroom Feel Like a Boutique Hotel With These New IKEA Textiles".
What to copy. Put a customer photo, a review or a creator's voice in the ad. We covered that kind of ad separately in social proof ads. The advertising hooks examples post shows how to open these ads in the first second.
Which campaigns won on one idea people talked about?
These two had one idea that people passed on to friends.
Dove, Real Beauty Sketches (2013)
An FBI-trained sketch artist drew women twice: once from their own description, once from a stranger's. The campaign by Ogilvy Brasil won the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes in 2013, and its spots had 46.4 million YouTube views and 1.9 million Facebook shares at the time (MediaPost, 2013).
What this means for a DTC brand: the idea came from one tension the audience already felt. Find the gap between how your customer sees the problem and how it really is, and build the campaign on that gap.
Duolingo, Dead Duo (2025)
In early 2025 Duolingo announced that Duo, its green owl mascot, had died, and ran the story on social media as a mystery. The company told its shareholders:
"This quarter, we launched one of our most successful marketing campaigns ever and spent practically nothing on it: Dead Duo." Source: Duolingo Q1 2025 shareholder letter
The same letter says the campaign generated 1.7 billion organic impressions and a lift in new and returning users.
What this means for a DTC brand: a mascot or a recurring character is an asset you can write stories for. Our read: it lands only when people already know the character, so build the character first.
The small-brand version: one line on every product
Outdoor Voices opens this shorts ad with "Your new Doing Things uniform. Made to move with you." The product name comes after that line.
What to copy. Use two or three words that belong only to you, in every ad.
What campaigns are brands running on Meta right now?
Famous campaigns teach the idea. Live ads show how a brand turns that idea into a week of creative. For single feed ads sorted by pattern, see our Instagram ad examples. These ran in the US in October 2026.
IKEA, the bestseller ads
Under the "dream" line, IKEA picks single products that are easy to want: a bamboo butcher block ("you just found your new favorite kitchen essential"), a rattan basket from "the IKEA hall of fame". Each photo shows the product in a room.
What to copy. Lead the campaign with your bestsellers. A product people already buy is the cheapest way to test whether the campaign line lands.
Royal Canadian, a seasonal color drop
"Fresh picks of the season: Dove, Chocolate Brown and Denim Blue. The same warm, waterproof boots in 3 new shades." The news is the colors. The product claim stays the same.
What to copy. A new color, flavor or size is enough news for a campaign. Say what is new in the first line and what stays the same in the second.
Ernesta, the sample offer
Ernesta sells custom-sized rugs, which are hard to buy from a photo. The ad offers samples first: "Order samples and get $50 off your next rug purchase."
What to copy. When the product is expensive or hard to judge online, build the campaign around a small first step and tie the discount to the big purchase.
Marketing campaign examples compared
| Campaign | Year | The one idea | Main channel | What a small brand can copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple, Shot on iPhone | 2015 | The customer's photo is the proof | Billboards, print, TV | Customer photos as ad creative |
| Spotify, Wrapped | 2016 | Your year, ready to share | In-app, social | A personal recap with a share card |
| Heinz, Draw Ketchup | 2021 | People draw the brand from memory | Social, labels | Let the audience prove the claim |
| Dove, Real Beauty Sketches | 2013 | How you see yourself vs. how others see you | Online video | Build on one tension the buyer feels |
| Duolingo, Dead Duo | 2025 | A mystery about the mascot | Social | A character you can write stories for |
| IKEA, dream home | 2026 | One promise across every product | Meta ads | One line opening every product ad |
| ELLE DECOR with IKEA | 2026 | A magazine voice sells the product | Meta ads | Borrow a voice the buyer trusts |
| Outdoor Voices | 2026 | Doing Things | Meta ads | Two words that belong only to you |
| Royal Canadian | 2026 | Same boot, new shades | Meta ads | A small product change as news |
| Ernesta | 2026 | Samples before the big buy | Meta ads | A small first step with an offer |
How do you plan your own campaign from these examples?
Write the one idea as a sentence
If it does not fit in one sentence, it is two campaigns. "Our socks last longer than your gym membership" is an idea. "Quality, comfort and great prices" is a list. Look at what an ad creative is made of before you brief the pieces.
Plan the pieces around the idea
| Week | Pieces | Job |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 to 5 static ads, one per product, same opening line | Test which product carries the line |
| 2 | 2 customer or creator pieces | Borrow a voice |
| 3 | The winners from week 1 in new formats | Spend more on what works |
| 4 | An offer or a "last chance" version | Close the campaign |
Decide how you will know it worked
Set the number before the campaign starts: the return on ad spend you need. Put your planned spend and expected revenue into the calculator below and see if the plan holds.
Ad campaign details
Results
ROAS
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CPA (Cost per Acquisition)
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Revenue per Order
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ROAS Calculator: the full tool, with the benchmarks and the FAQ
How Selzee runs a campaign's ads
Every live example above is one idea turned into many ads. That part is where Selzee helps. It reads what is winning in your market, including what your competitors run in the Meta, TikTok, Google and Pinterest ad libraries, and recreates those ads for your brand, with your products, logo, fonts and colors. New ones come every day.
Each ad comes with the angle and the insight it is built on, so you can keep one campaign idea across all of them. You approve the ones you want and publish them in one click. See how it works on the AI ad generation page.
Marketing campaign examples: FAQ
What is an example of a marketing campaign?
Spotify Wrapped is one of the clearest. Every year since 2016, Spotify has turned each user's listening data into a personal recap that people share themselves. The idea stays the same and the pieces change every year. Selzee recreates winning campaign ads for your brand, with your logo, fonts and colors.
What are the 4 types of marketing campaigns?
There is no single official list. A practical split is by the job: launch campaigns (a new product or color, like Royal Canadian), brand campaigns (one idea people remember, like Dove), offer campaigns (a price or a first step, like Ernesta) and seasonal campaigns tied to a date, like the Christmas ads big brands run each year. Selzee makes ads for each of these jobs from what already wins in your market.
How long should a marketing campaign run?
Long enough to test the idea and spend more on the winners. Four weeks is a pace most small brands can plan, as in the table above. A brand campaign like Wrapped runs every year for many years. Selzee makes new ads every day so a campaign does not run out of creative.
What makes a marketing campaign successful?
One idea that every piece repeats, a clear audience and a number you set before launch. The famous ones above add a reason for people to pass the idea on. Selzee shows the angle behind every ad so you can keep each piece on one idea.
Can a small brand run a campaign like Dove or Apple?
Not at their budget, but the ideas scale down. Customer photos, a recap email, a seasonal color drop or a sample offer cost little. Selzee recreates the formats winning right now for your brand.
The short version
Write the campaign as one sentence. Make every ad open with it. Borrow a voice your buyer trusts, use your bestsellers to test it, and decide the number that means it worked before you spend.
If you want campaign ads like these for your brand every day, see how Selzee works on your own brand.