2024 Marketing Campaigns That Made Waves and What We Can Learn From Them

The year 2024 brought us bold, creative, and innovative marketing campaigns that pushed boundaries, redefined audience engagement, and delivered measurable results.

We saw so many different things happen all across marketing channels in every single industry out there.

From political campaigns to luxury retail and manufacturing giants, marketers showed us what’s possible when creativity meets strategy. Meeting those chronically online, connecting with people who still rely on older marketing mediums, a nod back to “old school” ways to do marketing, and so much more. We really had a hodgepodge of marketing strategies that really were impactful this year and this list below is kind of wild. So buckle up!

Let’s explore some standout campaigns from the year and uncover the lessons marketers—big and small—can apply to their own strategies.

1. Kamala Harris for President Campaign

The Strategy:
Regardless of where you stand on politics, zooming out and looking at the surge of marketing and digital connection that this campaign created in 100 days is astounding. The way that they created a connection and a call-to-action from chronically online folks in the demographics they were targeting (Millennial and Gen Z) will be studied for years to come.

Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign delivered a masterclass in authenticity, storytelling, and connecting with diverse audiences. Through multi-channel outreach, her team combined traditional media with a strong digital presence, particularly leveraging TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts to create bite-sized, shareable content. Videos featured Harris addressing issues like healthcare and education while humanizing her persona with behind-the-scenes clips and personal stories.

Key Tactics:

  • Hyper-Personalized Messaging: Harris’s team tailored their content for specific demographics, including young voters, women, and communities of color.
  • Influencer Collaboration: Partnering with content creators and grassroots voices lent credibility and widened her reach, especially on platforms favored by Gen Z and Millennials.
  • Interactive Tools: Features like “Vote With Kamala,” a website quiz, helped users understand her policies and how they aligned with their values.

What We Can Learn:

  • Authenticity Wins: Today’s audiences respond to real, transparent storytelling that goes beyond corporate messaging.
  • Engage Niche Communities: Tailor your message to resonate with diverse audience segments while remaining consistent in your core values.
  • Leverage Micro-Influencers: Partnering with trusted voices within communities can amplify your message faster than traditional ads.

2. Coach: The Handbag Store That Went Viral

The Strategy:
In 2024, Coach reinvented its brand story with a campaign centered around nostalgia, limited-edition releases, and hyper-relevant influencer collaborations. Titled “Carry Your Legacy”, the campaign featured vintage styles from the early 2000s—think the Coach baguette bag—reimagined for modern audiences. They leaned heavily on TikTok’s “throwback culture,” where influencers highlighted how these handbags stood the test of time.

Coach is also one of our favorite brands to talk about because they constantly look at their demographic and how it’s likes and preferences change and iterate seamlessly in order to keep up with them. I (Vanessa) grew up buying these bags and have now begun purchasing bags again due to their marketing creativity and their product elevation.

Key Tactics:

  • Nostalgia Marketing: By reviving iconic designs, Coach tapped into a sense of sentimentality while creating a buzz among younger buyers.
  • User-Generated Content: Fans of the brand shared personal stories and retro photos of their old Coach bags using the hashtag #MyCoachStory, sparking a viral movement.
  • Limited Editions: Coach created urgency with exclusive drops that were only available for a short time or through specific influencers.

What We Can Learn:

  • Embrace Nostalgia: Repurposing past success with a modern twist resonates with audiences looking for familiarity and authenticity.
  • Encourage Participation: Campaigns that invite storytelling or UGC drive organic engagement and viral momentum.
  • Create Urgency: Limited-edition products or time-sensitive offers can spur immediate action.

3. Jaguar Automotive’s “Reimagine Luxury” Campaign

The Strategy:
Jaguar’s 2024 campaign shifted gears by focusing on sustainability without sacrificing its luxurious appeal. As electric vehicles (EVs) continued to dominate the automotive industry, Jaguar introduced its sleek, fully electric XJ EV. The campaign, aptly named “Reimagine Luxury,” targeted eco-conscious high-end consumers, blending storytelling, visuals, and a clear focus on innovation.

This rebrand is so controverisal in our marketing and friend circles, but as many say “no press is bad press” and even if you don’t agree with what they’ve done, you CERTAINLY are talking about the company and their cars. Which feels like a win, because as we upgrade cars (at least in our house) we’ve never once thought about Jaguar in any sense of the

Key Tactics:

  • Cinematic Content: Jaguar released stunning video ads showcasing the XJ EV in breathtaking landscapes, evoking the feeling of freedom, sustainability, and power.
  • Influencer and PR Events: High-profile celebrities and automotive influencers were invited to test-drive the XJ EV at exclusive “Green Luxury” events.
  • Content Marketing: Jaguar shared blog posts, case studies, and white papers about the car’s innovative technology, cementing their position as a forward-thinking leader in the EV market.

What We Can Learn:

  • Sustainability Matters: Today’s consumers care about the planet. Align your brand with values that reflect modern priorities.
  • Visual Storytelling Is King: High-quality visuals create a premium perception, whether you’re selling cars, products, or experiences.
  • Educate Through Content: Thoughtful content that highlights your expertise can position you as an industry leader and earn audience trust.

4. Uber Eats “Get Almost, Almost Anything” Campaign

The Strategy:
This campaign highlighted the wide variety of items that Uber can and also cannot deliver to it’s customers. While some of these are obvious (well, we think they are) it was a funny way to connect with humor. This campaign featured TV commercials, digital ads, and social media content with a fun and funny twist. They were able to show what they are capable of but also showed what they could not (like a yes to a noodle dish, but no to two poodles).

Key Tactics:

  • Using Humor to Connect: About 90% of consumers are more likely to remember a funny ad – which is a great way to “buy” attention.
  • Acknowledging Limitations: This can build trust and relatability when a business or brand showcases it’s limits in a fun way.
  • Brand Recognition: Uber is so well known, and using humor to elevate the brand allowed it to become something people can discuss easily.

What We Can Learn:

  • Make it Funny: While brands need to showcase professionalism, it’s also past time that brands take somethings unserious. Relate to your customer.
  • Make it Easy to Talk About: This campaign was just ridiculous and “safe” enough to discuss amongst friends, out to eat, at the bar, or in other spaces. In a time of heated exchanges, Uber capitalized on a way to create a marketing campaign that was easy to talk about.

5. Stanley and the Car-catching-on-fire Sensation

The Strategy:
This happened in 2023 but it absolutely carried this brand into 2024 and kept it going through many iterations, when the hype had originally kind of died down. For those unfamiliar, a woman posted a TikTok of her car being burnt the heck up – yet her Stanley remained not only intact but with ICE STILL INSIDE. While people talked about how they spill, the focus turned to “yeah, but it won’t melt!” To add ice-ing to this, the Stanley company was able to use it as PR to gift the TikToker a new car to replace the one that was lost.

Outside of this, the marketing and PR that had been a long-term marketing move begun long before this TikTok, which is also commendable. This brand is a good example of the investment in a long term, compounded, multi-tier marketing strategy deployed in layers, levels, and at different times.

Key Tactics:

  • Boosting Visibility: The TikTok AND the response created PR gold and boosted this brands visibility even more.
  • Quick Response: The short time between the TikTok and the company response also worked to make the presidents face the face of the brands response. This creates connection and allows people to see “who is actually working” at their favorite companies.
  • Brand Recognition: People were going bonkers for these cups before and were able to leverage that to sell even more after this.

What We Can Learn:

  • Respond Quickly: Don’t wait, good or bad, to make moves sometimes. Consumers have the shortest attention span in this history of digital marketing, so you need to act fast.
  • External Validation Works Wonders: Third-party validation through reviews, UGC, influencers, etc can work in so many ways. This shows how a brand can be integrated into people’s daily lives and wins their trust.
  • Trust Goes So Far: The president being the face of the response, the external validation of the product, the ability to see (even in a catastrophe) that a product is used by regular people, and that the company helped come to this users aid all built trust by showing a human and humane side to the business.

Bringing It All Together

The best campaigns of 2024 were built on creativity, authenticity, and a deep understanding of the target audience. Whether it’s leveraging nostalgia like Coach, driving sustainability like Jaguar, or a rapid heart-warming response to a customer in need like Stanley, the common thread is this: Brands that connect emotionally and align with audience values win.

Takeaways for Marketers:

  • Tell Real Stories: Focus on authenticity to resonate with your audience.
  • Stay Relevant: Embrace trends, whether they’re cultural, technological, or social.
  • Inspire Action: Whether it’s nostalgia, innovation, or urgency, create campaigns that move people.
  • Lead With Trust: A lot of the strategies work because a business has a history of trust and follow through – and then were able to capitalize on it to leverage bigger and bolder campaigns.
  • Be Funny and Move Fast: Stop being so serious and allowing marketing to go through days or weeks of revisions. This takes away the rawness and realness and often times doesn’t hit the same because it’s just not relevant anymore.

By studying standout campaigns, even small marketing teams can draw inspiration and apply these proven strategies to create meaningful, impactful content in the coming year.

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