13 creative marketing campaign examples to learn from

When I was a kid, I loved the movie "Mac and Me." If you haven't seen it, it's one of those campy, it's-so-bad-it's-good kind of flicks.  

It's also a 99-minute commercial for McDonald's. As a child, I was so impressed by the extremely long choreographed dance sequence in the restaurant, complete with a cameo from the legend himself, Ronald McDonald. As an adult, I see it for the blatantly transparent marketing campaign it really is.

This roundup breaks down 13 innovative marketing campaign examples into their secret ingredients, and shows how you can steal their strategies, Hamburglar-style. I'll also show you how to quickly automate similar campaigns with Zapier, so your marketing operations can run themselves.

Table of contents:

• What makes a great marketing campaign?

• 1. Integrated marketing campaign example

• 2. Email marketing campaign example

• 3. Social media marketing campaign example

• 4. Instagram marketing campaign example

• 5. Facebook marketing campaign example

• 6. LinkedIn marketing campaign example

• 7. Influencer marketing campaign example

• 8. SMS marketing campaign example

• 9. OOH marketing campaign example

• 10. Video marketing campaign example

• 11. Podcast marketing campaign example

• 12. Partnership marketing campaign example

• 13. Stunt marketing campaign example

• Orchestrate AI-powered marketing with Zapier

What makes a great marketing campaign?

While "Mac and Me" might make a kid want a Happy Meal, most marketing campaigns need to do more than just shamelessly plug a brand. The best examples share a few common traits:

• Originality: A fresh hook people remember

• Timeliness: Taps a moment or trend while it's hot (or still warm)

• Proof: Real outcomes or social signals that validate claims

• Emotion: A feeling that makes the CTA more attractive

• Iteration: As data flows in, creative and spend adjust

• Automation: Ops hum in the background so momentum isn't lost

Great campaigns seem simple to the audience but require a lot of thought and precision. There's a clear goal and specific markets, with a single message being pushed across multiple channels. You see it once and get it. You see it twice and act.

1. Integrated marketing campaign example

Zapier

Zapier's ZAP, AI in a Can campaign takes the intimidation out of artificial intelligence by turning it into something electric, cool, refreshing, and proudly unserious. The brand created fake energy drinks that come in four flavors—Very Berry Visualizer, Tangy Task Assistant, Wild Kiwi Workflow, and Chatty Cherry Blast—each representing one of Zapier's AI products.

The campaign integrated a full spread of marketing assets, including '90s-style infomercials, a microsite that feels like a Y2K fever dream, and real-life swag that blurred the line between parody and product launch. It's ridiculous in the best way. 

The concept does what all great content marketing should do. It makes you feel something first, then teaches you something later, with the brand story carrying all of it. Behind the neon colors and fake flavors sits a clear message that AI and AI marketing isn't scary. It's energizing.

Automate your integrated marketing campaign: To run a campaign with this many moving parts, you need serious orchestration. Zapier lets you connect your workflows end-to-end, helping you draft ideas, build AI-generated scripts, push assets into your CMS, schedule social posts, and sync performance data into your project tools. 

2. Email marketing campaign example

Finn: National Cook for Your Dog Day

Finn deserves a few treats for its National Cook for Your Dog Day email. After the bold headline to remind you of the holiday (not that you need a reason to celebrate your doggo), the email kicks off with a tasty appetizer: pumpkin and bone broth toppers right up front. 

It's interactive, including a short video showing a gourmet dog dinner in the making (which includes their product, of course), and a few customer-made clips and pics that turn your inbox into a mini film festival of hungry pups chowing down. It's bright, seasonal, and self-aware in the best way. 

For marketers, the takeaway is simple: anchor your email to a moment your audience already cares about, then make it participatory. There's a clear hook, a path to the product, and best of all, a lot of personality. It provides enough social proof to make people think their dog deserves it too.

Automate your email marketing campaign: With email marketing automation software, you can automate subscriber sign-ups, segmented sends, and follow-ups. And Zapier connects your email marketing tool to the rest of your tech stack, so you can build AI-powered workflows and agents to nurture subscribers. Here are some templates to get you started, or you can learn more about how to automate your email marketing campaigns.

3. Social media marketing campaign example

KFC

To market a returning product, KFC just needed a picture of a potato wedge and two words: "HERE, DAMN." That's it. 

The brand finally gave in to years of online begging to bring back its fan-favorite potato wedges, and instead of milking the nostalgia, it dropped the most minimal, perfectly exasperated post possible. Nearly 80 million views later, the internet had spoken: simple sells.

This campaign works because it knows its audience. KFC leaned into the inside joke between brand and fans. It's everything social media content can be when it stops trying too hard.

Automate your social media marketing campaign: You can orchestrate social media moments like this one by automating the behind-the-scenes work with Zapier. Crosspost bespoke content to every channel, queue responses, and log engagement in real time across your marketing tech stack. With your content and workflows connected, you can spend less time scheduling and more time writing the next viral "fine, here you go" post. Learn more about how to automate your social media marketing, and here are a few templates to get you started.

4. Instagram marketing campaign example

Lohause

Lohause's Instagram videos feel more like indie short films than ads. This campaign centers around an eccentric, silver-haired character, living his best life while donning various glasses offered by the brand.

Instead of showing perfect faces in perfect lighting, Lohause highlights personality. Every clip oozes confidence and character, matching the brand's tagline, "Art follows function." It also doesn't try too hard to sell you glasses—in fact, the videos barely even mention them. The short-form video format plays directly into Instagram's strengths—Reels' algorithm rewards content that stops the scroll, and this campaign's cinematic quality fits right in with the platform's visual-first culture.

Automate your Instagram marketing campaign: You can keep your creative momentum going by running Instagram workflows through Zapier. Automate post scheduling, cross-share videos across social platforms, and instantly alert your team when engagement spikes, all while the creative team stays focused on the story. Learn more about Instagram automation, or get started with one of these templates.

If you want an easier way to map out posts, stories, and cross-platform drops, an Instagram content calendar template is a good starting point. It pulls all your planning into one workflow so the creative side stays uncluttered.

5. Facebook marketing campaign example

Beyond Meat

Where were you when "Treat yourself to a round of sausage" went viral?

When a Wheel of Fortune contestant dropped that ham-fisted gem, Beyond Meat turned the moment into a Facebook ad that promoted their plant-based sausages.

The ad is simply a screenshot of the unsolved puzzle from the Wheel of Fortune broadcast next to a parody of their packaging with the viral phrase written on it. 

What works here is timing and tone. Beyond Meat knows its audience skews older on Facebook, the same crowd that still watches Wheel of Fortune every night. They used humor that felt organic, not forced, and rode the wave of a trending joke while keeping it unmistakably on-brand. It's a textbook example of newsjacking done right.

Automate your Facebook marketing campaign: You can jump on cultural moments faster by connecting Facebook to all the other apps you use, so you can track engagement, send leads to your CRM, and share wins with your team. Learn more about how to automate Facebook, or get started with one of these templates. 

Or you can try this Facebook lead tracker template can keep every new lead organized the moment it rolls in. It funnels names, actions, and context straight into your systems automatically.

6. LinkedIn marketing campaign example

Design Pickle

Design Pickle's LinkedIn ad makes you wonder why more brands don't just say it like it is. The visual shows three identical paintings (Bronze, Silver, and Gold), each with a different price tag underneath. 

The message post copy says, "Same design. Different price. Doesn't add up, right?" That's the entire pitch, paired with a punchy visual that shows the value of their one-tier pricing model.

The campaign works by transforming a universal pain point into a scroll-stopping image—a pickle wearing shades. It's ideal for LinkedIn, where B2B buyers compare vendors. An image exposing a competitor's opaque pricing directly appeals to decision-makers who have experienced this issue.

Automate your LinkedIn marketing campaign: You can run LinkedIn marketing campaigns like this by automating your workflow with Zapier. Share content from your CMS, route leads to your CRM software, sync conversions from your ads, and keep everything updated. Learn more about how to automate LinkedIn, or get started with one of these pre-made templates:

You can also use a conversion-tracking template that keeps your campaign data flowing from LinkedIn into the rest of your stack without any manual steps.

7. Influencer marketing campaign example

Archive

Archive impressed some of the biggest brands in the world when they pulled off one of the boldest B2B influencer plays of the year. It came in two phases.

Phase 1: Archive parked a truck with a giant LED screen mounted on its side in front of several brands' billboards (like Nike's) on Times Square. They put Nike's real-time social media engagement data on display showing live engagement metrics for the brand across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. They also included a message to Nike that said, "Hey @nike, is your campaign walking the walk? Let's track it on social—live."

Phase 2: Archive hired influencers to make videos and spread awareness about the campaign. Videos from said influencers started popping up online, creating a viral ripple across LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, with creators and marketers alike breaking down the campaign in real time. 

Automate your influencer marketing campaign: You can supercharge influencer campaigns like this when you connect your marketing, CRM, and reporting tools through Zapier. Automate creator onboarding, collect UGC as it's posted, and sync engagement data directly into a dashboard. When the next viral stunt hits, your data will already be doing the talking.

8. SMS marketing campaign example

The Farmer's Dog

I use The Farmer's Dog for my pooch's food and this is a screenshot from my phone. Yes, Falcor is a little white dog named after the flying luck dragon from "The Neverending Story." Thanks for asking.  

The Farmer's Dog proves that a subtle campaign with kind messaging goes a long way. It gives delivery dates, offers a clear action (update meals or add treats), and drops a link straight to the customer portal. No emojis or fluff. 

Yes, technically this is a transactional SMS, but that's what makes it instructive. The Farmer's Dog treats every touchpoint (even something as sterile as a logistics update) as an opportunity to reinforce their brand voice, turning routine order updates into consistent, recognizable moments of customer care. The "campaign" here is a sustained approach to how they communicate.

Automate your SMS marketing campaign: Scale your SMS campaigns by connecting your CRM, eCommerce, and SMS tools together with Zapier. Customers stay informed, operations stay hands-off, and every dog still feels like the only customer in the system. Learn more about how to automate SMS campaigns or get started with one of these pre-made templates.

9. OOH (out-of-home) marketing campaign example

Billie

Billie's "Scratch and Sniff the Pits" campaign smells like a winner. The brand turned New York billboards into interactive scratch-and-sniff experiences featuring… armpits. The concept works because it's both sensory and social. People literally engage with the product on the street, then share it online because who wouldn't?

This novel campaign uses just the right amount of humor and shock managing to make deodorant advertising feel fun. Paid advertising doesn't have to live on screens. When you give people something to do and not just something to look at, you create a moment they'll remember and share. Interactivity, even at a much smaller scale than this, can turn passive viewing into active buzz.

Automate your OOH campaigns: If your paid advertising campaigns are less billboard-sized and more smartphone-sized, you can manage large-scale ad campaigns like this by connecting your Google Ads, Meta ads, and TikTok ads with Zapier. Learn more about how to automate your ad campaigns, or get started with one of these templates.

10. Video marketing campaign example

Jellycat

Jellycat's video marketing campaigns are shots of serotonin in commercial form. Their spots capture the brand's warmth and sense of childlike wonder that sneaks up on adults too.

The storytelling works because it's visual and emotional rather than pure product placement. The plush toys are the stars here. If your product has personality, let it lead the scene. A simple, charming narrative with loveable mascots can travel farther than any polished promo.

Automate your video marketing campaigns: You can scale video campaigns like this by connecting YouTube to the rest of your tech stack, so you can automatically upload videos and share them across your channels. Learn more about how to automate YouTube, or get started with one of these pre-made templates. 

11. Podcast marketing campaign

Zapier

Most software companies blog their way to thought leadership. Zapier built a podcast. Agents of Scale is a series hosted by Zapier CEO Wade Foster in which he sits down with C-suite leaders to talk candidly about how they're scaling AI across their organizations. Episodes run 40–55 minutes, go deep on real implementation stories, and name names.

The campaign works because it meets Zapier's exact audience—enterprise decision-makers who are already asking "how do I actually do this AI thing at scale?"—and answers that question with a format they trust: a peer conversation, not a pitch. By making the CEO the host and keeping the tone candid, Zapier earns credibility without running a single ad. It's content marketing that functions more like brand journalism.

12. Partnership marketing campaign

ESW Beauty and Liquid Death

When a skincare brand teams up with a canned water company known for its punk-metal vibe, you don't expect subtlety. And thankfully, you don't get it.

The ESW Beauty x Liquid Death collab delivered "sheet masks to die for," complete with names like Mango Chainsaw and Severed Lime. The packaging looks more like an adult beverage than skincare, and that's the genius of it. This partnership nailed cultural crossover marketing by merging self-care with satire, creating a drop that felt both ironic and aspirational.

The collaboration succeeded because it leaned into both brands' strengths: ESW's sustainability creds and Liquid Death's in-your-face, edgy humor. 

13. Stunt marketing campaign

Smile

Paramount's horror flick Smile pulled off one of the best guerrilla marketing campaigns in recent memory by simply smiling. Leading up to the film's release, actors wearing neon SMILE shirts were placed behind home plate at MLB games, on morning shows, and anywhere a live camera might pan. 

They stood perfectly still, grinning maniacally for minutes at a time while the internet collectively lost it. I personally saw this campaign before I even knew there was a movie, and it was terrifying.  

For the cost of a few stadium tickets, Smile generated tons of free press and made "that weird smiling person" a viral moment. A stunt campaign doesn't have to be elaborate to be successful. If the idea itself is original and disruptive, people can't help reacting to it. 

Orchestrate AI-powered marketing with Zapier

The marketing campaign examples on this list have one thing in common: orchestration. Whether it's dogs eating better dinners, eyewear getting cinematic backstories, or horror movies freaking out the masses, none of it happens in isolation. Each campaign relies on timing, data, creativity, and a whole lot of behind-the-scenes coordination.

Zapier is the most connected AI orchestration platform: it ties your marketing stack together so your tools talk to each other (and you spend less time copy-pasting data). Automate social posts, sync leads to your CRM, personalize emails, and analyze campaign performance in real time without writing a line of code.

If this list sparked an idea, don't let it fade. Explore Zapier's marketing campaign templates or learn how to orchestrate smarter marketing with AI agents. Because when you automate the busywork, you've got more time to make your next campaign the one everyone's talking about.

Related reading:

• The best digital marketing tools

• B2B email marketing: Strategies and examples

• Drip marketing: What it is and examples to learn from

• The best marketing newsletters