13 famous marketing campaigns from the last 100 years

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March 30, 2022
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13 famous marketing campaigns from the last 100 years

The first television commercial to air in the world was in 1941 for the Bulova Watch Company, which cost between $4 and $9 to make (less than 4200 in today's dollars). The costs of advertising are drastically different today: Chanel spent in 2004.

compiled this list of some of the most iconic marketing campaigns of the last 100 years, covering a range of successful ads鈥攆rom Coca-Cola鈥檚 enduring Christmas images to a viral body wash campaign.

Many of us can recall a time when an advertisement convinced us to buy a product or give something new a try. And who hasn鈥檛 mouthed along to the words of that familiar jingle you can鈥檛 seem to get out of your head? Millions of people tune in each year to watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials alone. Meanwhile, some of the brands and influencers active on social media employ the help of web browsing history and algorithms to curate which ads appear in an individual鈥檚 feed. New strategies come and go, but creative marketing campaigns as a whole are most certainly here to stay.

Whether it鈥檚 Absolut Vodka proving its brand could stand the test of time, or Spotify鈥檚 approach to working with its users to share music data, keep reading to find out who had some of the most popular marketing campaigns to date.

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Santa Claus鈥 signature look

- Company: Coca-Cola
- Year premiered: 1931

The jovial, grinning image of Santa Claus has become part of our cultural fabric. But he wasn't always portrayed that way.

In 1931, Coca-Cola tapped reputable illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create advertising images of Santa Claus as a plump, jolly gentleman wearing Coca-Cola鈥檚 signature color red. The soft drink wanted to be affiliated with the holidays, and Santa seemed like a viable choice. As the campaign evolved over the years, images of a cheerful Santa were woven into Coca-Cola鈥檚 advertisements鈥攁nd became the dominant likeness for the iconic character.

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鈥楧oes She... or Doesn't She?鈥

- Company: Clairol
- Year premiered: 1956

Who knew a simple question would give rise to a hair coloring revolution?

Shirley Polykoff was the advertising executive behind the catchy slogan, 鈥淒oes she鈥 or doesn鈥檛 she? 鈥 Only her hairdresser knows for sure.鈥 The New York Times reported that, shortly after the success of the advertising campaign for Clairol,

Clairol took the unique鈥攁nd potentially risky鈥攁pproach of not asking for women to claim the use of the company鈥檚 product. Instead, Clairol wanted to that their product was so good that no one would be able to tell if it was Clairol or not.

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鈥楶lease don鈥檛 squeeze the Charmin鈥

- Company: Charmin
- Year premiered: 1969

鈥淧lease don鈥檛 squeeze the Charmin鈥 is the memorable line created by John Chervokas, who worked as a copywriter for ad agency Benton & Bowles in 1964. The words spoken by the iconic character Mr. George Whipple (portrayed by Dick Wilson) catapulted the Procter & Gamble toilet paper brand to the top.

Mr. Whipple was a fictional supermarket manager who scolded his customers for squeezing the Charmin鈥攐nly to sneakily squeeze the irresistibly soft tissue paper himself. Mr. Whipple went on to become a recognizable spokesperson for the long-running commercials, which were recognized by .

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Absolut genius

- Company: Absolut Vodka
- Year premiered: 1980

Premium Swedish vodka brand Absolut Vodka launched a marketing initiative in 1980 that turned into the in advertising history. At the time, Absolut wasn鈥檛 able to keep up with other brands that had larger distribution, so Absolut came up with the idea of developing 1,500 print ads showcasing the uniqueness of its bottles. The brand happened to be a trendy liquor of choice in New York City鈥檚 popular nightclub Studio 54, where the bottle caught the eye of Andy Warhol, who frequented the venue.

and was later commissioned to create designs for the brand鈥檚 print ads.

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鈥楪ot Milk?鈥

- Company: California Milk Processor Board
- Year premiered: 1993

In 1993, San Francisco-based advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the for the California Milk Processor Board. The ads featured people in various scenarios鈥攚hether it was someone preparing cereal, only to realize they didn鈥檛 have milk in the fridge, or someone about to have a chocolate chip cookie, realizing there was no milk to wash it down with.

The 鈥淕ot Milk?鈥 slogan was licensed in 1995 to national dairy boards for them to use in celebrity print ads. Several celebrities have since participated in the campaign over the years, proudly flaunting their milk mustaches. The national campaign was managed by the Milk Processor Education Program and, in 2014, the catchphrase, adopting 鈥淢ilk Life鈥 as the new tagline instead.

The California Milk Processor Board who created and owns the trademark, however, still uses the slogan. , including Northwestern University鈥檚 Out of the Box Award.

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monticello // Shutterstock

The 鈥榃hassup鈥 campaign

- Company: Budweiser
- Year premiered: 1999

Budweiser鈥檚 鈥淲hassup鈥 ad first debuted in December 1999 during 鈥淢onday Night Football.鈥

The beer commercials were derived from a short film written and directed by Charles Stone III titled 鈥淭rue,鈥 which is about how he and his friends greeted each other in their own unique way. The short film caught the attention of an executive at Doyle Dane Bernbach, a Chicago-based advertising agency.

The 鈥淲hassup鈥 ads aired from 1999 through 2002 and in 2000 alone, Anheuser-Busch . The commercials received a slew of accolades, including the .

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鈥楪et a Mac鈥

- Company: Apple
- Year premiered: 2006

In 2005, Apple saw a decrease in its Mac laptop sales and sought out a way to boost business growth. Co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs wanted an advertising campaign that would highlight the difference between Macs and PCs without coming across as a super aggressor to other brands while simultaneously having Apple鈥檚 Macs stand out. He also didn鈥檛 want the ads to be very comical.

The 鈥淕et a Mac鈥 ads debuted in May 2006, starring actor Justin Long as a younger version of Steve Jobs, or the 鈥渃ool Mac guy,鈥 and John Hodgman as the 鈥淧C guy,鈥 or rather, Bill Gates. The 鈥淕et a Mac鈥 commercials aired until October 2009; that year, Adweek named the series of ads one of the .

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Boston Globe // Getty Images

The most interesting man in the world

- Company: Dos Equis
- Year premiered: 2006

We all know the line: 鈥淚 don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.鈥 The Dos Equis commercials starring the ever so dapper Jonathan Goldsmith began appearing in the U.S. in 2006. A plethora of memes quickly followed鈥攁nd remain widely used today. Dos Equis鈥 ad campaign led the beer company鈥檚 sales to in 2009, even as other beer imports lagged with the meteoric rise of craft beers. Despite being widely popular, however, the commercials ended in 2018.

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鈥楾he man your man could smell like鈥

- Company: Old Spice
- Year premiered: 2010

After catering to a more mature audience for years, Procter & Gamble's Old Spice brand sought to appeal to a younger demographic.

A 2010 advertising campaign spearheaded by would help to reinvent the company's image. The launched online during Super Bowl weekend and was televised shortly afterward. Following market research and learning that more women purchased body wash than men, Wieden+Kennedy鈥檚 vision was to start a discussion between couples about body wash and in a comical way to convince women to stop purchasing 鈥済irly scented鈥 products for men. The campaign was a mega-success as it aired during a targeted time for a major event where couples would be watching together.

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鈥楾he Force鈥 transforms the Super Bowl

- Company: Volkswagen
- Year premiered: 2011

Volkswagen's 鈥淭he Force鈥 has remained one of the most-watched Super Bowl ads of all time and is considered by many a during the major event.

The commercial for the Volkswagen Passat, created by advertising executives at Deutsch LA, features a young boy in full Darth Vader garb attempting to do various things such as wake up a dog, start a washing machine, and wake up a baby doll using the Force. After his unsuccessful attempts, the boy discovers he can get the car to start, but it鈥檚 actually his dad who does it via remote control.

Volkswagen worked with Deutsch LA and MediaCom and they decided to prerelease the 60-second commercial four days before the Super Bowl, a move that wasn鈥檛 usually done in the advertising space. Viewership of the 60-second advert went into the millions shortly after the commercial made it to YouTube. On the actual day of the Super Bowl, 30 seconds of the ad were aired.

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The ice bucket challenge

Company: N/A
Year premiered: 2014

The wildly successful ice bucket challenge was reportedly started by , who at the time had been battling , also known as motor neuron disease.

The social media challenge involved a person pouring a bucket of ice over their head for the purpose of creating awareness of ALS and garnering donations for research, and then tagging others online to do the same. Quinn died in 2020, but his visionary .

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鈥榃rapped鈥 is a social media hit

- Company: Spotify
- Year premiered: 2015

Spotify first launched its annual music campaign in 2015 with the title 鈥淵our Year in Music.鈥 In 2017, the campaign was renamed 鈥淲rapped.鈥 Each December, Spotify sends its users the top artists they listened to throughout the year as customized data cards in a shareable format. This allows users to share their data cards on their social media channels. In December 2021, the hashtag #SpotifyWrapped spent a few days trending on Twitter, with Spotify benefiting from the additional marketing done by its users as well as the data the company was able to collect.

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#ShowUs redefines beauty standards

- Company: Dove
- Year premiered: 2019

Dove sought to redefine how women are represented with the Project #ShowUs. In partnership with Getty Images, the largest international stock photo distributor, and Girlgaze, a digital photography network, Dove created a massive photo library demonstrating more inclusive images of beauty.

Dove formed a first-of-its-kind partnership with Hearst, focusing on publications geared toward women. The publications were given access to the images with a challenge to integrate them into relatable, engaging content. has more than 11,000 images created by women, women-identifying, and nonbinary individuals.

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