Despite a year marked by persistent global conflicts, economic pressures, and a volatile sociopolitical landscape, 2025 saw some of the most innovative and impactful marketing campaigns. While global ad spend continued to rise, savvy marketers focused on cutting through the noise with strategies that resonated deeply with consumers. This deep dive explores how leading brands successfully navigated these uncertain times, setting new benchmarks for creativity, engagement, and measurable results in the advertising world.
Amidst these compounding challenges, several key trends emerged. Nostalgia continued to be a reliable tactic, connecting current campaigns to past “glory days.” Celebrity-driven campaigns, once reserved for high-stakes events like the Super Bowl, became a more common, everyday strategy. As consumer sentiment plummeted, both monetary and emotional value became central to nearly every marketing effort, particularly as quick-service restaurant (QSR) and consumer packaged goods (CPG) sectors re-engaged in competitive sparring. Strategically, social-first approaches gained traction, while purely purpose-driven marketing saw a slight decline. Marketers also prioritized turning around struggling brands and repositioning stronger ones, all while carefully avoiding potentially disastrous rebrands. The industry also witnessed a significant shift, with the pendulum swinging back towards performance marketing and immediate ROI, moving away from the longer-term returns of traditional brand building.
Best Marketing Campaigns of 2025
Best Overall Marketing: Chili’s Bar & Grill
Chili’s continues to achieve impressive sales figures, recently reporting its fourth consecutive quarter of 20% or higher same-store sales increases. Executives at parent company Brinker International have consistently attributed the casual dining chain’s success to its marketing prowess. Beyond acclaimed efforts in video-game nostalgia and innovative value messaging, Chili’s has actively sought new ways to engage diverse consumer cohorts through cultural relevance.
“For us, staying relevant, and gaining relevancy with Gen Z, isn’t about chasing every trend,” explained Jesse Johnson, vice president of marketing at Chili’s. “It’s about showing up authentically in the places people are already having conversations in a way that feels true to who we are as a brand. That means leaning into humor, tapping into nostalgia, and creating moments that make people say ‘Chili’s did wut?!’”
This year, Chili’s leveraged nostalgia for 1990s and 2000s TV hits through two notable efforts: a partnership with “Saved by the Bell” star Tiffani Thiessen, and the opening of a “Scranton Branch” to capitalize on the enduring popularity of “The Office.” The brand also transformed its icons into fashion and costumes, and promoted its margaritas through tie-ups with country music, motorsports, and even its own short-form Lifetime TV movie.
R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at location analytics platform Placer.ai, noted, “They were not only able to appeal to nostalgia, but also combine it with the value messaging, which is really powerful in this environment, and then took the fight directly to QSR. I think that really resonated with consumers.”
Best Noisemaker: American Eagle, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”
While several marketing campaigns generated buzz this year, none quite matched the level of attention garnered by American Eagle’s collaboration with Sydney Sweeney. This campaign, its most expensive and arguably most controversial to date, made significant headlines.
The “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign featured the A-lister showcasing the brand’s core denim product across social media, including an AI-powered Snapchat experience, and prominent out-of-home (OOH) displays, such as a takeover of the Sphere in Las Vegas. Almost immediately, the campaign faced criticism, with some arguing that the ads implicitly promoted the long-disproven theory of eugenics.
Despite the backlash, the effort proved highly successful, becoming the most successful campaign in American Eagle’s history. CMO Craig Brommers affirmed the brand’s decision to stay the course, reporting nearly 1 million new customers between late July and early September. The brand also achieved growth in every county in America during Q2, with collaboration products, including a limited-edition pair of butterfly-embellished jeans, selling out rapidly.
Brommers commented, “Not everyone may agree with this campaign or respond to this campaign, but I hope that people can isolate that and say this is a campaign that moved the needle and can be used as a reference point for marketers when they get asked, ‘Does marketing work?’”
Best Social-First Campaign: Dove, “#ShareTheFirst”
Social-first marketing became ubiquitous in 2025, and few companies embodied this industry shift better than Unilever. The CPG giant, which dedicates half of its ad spend to social channels, demonstrated in June how marketers can adapt an iconic brand platform to meet evolving consumer needs with Dove’s “#ShareTheFirst.”
This initiative marked the first entirely creator-led iteration of Dove’s longstanding “Real Beauty” campaign, executed without additional studio work. Developed in partnership with Edelman, “#ShareTheFirst” was rooted in research revealing that nine out of ten surveyed women take up to 50 photos before posting to social media, while 60% avoid sharing special moments altogether. To combat this “perfection paradox,” Dove encouraged consumers to post the first photo they snapped of themselves, resisting the urge to overthink and instead embracing self-confidence, aligning with the broader ethos of the brand’s “Real Beauty” platform.
The authenticity-minded concept was bolstered by Dove’s network of over 100 global creators, who spearheaded the #ShareTheFirst drive online. Dove also executed an out-of-home takeover of London's Liverpool Street station, featuring 64 placements highlighting creator content. Each ad included a scrollable element, offering an unvarnished peek at the camera roll before showcasing a message from Dove.
“#ShareTheFirst” generated over 1 billion impressions and achieved 94% positive sentiment, while also improving key brand metrics such as purchase intent, consideration, and perceptions of Dove as a champion of inclusivity.
Best Cultural Play: Gap, “Better in Denim”
Achieving cultural relevance is a goal for many marketers, yet it remains a challenging endeavor, requiring brands to join conversations authentically without appearing forced or disingenuous. Gap, however, successfully navigated this challenge this year. Its “Better in Denim” campaign not only captured global attention but also delivered significant business results.
Timed for the back-to-school shopping season, the campaign featured global girl group Katseye dancing to Kelis’ “Milkshake” while outfitted head-to-toe in denim. Gap has a history of focusing on cultural marketing, and “Better in Denim” skillfully combined the relevance of a contemporary group with the nostalgia of a 2000s anthem, resulting in a viral, Gen Z-focused campaign.
Gap’s Global CMO Fabiola Torres stated in an interview with Marketing Dive, “The success of that campaign really put us into another universe of being relevant and being for a new generation of consumers.”
With more than 8 billion impressions and 500 million views, the campaign stands as one of Gap’s most successful to date, according to a Q3 earnings call. Beyond driving significant traffic, it also contributed to double-digit growth in denim sales.
