Top Marketing Campaigns of 2025: How Brands Thrived in Chaos

In 2025, marketers faced a perfect storm of challenges: global conflict, economic uncertainty, regulatory pressures, and a volatile sociopolitical landscape. Yet, the savviest brands not only survived but thrived by cutting through the noise with innovative strategies. Here’s a look at the standout campaigns that defined the year.

Navigating Uncertainty with Nostalgia and Value

Despite rising global ad spend, the year was marked by "bad vibes." Brands leaned heavily on nostalgia and celebrity-driven campaigns to connect with audiences. As consumer sentiment dropped, value messaging—both monetary and emotional—became crucial, especially in competitive sectors like QSR and CPG. The pendulum swung back toward performance and ROI, moving away from longer-tail brand-building efforts.

Best Overall Marketing: Chili’s Bar & Grill

Chili’s achieved four straight quarters of 20%+ same-store sales growth by blending humor, nostalgia, and cultural relevance. Campaigns tapped into 1990s and 2000s TV hits, like partnering with "Saved by the Bell" star Tiffani Thiessen and opening a "Scranton Branch" inspired by "The Office." The brand also turned its icons into fashion and tied margaritas to country music and motorsports. According to R.J. Hottovy of Placer.ai, this combination of nostalgia and value messaging resonated powerfully with consumers.

Best Noisemaker: American Eagle, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”

American Eagle’s controversial campaign with Sydney Sweeney generated massive buzz, despite backlash over perceived eugenics themes. Featuring AI-powered Snapchat experiences and a Sphere takeover in Las Vegas, it became the brand’s most successful campaign ever, attracting nearly 1 million new customers and driving growth in every U.S. county. CMO Craig Brommers emphasized its role in proving that marketing can move the needle.

Best Social-First Campaign: Dove, “#ShareTheFirst”

Dove adapted its iconic "Real Beauty" platform with a creator-led, social-first campaign to combat the "perfection paradox"—where women take up to 50 photos before posting. Encouraging users to share their first unedited photos, the effort involved over 100 global creators and an OOH takeover in London. It generated over 1 billion impressions with 94% positive sentiment, boosting purchase intent and inclusivity perceptions.

Best Cultural Play: Gap, “Better in Denim”

Gap’s viral campaign featuring girl group Katseye dancing to Kelis’s "Milkshake" combined Gen Z relevance with 2000s nostalgia. With over 8 billion impressions and 500 million views, it drove double-digit denim sales growth and reestablished Gap as a culturally relevant brand for a new generation, according to Global CMO Fabiola Torres.

Best Edgy Humor: Doritos, “A Spicy, but Not Too Spicy Plumber”

Doritos pushed creative boundaries with a racy parody starring Walton Goggins, promoting its Golden Sriracha chips as "not too spicy." The digital-first campaign included Times Square placements and encouraged steamy fan edits, generating over 200 million views. Chris Bellinger of PepsiCo noted the importance of edging up to the line without crossing it in today’s "unhinged" humor landscape.

Best Brand Turnaround: KFC, “Obsession”

KFC revitalized its brand by reimagining Colonel Sanders as a "feisty chefpreneur" in a campaign that swapped his grin for a scowl. This serious approach, developed with agency Highdive, led to a 2% same-store sales growth and was named the strongest QSR ad of the year for branding and sales potential by System1.

Best Brand Transformation: “Walmart. Who Knew?”

Walmart addressed perception issues with a platform starring Walton Goggins, revising The Who’s "Who Are You" to highlight its assortment and Walmart+ services. A holiday adaptation, "WhoKnewVille," featured Goggins as the Grinch, driving millions of views. Jolene Delisle of The Working Assembly praised its self-aware, human tone for effectively rebranding the retailer.

Best Competitive Sparring: Olipop

In the heated better-for-you soda market, Olipop disrupted the influencer model by selling 5,000 PR boxes for 5 cents each on Amazon, selling out in two minutes. While seen as a dig at competitor Poppi, Olipop’s director Steven Vigilante called it a scalable, accessible strategy that boosted social sentiment without intentional rivalry.

Best Purpose-Driven: E.l.f., “Give an e.l.f.”

As purpose-driven marketing waned, E.l.f. Beauty stayed committed with a campaign encouraging consumers to support causes via donations. It delivered 195 million earned impressions with 99% positive sentiment, contributing to 27 consecutive quarters of sales growth. Chief Brand Officer Laurie Lam emphasized walking the talk in brand values.

Best Use of Nostalgia: “Neutrogena Remembers”

Neutrogena flipped nostalgia marketing by targeting aging consumers with humor, promoting anti-aging products without fear-based messaging. The campaign sparked strong social engagement and UGC, allowing the brand to cut through the noise in a crowded beauty category, according to Chris Riat of Kenvue.

These campaigns highlight how brands in 2025 leveraged creativity, data, and cultural insights to succeed amid uncertainty, setting new standards for marketing effectiveness.