This article was originally published in January 2025 and was last updated June 13, 2025.
- Tension: Marketers crave authenticity but still chase polished control.
- Noise: The industry glorifies virality without understanding the systems behind it.
- Direct Message: The best campaigns of 2024 didn’t just go viral—they revealed a cultural shift where performance, not perfection, wins trust.
This article follows the Direct Message methodology, designed to cut through the noise and reveal the deeper truths behind the stories we live.
When HubSpot published its list of the top 25 brand campaigns of 2024, it wasn’t just a hall of fame moment for creative directors.
It was a snapshot of a year where the rules of engagement shifted—from curated polish to systemic performance, from monologue to multi-channel conversation.
This wasn’t about who shouted loudest or bought the biggest ad spot.
It was about who moved the fastest, repurposed the smartest, and connected the most deeply.
2024 was a year when creators became sales teams, products became media assets, and legacy brands were forced to think like startups.
The campaigns that rose to the top did more than trend, they signaled a redefinition of what marketing is even for.
Let’s break down what these campaigns taught us—and why they matter more than ever.
Beyond posts: Content systems that scale trust
Wimbledon’s standout digital strategy in 2024 wasn’t about flooding timelines with random posts—it was about scaling strategic storytelling.
The team created over 300 original content assets across two weeks of tournament coverage, then repackaged and distributed them in over 1,000 ways across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and more.
According to Marketing Examined, this system generated 1 million new followers in 14 days. Their team didn’t rely on virality—they engineered visibility.
From match highlights to on-the-ground interviews and emotional fan reactions, Wimbledon built a flywheel. Every piece of content served a purpose: reach, resonance, or retention.
This wasn’t about daily social calendars. It was about real-time media orchestration.
“Wimbledon didn’t just create content—they created a system that scaled content.” — Marketing Examined, 2024
When your product is the campaign
The rise of “product-as-marketing” was one of 2024’s defining themes.
RODE’s hybrid phone case-lip balm holder wasn’t a gimmick. It solved a real user pain point and was inherently designed for visibility on social media.
That’s what made it more than a product, it was a piece of portable media.
The lesson: if your product sparks a conversation, you don’t need a campaign. The product is the campaign.
Harvard’s Clayton Christensen once wrote:
“Customers don’t buy products. They hire them to do a job.”
(HBR, 2005 – Jobs to Be Done framework)
In 2024, that job included: look good on TikTok, solve a problem fast, and generate content without needing a script.
Here’s the revised version of that section, now incorporating the verified details about GOLIE and preserving the tone and structure of the article:
From influencer to affiliate: TikTok Shop’s sales engine
TikTok Shop didn’t just shake up e-commerce, it rewired how brands activate creators as growth engines.
GOLIE, a supplement brand, was a breakout example. According to Joseph Siegel, Fractional Head of Retention, GOLIE became the #1 selling brand on TikTok Shop, generating over $17 million in GMV in just a few months.
Their strategy? Build “a massive community of affiliates who are incentivized to reach GMV milestones in exchange for outlandish rewards”—including luxury cars, exotic trips, and layered commission incentives.
This isn’t influencer marketing 2.0. It’s decentralized brand distribution, powered by performance—creators are treated like sales reps, not just content partners.
TikTok Shop’s genius lies not just in streamlining the checkout process, but in embedding creators as revenue-driving nodes within a content-driven sales network.
Celebrity campaigns that break the fourth wall
CeraVe’s collaboration with Michael Cera may be the best example of celebrity marketing in years—precisely because it didn’t look like one.
The slow buildup, cryptic paparazzi photos, awkward interviews, speculation—led audiences to wonder: Is Michael Cera trying to take over CeraVe?
That tension built naturally until the campaign’s Super Bowl payoff. Suddenly, everything made sense and everyone was in on the joke.
Instead of telling a story, CeraVe unfolded one. And it worked because it felt like an inside joke between brand and audience.
The deeper tension: From control to co-creation
Here’s what these campaigns reveal beneath the surface:
Marketing is no longer about directing attention. It’s about distributing participation.
This is a profound identity shift for many brands—especially legacy ones used to one-way messaging.
Today’s best campaigns function more like cultural ecosystems than campaigns: they include audience reactions, remix culture, and creator collaboration from day one.
What’s really at stake?
Trust. And trust, in 2025, is earned through contribution not control.
What gets in the way: Misunderstanding the algorithm—and the audience
Marketers are still being misled by outdated playbooks:
- The “post once a day” mindset.
- The over-focus on likes instead of watch time or saves.
- The reliance on hero content rather than adaptable micro-content.
More dangerously, many teams over-index on viral moments without building sustainable momentum. They chase the algorithm but don’t serve the community.
This is the noise: advice that values short-term spikes over long-term systems.
The top campaigns of 2024 succeeded because they architected for continuity, not just clicks.
The Direct Message
The future of brand marketing belongs to those who create with—not for—their audience.
Integrating this insight: Build for adaptability, not applause
To apply what these campaigns reveal, marketers need to shift internally—both philosophically and operationally.
- Think modular: Build core content that can be repurposed across formats and platforms.
- Reward performance: Treat creators like partners with upside, not rented reach.
- Drop the polish obsession: Good ideas don’t need cinematic perfection. They need fast distribution and cultural timing.
- Design for contribution: Let the audience shape the story. Build in shareability and remix-ability.
This isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about designing for participation at scale.
The best brand campaigns of 2024 weren’t reactive. They were systems that anticipated culture, integrated audiences, and turned every touchpoint into part of the story.
That’s not just clever marketing.
That’s a new operating model for relevance.
