The 18 Most Creative Ad Campaigns in History
By lkolowich@hubspot.com (Lindsay Kolowich Cox)
I’ve always been a little leery of proclaiming anything “the best.” I never declared anyone my best friend as a kid because I was afraid my other friends might assume I thought less of them.
So it was a little difficult for me to come up with just one “best” advertisement of all time—which is why there are 18 in this post instead.
But why are these some of the best ads of all time?
Because of the impact they had on brand growth and because they hit on some universal truth that makes them memorable years after they first began. In fact, some of us might not have even been alive when these campaigns first aired.
But to know what makes an advertisement great, you must first understand what an advertisement is.
The Best Advertising Campaigns of All Time (And What Made Them Successful)
Absolut Vodka: The Absolut Bottle
Anheuser-Busch: Whassup (1999)
Miller Lite: Great Taste, Less Filling (1974)
Volkswagen: Think Small (1960)
Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World (2006)
California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk? (1993)
Metro Trains: Dumb Ways to Die (2012)
Clairol: Does She or Doesn’t She? (1957)
De Beers: A Diamond is Forever (1999)
Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (2010)
Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef? (1984)
Procter & Gamble: Thank You, Mom (2012)
Use These Advertisement Examples to Inspire Your Own Ads
Advertisements
Advertisements promote products, services, or campaigns through written or visual messages. Businesses can pay the owner of a channel or platform that reaches a similar audience to broadcast these messages. Two of the biggest challenges in advertising are measuring the value of the advertisement and ensuring it resonates with the right people.
As you can imagine, there are many types of advertisements—all of which run in different mediums, on different channels, and have different goals in mind for their business. People can advertise anywhere, and today’s best type of ad might not be the best type tomorrow.
Types of Advertisements
Here are four basic examples of advertising from the past few centuries (yikes), from earliest to latest.
1. Print Advertising
The first print ad ran in England in 1472, according to Infolinks. Since then, this type of advertising has become available in newspapers, magazines, brochures, billboards, flyers, and …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
