3 best creative advertising campaigns of 2022

McEnroe vs McEnroe for Michelob ULTRA – It’s only worth it when you enjoy it

John McEnroe is one of the world’s all-time best tennis players. Very talented and hard-working, John was famous for his intense playing style and confrontational disposition which earned him the nickname Superbrat. During his 18-year career, he won many championships, but he didn’t seem to enjoy playing tennis. Now a retired professional athlete, does John still feels the same about playing tennis? Light lager beer brand Michelob ULTRA, whose brand message is It’s only worth it if you enjoy it, reached out to John McEnroe and invited him to share his thoughts on his life and career from a fresh perspective in a very special campaign with the help of high technology. 

Brand: Michelob UTRA & ESPN

Campaign type: Sports event

Awards: 5x Cannes Lions, 1x FWA

Results:

10 million views across ESPN’s channels

Viewership overtook the 2021 NBA finals, making it the year’s most-watched sports event

Tip to spark your creativity: Find a powerful insight related to your customer that is in line with your brand value and message; find an innovative way to present it to your audience by using the technology available to you.

Trapped in the 90s for IKEA Spain

They say you don’t appreciate the things you have until they are taken away. Are you a morning person? You couldn’t imagine your life without your espresso machine which makes the best cappuccinos in the world. Or your healthy veggie shake which you make at home, on your easy-to-use blender. You grab it before heading to the office and puts a smile on your face. Brands are part of our lives and give us pleasure and comfort. What would your life be without them? That’s what IKEA Spain wanted to find out in celebration of 25 years since the brand’s arrival in the country. 

The year IKEA came to Spain is the year a new generation was born, Gen Z. The Gen Zers grew up with the level of comfort and design provided by IKEA products. What if we showed them what was life like in the 90s before IKEA? And that’s exactly what the creative team behind Trapped in the 90s did. They picked six Gen Zers or IKEA natives, as they named them, and invited them to participate in a reality show where they have to “survive a house with an explosive stove, heavy itchy blankets, rotary phones, smoky mirrors, and dim lights…” The goal of the campaign was to showcase the iconic brand’s impact on people’s daily lives. The participants who won the challenges prepared for them by the IKEA team were given IKEA products making their lives a bit more comfortable. 

Brand: IKEA Spain

Campaign type: Reality Show

Awards: 2x Cannes Lions 

Results:

169% increase in deliveries

Time spent on the IKEA Spain website – from 2 minutes to 18 minutes

+1.8 million minutes of content watched

1400% more interactions on social media

Over 1.5 million euros worth of new products were sold in the first-week

Tip to spark your creativity: Help your customers see what their life would be like without your brand

Under Armour: The First Meta Sneaker 

Whether it’s Second Life, GTA, Minecraft or The Sandbox, virtual world games are all the rage right now with millions of people playing them. The Metaverse has been a hot topic for the past two years and things got more serious when brands joined the conversation. BMW, Gucci, Nike, Disney and Coca-Cola are just a few examples of brands using the Metaverse and creating events inside established virtual worlds like Roblox or Decentraland. The problem with multiple metaverses is that you cannot take your assets from one world to the other. That’s a problem that Under Armour solved by building Genesis Curry Flow, the first wearable NFT with the ability to move between virtual worlds. 

Brand: Under Armour

Campaign Type: NFT collection

Awards: 1x Cannes Lions

Results:

The NFT collection sold out

Raised 1 million US dollars for charity in just 10 minutes

Tip to spark your creativity: Solve your customer’s problem in an innovative way