The Top 5 Video Marketing Campaigns of All Time

Are you looking for inspiration for your next video marketing campaign? There’s no better way to start brainstorming than by analyzing some of the best video marketing campaigns of the past.

The 5 campaigns below aren’t just great because of their stellar ROI. These brands blended emotions and ideas to create long-lasting connections with audiences.

Get ready to take notes! We’re going to tell you why these campaigns worked so well so you can replicate their results.

1. Apple: Get a Mac

Apple is well known for having some of the best video marketing campaigns of all time. But at the time the “Get a Mac” campaign started, Apple was in trouble. Microsoft was absolutely dominating, with Windows OS serving an estimated 97% of the market.

Apple used Microsoft’s dominance to its advantage by personifying Windows OS as nerdy and out of touch alongside a modern and approachable “Mac” (played by actor Justin Long).

These campaign ads became some of the first viral videos. They used humor to draw attention to issues with Windows OS, and because most people used Windows devices, viewers understood these references almost as if they were inside jokes.

Apple had turned Microsoft’s dominance on its head. Within just a few months, sales of Mac computers had risen by 12%. By the end of the year, they had increased by 39%.

2. Dove: Choose Beautiful

Dove is an expert at using authenticity to build trust. It does this by using real people in its ads. One of its most successful campaigns is called “Real Beauty,” which features real women with varying body types as models.

The “Choose Beautiful” video is a part of the “Real Beauty” campaign. It features women on hidden cameras choosing to enter a building through a door labeled “Beautiful” or “Average.”

Many women choose the “Average” door and then explain their reasoning. As a viewer, we instantly sympathize with these women and identify with their insecurities. At the same time, we want to advocate for them to feel beautiful in their own bodies.

This video campaign never mentions a single Dove product. Dove is positioning itself solely as an ally to women and a proponent of body positivity. But consumers responded decisively with their wallets, helping Dove increase sales by 60%.

3. Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World

When Dos Equis launched its “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign in the late 2000s, the world of beer was in flux. Imported beer sales were falling as Americans bought more craft brews. But more than that, the perception of the beer drinker was changing.

While brands like Budweiser and Coors continued to market toward college partiers and blue-collar men, Dos Equis realized that beer drinkers wanted to make more interesting beverage choices.

Why? Because when you drink something interesting (like a microbrew with a wacky label), you feel interesting too.

Dos Equis literally bottled this emotion and sold it. Its ads are refined, humorous, adventurous, and edgy, ensuring viewers that a Dos Equis was indeed an interesting beer to drink.

Dos Equis’ product and label did not change at all. The marketing team was just unbelievably good at identifying a rapidly changing target and hitting a bullseye. As a result of the campaign, Dos Equis sales grew by nearly 34%.

4. Android: Friends Furever

Apple isn’t the only tech company with incredible video marketing. Android (aka Google) released the “Friends Furever” campaign to take a subtle jab at Apple while capitalizing on the internet’s love of animal videos.

The video features some of the cutest and most unlikely animal pairs, including a dog and an elephant, a cat and chicks, and a horse and a goat. Android uses these furry friends to suggest that its software can work on a number of devices. This is opposed to Apple’s iOS, which only functions on Apple devices.

Despite being made entirely of stock footage, this video quickly racked up 6.4 million shares on social media and became the most shared viral video ever.

5. Always: Like a Girl

It’s not easy to design video ads for feminine hygiene products but Always managed to hit the ball out of the park with its “Like a Girl” campaign. In the video, women, boys, and girls were asked to do an activity, such as throwing a baseball, “like a girl.”

Boys and older women portray doing something “like a girl” as doing it poorly or weakly. Young girls who haven’t been influenced by stereotypes perform the same actions with confidence and strength.

Gender stereotypes that demean women are normally learned during puberty, which is when women begin to make brand decisions about feminine products. Always positions itself as an ally for women’s empowerment during this stage of life.

This campaign racked up over 90 million YouTube views and boosted purchase intent by more than 50% among Always’ target audience. But more importantly, the video changed the perception of the phrase “like a girl” for most viewers.

The Next Top Video Marketing Campaign

The next best video marketing campaign could be yours. As you’ve seen in the examples above, you don’t need professional actors or even a camera crew to launch a successful video marketing campaign. You just need to know your audience and engage with them in a meaningful way.