MMarketing Against The Grain
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17 October 2023

5 Marketing Lessons You Need To Learn From 2023’s Best Ads (#165)

5Frameworks
2Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Marketing7 steps

Brand-Promise Opposition Campaign

Turn a cultural threat to your brand belief into a credible movement.

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Marketing4 steps

Concept-First Product Story

Build a provocative central idea before polishing the execution.

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Marketing5 steps

Customer-as-Hero Product Story

Show customers achieving meaningful goals with the product in a supporting role.

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Communication5 steps

Gradual Emotional Buildup

Lead audiences from safety into strong emotion without overwhelming them.

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Communication4 steps

Story Simplification Pass

Remove everything that obscures the story's single emotional promise.

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Explainer· 1

Explainer05:30

How Coca-Cola Borrowed Credibility From Art History

The Masterpiece advertisement moves a Coke bottle through recognizable artistic periods and individual works. This lets Coca-Cola associate itself with the cultural credibility of the featured artists while rewarding knowledgeable viewers with visual references and Easter eggs.

  • The Coke bottle acts as the sponsor and narrator of the museum journey.
  • Recognizable art styles transfer cultural associations to the brand.
  • Specialist Easter eggs reward art enthusiasts without blocking general viewers.
  • Motion and animation pull viewers through the sequence.

“they're assigning all this interesting art style specific even specific paintings to the Coke brand”

Kit Bodner · 07:00

“there's little Easter eggs and nuggets and like if you're real art dork There's real art dork stuff in there”

Kit Bodner · 08:00
#coca-cola#art#brand-association#animation

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway14:30

Apple Made Iterative Software Feel Special Again

Apple faced the difficult task of advertising granular software capabilities deep into the iPhone's product lifecycle. Instead of staging another polished hardware reveal, it used casual, day-to-day situations and a broad cast of characters to make familiar features feel useful and emotionally fresh.

  • The advertisement focuses on detailed software features rather than a new device reveal.
  • Everyday situations make technical capabilities easier to understand.
  • A broad cast demonstrates usefulness across different lives.
  • The restrained production style distinguishes the campaign from classic Apple launches.

“this is a really hard ad to do CU they're doing nitty-gritty features here”

Kit Bodner · 14:30

“they have to make the same thing feel different and special”

Kit Bodner · 17:30
#apple#software#accessibility#product-lifecycle