This month, we’re giving the teams behind some of our favorite campaign references their flowers and some culture makers our condolences with superlatives that we think are well earned.

Below are the five marketing moments that we’re still thinking about from 2025

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Here's what caught my eye this year:

Instagram’s Adam Mosseri's reels have quietly become one of the best product marketing strategies in tech - not through polish, but through presence.

His IG Reels are plainspoken, entirely unproduced, and refreshingly direct. No launch theatrics. No brand voice gymnastics. Just: here’s what we’re building, here’s why, here’s what’s changing.

It works because it feels like a human explaining a product he actually understands to an audience of people who use it everyday.

Adam’s instagram reels are actually where I get all of my instagram updates - not their brand account or in product marketing. From Adam’s mouth to my ears.

See what Instagram’s been up to

First it was the sheets that they sold to promote that ghost movie, then it was the fake chalamet call about a wheaties box that actually ended up happening, and now they’ve placed a movie promo in The Boston Globe engagement announcements pages.

The end product elements that they come up with are legit, but I think the distribution strategy for them is even smarter. They stay serious like the filmmakers they are, determined not to make content but instead, make something people will talk about.

Everything they do pisses people off a little, provoking them to at least watch the trailer.

Tune into their other promotional campaigns

They are called The Roadies and there are (as of this moment) EIGHTY SEVEN THOUSAND OF THEM.

How their team maintains this, we have no idea, but to them we say, bravo.

A lot of the vision for their holiday campaign this year stemmed from conversations they had in the group and it shows. The campaign stands out precisely because the product offering is actually exactly what their customers wanted it to be. No overwrought sparkle, no frantic gifting narrative. Instead, the brand doubled down on what it already does best with hero products for great value.

The Air team actually followed along for this one to see it all come together, and you can watch the whole thing from product design to launch day here.

Stalk the FB group

Admittedly I have never even been here but I continue to follow the account because I think their stuff is tightly edited and confident.

Dishes aren’t oversold. Atmosphere does the heavy lifting in the videos. I don’t feel marketed to, or even like I’m being invited in, I just feel like it’s probably a place I want to hang out based on the characters in the videos and how unserious they take the stuff that most restaurants don’t. That’s an incredible achievement.

I plan on popping my Schmuck cherry next summer when they open the big glass doors onto 1st Ave and I can have a frozen drink and people watch through a good pair of sunglasses.

Catch their latest video

Our latest Rizzler campaign helped launch Air’s new Creator Plan. It was unhinged and that was the point.

Instead of using AI to appear smarter, sleeker, or more efficient, we used it to be absurd. The result is a piece of content that doesn’t ask to be taken seriously but gets watched in case it’s a train wreck.

Shitty AI fatigue is real, and before it gets really good (probs tmrw), we wanted to time capsule the moment when you can give the Rizzler a Nintendo Glove and turn him into a superhero all from the comfort of his bedroom and tell that it’s all fake but hope that it’s real.

I think we're gonna miss today's AI when it's gone.

You know you wanna watch it...

The references above aren't just good work - they're blueprints for how to show up differently in an oversaturated landscape. Here are the tactical takeaways worth carrying into 2026:

1. Clarity beats complexity

Adam Mosseri's product updates work because they're direct. No brand voice gymnastics, no overwrought narratives. Just clear explanations of what's changing and why it matters.

The application: Before adding layers of creative, ask if your core message can be understood in 30 seconds by someone who's never heard of your brand. If not, simplify first, polish second.

2. Distribution is part of the creative

A24's Boston Globe placement wasn't about nostalgia - it was about creating friction in a world of algorithmic inevitability. Where you show up matters as much as what you say.

The application: Stop treating distribution as an afterthought. Ask: where does our audience still choose to pay attention? Where would our message feel like a discovery rather than an interruption?

4. Community is a creative input, not just an outcome

Jones Road's Facebook group (The Roadies, 87K+ members) directly informed their product development and holiday campaign. Their customers didn't just buy - they shaped what got built.

The application: Jones Road's holiday campaign succeeded by not becoming something else for the season by doubling down on their existing voice and learning from the community they’ve built to take even bigger swings to delight them.

The application: Don’t let a reddit moderator own your brand’s biggest community. Take control of your own where it’s already sprouting.

5. Absurdity has strategic value

Air's Rizzler campaign leaned into the ridiculous moment of AI - before it gets too good to be funny. Instead of using AI to appear smarter, they used it to be memorably absurd.

The application: Don't be afraid to time-capsule cultural moments, even if they're weird. Absurdity cuts through when everything else is trying to be polished and perfect. If you're going to use emerging tech, use it with a point of view.

6. Tone is a differentiator

From Schmuck's confident, unserious restaurant content to A24's serious-but-playful approach, the campaigns that stood out had a distinct voice - not just a message.

The application: If your category is crowded, your differentiator might not be product features. It might be how you sound. Audit your tone: is it distinctive enough that people would recognize it without your logo?

The through line

In 2026, the brands that break through won't be the ones with the biggest budgets - they'll be the ones with the clearest point of view, the sharpest understanding of where attention lives, and the confidence to stay consistent when everyone else is chasing trends.

Want more inspo and creative ephemera? There's more campaigns we watched in our monthly moodboard.

Thanks for reading this year. We’re gonna keep writing this in 2026 so drop us a line if your team is cooking something up that we should look out for!

Happy New Year,

Lou

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