Whether you’re outsourcing creative advertising content to a third-party agency or attempting to create in-house and turn out better video ads, examples are some of the best signposts for your brainstorming in 2024 and beyond. When you look through video ads examples, you can get an idea of:
- What advertising trends might take over in the next months
- The boundaries that advertisers are currently pushing
- The level of quality expected by today’s viewers
To define trends, you have to spot them. Take a look below at our curated list of the past year’s top video advertising examples for the rest of us to follow in the new year.
24 Stunning Video Ads Examples (for 2024)
1. Brand Awareness:
Coca-Cola® Masterpiece
Coca-Cola is no stranger to making ads, afterall they’ve been around for longer than TV itself. It’s no surprise then that this “Masterpiece” ad is a masterpiece itself. But beyond the flashy effects and humorous premise this ad is able to sit back and say, “You know what Coke is, let’s just have fun!” It doesn’t hurt to throw a little Warhol reference in to remind viewers that Coke has been in the cultural zeitgeist long enough to make its iconic bottle an art piece in and of itself.
2. Laser Focus:
The new AirPods Pro | Quiet the noise | Apple
Sometimes with advertisements it’s important to have focus. Often a product may have 4 or 5 great marketable features, but the key to a successful ad campaign is in knowing what the one or two headliners should be. In this ad Apple shows they understand that concept perfectly by honing in on the noise canceling features of their new headphones using a brilliant visual metaphor.
3. Volvo:
Say it, without saying it: XC60: The Parents
Parenting is stressful. Even if you’ve never had a child, everybody understands that babies are quite vulnerable. This ad spends quite a bit of time showing the painstaking process of making your house safe for a baby, but the true brilliance of this ad is in what it doesn’t show. Advertising the safety features of your car by not showing most of them implies the effortlessness of their use and Volvo pulls it off perfectly in this ad.
4. Celebrity Talent:
Audio 911 | Audio-Technica | Dubstep
Since the dawn of early advertising, celebrity cameos have been utilized to leverage popularity and fame into brand loyalty. So often though, the celebrity is merely a throw away piece of the puzzle who could be replaced by any A-lister with a pulse. For this spot however, the DVI group was able to work with Youtube sensation Marquese Scott to create something truly special. By understanding the talent they were working with, the DVI group was able to make an ad that not only highlights the product but stands alone as its own art piece. It’s no wonder this ad raked in 10 industry awards for the company!
5. A Ubiquitous Product:
Google — A CODA Story
Often a product or company will become so pervasive that their name becomes synonymous with the product or service; think Kleenex (or even Escalator). Some companies try to avoid this by changing their marketing terminology. For example, Adobe is trying their best to get people to stop “Photoshopping” images but rather “Enhancing using Adobe® Photoshop®.” Google, on the other hand, swung the opposite direction in this ad. They want to remind you that in everything you do, every step of your journey, they’re there, and they have a service to help you.
6. Using Emotions:
"Forever": The Farmer’s Dog 2023 Super Bowl Commercial
Sometimes all an ad needs to do is show a puppy and they’ve already won. Farmer’s dog decided to take it one step further with this ad and crank the emotions up to 11. Showing the life story of this dog as he and his human grow up acts more like a tearjerker of a short film than an ad, but it works for the product being advertised. Never have I wanted to buy overpriced dog food more.
7. Local Classic:
Calavan Kia | The Grand Opening Continues!
Is there anything more predictable than a local car dealership commercial. I’m not entirely sure how it started or why it continues, but they all feel somewhat similar. A overly boisterous car salesman screaming the deals at you in front of a low quality green screen. This ad is no different, but it does seem to understand that. With a fun circus carnie twist on the usual, it’s hard not to smile a bit when you watch it. Maybe not every ad needs the budget of a small nation’s GDP to work.
8. Use of Photos:
Airbnb | Cannonball | Lakefront
Photos have always been a way to remember the good times. Even more so now where almost all of us have an ever growing digital scrapbook in our pockets. What better way is there to remind the possibilities of an Airbnb than to show us a series of still images as if someone was scrolling through their gallery after a vacation showing us the memories they made. It’s a simple but very effective strategy.
9. Brand Consistency:
Doosan Infracore: Dream Big
From childhood to adulthood, sometimes it’s just fun to move dirt around. This broadcast commercial for Doosan perfectly encapsulates the fun of playing in the sand as a child and parallels it with the use of their industrial machines. Doing so simultaneously evokes nostalgia in the viewer while more subtly emphasizing the longevity of Doosan as a company. All that in just over 30 seconds!
10. Sound and Animation:
Airbnb Animated Series
Animation has always had an intimate relationship with sound. Often, the best animated pieces are the ones that use sound design to fool your mind into believing they’re real. Airbnb takes that union and utilizes it differently in this series of ads. Through their thoughtful sound design, these ads are able to contrast the hectic, stressful experience of a hotel with the serene, peaceful ease of their alternative. All the while using ear catching sound effects and a unique doll-house aesthetic to make you recognize the ads next time you see them even without the viewer paying attention.
11. Use of Personality:
Planet Fitness | Mother Fitness
This ad does a lot of things right. On one hand, it uses a very creative approach to the classic “compare our service with theirs” approach. On the other, it has a visually striking style that could only work for planet fitness and their “unique” color scheme. But what really ties this ad together is the cameo. Megan Thee Stallion has personality to spare and she uses it to deliver what, in the hands of someone else, would be a very dull read and transforms it into something like the reading of a fairy tale.
12. Product Advertisement Video:
Keep it subtle: Hansgrohe
Let’s face it, advertising can often be a bit blunt. After all, it’s important for companies spending tens of thousands of dollars to make sure their target audience understands what they’re trying to sell. Consumers are used to this, but it can often come across pushy and, dare I say, cringe-worthy. Hansgrohe and the DVI Group decided to take a different approach for this ad. Through a combination of thoughtful cinematography and clever direction, they are able to showcase the sleek modern aesthetic of Hangrohe’s products without making it feel like an ad. The subtle slice-of-life feel of this ad pairs perfectly with the everyday nature of the company’s product.
13. Storytelling:
Budweiser | Super Bowl LVIII Old School Delivery
Storytelling is an important tool that advertisers can use to influence consumers. You won’t find a full story with beginning, middle, and end in every ad, but when you do it can often be something special as is the case with the Super Bowl ad. Like many of our choices from this list, Budweiser finds themselves in the position of not really needing to advertise a new product or service. Instead they opted for an adorable little story doubling as a reminder of how long they’ve been a trusted name in bars around the world.
14. Product Advertisement Video:
The Barber: a Lamborghini Christmas Story
The holiday season often sees advertisers exercise their storytelling capabilities in service to more charitable causes or cheer-filled campaigns. This product advertisement video example is no exception, featuring a father who runs a small business and his successful son who wants to help out. A story about advertising within an advertising video, this is an inspiring ad from a well-known luxury car brand.
15. Behind the Scenes Video Ad:
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) | Special Announcement From the Set of #MissionImpossible (Tom Cruise)
This video ad is informal, high stakes, and high budget. It’s an on-set message from the star of the Top Gun and Mission Impossible franchises, Tom Cruise, designed to carry the already-successful Top Gun: Maverick into the world of streaming while still capitalizing on its stunning box office run. This unorthodox video ad is made more effective with huge star power and jaw-dropping visuals—but despite its unique construction that might make it difficult for the average advertiser to replicate, at 4.8 million views on YouTube (and counting), this ad is a testament to how popular behind the scenes (BTS) material can be.
16. 3D Animated Video Ad: Microsoft Designer
This floaty animation, led by paint splashes and a flying cursor, introduces the new Microsoft app called Designer. Microsoft states that it’s “a new graphic design app that helps you create professional quality social media posts, invitations, digital postcards, graphics, and more, all in a flash”—but more importantly, this particular ad showcases the power of animation in video advertising.
17. Christmas Ad: The Beginner | John Lewis & Partners
Another Christmas ad released during the 2022 holiday season, this ad focuses entirely on generous giving. John Lewis & Partners may be a retail brand, but they focused on the heart of the season during this holiday season by highlighting the story of a man preparing to foster a teen interested in skateboarding, simultaneously shedding light on their commitment to support foster youths. The holiday season is always a good time to spotlight charitable partnerships, and the advertisers behind this campaign made the wise choice to keep a singular focus and not crowd this ad with product or service announcements.
18. Company Overview Video: Aptos
Aptos provides service excellence, omni-channel experiences, seamless shopping, and more to the retailers that use Aptos e-commerce platforms to sell products and attract customers—and the flexible platforms they design are adept at handling clients from vastly different retail spaces. This advertising video is one of our creations here at The DVI Group, and it showcases our creative team’s dedication to immersive metaphors (like the box in this piece) and our animation team’s talents. Check out the Aptos Case Study to learn more about how this project came together.
19. Simple Montage Ad: A Better Way - DocuSign
This simple montage ad shows that digitizing documents is the way to go. It features a variety of ways to interact with documents in business spaces, all of them more cumbersome than digital options, causing viewers to sigh and nod in understanding. It’s fast-paced and relies heavily on text graphics to tell its story: both of which are video ad trends that aren’t going away any time soon.
20. Social Media Campaign Launch: The Wilder Agency
This video ad uses action-packed shots and a powerful social justice narrative to advertise luxury hair care products. The Wilder Agency, a long-time recurring client of The DVI Group, is an advertising agency that wanted us to produce this creative concept of theirs for a video ad called “Shine Different.” It was designed to feature their client’s products in a long-form branded content format and features several real-life inspiring women on varied life paths. Learn more about how this project came together in the Shine Different case study.
21. Brand Positioning Video Ad:
Women’s Health Matters | HERe, Healthier happens together | CVS Health
An encouraging ad for a new year, this CVS Health piece advertises CVS as a brand and a healthcare provider, and it encourages customers to choose their stores for necessary health and beauty products and services. CVS chose to focus on the economic phenomena known as the pink tax, as well as the tragedy of medical sexism, and uses this video ad to assure their customers that they’ll endeavor to eliminate unnecessary price disparities between products marketed toward men and women.
22. Offbeat Humor: TWIX "Camping"
This video ad engages in dark humor with a laugh-out-loud take on the age-old decision: which side of the Twix bar should you eat, especially if you’re splitting it with someone else? In the end, Twix argues, every part of their candy bar is bound to be crunchy and delicious. And this video ad example makes a case for why humor, including offbeat humor, is an effective advertising strategy.
23. Video Accessibility Using Audio Descriptions:
“Spotlight” by Mastercard
This encouraging ad from Mastercard illuminates a new feature available for Mastercard users: Touch Cards help those who are blind pay for things quickly and easily. Advertisers used the striking visual metaphor of a spotlight to focus on the things the ad’s protagonist focuses on—and in highlighting an important card feature that makes personal finance that much more accessible, they bring attention to the fact that their products are for everyone.
24. Leveraging Star Power:
Basic Fun! Commercial – Together We Tonka
Another DVI Group creation, this Basic Fun! video ad makes use of star power like the Tom Cruise piece above. Basic Fun! is a toy marketer known for iconic brands like Lincoln Logs, Lite-Brite, and Tonka. When they approached us with a concept for a Tonka commercial spot featuring the one and only Shaquille O’Neal, our artists readied themselves for a film set full of fun that resulted in an effective ad for a favorite childhood toy.
These advertising video examples are meant to inspire and spark ideas to carry advertisers and creative through 2024. If you see something above that you like, give us a call. We’ll be able to take your ideas and create something fresh that can meet all your video ad needs.
Contact us to learn more about our creative advertising video capabilities and cost ranges! Call 404.873.6283 or fill out our form.
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