5 best marketing campaigns of 2024

We’ve put together a list of the five best marketing campaigns we saw last year. Here is to another successful year of marketing creativity!

Barbie x Everything

Mattel turned the Barbie movie release into a cultural phenomenon that went far beyond typical movie marketing. The campaign created the “Barbenheimer” movement by embracing its coincidental release date with “Oppenheimer,” turning potential competition into collaborative success. 

Their “pinkwashing” of everything from airplanes to clothing brands showed how going all-in on a theme can capture global attention. The campaign generated over $1.4 billion in box office sales and made pink the color of 2023-2024.

Duolingo’s TikTok domination

Duolingo proved that B2C brands can thrive on TikTok with their chaotic yet strategic approach. Their green owl mascot became a viral sensation by participating in trends, creating original content, and even “threatening” users to complete their language lessons. 

The brand saw a 40% increase in active users, showing how embracing platform-native humor can transform a learning app into a cultural icon.

Spotify wrapped evolution

Spotify took their already successful year-end campaign to new heights by adding AI-powered music personality insights and even more shareable moments. The campaign generated over 200 million social shares in its first week, proving that personalized, data-driven content remains king. Their innovation showed how to refresh a familiar campaign while maintaining its core appeal.

Prime’s sports partnerships

Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime drink brand showcased the power of strategic sports partnerships. From UFC to Premier League sponsorships, they leveraged their influencer backgrounds to create authentic connections with sports fans. 

The brand reached a $1.2 billion valuation, demonstrating how modern influencer marketing can build a beverage empire.

Ryan Reynolds’ mint mobile

When T-Mobile acquired Mint Mobile, Reynolds turned what could have been dry business news into entertainment gold. His honest, humorous approach to announcing the $1.35 billion deal showed how transparency and authenticity can make even corporate acquisitions engaging. The campaign maintained Mint’s brand voice while navigating a major business change.

5 worst marketing campaigns of 2024

Not every marketing campaign was so successful. Here are five well-known companies whose campaigns sparked controversy in 2024.

Meta’s threads launch

Burger King’s statement last year on International Women’s Day, that “women belong in the kitchen”, caused uproar on social media. It was part of a marketing campaign to highlight the new initiative of the chain in the restaurants to facilitate the female executive chefs.

However, this message did not come through and the original tweet confused thousands on social media. As the backlash grew, the company said that not including the complete program in its first tweet was a mistake, a lesson for us all!

Coca-Cola’s AI holiday misfire

Coca-Cola learned the hard way that some things just shouldn’t be automated. Their attempt to use AI to recreate their beloved “Holidays are coming” campaign backfired when viewers found the ads lacking the emotional warmth that made the originals special. Instead of spreading holiday cheer, the AI-generated content felt hollow and mechanical, proving that when it comes to emotional connection, human creativity still wins.

Apple’s “Crush!” controversy

Apple’s iPad Pro campaign “Crush!” crushed more than just art supplies, it crushed their relationship with creative professionals. The ad showing traditional creative tools being destroyed by a hydraulic press missed the mark entirely.

What was meant to showcase the iPad’s capabilities instead came across as dismissive of traditional art forms. After significant backlash from the creative community, Apple’s marketing team had to apologize and admit they got it wrong.

Pepsi’s logo redesign reception

Pepsi’s attempt to modernize its logo while honoring its heritage met mixed reviews. The campaign’s inability to clearly communicate the value of the change led to consumer confusion and memes rather than brand reinforcement. It demonstrated how even established brands can stumble when rebranding without strong public buy-in.

AI-generated marketing fails

Multiple brands learned the hard way that AI isn’t a marketing silver bullet. From awkward generated images to tone-deaf copy, companies rushing to embrace AI without proper oversight created numerous PR headaches. These failures became cautionary tales about balancing innovation with human oversight.

Conclusion

These 2024 campaigns show that successful marketing requires authenticity, quick adaptation to cultural moments, and strong crisis management. While some brands turned challenges into opportunities, others learned valuable lessons about the importance of reading the room and making a strategic approach.

Understand the importance of custom uniforms

Before choosing a uniform for your team, you need to understand why you need it in the first place. First, uniforms create a consistent and polished image for your brand. When your team wears coordinated, branded uniforms, it conveys professionalism and credibility to customers. 

Uniforms also provide team identity and unity. Staff members who wear the same outfit feel a sense of belonging and pride in their workplace. This togetherness can boost morale and encourage collaboration among team members. Moreover, uniforms eliminate the need for team members to worry about what to wear, saving them time and reducing stress. 

From a practical standpoint, uniforms enhance security and efficiency. Custom uniforms tailored to specific job roles can ensure your personnel have the proper attire for their tasks, improving functionality and safety. 

To get the best uniform design, consider sourcing from reputable brands, such as AZ Custom Uniform. This way, you can ensure that your uniforms are high-quality and tailored to your needs.

Identify industry and brand needs

Ever notice how you can tell what kind of business you’re walking into just by looking at what the staff is wearing? That’s no accident. Your work uniforms need to match both your industry and your brand’s personality.

Take restaurants for example, those uniforms need to handle spills and long hours on the move. Your chef might need something totally different from what your servers wear. But walk into a corporate office, and you’ll see uniforms that say “we’re professional” while still being friendly enough not to scare clients away.

The colors and style of your uniforms tell customers what kind of business you are before anyone says a word. Running a fun, young brand? Go for those bright colors and modern cuts. Aiming for high-end and sophisticated? Keep it classic with clean lines and subtle colors.

Focus on comfort and functionality

While appearance is crucial, you should never overlook your team’s comfort and functionality of the uniform. Your team will wear these uniforms for long hours, so selecting the right fabric and fit is essential. Here are a few tips to get you started: 

• Choose the right fabric: Breathable and durable materials are ideal for most industries. Cotton blends work well for comfort, while moisture-wicking fabrics are great for physically demanding roles. 
• Think about the weather: If your team works outdoors or in varying climates, consider layering options like jackets or vests. For hot environments, consider choosing lightweight and breathable fabrics.  
• Consider job tasks: Be sure to tailor the uniform to the role. For example, healthcare workers need scrubs with plenty of pockets, while retail staff may benefit from aprons with compartments for tools or devices. 

Remember, happy and comfortable teams perform better, and the right uniform plays a big role in achieving this. On the other hand, a poorly designed uniform can cause discomfort and hinder productivity.  

Incorporate brand elements

Custom uniforms can help showcase your brand and leave a lasting impression. Adding your logo, tagline, or company colors will make your team more recognizable and highlight your business’s visual identity. These elements create a professional look and build trust with customers.  

When adding branding, keep the design simple to maintain a polished appearance. Avoid cluttering the uniform with multiple logos or busy patterns that overwhelm the look. For example, a small embroidered logo on the chest or a clean design on the back works well for visibility and style. 

In addition, think about how your branding will complement the uniform’s color and style. Use colors that match your business theme and ensure they stand out without being overwhelming.

Ensure proper fit

Nothing kills workplace morale faster than uniforms that don’t fit right. When shirts are too tight, pants are too long, or jackets bunch up in all the wrong places, your team can’t perform their best. Plus, it just doesn’t look good. 

That’s why smart companies offer plenty of size options and think about different body types when choosing uniforms. Whether it’s women’s cuts, unisex styles, or clothes with a bit of stretch, giving your team options means they’ll look sharp and feel confident. After all, when uniforms fit well, everyone wins.

Gather team feedback

Your team will be the ones wearing these uniforms, so it’s crucial to include them in the process. Ask for their thoughts on fabrics, fit, and overall design to ensure the uniforms meet their needs. For example, some may prefer breathable fabrics for hot environments or specific fits for better mobility. 

Testing a few sample designs can also help uncover potential problems before deciding. Your team can try on the samples and provide honest feedback about how the uniforms feel and look. This will ensure that you adjust early and avoid issues later. 

Most importantly, seeking your team’s feedback shows you value their opinion. This can boost their sense of involvement and make them more likely to embrace the final design.  

Conclusion

Choosing the right custom uniform for your business is about more than just picking a design. It’s about balancing style, comfort, and functionality while ensuring the uniforms reflect your brand and meet your team’s needs.

Remember, investing in high-quality custom uniforms is a strategic step toward strengthening your brand and improving workplace efficiency and productivity. So, take the time to consider the above factors to choose uniforms that your team will wear with pride. 

Entrepreneurs share how they manage poor work performance

Motivate

Someone with 100 percent motivation and 75 percent ability to perform will often produce above-average results. However, regardless of motivation, a worker with just 25% talent would not be able to reach the level of success you intend. This is why job selection and recruitment are such important aspects of successful management.

During the selection process, make sure to determine capacity appropriately. Later, the answer on how to correct an employee with a weak performance is training and motivation, but most organizations lack the time and money to address major flaws.

Nabil Mounem, Founder & Marketer of Have Websites

Encourage

Encouragement is not the same as praise. A compliment is a positive answer to something that has already been accomplished or completed: “Wow, you did a fantastic job on that report!” Encouragement is a positive reaction to something that is being done or is in the process of being done: “You’re making good progress, and I’m confident the report will be fantastic.”  

Darshan Somashekar, Founder & CEO at Spider Solitaire Challenge

Give appropriate training

You should make sure that all team members receive proper preparation, which includes the success goals, simply and succinctly. Since employee development is one of the most important things, be sure you log anything and don’t just talk about it. This ongoing training should provide your staff with new skills and experience that would benefit both you and them in the long run.

Inquire personally with employers to see how the preparation can be changed. Are there any topics on which they’d like to hear more? Do they believe they possess the necessary expertise and abilities for the job? What obstacles are preventing them from finishing the job to a reasonable standard?

Andrew Smith, Founder of CozySeating

Listen first and talk late

If you struggle managing poor work performance sit down with your employee and inquire about their job. Inquire into your frustrations. Inquire about any issues. Inquire about your success. Determine whether or not the employee is aware of the performance problems.

Dennis Thankachan, CEO at Lightyear

Set clear performance standards

Then, I create a performance plan that spans a defined amount of time and outlines milestones, that if met, should turn the performance around. I also make it clear what will happen if the milestones in the performance plan aren’t met, so there are no surprises if employee performance issues end up with letting the low-performing employee go.

Evan Tarver, Co-founder & CEO at Selling Signals sellingsignals.com

As a business owner, I noticed that one of the most common causes of poor performance is lack of adequate job description and absence of clear and written procedures. It is important to let the employee knows what exactly he should do, and assign him tasks along with expected targets to achieve. Those targets have to be measurable and realistic and should be achieved in a previously determined time frame.

The point is that awareness and acknowledgment of all of that is a catalyst that triggers employees to work effectively and productively. Particularly, if there is a clear and effective work progression tracking in the business environment.

Jeremy Ong, Founder of HUSTLR

Regular coaching sessions

Regular coaching sessions can help you find a way to handle employee performance issues and help them get back on track. They’ll feel supported and motivated to pursue their personal and professional goals. You can do this after performance reviews that facilitate a culture of open communication between the employee and the management.

It encourages discussion and helps establish the importance of setting goals. On this note, a performance review should be able to inspire employees to raise their productivity and improve their outlook instead of discouraging them. In our case, by following a real-time feedback session, we’ve tremendously helped them adjust to the new normal setting.

Michael Hammelburger, CEO at The Bottom Line Group

Keep in mind why you hired them

Before discussing with an underperforming employee, reflect on yourself being his/her leader. Try to evaluate the tasks you have given, the goals you set, and whether you have provided ample guidance and support he needs. Besides guiding you on your future discussion with the employee, this also helps you reassess and improve your leadership.

Sam Dolbel, Co-founder and CEO of SINC Workforce

Ask them to set a task deadline

I do not force them a deadline from my side but make them calculate the time they’ll take to finish a task. If due to low performance, they are not able to complete the task within a time frame set by them, I ask them the reason for the same.

I ask them the hurdles they faced or the reasons which caused this failure. While answering these questions, eventually they figure the problem on their own! If they are a genuine learner, they’ll ask me for some time to improve which I happily allow. I provide them with time and courses to improve their skill and perform better.

Shivbhadrasinh Gohil, Co-founder of Meetanshi

Observe

Being an HR or manager is not a piece of cake. This is especially the case when you have to be ready to make difficult confrontations with difficult employees. Here are some tips that on how to handle employee performance issues:

• Give them a chance to improve by providing employee support and observe how they perform at first.
• If the above doesn’t work, confrontation is the only way left and this conversation should not be delayed as you never know if the employee is aware of low-performance or doing it on purpose.
• Be specific while giving feedback, vague feedback may not be good enough for everyone, you need to pinpoint the area of concern.

Mike Thompson, CEO & Direct Lender Hyperlend

Shift responsibilities accordingly

Avoid falling into the trap of assuming that low-performance is the employee’s issue when it can often be due to misalignment. If your employee seems engaged and shows aptitudes that could make them useful in other areas, consider shifting their responsibilities accordingly. Thanks to this strategy, a low-performing employee became a vital member of our company after we made readjustments.

We had discovered that their strengths were being wasted by parts of their role that amplified their weaknesses and ultimately weighed them down. Through some experimentation and flexibility, and understanding our employee’s strong suits, we modified their day-to-day operations and were able to better utilize their talent. In doing so, we avoided the arduous process of having to fire a member of our team.

Linn Atiyeh, Founder and CEO of Bemana

Conclusion

How push notifications work

Commonly a push notification will include a headline, message, image, and sometimes a URL. Short and clear with the character limit is the header and text. It all depends on the operating system and device used.

It should match the text with the image and fit it quite well. Emojis are used to convey the message of the message compactly. Push notifications are usually categorized into four types:

Web notifications

Messages the user receives through a browser on a computer or phone. Notifications appear on the top or bottom right of the screen on a computer. Browser pooches show as app notifications on a mobile device  at the top of the screen. Web notifications can be shown anytime your browser is open, even if your user is not on the site.

Web notifications are used basically to increase visitor engagement and persuade them to return to the site. This is why conversions can increase.

Desktop notifications

Appear only on the desktop. They are most often dispatched by programs possessed on the personal computer. They can serve to remind the user of great offers or expiring memberships and help increase your engagement.

Mobile notifications

It comes from apps you have installed on your smartphone. Push notifications can be displayed on the lock screen, in the notification center, or on a banner ad. By default, opt-in and manual unsubscribe are provided on Android. On iOS, apps cannot send notifications unless the user has granted permission.

Wearable devices notifications

This category includes watches, bracelets, glasses, etc. These devices show notifications from mobile device applications. Some apps can get notifications turned on and others can be ignored. Since the screens on the watch are much smaller, the notifications on the watch look different: they are shorter and clearer.

Why use push notifications

According to various estimates, push notifications get 4-8 times more clicks than emails. That’s why push notifications are a powerful communication channel in marketing. Here are the reasons why they are used:

• Easy to attract subscribers: Push notifications do not force you to fill in fields in the form – the user only has to agree or disagree to receive notifications. That’s why people are more likely to opt in. Besides, the push will definitely not get lost in the stream of messages – it will end up in the browser or on the user’s work screen;
• Enhancement of returned traffic: You can attract a customer to your website or app once. But you also need to keep him – to motivate him to come back. Persuasive fluff can interest the audience, and users will come back to the site or app. To achieve this, offer subscribers discounts and articles of interest, and tell them about updates;
• Saving time: It takes a lot of time to write an email, an article, a persuasive text for a landing page, and create illustrations. Fluffs are easier: they are concise and take less time to create. But it’s still important to write clearly, structured, and interestingly;
• Boosting audience reach: SMS is often ignored, and emails can end up in spam. But push appears right in the browser or on the user’s desktop and draws attention to itself. Such notifications are read more often.

Push notifications in different business sectors

Push ads are popular in various fields due to their high visibility and ability to grab the attention of users. Here are some of the most popular areas:

• E-commerce: Online retailers are actively using push notifications to notify about sales, new arrivals, and personalized offers;
• Nutra and health: Companies selling nutritional supplements, vitamins, and health products actively use Nutra on push ads to promote their products and inform about favorable offers;
• Financial services: Banks, investment companies and credit organizations use push ads to inform users about new products, promotions, and important updates;
• Gaming industry: Online games and gaming platforms use push advertising to attract new players, and notify them about bonuses, tournaments, and special offers;
• Betting companies and online casinos: Push notifications are used here to inform users about new bets, promotions, and bonuses, which helps to retain interest and bring users back to the platform.

These areas actively utilize push ads due to their ability to deliver information quickly and encourage users to take action.

Conclusion

Push ads are a modern tool that helps to effectively capture users’ attention and increase user engagement. If you want to take your marketing campaigns to the next level, include push notifications in your promotion strategy. Just remember, that timing and relevance are everything when it comes to push notifications. The best results come when you treat these alerts like a conversation with your users, not just another way to blast out messages.

23 business competition quotes for extra motivation

1. “Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one.”  – Bill Bradley
2. “The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead. Never let up.”  – Rod Laver
3. “Companies that solely focus on competition will die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive.”  – Edward de Bono
4. “Number 1: Cash is king. Number 2: Communicate. Number 3: Buy or bury the competition.”  – Jack Welch
5. “The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.” – Washington Alston
6. “When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.” – Simon Sinek
7. “If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.” – T. Harv Eker
8. “Whether it’s Google or Apple or free software, we’ve got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes.” – Bill Gates
9. “Without the spur of competition, we’d loaf out our life.” – Arnold Glasow
10. “It’s good to have high-quality competition; it helps drive research forward at a faster pace.” – Shuji Nakamura
11. “As soon as I hear the word ‘competition’ I get serious and start doing everything that I can do.” – Maureen McCormick
12. “Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors.” – Sam Altman
13. “In business, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.” – Unknown
14. “Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer but is the incentive to progress.” – Herbert Hoover
15. “Don’t just aim to defeat your competitors; aim to make them irrelevant.” – Unknown
16. “If your competition is doing it, don’t do it. Find a better way.” – Sam Walton
17. “Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.” – David Sarnoff
18. “Success comes from standing out, not fitting in.” – Don Draper, Mad Men
19. “Don’t compete with rivals; make them irrelevant.” – W. Chan Kim
20. “To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter
21. “In business, the most successful companies don’t compete, they dominate.” – Peter Thiel
22. “Focus on your customers, not your competitors. That’s how you truly win.” – Jeff Bezos
23. “Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems, not just from defeating opponents.” – Unknown

Conclusion

So, the next time you spot a new competitor in your market, take a deep breath. Instead of seeing them as a threat, view them as a sign that you’re in a viable market with room for growth. The most successful business leaders have figured out that obsessing over competition wastes energy you could spend making your own business better. Focus on your customers, keep improving your offerings, and let your work speak for itself.