Best DAVID Campaigns of All Time
Most agencies are terrified of a client's legal department, but DAVID seems to treat them like a high-stakes challenge in a game of dare. They possess a peculiar knack for making global CMOs do things that should, by all accounts, get everyone fired - like hijacking voice assistants or selling moldy burgers. It is high-octane behavioral science disguised as a prank. If you want to see how audacity actually scales, browse the work below.
18 campaigns
MACMA: ManBoobs
MACMA leveraged the uncensored nature of male breasts on social media to create a viral video demonstrating breast self-examination, bypassing censorship restrictions that often block educational content featuring female nipples and ensuring vital health information reached a wider audience.
JCDecaux: Still Open
JCDecaux transformed 650 premium subway ad spaces into life-sized virtual storefronts for flood-damaged Valencia businesses. By turning OOH media into active commerce channels via QR codes, they allowed commuters to support small shops that were physically closed but digitally Still Open.
Coca-Cola: Shades of Red
Coca-Cola celebrated its century-long bond with Mexican tienditas by replacing 12,700 sun-bleached store awnings, turning the brand's faded, weathered colors into a poetic tribute to the local shops that serve as the heart of every neighborhood.
Clash of Clans - Haaland Payback Time
Clash of Clans leveraged football star Erling Haaland's polarizing fame by turning him into a playable character and creating a "Payback Time" challenge, allowing rival fans to attack his in-game village, effectively converting haters into players and driving massive re-engagement.
WHERE THERE ARE TACOS, THERE’S COCA-COLA
Coca-Cola showcased its expansive portfolio beyond soda, featuring Honest Tea, Fairlife, and Zico, to prove its evolution into a total beverage company, ensuring a suitable drink for every occasion and consumer desire, reinforcing its ubiquitous presence in diverse settings.
JCDecaux - Meet Marina Prieto
JCDecaux filled Madrid's subway stations with photos of Marina Prieto, a 100-year-old Instagram user, to demonstrate the power of outdoor advertising by turning her into a viral sensation without using any branding or calls to action.
Corona - Corona Extra Lime
Corona helped local Chinese lime farmers in Sichuan Province by training them to grow limes during COVID-19 import disruptions, then sold and donated profits from these limes, boosting farmers' incomes while reinforcing their brand's iconic lime-with-beer ritual.
Aguila - Beer Lottery
Cerveza Aguila created a Beer Lottery where fans could buy tickets with player lineup sequences, and if their ticket matched the exact order of players during the national anthem, they would win beer. The campaign transformed fans' disappointment about missing the World Cup into an exciting, patriotic betting experience that reconnected them with the national soccer team.
Burger King - Stevenage Challenge
Burger King sponsored Stevenage, a low-division football team, knowing their logo would appear in FIFA 20 video game. The brand then launched the #StevenageChallenge, encouraging gamers to play with Stevenage and share videos of famous players wearing the Burger King logo, turning a small team into an online sensation.
Burger King: Confusing Times
The campaign cleverly leveraged the widespread confusion and absurdity of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 by showcasing a series of nonsensical real-world moments. It then drew a parallel to the Burger King Impossible Whopper, positioning its beef-like taste despite being plant-based as another 'impossible' thing that somehow just works. This insight tapped into the collective feeling of bewilderment, making the Impossible Whopper relatable as a surprisingly good outcome in confusing times.
Coca-Cola: Try Not To Hear This
Coca-Cola used macro photography of iconic product rituals and reverse psychology to trigger synesthesia, proving their brand sounds are so ingrained in culture that consumers hear the fizz and pop even in silent print ads.
BurgerKing: Burn That Ad
Burger King created an AR app that turns McDonald's ads into Burger King ads when users point their phone at them, effectively hijacking McDonald's massive media spend in Brazil to promote their own brand and generate free coupons.
Coca-Cola: This Coke Is A Fanta
Coca-Cola reclaimed a popular Brazilian homophobic slur by launching a limited-edition red can filled with Orange Fanta, turning a derogatory phrase into a powerful symbol of pride and authenticity that stripped the insult of its power.
Faber-Castell: The Never-Ending Forest App
Faber-Castell transformed their EcoPencils into interactive AR triggers, allowing children to bring 3D forest animals to life. It worked by turning a commodity product into an educational storytelling platform that made the brand's reforestation commitment tangible and engaging.
Heinz: Pass The Heinz
Heinz brought a 50-year-old fictional ad pitch from the TV show Mad Men to life, using minimalist photography of food without ketchup to prove that the brand is so iconic, consumers' imaginations automatically fill in the missing bottle.
Burger King: Google Home of the Whopper
Burger King bypassed the 15 - second TV limit by using a voice command to trigger Google Home devices in viewers' homes, forcing the speakers to read the Whopper's Wikipedia entry and extending the brand's message into personal spaces.
Noblex: The All-In Promo
Noblex gambled its entire marketing budget by offering full refunds on 4K TVs if Argentina failed to qualify for the World Cup, turning a national football crisis into a high-stakes brand narrative that captivated the entire country.
Burger King: Proud Whopper
Burger King created a Proud Whopper wrapped in rainbow colors to promote inclusivity, revealing the same burger inside with a message that "we are all the same inside". The campaign used a clever packaging design to spark conversation about diversity and challenge assumptions about differences between people.