Recent marketing campaigns, and how to read one while it is still running
Where current work is documented properly, five recent campaigns and exactly what is on the public record for each, and six checks for judging a live campaign.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 12 October 2026
Recent marketing campaigns are easy to find and need reading carefully, because the figures that circulate in the first week measure attention rather than business effect, and the same launch is often reported with wildly different view counts by different outlets. The reliable way to follow current work is to use three sources in order: the award bodies, where effectiveness evidence is submitted and judged; the brand's own newsroom, where any number it is willing to stand behind appears; and the trade press, which reports the launch itself. Then apply a fixed set of checks to anything still running, so you judge the mechanism and the brand's own published numbers rather than the volume of commentary around it.
This page covers where current campaigns are documented, five recent examples and what is on the public record for each, and a method for reading a live campaign in its first quarter.
Where to find current campaigns documented properly
| Source | What you get | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness awards, such as the Effie Awards | Cases where the entrant submitted results and a jury judged them | The best available read on whether a campaign worked, with the caveat that entrants choose what to enter |
| Creative awards, such as the Cannes Lions and D&AD | What the industry considers the strongest ideas of the year, by category | Read the winners list for mechanisms. Read the Creative Effectiveness category when you want results attached |
| The brand's own newsroom | The press release, the creative, and any figure the company will put its name to | The only place a brand's own claim can be quoted accurately. Date every quote |
| Trade press | Launch coverage, agency credits, industry reaction | Fast and useful for what happened. Cross check any number against the brand's own statement |
| Platform ad libraries | Which ads a brand is running now, and often for how long | Free, and the quickest way to see whether a campaign is still funded |
Five recent campaigns, and what is actually on the record
AXA, Three Words, 2025
Work by Publicis Conseil for the insurer AXA that added domestic violence cover to a home insurance policy. Published winners lists for Cannes Lions 2025, including the roundup on Social Samosa in June 2025, record it as the Titanium Grand Prix winner. The structure is what makes it worth studying: the campaign is a change to the product and the policy wording, so the communication describes a thing that now exists and the claim is checkable by the customer.
Indian Railways and FCB India, Lucky Yatra, 2025
The same published winners list records Lucky Yatra for Indian Railways, by FCB India, as the PR Grand Prix winner at Cannes Lions 2025. The mechanism is an incentive attached to an existing behaviour: find a behaviour you already want more of, and attach a reason to complete it properly.
Jaguar, Copy Nothing, from November 2024
Jaguar launched a rebrand with a film that showed no car, and the reaction became the story. Two facts from the public record are the useful ones. Jaguar publicly defended the work as a deliberate reinvention, with its managing director restating that position in interviews reported widely in November and December 2024. And the reported reach figures differ substantially between outlets covering the same days, with first week view counts given as roughly forty seven million in some reports and well over one hundred million in others. That spread is the lesson: a view count comes from one platform's analytics at one moment, reported secondhand, so the number to hold onto is the one the company itself publishes.
Duolingo, Duo is dead, February 2025
On 11 February 2025 Duolingo announced that its owl mascot had died, changed the app icon, and ran the story across its social accounts. A company spokesperson confirmed to US broadcast outlets at the time that this was a planned marketing campaign. Other large brands joined in publicly in the comments, the mascot returned about two weeks later, and reported view counts again varied by outlet. The transferable mechanism is that the campaign invited other accounts to participate, which is distribution designed into the idea rather than bought.
Tubi, Super Bowl Rabbit Hole, judged in 2024
Tubi's Super Bowl work from Mischief @ No Fixed Address, with VaynerMedia as a contributing agency, won the Grand Effie in the United States, presented at the Effie Awards US gala on 23 May 2024 and reported by Adweek at the time. Effie's own published case material cites a thirty eight per cent increase in viewing time, close to a doubling of brand awareness, and successive quarters of record revenue growth. This is the example to study if you want to see what a campaign result looks like when the entrant has submitted the evidence and a jury has judged it, which is a different document from a launch week headline.
Six checks for reading a campaign while it is still running
- Find the mechanism in one sentence. Who does the distributing: the customer, the product, the medium or the press. If the answer is only the media budget, this is an advertisement rather than a campaign.
- Separate attention from effect. Views, impressions and comment volume are attention. Sales, enquiries, subscriptions and footfall are effect. Put them in two columns and keep them there.
- Trace every number to its publisher, with the date. Where two outlets disagree, prefer the company's own statement.
- Check whether it is still being funded. A campaign still live in the platform ad library at week six is one the advertiser is choosing to keep paying for.
- Read whether the claim is checkable. The strongest recent work changes a policy, a price, a product or a process, and those campaigns keep working after the media stops.
- Wait for the effectiveness case. Twelve to eighteen months on, the strongest campaigns appear in award entries with submitted numbers. That is when one can properly be called successful.
What each signal is good for
| Signal | What it tells you | What to pair it with |
|---|---|---|
| View and impression counts | Reach, as measured by one platform | The source and the date, plus the brand's own figure |
| Comments, shares and other brands joining in | People reacted, and the idea was easy to participate in | The sentiment, and whether participation pointed at the product |
| Press pickup | Editors judged it newsworthy | Whether the coverage carried the message or only the controversy |
| Branded search volume | People went looking for the company by name | What they found when they arrived |
| Company reported revenue or sign ups | The company's own account of the effect | The period it covers and what else was running |
| An effectiveness award case | Submitted evidence, judged by a panel | Nothing. This is the strongest document available |
A reading timeline you can apply to any launch
- Day three. Write down the mechanism and the claim, and note who is reporting which reach figure, with dates. Do not form a verdict.
- Week two. Check whether the brand has published a figure of its own, and whether the creative is still live in the ad library.
- Month one. Look for branded search movement, and for whether the campaign changed anything on the brand's own site, pricing or product.
- Month three, then month twelve to eighteen. Read the company's own quarterly statement where it is public, then check the effectiveness award entries, which is where owners submit numbers to a jury.
When you borrow from a recent campaign, take the mechanism rather than the execution, change something a customer can check, and set your number and your baseline before launch rather than after.
This page covers current and recent campaigns and how to read one while it runs. For the classics and the mechanism behind each, see marketing campaign examples. See also marketing case studies and marketing news today.
What gets asked about recent marketing campaigns
Where can I see the latest marketing campaigns?
Award body winner lists for judged work, brand newsrooms for the brand's own account, trade press for launches, and platform ad libraries for what is running right now.
How do I know whether a current campaign is working?
Read the brand's own published figures, check whether the campaign is still funded in the ad library, and watch branded search. Then look for the effectiveness award case twelve to eighteen months later.
Why do different articles give different view counts for the same campaign?
Because they are reading different platforms at different moments, and because analytics panels count a view differently from one another. Take the figure from the company's own statement and note the date next to it.
How long before a campaign can be judged?
A quarter for early commercial signals, and twelve to eighteen months for a properly evidenced verdict. Judging in week one measures the commentary.
Add a line to the watch list: what the assistants say about the campaign
Reach, search lift and sentiment are the usual readings while a campaign runs. Another reading is what an assistant says when asked about the campaign or the brand behind it.
It moves, and it is quick to check weekly. Ask the same questions each time and keep a dated log. AI Knows Us does that across several assistants and lists the brands named, which lets you see whether a campaign changed the answer.