Although 2024 isn’t over yet, there’s been a flurry of ‘make you look twice’ digital PR campaigns so far this year that have caught our team’s eye – ranging from the Jude Bellingham craze during the Euros to a viral moment a cup was caught in a fire. Below, we outline our favourite campaigns so far this year!  

‘Hey Jude’ – Adidas  

Whether you’re a football fan or not, the Euros is a period that brings everyone together and drives the nation’s emotions. Despite the fact it didn’t come home this year, Adidas certainly brought home a timeless campaign that struck the perfect note with the country’s feelings and heightened that sense of unity and hope that we feel every few years.  

The ‘Hey Jude’ campaign was a video released by Adidas that begins by showing that well-known scene of England fans weighing their heads in disappointment after a defeat. It even features some well-known faces such as Frank Lampard and David Beckham reminiscing on their moments playing for England, which will instantly resonate with some fans.  

Adidas then uses the classic song ‘Hey Jude’ by the Beatles and once the chorus kicks in, those scenes of sorrow transition into moments of happiness and excitement, as other well-known faces such as Stormzy and Laura Woods can be seen cheering and celebrating. We then see a final shot of Jude Bellingham alongside text reading: ‘you got this’. 

The video was part of a wider global campaign by Adidas which aims to help athletes overcome negative pressure. The use of the popular ‘Hey Jude’ song as a supportive anthem for Jude Bellingham who helped England get through the qualifying stage simply gives viewers chills and encourages us to support our team even through the difficult moments.  

Research by Daivid revealed that 52.8% of people watching the ad experienced intense positive emotions, which is important when making people remember your PR campaign and what your brand stands for. The emotional impact is what made our team fall in love with this campaign! 

Greggs X Monzo Campaign 

The world’s first Sausage Roll-dispensing cash machine – it sounds completely bonkers, but Monzo and Greggs managed to make it happen!  

This innovative campaign which went viral saw Monzo and Greggs team up to create a cash machine in Newcastle that provided free sausage rolls to Monzo card users. To make it even better, every 100th person to use the machine received a free Monzo gift card. 

The quirky idea was created when Monzo looked over their data for the year and noticed that £2.3million customers together spent over £70million on Greggs in 2023. They teased the plan on X which instantly got people talking and then once the idea became a reality, the campaign received a significant amount of media coverage and talk on social media.  

Our team loves this campaign for its creativity and the fact that it’s the perfect example of two brands collaborating – they both have similar demographics and can benefit from building loyalty with their customers by offering a freebie because at the end of the day – who doesn’t love a treat from Greggs!? 

Stanley Cup Survives a Fire 

This PR incident happened at the very end of 2023, but the craze surrounding it certainly continued into this year. It all began when a woman on TikTok shared a video of the damage her car had endured after catching fire. Despite these damages, she showed viewers footage of her Stanley Cup which was supposedly also in the car during the fire – but still intact! 

Viewers were shocked to see that the cup survived the fire which led to the TikTok video receiving millions of views. It eventually garnered the attention of the President of Stanley, who put out his own video on TikTok just two days later responding to the woman and offering to buy her a new car. This also received millions of views! 

Our team loves this campaign as it’s the perfect example of reactive PR and the power of social media. The Stanley social team responded very quickly and capitalised on the video while it was still viral. Overall, the stunt helped increase Stanley’s visibility massively and led to their annual sales jumping ahead by millions.  

Dreams X Olympics  

We know that everyone sleeps, but how do you get people to consider how important their bedtime routine is while choosing your brand to help them with it? Global bed retailer, Dreams, has done exactly this by utilising their spot as the official sleep partner of Team GB at the 2024 Olympics. 

They first created an ad this year starring actor Gillian Anderson, talking directly to the camera while surrounded by Team GB athletes sleeping on Dreams mattresses. Attention was further heightened when Team GB announced that they would be investing in a ‘Dreams Sleep Retreat’ – a retreat that contains eight sleep pods which are modified by Dreams to help provide athletes with rest that will improve their physical and mental performance.  

Our team loves this campaign as it shows a brand using the position they are in to garner more attention and positively impact the public. By supporting the country’s top athletes with their sleep schedule, some would say it makes Dreams the leaders in their sector. They are also raising awareness about the importance of sleep and how it can put you on top of your game, increasing their overall reputation, chiming perfectly with the growing and powerful mindful and wellbeing agenda harnessed by businesses worldwide.  

Stella Artois X David Beckham  

The beer brand, Stella Artois, drove the media into a frenzy when they used a celebrity who arguably has one of the most recognisable faces on the planet in a campaign – except they didn’t use his face!  

That’s correct – earlier this year, Stella set up huge billboards in the centre of Times Square, which shows a close-up shot of a familiar hand holding a Stella Artois. The caption across the two billboards read: ‘Introducing the new face of – unfortunately his face was a bit distracting’. 

Thousands of people instantly recognised that the new face of the brand was David Beckham simply from his hand (the tattoos being the giveaway) and this campaign began to circulate rapidly across the media.  

We love this campaign as it is ultimately a risky move that paid off and shows that they had full faith in their brand partnership. The satirical messaging combined with the cheekiness to simply just use the hands of one of the biggest celebrities on the planet is also genius and was always going to shock people once they discovered who it was and create a conversation.