Ah 2025, what a year for cultural moments! We’ve seen it all, from the Oasis reunion to Taylor Swift’s engagement and Wicked: For Good. Amongst all of this, there have been some pretty standout marketing and PR campaigns along the way.
We’ve taken a scroll back through LinkedIn to dig up some forgotten gems from the past twelve months. Here are our top five marketing campaigns of 2025…
Labubus go viral
Labubu turned a cult collectable doll into a full-blown cultural moment in 2025. Whether you found them cute or creepy, there was no escaping the craze earlier this year, with huge queues for people to get their hands on a Labubu. Celebrity endorsements and TikTok unboxings by influencers, alongside strategic scarcity marketing and blind boxes, led to sell-out success and a staggering 689% increase in UK social mentions*.
Duolingo Owl’s resurrection
Gamified language-learning platform Duolingo once again broke the internet in 2025, with the dramatic staged ‘death’ of its iconic owl mascot. Absurd, chaotic and entirely on-brand, Duo was hit by a Cybertruck, with the promise of resurrection if users earned enough XP. We were all worried it was RIP, but luckily, legends never die!
Canva chaos
Earlier this year, Canva teamed up with agency Stink Studios to take over Waterloo Station with a brilliant out of home activation, capturing the attention of commuters and the internet alike. A series of playful, quirky billboards showcased the platform’s design tools. Talk about ‘show don’t tell’ – one billboard featured a Canva logo so large it burst outside the frame, beside the familiar request ‘make the logo bigger’.
Lidl’s Oasis inspired jacket
The Oasis UK tour was always going to cause a ‘champagne supernova’ of excitement, and so many brands understood the assignment. One such brand was Lidl, who released their own ‘Lidl by Lidl’ jacket, inspired by Liam Gallagher’s well known anorak. This limited-edition jacket, in Lidl’s signature colours, came complete with drink-colling pockets, a bottle-opener zipper and even a tambourine. Priced at £30, with proceeds going to charity, the jacket was unveiled on a mural outside Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.
Lewis rebrands Aldi ‘Cap-Aldi’
One of 2025’s most talked-about cultural marketing moments came when Lewis Capaldi rebranded Nottingham’s Aldi to ‘Cap-Aldi’, complete with a surprise rooftop performance above unsuspecting shoppers. This well-timed stunt was a masterclass in experiential PR, instantly sparking media coverage and chatter on socials.
What was your favourite marketing campaign of 2025? Let us know on socials!
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*https://www.marketingweek.com/best-marketing-initiatives-2025/
