Campaigns of the Week: Amazon, Disney+, Nike, YETI, Aritzia, Wicked
What it is
Amazon brought back its 5 Star Theater idea for the holidays. Benedict Cumberbatch performs real customer reviews of popular gift items in short films that run on Amazon channels and paid media. The wording of the reviews is unchanged. The work leans on the contrast between serious delivery and everyday copy and positions these reviews as the hero of the creative rather than a bolt-on proof point.
Why it is good
Most UGC campaigns try to out-joke the internet. Amazon keeps the reviews intact and lets performance, sound design and framing lift them. That protects authenticity and still creates something new. It also links directly to product discovery, rather than building a separate brand film that never connects back to how people actually shop. Other brands have used reviews as design texture or background. Here they carry the whole idea. The move worth copying is simple. If you rely on reviews for conversion, consider building campaigns where the review is the main format, not the proof slide at the end.
What it is
Disney+ and VCCP built a festive platform around one idea. People grow. Their stories stay. The 60 second film, directed by Frédéric Planchon, follows a girl who first watches Mickey at Christmas and later leans on titles such as Home Alone and The Bear at different points in her life, before finally sitting with her own child in front of Mickey again. The campaign runs across EMEA in TV, cinema, digital, social and out-of-home and openly ties into Disney’s hundred-year storytelling heritage.
Why it is good
The work reflects a real business priority. Streaming churn is high and repeat viewing is one of Disney’s structural advantages. Rather than fight for a single big Christmas moment, the campaign quietly trains audiences to see Disney+ as a constant in the background of their lives. Many nostalgia plays lean on reference and leave it there. This one shows what a life with that catalog actually looks like. Marketers who manage long-running brands can use the same pattern. Pick a single person. Show how the brand fits into several phases of their reality. That does more for lifetime value than another seasonal “wrap up the year” montage.
What it is
The film opens with a cooler falling from a moving vehicle. The voiceover, delivered by Ryan Bingham, lists the side effects of a life outdoors. Wet dogs. Sand in uncomfortable places. Rashes. Bites. Burnt eyebrows. The line that closes the story is clear. Do not get them a Yeti unless you really love them. The spot has been picked up widely in trade press and social feeds as one of the more distinctive outdoor brand messages this season.
Why it is good
Many outdoor brands sell an edited version of nature. YETI shows the parts most campaigns crop out. That honesty is the appeal. It signals that the brand is made for people who already accept those conditions, not tourists to the lifestyle. The “do not buy this” framing also works because the product is already desirable. Scarcity is implied in the kind of person who can handle it, not in the stock. For marketers, there is a simple filter here. If your core audience is committed and vocal, you can talk to their reality directly and allow everyone else to watch. Trying to make everyone feel included often strips out the details that your best customers recognize as truth.
What it is
Nike created Cantonese Songyuan, a temporary herbal soup house on Ersha Island in Guangzhou, a regular route for local runners. The activation, fronted by Olympic sprinter Su Bingtian, offers bowls of slow cooked Cantonese soup after a run, served with a spoon shaped like the Swoosh. Runners who log a three kilometer distance during the campaign period can redeem a free bowl, capped at a limited number of servings per day. Chinese press and marketing commentators have called it one of the strongest localization examples from a global sports brand this year, and Gen Z response on local social platforms has been notably positive.
Why it is good
Plenty of brands say they are doing community work. Many of those efforts sit on top of daily life rather than inside it. This stall works because it taps into an existing Cantonese recovery ritual and adds just enough brand to be memorable without hijacking the practice. There is no product wall. No push to scan a code for a drop. Nike’s presence feels earned rather than imposed. The practical takeaway for marketers is clear. Before planning an “experience”, map what your audience already does regularly in that place. If you cannot add something genuinely useful to that habit, the activation is probably decoration.
@aritzia If you’re not already in New York, maybe book that trip. Aritzia Flatiron Flagship is now open at 115 Fifth Ave. #aritzia #aritziahaul #flatiron
What it is
Aritzia is opening a new Flatiron flagship at 115 Fifth Avenue, close to its original New York boutique. The store is around twenty five thousand square feet, nearly three times the size of the previous Flatiron location, and includes a two level layout with Second Empire inspired columns, scalloped ceilings, masonry arches, a full A OK Café, a large styling suite area and lounge. It is the brand’s third expanded flagship in New York within a year, following SoHo and Rockefeller Center. The brand’s own launch copy leans into curated artwork, playlists and furniture as much as clothes.
Why it is good
A lot of retail news talks about square footage and openings without explaining why the space matters. Aritzia treats the flagship as a media channel in itself. The architecture, hospitality and music are the message that this is “everyday luxury” in physical form. That approach gives the brand something to film, photograph and share that is more interesting than a ribbon cutting. For marketers – if you invest in physical presence, design it so that every corner can act as content and proof of positioning, not just as a point of sale.
@wickedmovie Tickets for Wicked: For Good are flying! Get yours now 🎥: @antthrowny
What it is
The campaign around Wicked For Good has focused heavily on the relationship between Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Press coverage tracks their visible affection on tour, from hand-holding to protective moments on red carpets, and ties that behavior directly to the on screen friendship of Elphaba and Glinda. Commentary in industry and consumer press has called this the “marketing of friendship” and noted that the first Wicked film’s press tour, which leaned on a similar dynamic, helped drive hundreds of millions in box office revenue by making their bond part of the story people followed between trailers. Director Jon M Chu has also stressed in interviews that no generative AI was used in the film, which reinforces the human made nature of what audiences see.
Why it is good
Many film campaigns create noise through scale. Wicked builds familiarity through repetition of a single idea. The story is about two people, and the promotion stays fixed on two people as well. That consistency makes the friendship feel real and easy to follow, which then encourages audiences to project their own relationships onto the film. The choice to talk openly about a fully human production also fits this theme and quietly distances the franchise from AI heavy spectacle. Marketers can use a similar discipline. If the core of your narrative is a specific relationship or value, resist the urge to bolt on multiple themes. Show the same idea in many small ways and let time do some of the work for you.
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