Favorite 2025 Marketing Campaigns
Introduction
Today we will be talking about some of my favorite digital marketing campaigns of the year. I will be focused on the fashion industry as well as some involvement within music. Many of these campaigns involve collaboration and show how important it is to form an understanding of your target market. They have made a great impact on the marketing industry and are great examples of how digital marketing can be a great tool for branding.
1. KATSEYE x GAP
This collaboration leveraged many things, including diversity, nostalgia and keeping in touch with pop culture. KATSEYE is a popular girl group created by Korean company HYBE in collaboration with Geffen. The group was created through their very own Netflix show named Pop Star Academy. The girls kicked off their career with a debut EP, named SIS (Soft is Strong) on August 16th ,2024. The group grew exponentially throughout the year, having 32 million listeners on Spotify as of today. In August of this year, they were revealed to be collaborating with denim company, Gap. Their advertisement created with GAP led to many discussions and trends on social media. The choreography done by KATSEYE in the ad went viral, many fans copying the choreography and posting videos in places such as Tik Tok and Instagram Reels. Many people also compared it to the recent American Eagle campaign with Sydney Sweeney, which was very controversial. This discussion brought the GAP brand positive attention, many appreciating the diversity within KATSEYE and the representation it brought for the group’s huge Gen Z audience. Fans also frantically shopped online and at stores for the clothing pieces from this collection. Through this collaboration, GAP continued their series of campaigns with recognizable artists, bringing a younger audience that might not know them as well to check the brand out.
2. Gentle Monster x Bratz
A fairly newer brand, named Gentle Monster, collaborated with popular toy brand Bratz. Gentle Monster is an eyewear company created by Hankook Kim in Korea. Their brand identity revolves in them being unique, with a futuristic look to all their products and collections. They are known on social media by many for their PR packages, always creating an experience for the influencers who open them. A recent example was from their Jewelry Collection, in which the PR package came with a big staff reminiscent of the tools used in magical girl media. This has helped in creating anticipation for new releases and collections, as many fans want to obtain the products, they see their favorite influencers reviewing. Their Bratz collaboration came out in May of this year. Through this collaboration, Gentle Monster was able to blend a nostalgic and globally recognized brand to their very own futuristic aesthetic. The new collection also allowed the brand to introduce various new styles of eyewear products. They also introduced a new feature – foldable glasses, that came with a small bag in various colors to carry them in. This collection topped it all off with a limited edition Bratz doll. It was included in promotional photos and could also be seen in the video advertisement for the collaboration. The doll has a very sleek and futuristic design, matching the Gentle Monster aesthetic and bringing a new look within the Bratz franchise. The doll was also customizable and allowed for personalization among customers. Gentle Monster also created an amazing and immersive Pop-Up in LA to promote the collection, where customers could go and try on the glasses and see the Bratz doll in person. There were plenty of photo opportunities throughout the Pop-Up that included a huge display of the doll.
3. Sabrina Carpenter x Dunkin
Last Year, Sabrina debuted with her Shakin’ Expresso collaboration with Dunkin. It was a very simple connection that created an iconic advertisement for 2024. The advertisement even won Dunkin a couple of awards, including one at the Drum Awards for Marketing. The collaboration brought a fun vibe paired with witty commentary in the campaign video that fit perfectly with Sabrina’s aesthetic and image. It also used her hit song “Expresso” as the background music for the video. This year, they returned with another collaboration again for a summer campaign, introducing new refresher flavors. They were fruity and colorful, perfect for cooling down in the hot weather. This advertisement shows Sabrina working through a matchmaker hotline, speaking with customers and advising them that they need her pink refresher. There is a very retro and playful atmosphere, the commercial of this year’s campaign, once again showing that Dunkin understands Sabrina and her audience. With the addition of refreshers, more people could tune in for the collaboration, even those who do not like coffee. Overall, their continued collaboration provided positive results, with fans tuning in to try the new flavors for the summer.
4. Apple x Aespa
With the release of the iPhone 16 Pro, Apple decided to collaborate with K-pop girl group Aespa. The group became active in 2020 with their debut “Black Mamba”. Since then, they have won many awards and recently performed in the U.S on the Kelly Clarkson show. As a company, Apple has dominated the tech world, with many admitting they are influential. Through their advertisements, they have provided many new and creative ways to showcase the innovation and quality of their products. These same values were shining through this collaboration, with Apple showing viewers the new features included within the iPhone 16 Pro. They filmed a short choreography video for Aespa’s new release, “Dirty Work”. They also released a “Behind-The Scenes” video in which they went into detail of the new features, such as a high-resolution camera and slow-motion capture. This was a big moment for Aespa fans, as it gave an early look for the song, which was officially released on June 26 of this year. Anticipation was created as fans waited patiently for the full release of the song and music video. With this collaboration, Apple was able to connect to a niche market – K-pop fans. They had previously collaborated with only one other K-pop Group, New Jeans, and that proved to be successful. This new collaboration for their “shot on iPhone” campaign brought in many new fans, who are dedicated to tuning in to their favorite idols releases and interact to all the media that they post. The video itself also showed Apple’s understanding of K-pop culture, as choreography is very important within the industry and highly appreciated and acknowledged by fans. It allowed the fans to see a snippet of Aespa’s detailed choreography in a creative way. Overall, Apple successfully leveraged fan culture and interaction to showcase new features and product quality that would be available through their new release.
Key Takeaways
There are many takeaways that I have learned from these brand campaigns. I learned that you should not be afraid to be unique, and that it is rewarding to think outside the box. I felt this most with Gentle Monster and the way in which they are reinventing the eyewear industry with a different approach to aesthetics and marketing. They were able to collaborate with a brand totally opposite their industry to create new experiences for customers as well. It is also important to connect with the audience of your collaborator. In all these examples, brands effectively researched the target audience of the artists or companies that they were collaborating with to make a successful campaign. This can be seen through the techniques and creative approach within the photos and videos of every campaign, like in the Apple collaboration video with Aespa. They provide a dark aesthetic different to the rest of the collaborations discussed. I also see how important the values of authenticity and diversity are currently. GAP was able to highlight their product in a way that showed diversity within a girl group, they showed that their jeans could be used by many different people. The Sabrina Carpenter collaboration never changed her persona or personality, instead Dunkin it as inspiration towards their approach with the collaboration. I will definitely incorporate all of these techniques into my future work!
Citations
Burt, Kayti. “Netflix’s Pop Star Academy: Katseye Reveals What It Takes to Make a Global Girl Group.” Time, Time, 23 Aug. 2024, time.com/7014036/pop-star-academy-katseye-explained-netflix/.
Pelosoff, Carla. “Gap X Katseye: Cutting through the Noise for Gen Z.” Pion, Pion, 27 Aug. 2025, www.wearepion.com/blog-posts/gap-x-katseye-cutting-through-the-noise-for-gen-z.
Studio, Show. “Gentle Monster | Showstudio.” Showstudio, Showstudio, www.showstudio.com/contributors/gentle-monster. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
Manucom, Randz. “The Viral Gentle Monster X Bratz Is Here! See the Stars Who Got ’Bratz’-Ified.” Metro.Style, Metro.Style, 2 June 2025, metro.style/metro-style/fashion/2025/6/2/gentle-monster-bratz-2025-1139.
Murillo, Paulo. “Gentle Monster Bratz Doll Pop Up Opens in West Hollywood.” Weho Times, Weho Times, 31 May 2025, wehotimes.com/gentle-monster-bratz-doll-pop-up-opens-in-west-hollywood/.
Trust, Gary. “Another Double Shot of ‘Sspresso’: Sabrina Carpenter Tops Both Billboard Global Charts.” Billboard, Billboard, 23 July 2024, www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-global-excl-us-chart-number-one-eighth-week-1235736810/.
Industry, Beverage. “Sabrina Carpenter Reunites with Dunkin’ for Strawberry Daydream Refresher.” Beverage Industry, Beverage Industry, 25 June 2025, www.bevindustry.com/articles/97602-sabrina-carpenter-reunites-with-dunkin-for-strawberry-daydream-refresher.
Vincenz. “Aespa’s New ‘Dirty Work’ Performance Video Was Shot on iPhone 16 Pro.” GadgetMatch, GadgetMatch, 9 June 2025, www.gadgetmatch.com/aespa-dirty-work-performance-video-teaser-shot-on-iphone-16-pro/.
Carmona, Aliza. “K-Pop Sensation ‘Aespa’ Stars in Apple’s Latest iPhone 16 Pro Campaign with Exclusive Performance Video.” MARKETECH APAC, MARKETECH APAC, 11 June 2025, marketech-apac.com/k-pop-sensation-aespa-stars-in-apples-latest-iphone-16-pro-campaign-with-exclusive-performance-video/.
