Short-form video has exploded in recent years to become one of the prevailing sources of entertainment and information. From quick-fire reaction videos to jokes, memes and explainers, short video (typically between 5 and 90 seconds in length) has proven its power to engage and communicate in a bite-size package.
It’s also everywhere: from TikTok (of course) to Instagram, Facebook to YouTube. Its versatility and ubiquity makes it an increasingly powerful marketing tool, but hitting audiences with an impactful message in such a short timeframe is not an easy feat.
Timing is crucial for this swipe-and-you-miss-it format, but so are the right collaborators, story and format – and having a little fun along the way. Here are four brands who successfully played to short video’s strengths: from teaming up with a tiny influencer to creating compact emotional dramas, playing to nostalgic memories and dissing a rival auto brand to win over younger drivers.
Four Seasons might not have been an obvious brand to jump on a viral moment in 2024. The hotel and resort group has a fairly traditional image and had been absent from TikTok for two years. Its brand awareness among millennials and below was trailing, and it needed to engage a new generation of luxury travellers who are more likely to use social media than search to plan their next trip.
When an opportunity dropped, the company moved quickly. In May a baby called Kate put her hand in the air on TikTok to express her excitement for a trip to Four Seasons Orlando. The moment went viral, gathering more than 40 million views and inspiring multiple memes about the “Four Seasons Orlando baby”. Four Seasons and agency We Are Social acted quickly, producing a response post within three days in which Four Seasons Orlando staff ran through paddling pools and under palm trees in anticipation of Kate’s visit.
As We Are Social put it in their resulting case study, baby Kate briefly became “the world’s youngest luxury brand ambassador” and gave Four Seasons the opportunity to deliver “a powerful message about [its] commitment to exceptional quality and genuine care”.
@fourseasons #Stitch with @Stefanie O’Brien Let the adventure begin @Stefanie O’Brien fam ????✨@FourSeasonsOrlando #LuxuryTravel #FamilyTravel #LoveFourSeasons ♬ original sound – Four Seasons Hotels
When the family arrived, the campaign went harder, producing a hero video that featured footage from their vacation soundtracked by Tommy Richman’s R&B smash “Million Dollar Baby”. The resulting video demonstrated that the company had pulled out all the stops to welcome Kate and her family, with fast cuts and multiple angles showing tiaras, swimming pools, and tureens of spaghetti.
Fan requests were incorporated into the vacation schedule while Four Seasons created GIFs and personalized stickers to engage with comments, continuing the interactive feel that began when Kate’s family announced their trip.
The campaign gathered:
It’s a great example of how speed counts in short-form video – and in social media generally. But it also succeeded because Four Seasons picked an authentic interaction and wrapped core brand values – travel, family fun, leisure facilities and personalised service – into an appealing package that felt playful but genuine. With its high engagement rates and gen Z-heavy user base, TikTok proved an ideal channel.
Many US teens go through orthodontic treatment to align their teeth, and clear aligners are an increasingly widespread alternative to wearing braces due to their less obtrusive nature.
The decision about which option to go forward with will depend on the opinions of dentists, parents and teens themselves. Clear aligner brand Invisalign felt that teens were often not aware of its product’s potential benefits, and so created a #InvisIsDramaFree campaign through 2023 and 2024 that would reach this demographic where they spent much of their time (on social media) and play on their enthusiasm for movies and punchy, humorous content.
The solution: spoof film trailers that would mix relatable emotional drama with a message that highlighted why Invisalign was the solution.
Among the miniature dramas (many at under 20 seconds) were a high-school musical undermined by a snapping elastic band, a sporting romance derailed by popcorn and a vampire whose braces stopped her from “eating what she loved” (people). Creative placement, like the vampire trailer appearing before Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” music video, helped to drive engagement.
Invisalign’s campaign wasn’t confined to teens, with the brand additionally targeting parents on social media and TV with messaging about the “drama” of braces, while deploying more than 60 additional pieces of video across YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram to give the campaign longevity.
On the back of the campaign, Invisalign enjoyed an almost 10% boost in quarterly sales, along with a more than 300% rise in click-throughs and a 127% increase in views.
Premium sparkling water producer Clearly Canadian enjoyed a successful 1990s, but its crown slipped in the 2000s. New product launches in the 2020s boosted sales, but to drive the brand back into the limelight, Clearly Canadian needed to engage existing fans and find new ones on social media.
The brand’s research showed multiple accounts and communities sharing childhood nostalgia for its products, and revealed the importance of sound and sensation: the shape of its bottles and the scent and fizz as they open. Instagram’s affection for lifestyle content and popularity among millennials made it a natural home for the campaign, and sensory videos and nail art ran alongside retro and 90s inspired imagery like floppy disks and playful animated reels, set to a “90s mixtape” soundtrack of throwback hits.
The brand’s newest channel, TikTok, took a similarly playful, old-school approach, with 90s memories sitting alongside “ready for the weekend” shorts.
The campaign didn’t just rely on sounds and memories: it also reached out to existing fans. Clearly Canadian scoured social channels for posts and UGC that mentioned the brand, replying to every historic comment they could find and sending free products to 100 people. It eschewed big-name creators for micro-influencers and communities, such Bookish readers, who had an existing connection with the brand, prioritizing genuine fan passion and a grassroots feel.
Clearly Canadian’s leveraging of existing enthusiasm and use of quirky iconography and unvarnished presentation helped grow its profile exponentially, with an 85% increase in followers on social. Engagement rates jumped 15-fold and the campaign gathered 77 million organic impressions.
Carmaker Nissan was in danger of falling behind in an compact SUV market that was crowded with competitors, including Kia, Toyota and Hyundai.
The Japanese brand had discontinued its Rogue Sport in 2023, leaving the Nissan Kicks as its only all-wheel-drive SUV. The Kicks needed a boost, and Nissan identified Gen Z and young millennials in small to mid-sized urban areas as its main target.
The company made music the core of its attempt to reach these culturally-curious younger drivers. Diss tracks have been a feature of hip-hop since the genre’s early days in the 1980s, and surged again in mid-2024 when rapper Kendrick Lamar’s high-profile feud with Drake took over social media.
In November, rapper Kenny Mason, who mixes hip-hop with alt-rock, was recruited to produce a rap that trumpeted Kicks features like dual screens, Bose speakers and panoramic sunroof while throwing shade at rival Hyundai.
@kennymason We are not da same #NissanPartner #NissanKicks @Nissan USA ♬ original sound – KENNY MASON
The one-minute video ran across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, generating:
Nissan chose a rapper with eclectic influences to produce a song that was spiky but playful, and a video whose casual but animated style resonated with younger audiences. They shot Mason standing by the vehicle, but also showed off the SUV’s features by filming reflections in wing and rear-view mirrors, adding visual interest.
Diss tracks weren’t exactly new when Nissan jumped on them, but they were having a moment – and their use in a car advert was novel enough to gather significant engagement, neatly moving the diss track from hip-hop to automobile rivalry.
Every one of these campaigns ticks the short-form video basics: most videos are comfortably under a minute and they all work to keep viewer interest, typically by using animation or music that hits their target market’s sweet spots. Entertainment is at the heart of short-form video, and all four have content that will make the viewer smile.
But good vibes aren’t enough on their own. To shift the bottom line, campaigns must drive measurable outcomes by successfully targeting potential consumers on the right platforms. How did these campaigns do just that?
Read more on brand success with social short video in our piece ‘How four FMCG brands are driving sales through TikTok‘.