130 marketing and growth hacks that real companies pulled off, from scrappy startup tricks to wild brand stunts. Each one says what they did, why it worked, how much effort and money it takes, and links to the source so you can check it yourself. Last updated 13 November 2026.
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Showing 20 of 130 matching hacks (130 in total)
ContentTikTokAdded 13 November 2026
Welch's
Cast the stars your buyers grew up watching
Welch's is promoting its sparkling juice with "Before the Toast", a five-episode microdrama on TikTok and Instagram. It stars actors who became known in the 2000s (Kim Possible, The Cheetah Girls, Glee), who now play parents juggling holiday chaos. It also teamed with Instacart to give away full-size bottles, claimed from the product card in the app.
Why it works
Nostalgic faces get attention fast, and the Instacart giveaway gives viewers a direct next step. The article notes the casting may resonate with Gen Z parents.
Effort
Medium
Cost
High
Best for
Family and food brands whose buyers now have kids and a soft spot for the shows they grew up with
Oreo made its first new Christmas ad in five years, and the whole story is one petty gag. A dad sneaks a bite of the Oreos left out for Santa, then wakes up to find Santa has bitten his stocking, golf clubs, TV and remote. The 15 and 30 second cuts run across streaming, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat and YouTube.
Why it works
A single clear joke with a payoff is easy to repeat and easy to cut down for every feed. The comedy comes from a ritual every household already knows.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Snack and food brands planning a seasonal ad that needs to read in seconds with the sound off
Visit Oslo followed its first ad with a winter edition, "It's Totally Even a City", that turns the commercial into a karaoke-style musical. A local called Halfdan gives his honest take on the city in winter, and the point of the ad is that it is cold. The judge praised the risk of self-deprecating humour, which can backfire if it just repeats the criticism.
Why it works
Owning the flaw first takes the sting out of it and makes the brand feel honest. A sequel keeps the same tone going across seasons.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Tourism boards and destinations with an obvious drawback everyone already talks about
Western Australia's emergency services department rolled bushfire, cyclone, storm and flood prep into one message: "Join the Ready". The spots follow three households through a training montage set to a Rocky style score, so getting an emergency plan done looks like something to be proud of. The aim is to cut through warning fatigue and make preparing a shared community effort.
Why it works
Framing the action as joining people who are already prepared gives it social pull, not guilt. Humour and music lower the defences that scary warnings raise.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Councils, charities and public bodies asking people to do something dull but important
St John Ambulance launched its new Pocket AED, a portable defibrillator, with ads that are only as big as the device. On TV the ad filled a 235 by 125 pixel patch of the screen, and print layouts could show the product at actual size. A hiker, a camper and a golfer showed where it could go.
Why it works
The format itself makes the point: small enough to take anywhere. St John's CEO said it subverts the expected ad format to grab attention.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Anyone launching a small or portable product who needs one memorable proof of size
Pay viewers in points to watch a story with your brand written in
Rewards app Fetch is launching "The Receipt", a six-episode holiday series with a holiday meet-cute at its heart. Each episode features one brand partner such as Breyers, Dove or Olipop, written into the plot rather than dropped in as an ad. People earn points for watching in the app, plus more for shopping the episodes in the in-app Fetch Shop, with Fetch Play challenges tied in as well.
Why it works
Viewers get paid to pay attention, and brands get a story instead of a banner. Fetch says an earlier rewarded video format had a 96% completion rate in early tests.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Apps and platforms with a loyal audience and a list of brands who want attention
Put your long-running character into a sports rivalry
ANZ and TBWA New Zealand made "Cricket Conundrum", a seven-part social series timed to India's cricket tour of New Zealand. Ravi Sharma, a character who has been in ANZ ads for more than five years, is torn between India and his adopted home. The series sits alongside match-day fan experiences, a radio competition and the return of the Two Homes jersey.
Why it works
The series celebrates fans with two loyalties rather than making them choose a side. A known character gives each episode instant familiarity.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Brands with a recurring character or a diverse customer base around a big sporting event
Jim Beam extended its partnership with NSW Rugby League to the end of 2028, covering both the men's and women's Blues teams. It came after a strong State of Origin year, including a 3-0 series win for the women. The brand has been active in match-day promotions, fan engagement and campaigns since it re-partnered in 2022, and also sponsors five NRL clubs and a rugby league podcast.
Why it works
Staying with a team through a winning run lets the brand share in the pride at no extra storytelling cost. Spreading across clubs and a podcast keeps it present all season.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Consumer brands that want to be part of the conversation around a sport their buyers follow
IKEA Australia and New Zealand skipped the usual shout-it-from-the-rooftops discount pitch for Black Friday. Their campaign, "Deals You'll Want to Keep to Yourself", plays on how far people will go to grab a great deal and then not tell anyone. Staff and creators carry the local social side, while the sale itself is 10% off almost everything in Australia.
Why it works
It turns the shopper's own guilty instinct into the joke, so the offer feels like an insider tip, not another banner. IKEA's marketing head said the aim is to zig where others zag.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Retailers who want to stand out in the Black Friday noise without shouting louder than everyone else
Turn the pressure you remove into a battlefield on screen
Cars24 launched "Skip the Drama" in Australia, where a used-car salesman fights a literal tug-of-war with a customer on a fiery volcano set. The customer holds out with Cars24's help. Short follow-up clips then back it up with real proof points: a 30 day returns policy, home delivery and a 300 point inspection.
Why it works
It names the fear buyers already carry, then answers it with plain promises you can check. The big visual hooks attention, the proof points close the deal.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Challenger brands in industries where customers expect to be pressured or tricked
Advertise the feature people don't know you have with a relatable habit
Sportsbet's 'Keeping an Eye on Sport' campaign promotes live streaming inside its app. The ads show a person with one eye on a steak, someone eyeball to eyeball with an emu, and another sneaking a look at the footy behind a restaurant menu. Sportsbet says most people are not aware the app streams thousands of live sports from around the world.
Why it works
It starts from a real behaviour, sneaking a look at the game, so the feature feels like an answer. Funny, odd scenes make a feature ad more shareable than a feature list.
Effort
Medium
Cost
High
Best for
Apps with a buried feature that users would love if they knew about it
Change one word in your 35-year-old tagline to move from I to we
Maybelline updated its 1991 line 'Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline' to 'Maybe. We're born with it. Maybe. It's Maybelline.' The new wording swaps 'she' for 'we' and launches a global platform called 'The Beauty of Infinite Possibility' with ambassador Miley Cyrus. A 45-second film about reinvention anchors it, and social is the main channel this year.
Why it works
Keeping the rhythm people already know means the update lands as familiar. One changed word carries the whole shift in message.
Effort
Medium
Cost
High
Best for
Heritage brands with a famous line that no longer fits how people talk
Commission a survey that exposes a false belief, then stage a street-magic reveal
B&D Garage Doors launched its Roll-A-Door Secure with illusionist Dynamo in a PR-led campaign called 'Australia's biggest garage security illusion'. B&D's research found 43% of Australians believe a closed garage door is locked. Dynamo performed illusions for local residents at a secret Sydney location, then revealed the security blind spot.
Why it works
The survey gives journalists a headline stat and the stunt gives them a scene. The product then arrives as the fix for the problem you have just made people notice.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Home and security brands launching a product that fixes something people wrongly assume is fine
Give your brand a sound by commissioning a famous composer
Qatar Airways launched new onboard signature music made with composer Hans Zimmer. It ships as a five-track album called Burgundy Symphony, with tracks that follow a journey from Dawn to Homecoming. The launch was celebrated at Zimmer's Doha concert on 6 November, where fans saw a film about how it was made.
Why it works
The music is heard by passengers in the place where the brand already has their attention. Launching at a concert gave it a live audience and a behind-the-scenes film.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Hospitality, travel and retail brands with a physical space people spend time in
Let your community build your hero, one piece at a time
England Netball's 'Built by Women' campaign centres on a 72-second film where women build a giant netball player from the ground up in Manchester. She grows to 100 feet to mark 100 years of the organisation. The film also points ahead to the Netball World Cup in 2031, which Manchester will host.
Why it works
Showing the community as the builders makes the story about them, not the logo. The 100 feet and 100 years pairing gives the idea one number people remember.
Effort
High
Cost
Medium
Best for
Sports bodies, clubs and member groups marking an anniversary
Make fun of your customers' worst habits, then hand them a trail to follow
Tourism Tasmania's new campaign teases tourist habits like overplanning, chasing viral trends and queuing for a pastry. The hero film follows a man whose queue stretches across an ocean, and the line is 'Not Really For Tourists'. Then it backs the joke with something useful: De-Tourist Trails on its website with more than 200 places, experiences and stays, plus a competition for Tasmanian holidays.
Why it works
The joke is built on research the campaign cites: 75% of Australians would rather be called a traveller than a tourist. The trails turn the laugh into a reason to visit.
Effort
High
Cost
High
Best for
Tourism boards, hotels and local businesses selling an experience over a checklist
Make people play spot the fake, then show them the trick
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation's 'Question Everything' campaign mixes real actors with AI-generated characters, then reveals which ones were never real. The AI characters break down on screen to show how easily digital content can be manipulated. The lesson is free to primary schools, educators and parents, and no real child's face or voice was used to train or prompt any AI model.
Why it works
People learn most when they get it wrong themselves. Early feedback reported in the article was that very few viewers correctly spotted the AI parts.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Low
Best for
Non-profits and educators teaching a skill that people think they already have
Show advertisers exactly how each page of yours was judged
News Australia appointed Mobian to handle brand suitability on its ad inventory. Instead of scanning for trigger words, it assesses content in context, and News Australia says it can now show advertisers and agencies how its content is evaluated. It is the first step in a wider plan to review how content is classified and build ad products around contextual relevance.
Why it works
A ThinkNewsBrands report cited in the article says outdated brand-safety practices exclude one in two Australian news articles from advertising. Showing the working helps buyers say yes to stories they would have blocked.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Publishers and ad-supported sites that lose revenue to blunt brand-safety blocklists
Swap scare tactics for tall tales told by real people
NSW Maritime's 'Live to Tell the Tale' campaign promotes boating safety without fear. Three films are narrated by the people who lived them: a boater wrestling a kraken, a jet ski rider led to shore by a ghost ship at a safe speed, and a First Nations Uncle with the fish that got away. The line is that the best stories are the ones you live to tell.
Why it works
The stories are fun enough to share, and the safety point sits inside them. Using narrators from the community, including a story developed with a First Nations-led consultancy, keeps it from sounding like a scolding.
Effort
Medium
Cost
Medium
Best for
Public bodies and safety brands whose message usually sounds like a lecture
Turn an audience that is planning trips into a show plus a shop
ARN launched KIIS Travel at its Upfront27 event. It is a weekly two-hour Sunday travel show with a booking site powered by TripADeal where customers can earn and use Qantas Points. Advertisers can join through sponsored segments, deals and a 'destination of the week'. ARN says 80% of its audience is planning a trip in the next 12 months.
Why it works
The show gives people a reason to tune in and the shop lets them act on the spot. Loyalty points on bookings and sponsor slots give both customers and advertisers a reason to join in.
Effort
High
Cost
Medium
Best for
Media owners and publishers with an audience that shares a buying intent
Every hack is written up from the linked source, checked on the day it was added. Numbers are as reported by that source, often by the company itself, so treat them as claims, not audited results. Effort and cost are our own rough judgement. Some of these are from years ago and the platforms have changed since, so test before you copy, and stay within each platform's rules and local advertising law. Company and product names belong to their owners, and we are not affiliated with any of them.
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