Ah, 2022. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. You can say the same thing about the ads we saw in the past 12 months.

Marketing Brew asked creative minds in the industry to share with us their favorite and most memorable campaigns from the year—along with the ones they thought fell flat. Check out a few of the responses below, or read them all here.—KS, MS, RB, AM

Apple’s “The Greatest”: “Representation on point. Amazing casting [and] editing. The soundtrack is incredible. What is really outstanding for me is that it’s a demo ad, so it’s the best demo of the year…I was smiling through the entire film.”—Linus Oura, creative director, David New York

Ocean Spray’s “Power Your Holidays”: “I’m so jealous. The concept, casting, music…all of it. Pure joy. Ownable. Memorable. Based in product and holiday culture. You can’t help but dance—or whatever you want to call it—along with them. An instant classic that I’m sure I’ll return to for a long time.”—Andrew Hunter, Dentsu Creative US group creative director

‘Smile’ promotional campaign: “It might be because I noticed it live and started taking pictures of the screen, but the stunt for the Smile movie caught me off guard. It was one of the best subversive ad placements I have seen, and the box-office results show it worked.”—Wayne Best, chief creative officer, VMLY&R NY

If you’re a longtime Marketing Brew reader, you know this was a big year for us. We brought on more reporters, hosted our first summit, went to Cannes, and talked to Kevin from The Office.

Our team covered a lot of ground in 2022, breaking down concepts like regenerative marketing, zero-party data, and the “hard bundle.”

We also wrote some stuff that got people talking (or at least reading). Below are five of our most-read stories from the year:

How much should graphic designers worry about DALL-E 2?

Major publishers are buying ads in mobile games like ‘Subway Surfers’ to juice traffic

Streaming ads are way too loud. Who’s going to fix it?

Brands have been investing in podcasts of their own for years. Here’s why

When an influencer couple breaks up, what happens to their brand deals?

Looking ahead: Let us know what you’d like to see more of in the new year—aspects of the industry you’re interested in reading more about, issues we should be paying closer attention to, people we should chat with, you name it.—MS

Future Social is a weekly newsletter on social media, content, and creators from Jack Appleby, a Morning Brew creator who’s worked in social media for 10 years at companies like Beats by Dre, Microsoft, and Twitch. Check out an excerpt from one of his pieces below, and sign up for Future Social here.

The best way to learn social is to consume social. You’d assume running to any of the major advertising awards shows would help, especially since several hand out literally hundreds of trophies each year. The problem? They often celebrate huge brands that leverage massive celebrities, or heavy paid budgets to push views on the campaigns, or multi-faceted content approaches that cost millions. They’re cool! But you can’t learn a ton from them. Certainly not if you’re a team of one, or working off a basic content budget.

I went through various award winners to find a few with lessons you can immediately apply to your own practices. Read them here.—JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Giveth and taketh: What marketers can learn from behavioral science about holiday gifting.

Make a splash: This guide outlines how B2B marketers can build brand awareness.

Learn about it: If you work in higher education, here are 13 tips on using social media to stand out.

Flash in the pan: Is TikTok marketing here to stay? Has the metaverse moment ended? See what readers like you had to say about this year’s marketing trends in our 2022 reader survey, sponsored by mntn.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

If you’ve watched Stranger Things, you’ve probably noticed that Hawkins, Indiana, is hawking a lot of products these days.

Over 140 major brands and products have appeared in the series, including Nike, Coca-Cola, KFC, and (Eleven’s favorite!) Eggo. Marketing Brew’s investigative crew sat down with the masterminds behind the show’s integrations to find out how production value and nostalgia guided the Duffer brothers’ decision-making and how Netflix maximized their brand partnership potential.

Catch up on some of the best stories from other Brews:

• How over-hiring during the pandemic led to the rash of layoffs in 2022
• Why Chipotle created a $50 million venture fund this year
• Package Deal: Before 1979, premium vodka bottles were tall and thin with colorful labels. Then Absolut changed everything
• Investors are going all in on these femtech products

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Coca-Cola promotes sustainability advances with ‘Recycled Records’
2. This device spits out fries when it hears triggering dinner talk
3. Captain Morgan creates larger-than-life statues of NFL superfans
4. White Claw unveils its holiday mascot, Santa Claws

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How recommerce is taking on the holiday gift market
• How much should graphic designers worry about DALL-E 2?
• Companies are claiming ‘carbon neutrality’—but what does that mean?