McDonald’s built a road sign outside Brioude pointing to the nearest Burger King, 258 kilometres away, to flex its 1,300 French locations. Buzzman responded with a film of a couple stopping at McDonald’s for coffee, driving 253 kilometres, then eating Whoppers. The tagline: “Thank you, McDonald’s, for being everywhere.”
Toyota announced its Bulgarian Tennis Federation sponsorship in 2004 with a single print ad: three rackets arranged to form the Toyota logo. No copy, no tagline. Just one instant of recognition. The ad resurfaced on Reddit in 2025, went viral again, and is still being shared. The idea has never needed a media budget.
Heineken had no official sponsorship at China’s 15th National Games. Agency Heaven & Hell Shanghai noticed that a tomato’s five leaflets look like a body in motion. They built 34 tomato athlete characters, one per sport, dropped them across transit and Xiaohongshu, and ran the line “Every tomato that strives to win is in Heinz.” It spread without paid amplification.
KitKat and Ogilvy Colombia engineered a Faraday cage inside a chocolate wrapper. Place your phone inside, seal it, and all signal dies. Calls, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS gone. Tested at a tech expo, a concert, and a university campus in Panama. The tagline lives inside the packaging: “Have a Break” now enforced.
