The Best Campaigns of 2026 (So Far) | Willow & Blake

If you’re a Melburnian, you’ll know the Skipping Girl — a huge neon sign originally installed in 1936 for Skipping Girl Vinegar on Victoria Street in Abbotsford.

Replacing it is a stark new symbol of modern childhoods, backed by confronting new research showing Australian teens are spending triple the time on screens than exercising. Scrolling Girl was installed by Dairy Farmers who have partnered with Team Kids to roll out a national skipping challenge across 270 schools, donating almost 8,000 ropes to help more kids swap scrolling for skipping.

Adidas' Adizero Pro Evo 3s represent a serious breakthrough in the technology of running shoes. Each shoe weighs a feathery 97 grams, and is designed for elite marathon-level runners. The shoes debuted at the London Marathon on the feet of Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha, who both broke records in the race.

Simultaneously, Adidas has released more fashion-centric designs in their collaboration with menswear label Wales Bonner, and their re-release of the Adizero PRs, a previously Japan-exclusive design with flat soles.

Instead of traditional campaigns, Adidas is tapping into cultural moments across both sports and fashion, speaking to their commitment to both form and function.

Hate OpenAI and everything Sam Altman stands for, but we have to concede that ChatGPT's first brand campaign was a tiny bit genius.

Instead of going for the usual futuristic, glossy approach to tech advertising, this campaign was shot on 35mm by a real person (Miles Jay). The approach is deliberately textured, making it feel cinematic and human. Scenes focus on ChatGPT's integration into real-world, tactile scenarios (like cooking, working out, and road-tripping).

It steers cleverly away from the kind of uncanny, textureless images the program itself creates, and far away from the screen-addled, fluorescent lit environments in which it's mostly used. The campaign reframes AI in softer, less alarming terms. As a tool, not a master.

My vote is for ‘No Place To Grow’.

It's not the biggest campaign in the world, but as an activation for Youth Homelessness Matters Day, it's emotive, simple, and budget-smart. A lot of homelessness ads use cliched sad B+W imagery, so this quietly stands out.

The one that keeps coming to mind is the launch of the sunless tanning brand, TOAST. From their tagline, “The best tan since sliced bread”, to their brand purpose, “Our mission isn’t political, but we believe that no one deserves a Trump tan”, this launch campaign came charging out of the gates with powerfully fun copy and branding.

They then backed it up with a campaign platform of ‘Super-natural tan’, featuring pale, sickly vampires and ghosts. C’est magnifique.