Companies That Use PR Effectively: Campaign Examples Worth Studying
Last reviewed: June 2026
Justin Mauldin | Founder, Salient PR | Justin manages PR strategy and media relations across enterprise B2B clients, working directly with journalists and outlets daily.
A strong public relations campaign can do more for a brand than almost any other marketing tool: it builds trust, sparks conversation, and creates the kind of earned attention that paid ads can't buy. Companies like Nike, Dove, Red Bull, Spotify, and Apple have each built standout campaigns that connect with audiences on an emotional level while driving measurable business results. Spotify's Wrapped, for example, has grown from a single end-of-year feature in 2016 into a global, multi-platform event, with the 2025 edition expanding to roughly 50 real-world fan destinations across more than 30 markets and reaching over 700 million users.
Below, we break down the PR campaigns that set the standard, the strategies behind them, and how to measure whether your own campaign is working.
Key Takeaways
Successful PR campaigns from companies like Nike, Dove, and Red Bull show the power of storytelling and audience connection in building a strong brand image.
Strategies such as Starbucks' social media engagement, Tesla's product launches, and Subway's "Eat Fresh Refresh" campaign featuring athletes like Steph Curry and Serena Williams demonstrate how to generate excitement and conversation around a brand.
Website traffic, social media engagement, and media coverage remain the core metrics for measuring a PR campaign's effectiveness and impact.
Brands that back up social causes with real, ongoing action (not just a single campaign) build the kind of trust that drives long-term loyalty.
Leading Companies Leveraging PR Campaigns
Top companies recognize that PR is essential for maintaining a positive brand image and driving awareness. Brands like Nike, Dove, Lego, Spotify, and Apple consistently use PR to share their stories, connect with their audiences, and stand out in a crowded market. Apple, for instance, generates excitement around product launches through exclusivity and tight narrative control, a hallmark of some of the most effective PR examples in tech.
Nike's PR strategy centers on purpose driven marketing and social causes, building a legacy of empowerment and innovation. Johnnie Walker's Jane Walker campaign promoted gender equality with a special edition bottle, donating $1 for every bottle sold. SpaceX's launch of a Tesla Roadster into orbit became an iconic PR stunt that reinforced the brand's image through bold, unconventional storytelling.
Nike's "Just Do It" Campaign
Nike's "Just Do It" campaign remains a benchmark for purpose driven branding. It encourages consumers to push their limits, resonating with a broad audience and reinforcing Nike's image of empowerment and determination. The campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick aligned the brand with younger, socially conscious consumers and contributed to a sales boost in the months following its release.
Measurable outcomes:
Decades of sustained brand relevance and a consistently strong emotional connection with consumers.
The Kaepernick ad drove a measurable spike in online sales and social engagement shortly after launch, despite initial backlash from some segments of the audience.
Dove's Real Beauty Campaign
Launched in 2004, Dove's Real Beauty campaign was a trailblazer in promoting self acceptance and challenging beauty standards. It featured everyday women and used artistic techniques, like sketches comparing self perception to how others see us, to make its point. Dove's later #TheSelfieTalk campaign extended this mission by addressing how social media affects young girls' self esteem.
Other brands have followed a similar playbook: Chipotle's "Food with Integrity" campaign emphasized sustainable sourcing, McDonald's "We Hire People" campaign showcased diverse employees to promote inclusivity, and Patagonia's "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign encouraged customers to buy less in the name of sustainability.
Measurable outcomes:
Dove's global sales grew from approximately $2.5 billion in 2004 to over $4 billion within the campaign's first decade, according to multiple industry reports, including a Harvard Business School case study.
As of 2023, Unilever reported that Dove achieved its highest underlying sales growth in more than a decade, showing the campaign's positioning still pays off two decades later.
Red Bull Stratos Campaign
Red Bull's Stratos campaign, launched in 2012, used extreme sports to capture global attention by setting a world record for a skydive from the edge of space. The campaign reinforced Red Bull's image as a leader in high adrenaline, boundary pushing activities.
Other brands have used similar high impact stunts and viral moments to drive awareness. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $115 million for ALS research, care, and advocacy through more than 17 million participants worldwide. KFC turned a UK chicken shortage into a PR win with a self deprecating ad that rearranged its initials to "FCK," showing how humor can defuse a crisis.
Measurable outcomes:
Stratos generated an estimated 8 million live YouTube views at the time of the jump and drove a measurable lift in Red Bull's brand awareness metrics in the months that followed.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge's $115 million in donations led to two new FDA approved ALS treatments and helped more than double the number of multidisciplinary ALS clinics in the US.
Innovative Public Relations Strategies
Staying relevant in PR means generating conversations, not just pushing sales. Knowing what resonates with your audience and tapping into emerging trends can set your campaign apart. Effective PR also improves brand credibility and can boost SEO through earned backlinks. Dwolla's 90 day PR campaign, for example, generated more than 170 pieces of media coverage and over 250 social media engagements without a product launch or funding announcement as a news hook, repositioning the fintech brand as a thought leader in the future of payments.
Starbucks' Social Media Engagement
Starbucks has mastered social media, using platforms like Instagram to promote new products, manage its reputation, and target audiences such as millennials. By proactively engaging customers and encouraging user generated content, Starbucks strengthens brand visibility and loyalty through visually appealing, shareable content.
Measurable outcomes:
Starbucks consistently ranks among the most followed food and beverage brands on Instagram, with user generated content extending campaign reach well beyond paid media.
Tesla's Product Launches
Tesla's product launches continue to generate significant media buzz and public interest, with unique PR tactics that ensure wide coverage and consumer excitement. This approach helps maintain Tesla's market position and sets a benchmark for tech industry product launches.
Measurable outcomes:
Tesla topped US automotive brand loyalty rankings in 2026, with 61.1% of owners returning to the brand for their next purchase, well above the industry average of 52.7%.
Airbnb's Community Centric Campaigns
Airbnb's community centric campaigns highlight belonging and unique travel experiences. The "Belong Anywhere" campaign promotes a narrative that resonates with travelers seeking community and authenticity, positioning Airbnb as a global community rather than just a booking platform. Airbnb's partnership with BBC Earth for a "Night at Blue Planet II" contest reinforced this focus on memorable, once in a lifetime experiences. HostelWorld's "Even Divas Are Believers" campaign, featuring Mariah Carey, took a similar approach to improve the reputation of hostels with a broader audience.
Measurable outcomes:
The "Belong Anywhere" campaign and related community initiatives contributed to Airbnb's growth into one of the most recognized hospitality brands globally, with strong earned media coverage across travel and lifestyle outlets.
Ikea's #StayHome Campaign
Ikea's #StayHome campaign reframed the concept of home as a place of warmth, comfort, and growth during lockdowns, encouraging people to appreciate their living spaces. The campaign resonated deeply with audiences navigating a difficult period and reinforced Ikea's brand values around home and togetherness.
Measurable outcomes:
The campaign drove a notable increase in social media engagement and earned coverage during a period when most paid advertising was paused or reduced.
Impactful PR Campaign Examples
Impactful PR campaigns enhance brand visibility, create lasting impressions, and drive growth by addressing current events and tapping into emotional connections with audiences. The most successful examples require companies to back up their claims about social issues with real action, ensuring authenticity and building long term trust. Notable examples include campaigns from Carlsberg, LEGO, and State Street Global Advisors.
Carlsberg's "Adopt a Keg" Campaign
Launched during the COVID 19 pandemic, Carlsberg's "Adopt a Keg" campaign encouraged customers to scan store bought products to fill a virtual keg, redeemable for two free beers once bars reopened. This customer centric approach addressed a real, immediate need and strengthened loyalty by offering tangible rewards. In a similar spirit of goodwill, Star Wars publicly congratulated Marvel on the success of Avengers: Infinity War, earning media coverage for the gesture and showing how positive brand to brand interactions can generate PR value.
Measurable outcomes:
The campaign generated strong earned media coverage during a period when most bars and restaurants were closed, and helped retain customer engagement until venues reopened.
LEGO's Rebuild the World
LEGO's Rebuild the World campaign, launched in 2019 as the brand's first global brand campaign in nearly 30 years, promotes unity and hope through creative thinking. By showcasing user submitted creations on a 3D globe, LEGO turned passive viewers into active participants and positioned itself as a brand built on creativity rather than just toys. Similar approaches include the Barbie campaign, which blended nostalgia with contemporary trends to create engaging real world experiences, and the Stabilo Boss campaign, which used highlighter pens to spotlight remarkable women from history.
Measurable outcomes:
Rebuild the World significantly improved LEGO's brand reputation and awareness scores and continued generating brand equity for years after its 2019 launch.
State Street Global Advisors' Fearless Girl
The Fearless Girl statue, placed facing the Wall Street Bull, made a powerful statement on gender diversity by symbolizing the need for more women on corporate boards. Despite criticism over the statue's placement and intent, the campaign successfully spotlighted the importance of gender diversity and inspired concrete commitments from companies. Johnnie Walker's Jane Walker bottle, which donated $1 per bottle sold to support gender equality organizations, and the Gender Pay Gap Bot, which uses technology to hold companies accountable for pay equity, follow a similar model of pairing a strong visual statement with measurable action.
Measurable outcomes:
Fearless Girl generated extensive global media coverage and is widely credited with accelerating conversations and policy commitments around board diversity in the years that followed.
Measuring PR Campaign Success
Evaluating a PR campaign's success is essential for understanding its impact. The three core metrics are website traffic, social media engagement, and media coverage.
Website traffic: Tracking visitor numbers before and after a campaign helps companies gauge the level of interest generated. A significant spike in traffic typically reflects increased brand visibility and consumer engagement.
Social media engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and organic mentions reveal how well a campaign resonates with its audience and how strong the emotional connection is.
Media coverage: Tools like Google Alerts help track mentions and assess the quality of outlets covering a campaign. Strong media coverage boosts visibility and shapes public perception.
Best Practices for Crafting Successful PR Campaigns
A successful PR campaign combines creativity, strategic planning, and data driven insights. PR builds a positive reputation, strengthens stakeholder relationships, and offers a cost effective way to reach a wide audience. Because messages from independent third party sources are often seen as more credible than paid advertising, earned media remains one of the most valuable assets a brand can secure.
Set clear objectives: Define specific, measurable, and realistic goals to drive results and accountability. Use data to analyze the campaign context and ensure your targeting is relevant.
Identify your target audience: Understanding your audience's preferences and behaviors, the way Starbucks does with millennials on social media, leads to more effective messaging and stronger engagement.
Use dynamic content: Videos, infographics, and interactive elements across multiple channels maximize engagement and reach.
Summary
Successful PR campaigns blend creativity, strategic planning, and effective measurement. By learning from leading companies, applying innovative strategies, and following proven best practices, you can build PR campaigns that resonate with your audience and drive measurable growth into 2026 and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main goal of a PR campaign? The main goal of a PR campaign is to communicate key information about a company while maintaining and enhancing its brand image. This helps shape public perception and strengthen relationships with stakeholders.
How can I measure the success of my PR campaign? Focus on metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and the volume and quality of media coverage received. These indicators provide a clear picture of your campaign's impact and effectiveness.
What makes a PR campaign successful? A successful PR campaign generates public conversation and boosts visibility while fostering an emotional connection with the audience. These elements are crucial for long term engagement and effectiveness.
Can you provide an example of an innovative PR strategy? Starbucks' proactive use of Instagram for customer engagement and brand promotion is a strong example, effectively connecting the brand with its audience while enhancing its image. Old Spice's "Paper Blazer" campaign took a different approach, playfully ribbing rival fragrance brands in print ads, while Logitech's "Business Speak Detection" video used humor to spoof corporate jargon. Each example shows how creativity can capture attention and reinforce brand identity.
Why is identifying the target audience important in a PR campaign? Identifying the target audience is crucial because it ensures the campaign's message resonates effectively, leading to higher engagement and success. Tailoring your approach maximizes the impact of your PR efforts.
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