Once a brand hits its stride, it can be tempting to coast. As these 2025 Brands That Matter enduring impact honorees demonstrate, longevity (in this case, 15-plus years in business) can inspire innovation. That’s particularly true when it comes to finding fresh ways to engage longtime consumersand court new ones.
From Clinique leaning into its longstanding reputation among dermatologists to Lundberg Family Farms getting its shoppers to care about the cutest aspect of regenerative agriculture, there’s a wide range of ways these brands kept from resting on their laurels.
Blumhouse
As the horror film production studio marked 15 years, this past year, Blumhouse has worked to bring its horror movies to life via immersive experiences (Halfway to Halloween, NY Comic Con, Overnightmare, Halloween Horror Nights, CCXP Mexico), and capitalized on consumer loyalty by broadening its merch offerings. 2025 has been a year for tentpole sequels, including M3gan 2.0 and Black Phone 2, both of which leaned into superfans to get viewers in theaters. Though M3gan 2.0’s box office kept it in the realm of cult fandom, Black Phone 2 earned more than $123 million worldwide after a $27 million opening weekend.
Clinique
To reach new customers, 57-year-old Clinique went back to its roots as a brand created with dermatologists in 1968. To reach users on social media, the brand set up a Derm Creator Council that makes content focused on trending skincare topics. Content from the council fueled a 299% increase in video views and added more than 65,000 TikTok followers. To expand its role in growing the dermatology profession, Clinique funded a three-year scholarship with the Skin of Color Society Foundation to support medical students focused on skin health equity. It did so while churning out new products and reformulations, highlighting its ability to deliver “That Clinique Glow” with global pop-ups.
Dirt Is Good
Unilever’s laundry detergent brand Dirt Is Good collects various global product namesPersil, Skip, OMO, and Surf Excelunder a shared ethos: that stains are the mark of a life lived. In 2024, its Argentinian campaign “Stains of Glory”in which the brand re-created grass and dirt stains from Argentina’s World Cup championship match and encouraged consumers to scan QR codes on ads for a chance to win one of the stained jerseysreached 63% of the country in summer 2024. This year, it took up another, more taboo, topic in Englandperiod stains. Using survey data showing 6 in 10 girls don’t play sports out of fear of period stains, Persil partnered with Arsenal women on a print and billboard campaign with athletes talking about how period stains are as much part of playing soccer as mud or grass stains. The campaign reached 34 countries and garnered 240 million earned impressions and 4.2 million social engagements in 10 days. Paired with tips on getting bloodstains out of clothes, the campaign lifted time spent on Persil’s site by 45%.
Lundberg Family Farms
Regenerative farming is still pretty opaque to the average person. To help customers understand its importance, rice-maker Lundberg Family Farms has launched campaigns to get customers to engage directly with its farming site. Every winter, Lundberg floods part of its fields to replicate the fast-disappearing California wetlands, which provide food for thousands of birds. The company also adopts other measures, like sequestering carbon, to give ducks a hospitable nesting environment. Though customers might find it difficult to engage with metrics around healthy soil, they can easily appreciate the value (and cuteness) of duckling rescue. After creating ads showcasing Lundbergs duck rescue work, the company saw a 12.3% social media engagement rate. Lundberg also launched a Gold Shovel Ticket, giving one lucky entrant the chance to experience its rescue work firsthandmore than 20,000 customers entered the sweepstakes.
Yahoo!
Search engine Yahoo! went retro, launching the “Yahoo Yodel Button” in collaboration with film production company A24 to celebrate the movie Y2K. The novelty button made the iconic Yahoo! sound when pressed. The company further tapped into its nostalgic appeal by launching ads featuring Tae Bo creator Billy Blanks, and a Super Bowl ad where comedian Bill Murray encouraged the audience to send messages to his Yahoo! email address. These throwback efforts brought in a younger audiencemillennials and Gen Z now make up almost 50% of the site’s visitors in the U.S.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
A brand that isn’t thinking globally is limiting its reach. The four 2025 Brands That Matter global honorees know that and have worked hard to make their messaging reach beyond their home countries. All based outside the United States, these brands demonstrated that good messaging and authentic connection have no nationality.
1Password
People don’t like to think about their digital security, so Toronto-based 1Password has become an expert at making it fun, and doing so using sports as the backdrop. The brand used its sponsorship of the Presidents Cup golf tournament in fall 2024 to debut its “What Not to Do” campaign. With more than 12 million impressions, the spot drove a 14% increase in account creation during the tournament. Elsewhere, in 2025, the brand has partnered with Oracle Red Bull Racing’s F1 team, designing a custom car wrap for driver Alisha Palmowski, which debuted at the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix in June.
Babbel
Berlin-based language learning company Babbel has been focused on meeting its userswho now include over 1 million Ukrainian refugees, connected with the brand via more than 70 NGOswhere they are. Babbel used Telegram to connect with 22,000-plus language learners via Welcome Alliance Germany, helping them practice their burgeoning skills. In 2025, the company also partnered with Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF, which began using its Babbel for Business offering for its players, coaches, and front office. The team became an early adopter of the brand’s AI-powered Babbel Speak tool, which debuted in September.
Dreame
Suzhou, China-based smart vacuum maker Dreames culturally attuned product strategy helped it capture up to 43% of the robotic vacuum market in Germany and Italy, with 2024 sales reaching 3.96 million unitsa 60% year-over-year increase. By designing tech like eco-conscious smart lawnmowers for Europe and robotic vacuums with mop-detachment for cleanliness-focused markets, Dreame fused cultural insight with innovation. Campaigns such as Reclaim Time for Family and localized Amazon Prime Day activations fueled $9.05 million gross merchandise value in North America and a 540% surge in overseas direct sales.
Marina Bay Sands
In the past year, Singapore’s five-star resort Marina Bay Sands has undertaken a big transformation. As it fully renovated its lodgings, it also debuted its “Above Beyond” brand transformation. Initial response in fall 2024 included a 2.61% increase in brand equity, and average stay lengths have increased from 1.5 to 4 nights. That’s been helped by initiatives that include a cinematic campaign by filmmaker Celine Song and content featuring global brand ambassador David Beckham, which helped the brand reposition itself from a stopover to a destination.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
The 2025 Brands That Matter United States honorees aren’t just united by their shared geographythey are all identifying their target audience and meeting them exactly where they need to.
Whether solving a uniquely American problem, as GoodRx does in addressing the cost of prescription drugs, or pioneering innovation that can help people globally like Owlet, these companies are showing how American brands can step up in authentic and impactful ways.
GoodRx
GoodRx has built its brand equity by being present where its customers need itthe pharmacy counter. Over the past year, the prescription savings platform introduced a feature that gets users to engage with it even earlier, offering an e-commerce portal for pharmacies that allows patients to validate their prescription and pay the discounted GoodRx price online before picking up their medication IRL. As it built consumer trustand users documented their savings with social media postsGoodRx this fall rolled out a new brand campaign. The ad push, which stars a character called the Savings Wrangler, capitalizes on growing interest in Westerns to highlight the platform’s ability to save people money.
Owlet
After becoming the first brand to launch an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter pulse oximeter for infantsits Dream Sock baby monitorin 2024, Owlet took its messaging to parents. The brand garnered 42 million impressions by using a network of parent influencers sharing real-life stories of how the connected sock, which works as a baby monitor with a base station and app, gives them piece of mind. It drove an additional 202 million social impressions with its content on Instagram and TikTok, including 115 million organic video views.
Texas A&M University
Under CMO R. Ethan Braden, since fall 2024, Texas A&M has emphasized its commitment to serving its communityand the breadth of what it offers. With a constantly growing slate of YouTube videos, the university has become the most watched university online, racking up millions of views on videos about its commitment to veterans’ healthcare access, marine ecosystems research, and Alzheimer’s breakthroughs. It has paired content with community engagement, training first responders, educating Texans about hurricane season, and focusing on disaster preparedness.
Understood.org
The nonprofit focused on destigmatizing neurodiversity like ADHD, dyslexia, and learning disabilities leaned into being a resource for women with ADHD. Its MissUnderstood podcast network introduced ADHD AHA, which grew its audience via both audio and video. Over the course of the year, Understood.org and its podcasts reached nearly 11 million users through a revamped YouTube strategy. It turned that engagement into a study with Torrens University Australia that identified a positive correlation between people listening to the podcasts and having a better outlook on their ADHD diagnoses and self-esteem.
https://open.spotify.com/show/6zHwhg9tavgvhlBKhHaEa3
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Marketing leaders have always been vital to the long-term success of beloved brands. But never before has the CMO position been more complexand more essential to driving business results.
This year’s honorees come from a wide variety of product categoriesfrom toys and games to media, beauty, and foodbut all demonstrate remarkable skill in navigating a diverse media landscape with platforms and campaigns that deepen their brands’ cultural impact, strengthen audience relationships, and achieve meaningful business outcomes.
These leaders were selected based on the ambition, sophistication, innovation, and performance of their brand initiatives throughout the year. Here are Fast Company’s 2025 Brands That Matter CMOs of the year.
Kristyn Cook, State Farm
One of State Farms best brand insights is that nobody cares about insurance until they need it. So CMO Kristyn Cook and her team help people care by creating advertising that is as entertaining as possible. Cook is strategic and ambitious. That means creating a hilarious tie-in with Apples hit show Severance, enlisting Jason Bateman to be his own, less-than-ideal version of Batman for March Madness, and pitting gaming creators like Kai Cenat, Ludwig, Mark Phillips, and Berleezy against each other in a combination of gaming and IRL challenges for Gamerhood. The shows third season from last summer attracted more than 23 million views, and in September, season four landed on Prime Video after getting more than 27 million views on YouTube and Twitch. As she told us back in March, We like to move at the pace of culture.
George Felix, Chili’s
Read about how CMO George Felix has helped make the restaurant chain relevant again through a combination of viral moments and marketing that emphasizes value.
Tamera Ferro, Sol de Janeiro
Tamera Ferro may have departed her role as chief marketing and growth officer at skincare and fragrance brand Sol de Janeiro in September 2025. But her work during her six-year tenurein which she helped Sol de Janeiro grow from $38 million in sales to more than $1 billionearned her a spot as a CMO of the year. Her success at the helm of the brand was due largely to Ferro and her team’s ability to identify the best places to reach its fans. While those places include TikTok and Instagramwhere the brand has 6 million collective followersFerro also worked to expand the platforms where fans could encounter the brand, from Roblox to Coachella. Her approach to social media turned the brand into one of the internet’s buzziest, driving a 94% increase in social conversation and generating more than $330 million in earned media value. In May, Ferro oversaw the global Sephora launch of Body Badalada, Sol de Janeiro’s vitamin-infused lotion designed to cater to Gen Z by offering scent and hydration. The product campaign included a spot starring model Juliana Nalú; an original “Badalada Anthem” from producer Honey Dijon; and a traveling Brazilian street fairinspired celebration called the Badalada Bloco. It was a campaign that distilled Ferro’s philosophy for reaching people, as she summed it up to TikTok in June: “Stop chasing trends and just start liking people. Figure out what they want, what you can do for them, and how to talk to them.”
Morgan Flatley, McDonald’s
Morgan Flatley has revolutionized how the worlds most famous fast-food brand shows up in culture, starting way back in 2020 with Travis Scotts Famous Order. Over this past year, Flatley has taken her fan-led approach around the world. The Chicken Big Mac campaign featuring Kai Cenat on Twitch was McDonalds first completely unscripted campaign and saw fans tune in for 3.5 hours of brand content. With 30 million streams and 500 million views, it was Twitchs most successful QSR campaign ever, generating 35 billion earned impressions. The brands Minecraft Movie Meal, featuring both kid and adult happy meals, dropped in March 2025, and its 36 million collectibles sold out in nearly all 100 markets within two weeks. In France, a collab with Hot Ones brought the iconic YouTube shows spicy sauces to the country, selling more than 6 million sauces and boosting sales by more than 80%.
Diana Frost, Kraft Heinz
Read about the Kraft Heinz chief growth officer’s work putting the company’s flagship condiment brand at the center of cultural conversationsand courting fans internationally.
Jackie Jantos, Hinge
Read about how Hinge president and CMO Jackie Jantos is centering real-life success stories to court new users for the dating app.
Marian Lee, Netflix
Read about how CMO Marian Lee is taking Netflix’s most popular shows into the world to meet fans beyond the binge.
Victoria Lozano, Crayola
As someone who’s been at Crayola since 2009 in various marketing capcities, CMO Victoria Lozano knows what the core of the 122-year-old brand is and has made it her job to find organic ways to grow its presence in people’s lives. That has meant finding areas for the brand to be more than just about art supplies and about fostering creativity among childrenwhether digitally through the brand’s top-downloaded Crayola Create and Play app or IRL in the libraries of elementary schools during Crayola Creativity Week. In 2025, Lozano more than doubled the number of children reached by Crayola Creativity Week, reaching students in more than 120 countries. She also grew the brand’s app to more than 3 million monthly active users. Lozano has expanded the company’s activations, generating $100 million in earned media value and 11.4 billion impressions. Her work is proof that established brands can innovate on their central product to meet the timeswhile still excelling on product. Crayola’s Marker Airbrush, introduced in February 2025, is a 2026 Toy of the Year Awards finalist in the Creative Toy of the Year category.
Marcel Marcondes, AB InBev
As the global chief marketing officer for AB InBev, Marcel Marcondes oversees more than 500 beer brands around the world, and Corona is arguably the companys most famous. This past year was the brands 100th anniversary, and it was celebrated in style. For the Paris Games, nonalcoholic Corona Cero became the lead brand for AB InBevs first-ever global beer sponsor of the Olympic Games. Corona also launched the Beach 100, a guide of the top 100 beaches in the world, and a multiyear sponsorship of a renowned concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. This year it was headlined by Lady Gaga and gathered more than 2 million people, becoming among the top five most-attended concerts ever. And in September, Marcondes struck an unprecedented, wide-ranging partnership deal with Netflix, getting Corona and its other brands front and center in Netflixs push into live sports, as well as early access to placement and integration into other Netflix programming, such as shows and movies.
Lisa McKnight, Mattel
It’s one thing for a person’s brand work to become standard for a single brand, but Lisa McKnight’s work for Barbiewhich doubled its sales between 2016 and 2021, helped along by a hit moviehas become the playbook for every brand at Mattel, where McKnight wrapped her 27-year tenure this fall. In the past year, McKnight and her team put that playbook to work on Uno and Hot Wheels, both of which are 2025 Brands That Matter honorees. With Uno, McKnight and her team positioned the decades-old card game as a social media star, partnering with content creator Legendary Jay for a series of TikToks and opening pop-up Uno Social Clubs throughout the U.S. to underscore the IRL appeal of the game. It even appeared at Pharrell Williams’s postMet Gala party and got a special-edition makeover from pop star and Uno fan Billie Eilish, showing that even the cool kids are not immune to the joys of a well-played reverse card. Hot Wheels, meanwhile, became a brand canvas for the likes of Gucci, MSCHF, and Daniel Arsham. The brand also showed up in fans’ towns via the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, which broke records in 2024 and sold more than 60,000 of the brand’s die-cast cars. McKnight’s Hot Wheels work put the brand in a position of strength for its forthcoming film adaptation, which brought on Wicked‘s Jon M. Chu as its director over the summer.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Consumer products is perhaps one of the broadest, most competitive arenas for marketers, always facing the constant question: Why should anyone care or pay attention? These Brands That Matter honorees are answering that question.
Brawny
To launch its new three-ply paper towels, the brand decided to breathe new life into its lumberjack mascot, to help the Brawny Man stand out on store shelves and in culture. The brand puts its new heartthrob mascot into a partnership with Bachelor Nation‘s Rachael Kirkconnell to tap into a real-life messy momenther high-profile breakupand flip it into a story of strength and humor. In a video posted to TikTok and Instagram, Rachael references the chaos of her past relationship as pizza sauce spills across the counter. Enter the Brawny Man, who cleans up the messboth literal and metaphorical. The wink to pop culture and strong visual tie to product benefit generated 4.3 million-plus organic views and a 5.5% lift in purchase intent. Engagement soared across platforms (14% on TikTok and 5.7% on Instagram, well above industry benchmarks), while earned media drove more than 269 million impressions in The Wall Street Journal and on E!, TMZ, and more.
@brawny Depend on us for all life’s messes @rachael original sound – brawny
Crayola
In 2024, Crayola launched its Campaign for Creativity with the goal of shifting parents’ understanding and behaviors around childhood creativity. Brand research, conducted with the Ad Council Research Institute, found that parents value creativity but don’t fully understand the profound role it plays in their children’s growth and development. Crayola started collecting childrens artwork in the 1980s, and this year it unlocked its time capsule and began reuniting adults across the U.S. with the artwork they had created when they were kids. The brand created a series of short films, titled #StayCreative, featuring the stories of three adults who participated in a Crayola art program as kids and are reunited with their childhood artwork. Now the adults reflect on how creativity impacted their lives and the importance of nurturing creativity in their own children. This year, the campaign delivered 4.7 billion impressions, with more than 85% earned, for an estimated media value of over $100 million.
Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is successfully tapping into the adult audience while maintaining its core appeal to children, creating a unique ecosystem where parents and kids share play and collecting experiences together. Under Mattel chief brand officer Lisa McKnight (who departed the company this fall), the brand has expanded its cultural footprint through premium collector lines using authentic details from partners like Formula 1, Ferrari, Mercedez-Benz, and much more. Beyond toys, adults can now engage with Hot Wheels via fashion collaborations like Wrangler and Maje. The brand also helps nurture community through its global Hot Wheels Legends Tour, where car culture fans come together to celebrate their love of cars. Starting in 2018, the annual events saw record-number attendees at each stop worldwidemore than 700,000 across 16 countriesincluding more than 18,000 attendees at the final stop in El Segundo, California.
View this post on Instagram
JLab
Read more about how JLab is turning to college athleteswith followings of all sizesto gain ground on TikTok and among Gen Z.
Squishmallows
In the past year, Squishmallows collaborated with a range of best-in-class brands for product collaborations, including McDonalds, Kelloggs, Puma, Baked by Melissa, Crocs, H&M, Sees Candies, and others. Squishmallows was also tapped as a must-have partner by the worlds biggest IPs, bringing fans lovable Squishmallows plush based on some of their favorite properties, from Harry Potter and Disney to Stranger Things and The Lord of the Rings. Through Jazwares Cares, Jazwaress philanthropic arm, Squishmallows partnered with Make-A-Wish to help fulfill 11-year-old Olives dream of designing a Squishmallows. She spent a day at Jazwares in 2024, designing a character inspired by her beloved dog Liberty, and earlier this year, the final product was revealed, with hundreds of the Liberty plush donated to children who are receiving treatment at local childrens hospitals.
View this post on Instagram
Timex
For a watch brand, Timex has become nearly timeless, but it isn’t resting on its laurels. It continues to expand its Analog Life: Make Time Yours campaign, which aims to celebrate the power of simplicity, urging people to take control of their time to focus on what truly matters. The brand turned its organic inclusion in the HBO hit The White Lotus into social moments that helped see a direct increase in the Q Timex watchand that was just a piece of the more than 50 billion earned media impressions it had in 2024. That was alongside a push on TikTok that helped more than double its followers on the platform and ongoing promotion of its Timex ReWound takeback/resale platform that has processed more than 16,000 watches in 18 months.
View this post on Instagram
Owala
Late last year, a new coffee shop appeared up on Los Angeless Sunset Boulevard, but it was only temporary. Owala opened a pop-up called The Drip Stop to celebrate the launch of the Owala SmoothSip Slider coffee cup. The shop had more than 3,500 visitors over two days and featured giveaways, games, and a 1.5-mile-long line lasting up to five hours. This is what brand fandom looks like. Outside its pop-ups, Owala keeps its fans on the hook with limited-edition colors and retailer-exclusive designsand is seemingly omnipresent on social media. Over the past year, the brands social following increased 250%, with more than 384 million Instagram impression and about 70 million video views on TikTok.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Its all fun and games, until there are billions of dollars involved. But these Brands That Matter honorees manage to tap into our love for sports and entertainment in ways that only help boost that passion.
BritBox
Read about how BritBox’s first major brand campaign showcased the craftsmanship of British TV.
NBA
Read about how the NBA made its app a destination for fans by building a network of creators it equipped with editing tools and 25,000 hours of game footage.
State Farm
As crazy as it sounds, this is an insurance company steeped in culture. This past year, State Farm pushed its Super Bowl ad to March Madness, due to sensitivity around the L.A. wildfires, but it still landed a hit. Creator star Kai Cenat broke the news on Jimmy Fallons show, and the hilarious spot starred Jason Bateman attempting to save the day rather than Americas favorite Caped Crusader. It led to a total of 358 traditional and earned social media placements, resulting in 2.5B earned media impressions. The brand also continued its popular reality game show called The Gamerhood. These campaigns and others leveraged the pervasive pop culture power of Jake from State Farm, driving more than 1 million new policies in 2024, and raising preference among ages 26 to 39 (millennials) by 4.5 percentage points and ages 18 to 25 (Gen Z) by 6.8 percentage points compared to a 2022 baseline.
Togethxr
Read about how the media and merch brand’s Nike partnership and growing slate of podcasts and shows is manifesting its motto, Everyone Watches Women’s Sports
Uno
Read about how the card game used TikTok and pop-up Uno parlors to bring fresh interest to the 52-year-old brand.
Netflix
It was a massive year for Netflix hits, with highly anticipated seasons for homegrown hits like Squid Game, Wednesday, and Stranger Things. Each of these is a cultural phenomenon in its own right, boosted by Netflixs strategic brand partnerships strategy, elevating product collabs into fan moments themselves. From Duolingo for a Learn Korean or Else campaign, to Cheetos teaming with Wednesdays Thing, and Stranger Things infiltrating everything from Nike to Williams Sonoma to Eggos, Netflix managed to bring each show to life in unique ways. For the award-winning show Adolescence, Netflix worked with charities in various countries to develop educational materials to help advocate for the growing movement to make schools phone-free zones.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Whether talking about underwear brands hand-selecting the perfect models to break the internet or the endless wooing of Gen Z and its style sensibilities, there was no shortage of creativity among the fashion brands that set the trends over the past year.
Here are the 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the fashion space that innovated on how style showed up for consumers in the past year.
Bogg Bag
When the function of a tote bag meets the versatility and kitschy-cute style of Crocs, the possibilities are endless. So proves Bogg Bag, a brand thats constantly riffing to create collectors items and limited-time variants of its signature design by switching up the bags colors, their patterns, and even the shapes of their cutouts. In late 2024, one of the brands most popular variants launched: a Bogg Bag sold only at Target emblazoned with the stores bull’s-eye logo. The Target bag, which had 82% of its sales come from new Bogg shoppers, was just one of several retailer-exclusive designs launched in the past year. Boggs collaborations didnt stop there: The brand also partnered with Fanatics to launch a line of sports-inspired bags featuring the logos and colors of 33 popular NFL and college teams. Most recently, Bogg released a new version designed to make the tote more upscale.
Calvin Klein
Few brands have the power to break the internet like Calvin Klein does. The underwear brands choice of models certainly has something to do with itin the past year, celebrities like Jeremy Allen White and Bad Bunny in nothing but tighty-whities had fans flocking to take pictures with their billboardsbut its the Calvin Klein lens that creates viral moment after viral moment. It all translates to massive media impact value for the brand, which reports that Whites campaign generated more than $12 million in media value in its first 48 hours and drove upwards of 30% growth in Calvin Kleins underwear sales in the U.S. alone within its first week. That success was surpassed by Bad Bunny, whose underwear campaign earned $15 million in media impact value and drove a 25% increase in sales of the brand’s core styles.
Coach
Coach is courting Gen Z from every angle. The luxury fashion brand is proving that despite its high price tags, its not totally (or even remotely) out of touch. Through ethnographic research and in-person engagements, Coach has placed its finger firmly on the pulse: The brands collaboration with the WNBA demonstrates a savvy for whats hot in sports. Its Coachtopia sub-brand appeals to Gen Zs environmental concerns with a focus on circularity and upcycled materials, even putting consumers in the driver’s seat with the Coachtopia Beta Community, a network of Gen Zers who provide feedback and their own ideas for Coachtopia products. Next, the brand is also branching out into hospitality with the launch of Coach Coffee Shops, where Coach is less an aesthetic and more an experience. Already popular internationally, the brand has opened four of the coffee shops in the U.S., featuring bags with the coffee shop logo, an anthropomorphic coffee mug named Miss Jo.
Gap
Read about how Gap is using celeb partnerships to make its denim a go-to for Gen Zone viral dance at a time.
H&M
In 2024, Charli xcx was the zeitgeist incarnateand at her peak of popularity, she was wearing H&M. The fashion retailer understands how to make its target customer pay attention, with artists including Troye Sivan, Caroline Polachek, Arca, Offset, and Kaytranada all performing at H&M events in 2024 alone. Charli, meanwhile, was the campaign star of H&M’s AW2024 collection, which she capped off with a surprise concert in New York City’s Times Square. Her star power translated to her fans purchasing power, with a coat Charli wore in one of the campaign images selling out in most markets within days of launch. In 2025, H&M kept its music momentum going with its H&M&LA Festival, a celebration of the brands spring/summer 2025 collection featuring performances from still more of-the-moment artists like Doechii and PinkPantheress. Even after its major investments in brand-building initiatives and product offering, H&M achieved an increase in full-year profits in 2024music to any retailers ears.
Levi’s
Beyoncé. Need we say more? Probably not, but here goes nothing. Levis has maintained its place as the worlds leading denim brand, seizing every opportunity to remind the world that when they think jeans, theyre probably thinking Levis. That meant jumping at the chance to embrace Beyoncés re-spelling of its brand name as Leviis on Cowboy Carter, temporarily using the new spelling for its socials (and, naturally, going mega viral). It also meant developing a full campaign with Beyoncé that lasted into summer 2025 and was so successful that Levis dubbed its decade-high 8% holiday growth in 2024 the Beyoncé effect. Beyond all things Queen Bey, Levis also collaborated with the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, helping to costume the film and highlighting the brands place in the legacy of music history.
New Balance
From celebrity collabs to high fashion, New Balance can do it all. The sneaker brand has successfully positioned itself as a cultural catch-all, able to blend its aesthetic seamlessly with anyone and everyone: athletes like the 2025 Naismith College Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, artists like Jack Harlow, and fashion brands like Ganni, each bringing their own audiences to New Balance’s storefronts. The brands extensive collabs with tennis superstar Coco Gauff reached new heights when fashion house Miu Miu also entered the mix, creating a collection for Gauff to wear at several tournaments this summer. New Balances chameleon-like colaborations have enabled the brand to keep growing at a remarkable pace: 20% year over year for the past four years.
Nike
Nike knows womens sports arent the future, theyre the presentand its campaigns over the past year make that crystal clear. Its So Win anthem premiered during Super Bowl LIX, celebrating icons of womens sports who dominate in their field, like Sabrina Ionescu and Jordan Chiles. Its Breaking4 moonshot this summer ensured all eyes were on Faith Kipyegon during her historic attempt to become the first woman to run a sub-four-minute mile. Its AOne collection, a collaboration with Aja Wilson, encourages young athletes to see themselves in her journey and dream just as big. And beyond products and campaigns, Nike puts its money where its mouth is, supporting access to sports through global initiatives like Play Academy with Naomi Osaka, which aims to increase girls participation in sports in Japan, Haiti, and Los Angeles.
Savage x Fenty
Savage x Fenty not only taps into pop culture, it creates it, unconcerned with what the world has to say. Take the lingerie brands Valentines Day campaign for 2025, Love Your Way. Featuring Love Island winners Serena Page and Kordell Beckham, TikTok stars Hayley and Jules LeBlanc, and the founder and icon herself, Rihanna, the campaign was a must-watch for every internet native. But it also broke from the mold, redefining the kinds of love we ought to celebrate on Valentines, highlighting self-love, friendship, and sisterhood alongside romance, and all without any caveats about gender or orientation. The campaign got the world talking, sparking more than 100 editorial features and reaching over a billion unique monthly visitors. Just a month later, Savage x Fenty did it again, announcing Grammy-nominated artist GloRilla as the first-ever exclusive ambassador for all four of Rihannas Fenty brands. The announcement and accompanying campaign again set the internet ablaze, this time with more than 2 billion unique monthly visitors and nearly 60 digital stories.
Skims
Its impossible to deny the cultural staying power of Skims. Everywhere weve looked for the past year, there it was, on Team USA athletes at the Olympics, on Charli xcx at the height of Brat summer. . . Then there was the brands heartfelt campaign with Olivia Munn, who in fall 2024 shared her journey with breast cancer and recontextualized the purpose of Skimss controversial Ultimate Nipple Bra, whichthough designed to be a statement in reclamation of womens bodiesproved an unexpected source of comfort and confidence for women who had undergone mastectomies. In 2025, Skims also released the first collection from NikeSkims, a new stand-alone brand combining Nikes athletic expertise with Skimss shapewear sensibilities. Through it all, Skims maintains its commitment to inclusive sizing and shades, a testament to its slogan of providing solutions for every body.
@voguemagazine #KimKardashian gives us a fit check while telling us all the versatile ways we can style her latest workout drop, NikeSkims. Who will be the first to try them all? original sound – Vogue
True Religion
Twenty-three years after its founding, True Religion is back with a vengeance (and just in time for the Y2K renaissance). The iconic denim brand of the early aughts is now more profitable than everit generated more than $370 million in revenue in 2024, a massive jump from $280 million the year before. The key to its comeback? The right celebrity collaborations at just the right times. That includes a multiplatform campaign starring Anitta, performances from YG and Sexyy Red at Rolling Loud, and a set from Megan Thee Stallion at Coachella 2025, where she and all her dancers wore head-to-toe True Religion. Along the way, the brand launched its Own Your True campaign, encouraging consumers to boldly be themselves.
@coachella Goodies. @Megan Thee Stallion @Ciara More from the Coachella stage starting Friday at 4pm, on the @YouTube livestream. original sound – coachella
Urban Outfitters
To corner the market on Gen Z, you have to meet them where they are. In 2024, Urban Outfitters took that advice literally, transforming four of their stores in college towns during move-in to create one-of-a-kind concert experiences for students. These pop-up events, called UO Live On Campus, featured trending artists including Tinashe, Towa Bird, Quavo, and The Marías. The campaign also included the launch of 20 pop-up shops featuring curated college essentials, helping students make the transition from high school to college. Altogether, the campaign generated more than 1.2 billion PR impressions, 2.7 million social impressions, and over a thousand in-person attendees. Urban Outfitters has kept the college-themed campaigns coming: This spring, it launched UO Haul, an experience in New York City where participants competed to find Gen Z dorm rooms on glass-walled trucks around the city, with the chance to unlock them and win tickets to an exclusive Katseye concert. And this past summer, the retailer launched UO Haul: Special Delivery, sending surprise care packages to incoming college freshmen across America.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
In a crowded field like food and beverage, companies must do all they can to stay ahead of the pack. The 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the space used inventive campaigns, celebrity influence, and nostalgic throwbacks to stand apart. Corona brought its product to Olympian heights, and Sprite reinvigorated a classic slogan with a new generation of talent. Sometimes achieving brand relevance is as easy, as Heinz proved, as putting a little mustard on it.
Califia Farms
A recognizable presence in the plant-based dairy aisle, Califia Farms spent the past year recommitting itself to values of health and sustainability. In response to consumer demands for more organic options, the brand expanded its Simple & Organic line to include Organic Coconutmilk, Organic Vanilla Almondmilk, and a selection of Organic Almond Creamers. Califia also completed its transition from using virgin plastic in its signature curvy containers to 100% recycled plastic (rPET) bottles across the U.S. and Canada. The brands efforts to go green extend beyond environmentally friendly packaging. In February, Califia released The Green Album, a compilation of feel-good ambient tunes and meditations narrated by actor Chris ODowd. For every stream of the album on Spotify, Califia and the nonprofit One Tree Planted will plant a tree. The nondairy giant has found other avenues to engage with pop culture too. Upon releasing Creamy Refreshers, a line of beverages made with real fruit juice and coconut cream, Califia Farms partnered with Kendall Jenners 818 Tequila to serve an exclusive cocktail at Coachella.
California Pizza Kitchen
For California Pizza Kitchens 40th anniversary, the Beverly Hillsborn pizza chain teased a bold, fresh rebrand, replete with an all-black colorway and EDM soundtrack. Even CPKs CMO, Dawn Keller, touted the companys rebrand on LinkedIn. The attempt to appeal to a newer, younger crowd had an unfortunate stink of How Do You Do, Fellow Kids? about it. Luckily for skeptical CPK fans, the whole thing was a ruse. On CPKs birthday in March, the brand launched a funny, self-aware campaign titled Were 40 & Fine With It! Starring actress and former CPK hostess Busy Philipps, the mockumentary-style video shows the brand going through a faux midlife crisis. Ever since they turned 40, says Philipps, theyve been acting insane. She convinces a corporate rep to abandon the edgy disrupter facade and focus on why customers fell in love with CPK in the first place: the food. As part of the anniversary campaign, CPK rolled out a nostalgic limited-time menu with classics like Waldorf Chicken Salad and Tortilla Spring Rolls.
Cargill
As the largest agriculture company in the U.S., Cargill plays a central role in keeping people fed globally. On the heels of a total brand refresh, Cargill launched a yearlong brand campaign, “Food Secure World” in mid 2024. Through this summer, Cargill demystified its business for multiple audiencesfarmers, food manufacturers, retailers and foodservice companiestaking them behind the scenes of its innovation centers in the U.S., Brazil, and Singapore. The campaign earned Cargill more than 8 million engagements, with YouTube videos boasting a 60.4% view ratewell above the industry average. It also brought in higher click-through rates on job applications and drove a 6-point boost in the amount customers mentioned the brand in relation to food security. This year, the brand launched “Food Secure World 2.0” focusing on supply chain and the contributions of farmers, scientists, and Cargill employees.
Chilis
In an era increasingly defined by rising food costs, Chilis reiterated to customers that it is the go-to dining establishment for getting the best bang for your buck. For $10.99, diners can get bottomless chips and salsa, a drink with unlimited refills, and a Big Smashera burger with, notably, twice as much beef as a Big Mac. In April, Chilis clapped back at high fast food prices with a cheeky two-day pop-up in New York City. At the immersive Fast Food Financing Store, guests were approved for a gift card to offset the cost of a fast food combo meal before being escorted into a Chilis speakeasy. CEO Kevin Hochman and CMO George Felix recognize that Chilis deftly balances its cheeky branding and red-booth nostalgia. At the intersection of playful irreverence and the creature comforts of hospitality sits Chilis secret weapon: alcohol. Chilis has become a hub for margarita drinkers, selling over 24 million of the tequila libations in 2024more than any other restaurant brand. Chilis capitalized on its diners preferred drink by launching $10 Patrón-based margaritas in June. Despite being $4 more than the chains other margaritas, the drinks doubled sales projections in their first three months.
Coca-Cola
Since its humble beginnings in 1886, Coca-Cola has become a global phenomenon enjoyed in more than 200 countries and territories. This past year, the beloved beverage leaned into its status as an international icon with a number of regionally specific campaigns. In the Middle East, Ramadan Made by showed families connecting over a Coke during the monthlong holiday; Lunar New Year embraced festive packaging and scenes of celebration across Asia; and in Mexico, Shades of Red showcased tienditas and their signature red awnings as a cornerstone of community. Coca-Cola recognizes that its a personal brand as much as a global one. In March, the soda giant relaunched its Share a Coke campaign with personalized packaging and a digital rollout aimed at Gen Z, including a QR codepowered digital hub. Its part of an overall effort to reach younger consumers; in 2024, more than half of Coca-Colas global media strategy was spent on digital media, with emphasis shifted toward social platforms and influencers.
View this post on Instagram
Dr Pepper
Read about how the soda brand capitalized on buzz around “dirty soda” to release its most popular limited-edition flavor ever.
Corona
As big beer brands expand into the nonalcoholic beverage market, Corona went where no N/A beer has gone before: the Olympics. In 2024, Corona Cero was the leading brand at the Paris Olympics, thanks to savvy maneuvering by AB InBevs CMO Marcel Marcondes and his team. With alcoholic beverages verboten for regular ticket holders at the Paris games, Corona Cero was a rule-abiding workaround, and AB InBev served as the events first global beer sponsor. The sponsorship was accompanied by the For Every Golden Moment campaign, which highlighted the celebratory spirit of the gamesand will be revived for the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games in 2026. In 2025, Corona’s flagship beer has been the star as the brand celebrates its 100th birthday. As part of the festivities, the beer giant launched the Beach 100,” a curated list of the worlds most iconic beaches. By purchasing the special-edition 100th Anniversary pack and scanning the QR code, consumers could win a trip to one of the crowned oases.
Gozney
When Tom Gozney switched his business model from commercial pizza ovens to portable, cmpact ones in 2016, he leveraged the influence of celebrated chefs to bring his product to the masses. Its a business philosophy that Gozney has sustained into 2025. This past year, the brand tapped longtime partner Matty Mathesonchef, YouTube sensation, and producer and actor on The Bearto head up its Cook Different campaign. For the project, Matheson channeled old-school infomercial hosts, all while bringing his signature frenetic energy to the videos. The campaign teed up Matheson for a proper product release: The Matty Matheson Signature Tread. Released in June, the orange ovens are bold and whimsical, just like Matheson himself. Key to Gozneys cultural impact is its embrace of long-form YouTube contentits most recent series is Pizza With Frank, starring pizzaiola Frank Pinello of Vice fame. The brand has a booming YouTube presence. As of late November, Gozney had more than 383,000 YouTube followers and a subscriber growth rate in the top 10% of all YouTube channels.
Heinz
Super Bowl LIX proved to be a catalyzing cultural moment for Heinz to create brand buzzall without having its own big-game ad. The condiment company lent its fan-favorite brigade of wiener dogs to Instacarts Super Bowl commercial, catapulting them to being the second-most-mentioned brand on X during the game. But it was the half-time shows inclusion of MustardKendrick Lamars Not Like Us producerthat set the stage for Kraft Heinz global chief growth officer (and CMOs of the Year honoree) Diana Frost and her team. About two minutes into the track TV Off, Kendrick yells out a long and guttural Mustaaaaaard! The yawp became a meme unto itself, beloved by fans and even parodied by The Minions. Heinz jumped at the opportunity to be involved. In February, the same month as the Super Bowl, Heinz released a 30-second spot teasing a forthcoming collaboration with DJ Mustard (born Dijon Isaiah McFarlane). The limited-edition Heinz Mustaaaaaard, a piquant honey mustard with jalapeos and chipotle, dropped in June at Buffalo Wild Wings, followed by a retail rollout. The new condiment hit shelves on the heels of a banner 2024 for Heinz, when the 150-plus-year-old company generated more than 3.6 billion earned media impressions.
McDonalds
How does a brand as big as McDonalds stay relevant? By embracing nostalgia and emerging markets in equal measure. In summer 2024, McDonalds relaunched its collectible cups after 20 years. Spotlighting brands like Beanie Babies, Barbie, and Hot Wheels, the collection sold 15.8 million cups, with nearly all 33 markets sold out within 14 days and resale values spiking on eBay and Grailed. Another brand throwback, the cult favorite McRib, first introduced in 1981, found a spot back on the menu in time for the 2024 holiday season. Half-gallon jugs of the signature sauce were available online as well. The McDonalds marketing team, helmed by CMO Morgan Flatley, worked to attract younger consumers as well. For its Chicken Big Mac campaign, the chain hosted an unscripted Twitch livestream with superstar influencer Kai Cenat. Cenat invited a few famous friends, including John Cena and Fanum, to debate an age-old question: Is a Big Mac with chicken still a Big Mac? The campaignthe brands first on Twitchracked up 30 million streams and 500 million views, and generated 35 billion earned impressions for McDonalds.
Oatly
Alt-milk purveyor Oatly wanted would-be customers to know that its creamers are actually their ideal coffee companionthey just don’t know it yet. The brand conjured up a faux medical condition, DOMP (Dormant Oatmilk Preference), and an accompanying ad spoofing pharmaceutical commercials. You might already prefer the taste of Oatly over cow milk, but dont know it yet, says actor Chris Parnell in voice-over. As part of the broader Blind Love campaignand to diagnose DOMPOatly embarked on a sampling tour across the U.S., passing out thousands of cups of coffee to create an opportunity to try Oatly. For the Fanciest Parking Lot Coffee campaign, Oatly tapped into a similarly silly and provocative marketing strategy: To promote the packaging overhaul of its oat milk creamers, Oatly staged a low-brow meets high-brow mashup at different grocery store parking lots. There, shoppers were treated to white-glove coffee service, replete with gold-tinged carts, an Oatly Creamer ice sculpture, and live classical music.
Patrón Tequila
Patrón has leaned into its ethos of being an ideal companion for a good time by reinforcing its connection to live entertainmentand positioning concerts as the perfect environment to enjoy its newest offering, Patrón Cristalino. When it launched the tequila in fall 2024, the band partnered with acclaimed Latin artist Becky G for a Los Angeles showcase. It rolled into 2025 festival season with a Live Nation partnership that made Patrón’s products mainstays for music fans nationwide. The brand made its festival debut in April at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, followed by stops at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and EDC Orlando. At Raleighs Dreamville alone, Patrón poured more than 27,000 cocktails in two days. A fixture of the partnership is Hacienda Patróna music festival activation created by Live Nation’s experiential team, featuring immersive, multistory bars inspired by the companys Jalisco distillery.
Poppi
Poppi isnt like other sodas. Its part of what the brand calls the modern soda seta prebiotic, functional pop that earned its own dedicated retail destination. Stores like Walmart and Target have adopted the initiative, unveiling entire sections for the drink category. Poppi further elevated its partnership with Target by launching an exclusive Cream Soda flavor as well as a 20-piece limited-edition apparel collection. Efforts like these have helped Poppi break out beyond beverage to full-fledged lifestyle brand. It’s achieving that goal with the help of influencers: For its Soda Thoughts Super Bowl campaign, Poppi enlisted popular creators like Jake Shane, Alix Earle, and Love Islands Rob Rausch. In the ad, a bevy of young consumers are wracked with beverage indecision. Thenarrator asks, What if there were a better soda? before making the case for Poppi as a compelling low-sugar alternative. The Gen Zcentric approach helped keep its place as Amazon’s top-selling soft drink for the third year running. In 2024, Poppi netted more than 299 million TikTok views.
Sprite
This past year, Sprite climbed up the soda ranks, surpassing Pepsi as the #3 soft drink in the United States in April. It did that by embracing a tried and true strategytapping athletes as influential cultural ambassadorswith stars from a younger generation. Since Sprite first launched the Obey Your Thirst campaign in the 1990s, NBA athletes like Grant Hill and Kobe Bryant have lent their talents to the beverage behemoth. In 2024, the brand revived the iconic tagline with help from Minnesota Timberwolf Anthony Edwards and Olympic Gold Medalist ShaCarri RichardsonSprites first female athlete partner. The lead spot brings back Hillthe star of the original 94 campaignas the narrator. The revamped campaign also signed its first NFL player, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Athletes made their marks across other Sprite campaigns. Edwards is the face of Anta Claus, which promotes Sprites seasonal Winter Spiced Cranberry flavor, and Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young riffs on his nickname Ice Trae in promos for the limited-edition Sprite Chill. The drinkoutfitted with a unique cooling sensationbecame a top seller in 2024, generating $40 million in a 13-week window.
Sweetgreen
Steak isn’t a food that screams salad chain. But the eatery proved that even indulgent options could get the Sweetgreen treatment. In response to growing consumer demands for more protein-rich choices, Sweetgreen introduced its first-ever steak option to be added to salads, grain bowls, and platescaramelized-garlic steak, with pasture-raised, grass-fed beef. Its a recipe befitting the chains focus on thoughtful sourcing and farm-fresh ingredients. In celebration of National Farmers Day, Sweetgreen partnered with digital fashion brand MNTGE on a work-wear jacket, with proceeds benefiting the National Young Farmers Coalition. Other farm-forward initiatives included a partnership with the nonprofit Food Access L.A. and The Faces of the Farm, a storytelling campaign to shine a light on Sweetgreens seasonal summer ingredients. In addition to farmers, Sweetgreen also celebrates the industry-shaking chefs that transform their products. This past year, the brand launched its first-ever Korean-inspired menu in collaboration with the Michelin-starred steakhouse Cote.
View this post on Instagram
Violife
Who better to beat your brands drum than Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker? In 2024, he teamed up with dairy-alternative purveyor Violife to promote its new cream cheese block. As part of the social media campaign, Barker called the lineup of cheesesfree of lactose, gluten, soy, and nutsthe last step in cutting cheese from my diet (and, to use his punk rock parlance, fucking awesome). The musicians Violife reel on Instagram garnered over 4 million views and 73,000 likes. In 2025, the company has gone wide with its lentil-based coffee creamers, which launched in January at Walmart, and got a nationwide campaign and retail expansion in March. The brand’s “Creamy Confessions” effort brought in reality stars and coffee influencers to get people who dabble in the dairy-free lifestyle to commit.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Health and wellness is a product category littered with broken promises and bad pitches. These Brands That Matter honorees have created work for products that aim to uplift, help, and encourage across a wide range of challenges and issues, big and small.
Bobbie
Many new mothers feel pressured to breastfeed their children but cannot for a variety of reasons. Bobbie has been working to change the narrative around using formula through advocacy and education efforts, while offering an organic product that still meets the FDA’s nutrition requirements. Its Ask for Help campaign with Meghan Trainor revealed that 86% of mothers felt frequent or constant negative emotions postpartum, and 63% of mothers experienced extreme or moderate stress over feeding choices in their babys first year. And 61% of mothers felt shame, anxiety, or discomfort in turning to their support systems about feeding choices. The brand encouraged new parents to ask for the help and support they need, sharing Trainors relatable and raw postpartum mental health struggles as inspiration.
Dame Products
Committed to fighting taboo and living up to its goals for creating products and awareness around sexual pleasure and wellness, Dame Products had a big year in both products and advocacy. It launched its most affordable vibrator to date, Zig, in over 1,000 Walmart stores. Though designed specifically for this retail partnership, Zig retains the same medical-grade silicone and thoughtful design as Dames premium productsunderscoring its belief that everyone deserves quality pleasure tools, regardless of income or geography. The Walmart launch marked a pivotal step in destigmatizing sexual wellness in mainstream spaces and bringing its mission to more communities. It’s not often you see a brand have a partnership with Planned Parenthood and appear on Fox News to talk about what tariffs mean for its business. At a time when companies are backing off from politics, Dame Products has found a way to effectively engage in the issues it cares about.
Eli Lilly
This past year, Eli Lilly and Company doubled down on its efforts to reach audiences through marketing campaigns crafted around breast cancer awareness and prevention, obesity, and Alzheimers. This work built maximum reach with thoughtful and unique media placements across culturally relevant moments like the womens NCAA tournament, the Grammys, and impactful partnerships, including with Team USA. The Olympics campaign made people think differently about Lilly, with an 81% increase in unaided brand awareness, a 30% boost in brand favorability, and a 30% lift in brand trust. The brand’s Grammys spotraising awareness about checking for early signs of breast cancerwas a highly visible moment that came amid a strong lineup of women performers.
Home Instead
Figuring out how to help aging relatives is a heavy topic, but it’s one that in-home elder care brand Home Instead has managed to demystify with its marketing. the brand’s “A Better What’s Next” campaign reframes the idea of hiring home aides around family empowerment rather than a loved one’s decline. With two spots, “A Better What’s Next” achieved 585.7 million impressions and 25.8 million full video views, which drove 1.9 million clicks to the Home Instead landing page. The campaign’s launch event, held in New York City with celebrity chef Joy Bauer received 7.5 million social impressions and more than 300 million media impressions. The Honor Technology brand’s latest ad stars Macauley Culkin reprising his character from Home Alone and grappling with how to help his aging mom.
Liquid I.V.
Following a brand refresh in 2024, hydration company Liquid I.V. made inroads at music festivals and F1 events, while centering social responsibility focused on bringing water to more people around the world. Its fall 2024 “Water Is Basic” campaign picked up more than 4.5 million TikTok views and become its highest-scoring commercial among consumers, helping fuel Unilever’s 6.5% growth in beauty and well-being sales. In 2025, it underscored its role as a recovery product and took over Times Square for a Liquid I.V. O’clock promotion, rolling out delivery robots full of its electrolyte mixes to the busy tourist hub. The brand also expanded its Confluence platform, investing $1.89 million across 10 organizations, accelerating sustainable clean water solutions.
Listerine
How does the worlds first mouthwash, and century-old brand, remain relevant in 2025? Start by kicking off the year. The brand sponsored CNN’s New Years Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, with branded moments and the Listerine countdown clock getting viewers to midnight. Once 2025 kicked off, the brand expanded its Clinical Solutions linedeveloped with dental professionals to address specific oral health conditionswith a product for sensitive teeth. To promote it, Listerine partnered with Food Network star Esther Choi, who talked about tooth sensitivity. Its influencer strategy also delivered millionsof earned media impressions, with standout content from celebrities like Jessica Simpsonand creators such as Danielle CarolanandNoelle Simpson.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Increasingly, the media and entertainment brands that thrive are ones that can build on their core business in creative ways. Two of the 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the media and entertainment worldEbony and Essenceare legacy Black publications that have grown their audiences and cultural cachet by building events around their flagship editorial product.
Overtime is partially a sport brand, but it’s also a company that knows how to engage with younger consumers around sportsthat’s how it’s gotten noticed by major brands and other sports leagues.
Those three examples of the six outlined below, are just some of the ways companies are rethinking what a media brand canand shouldbe.
Afropunk
In its 20 years of existence, Afropunk has expanded beyond just being a festival organizer. It’s a brand that engages with issues facing the Black community globally and bakes that into everything from its social media to its live programming. That global focus has helped it catch on in Brazil, where Afropunk reaches the largest Black audience outside of Africa. Meanwhile, Afropunk Bahia has become a key event for the brand, and a moment for bringing the global Black diaspora together in Salvador, Bahia. More than 60,000 people attended in 2024, and the 2025 edition, held in early November, also listed artists’ countries of origin on the lineup announcements. The two-day event was headlined by American singer Coco Jones on day 1 and Nigerian singer/songwriter Tems on day 2.
View this post on Instagram
Ebony
As the preeminent magazine for Black news, culture, and entertainment celebrates its 80th anniversary, Ebony is making clear that it has grown into a modern media brand. Its annual Power 100 list has grown in visibility, and its 2024 iteration was the brand’s most-covered installment, with coverage of its gala bringing in 7 billion media impressions. This year, the Power 100 Gala, held in early November, took on a new format, with honorees focused on past, present, and future, including Tracee Ellis Ross as this year’s Pathbreaker of the Year. As it builds out the gala, Ebony also keeps its journalism in focus, bringing on longtime Essence writer and former deputy editor Cori Murray as its executive vice president of editorial content, adding a veteran Black journalist onboard to grow its storytelling capabilities.
View this post on Instagram
Essence
With its editorial focus on lifestyle and culture for Black women, Essence has turned two of its flagship eventsthe Essence Festival of Culture and the Black Women in Hollywood Awardsinto cultural moments unto theselves. Though the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture saw lower ticket sales and fewer vendors than the record-breaking 30th anniversary edition in 2024, it remained a tentpole event for New Orleans over July 4th weekend. And this year’s 18th installment of the Black Women in Hollywood Awards honored the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Teyana Taylor, and Marla Gibbs.
Overtime
With four of its own sports leagues (men’s basketball, women’s basketball, 7v7 football, and boxing) and a TikTok following of more than 60 million across its accounts, sports media brand Overtime has provided brands, athletes, and leagues a major platform for reaching generations Z and Alpha. In 2024, the brand logged more than 115 million social media followers across platforms and over 3 billion engagements coming from 30 billion-plus views of its content. That was enough to get the National Women’s Soccer League on board for Overtime’s first partnership with a women’s league ahead of the football clubs’ 2025 season. Overtime got NWSL footage and behind-the-scenes access to players, and the league got the eyeballs of the 3 million people following OvertimeFC on TikTok, plus access to its broader audience. In 2025, major brands have continued to take notice of Overtime’s reach, with Therabody’s fall 2025 national ad-buy including Overtime alongside networks like NBC Sports, Peacock, and ESPN.
@overtimefc The AUDACITY to even try that @NWSL @Orlando Pride #marta #panenka #nwsl original sound – overtimefc
Revolt
When Revolt cofounder Sean “Diddy” Combs departed the television and media company in 2024, selling his majority stake, the brand knew exactly who its new owners should be: its employees. In its year-plus as an employee-owned company, Revolt has continued its focus on hip-hop and youth culture, including a record-breaking weekend for the 2024 edition of its flagship Revolt World festival. In 2025, it has worked to capitalize on youth interest in sports, launching its Revolt Sports vertical with a podcast hosted by former NFL player Brandon Marshall and cultural commentator Kayla Nicole. The brand has also grown its podcast network, launching more than 20 new shows in the past year, including The People’s Brief from social media personality Lynae Vanee, in which she explores news, culture, and history.
View this post on Instagram
USAFacts
In a golden age of misinformation, USAFacts has positioned itself as a brand that audiences can turn to for one thing reliably: the unvarnished truth. That resource was particularly needed as the 2024 election ramped up, which was why USAFacts worked with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for its “Just the Facts” campaign. The series saw Ballmer breaking down topics like immigration, federal spending, and healthcare in explainer videos. The brand found an appetite for the content, racking up 40 million video engagements, which helped bring in 367,000 new subscribers to the USAFacts newsletter. The partnership has continued throughout 2025, with Ballmer explaining issues on everyone’s mind: tariffs, government assistance, and federal spending.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
