Best 6 Standout Promotional Video Examples & How to Make Your Own

Context matters here. 2025 turned into a denim loudspeaker: American Eagle’s “Great Jeans/Genes” campaign set off weeks of chatter and headlines, generating a controversy on social media. GAP didn’t miss the chance to show their products. On the business side, the company described the campaign as a “cultural takeover,” citing 20 million views in the first three days, 400 million total views, and 8 billion impressions, along with a surge to the top of TikTok search during the launch window. Those numbers captured how thoroughly the clip seeped into casual sharing and creator remixes.

That contrast, controversy on one side of the category and unbothered choreography on the other, gave GAP the rare upper hand in tone. The ad reads like an instant mood board: denim as movement, denim as fun, denim as a group activity you can learn and repeat. If you’re cataloging marketing video examples from this year, this one is one of the best.

Why it’s a standout promotional video: it proves a promotional video can break out on the strength of portable sound, not flashy visuals. The hook (“Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday” over Jess Glynne’s “Hold My Hand”) was simple, loopable, and instantly meme-ready, so the audience did the distribution. That’s rare and powerful: a brand asset that people want to reuse.

This promotional video didn’t begin as a social strategy; it began as an earworm. TikTok users grabbed the audio and layered it over travel chaos, lost luggage, missed transfers, and stormy beaches. That sweet-over-messy contrast was irresistible, and the meme ran. As the sound took off, Jet2 clipped the snappiest version, posted it everywhere, and added a light contest, just enough structure to keep the wave going without smothering it. By midsummer, it was being called the sound of the season, with millions of posts using the audio.

There’s a humility to the arc worth noting. The internet found the joke first; the brand followed with a light touch. Because the hook was sonic, it traveled faster than any single cut of footage could, exactly the kind of cultural traction you hope for when you make a promotional video designed for today’s feeds.

In 2025, we cannot leave AI promotional videos behind, and this is a clear example. Posted October 2, the YouTube upload cleared 404K views in four days—and you can see why. Each clip is its own little “wow”; everything seems so real. Sora 2 isn’t just a launch clip; it’s proof that promotional AI videos can be genuinely watchable. The edits are built for the feed: clean cold opens, 2–8 second bursts, and loop-friendly endings that make you hit replay. It’s modular on purpose, which is why the comments filled up with stitches, duets, and side-by-sides within hours. Capability is the creative aspect, and the film becomes something people test, dissect, and share.

If you’re building a swipe file of marketing video examples, file Sora 2 alongside the year’s best promo videos.

This promotional video works because it doesn’t just pitch a bed to sleep in; it pitches a day you’ll remember. Animation makes everything instantly readable in the feed. There’s also a quiet competitive flex baked in. While hotels sell vacation “packages” and group tours, this ad answers with private, bookable experiences you can enjoy on your own terms—surf class today, something totally different tomorrow. The clip makes Airbnb look less like somewhere to sleep and more like a place to do things, which is exactly how you stand out when everyone else is talking about rooms and rates. That’s why this advertisement lands among the year’s best promo videos: it reframes the brand in under a minute.

A single narrator wonders aloud if Oslo is even a city, too quiet, too boring, too clean…while the images gently call his bluff: fjords, galleries, summer light puddling across sidewalks. It’s sarcasm with a smile, exactly the way a local would sell a place to a friend: “Honestly? There’s not much… unless you like long walks on clean streets, swimming off a dock at sunset, and eating well.”

What makes this promotional video stick is how relaxed it feels. No breathless slogans, no drone-shot overdose, just a steady rhythm that says, “Take your time.” You can feel a real trip forming in your mind: morning coffee, a visit to a museum or two, a swim, and a nice dinner. Among promotional video examples in travel, this one resonates with a broader audience beyond travel enthusiasts because the joke is universal: pretending a place isn’t special while subtly showcasing a vacation you’d book in a heartbeat. It’s funny, a little self-deprecating, and sneakily persuasive, the kind of clip you forward with, “Okay, I want this weekend.”

For weeks, little breadcrumbs, creator winks, podcast asides, and “leaked” sightings fed a playful rumor: maybe Michael Cera actually developed CeraVe. That slow-burn setup created a loop of anticipation. Expectation and mystery made people curious, prompting them to share and return for the answer. So, when the promotional video finally aired, there was already an audience leaning in for the reveal.

The reveal sticks because the tone is exactly right: goofy, self-aware, and surprisingly informative. Why this is good marketing, plain and simple: it turns attention into a game people want to play. Anticipation creates a social loop (friends DMing, group chats guessing), mystery lowers the bar to sharing (“did you see this?”), and the clean payoff gives everyone a satisfying “I knew it” moment. That combo is rare, and it’s why this belongs with the year’s best promo videos.

If you’re building a swipe file of marketing video examples, file this under “set up → tease → resolve.” This is proof that setting realistic expectations can make promotional videos feel like events. On any shortlist of fresh promotional video examples, “Michael Cera…Ve” earns a spot for the way it uses curiosity to travel.

Going viral isn’t a button you press; it’s the result of a bunch of small, intentional choices that make your promotional video easy to watch, easy to reuse, and easy to talk about.

The clips above share a few strategies. Use them as a simple checklist the next time you’re building a promotional video:

1. Start with a hook. If you can’t say the core idea in one short line (a lyric, a cheeky question, a single promise), keep honing. Hooks are what travel; footage follows.
2. Design for the feed. Open on action, keep shots to 2–8 seconds, write captions that carry on mute, and let sound-on add a lift.
3. Make one thing teachable. A mini dance phrase, a camera swing, a repeatable line, something viewers can copy.
4. Cast for presence, not fame. You need faces that feel natural looking down the lens and can hold a beat.
5. Mind the metrics that matter. Beyond views: saves, shares, sound reuses, replay rate, comment velocity in the first 48 hours, search lift, and the click-through to whatever you actually want booked or bought.
6. Give audiences a next step. A promotional video with no path forward is just entertainment. Put a real action in reach, bookable dates, a drop, a sample, a demo.

For format shifts and platform quirks, continue to monitor video marketing trends. If TV is part of your plan, remember that television commercial advertising works a little differently.

There’s a reason we chose these specific 6 promotional video examples. Each shows a different path to an advertisement that people actually want to pass around and share.

What they share is simple: they spark behavior, save, stitch, book, search, and share group chats. That’s why these promotional video examples didn’t just collect views; they moved the numbers that matter, and a few are still trending. Keep that spine intact, and your next piece won’t just “do numbers.” It’ll feel like a moment. Do that a few times and you’re not chasing trends anymore, you’re setting them. 

With Avalanche Studios, you can turn those sparks of inspiration into content that performs. From strategy and scripting to production and post, our team builds promotional videos designed to capture attention and drive action across every channel.

So when you’re ready to take an idea out of the doc and into production, request a quote — we’ll give you a realistic plan for budget, timing, and channel-ready deliverables.