The seven short-form vertical ads that defined 2024 were CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe” creator campaign, Rhode’s Peptide Lip Case launch on Instagram Reels, Marc Jacobs’ creator-takeover TikToks, Verizon’s “very demure” spot with Jools Lebron, Duolingo’s five-second Super Bowl cut, Dunkin’s “Shakin’ Espresso” launch with Sabrina Carpenter, and Nutter Butter’s surreal September run. Budgets ranged from a creator fee to a national launch, but every one followed the same rule: the idea was built for a 9:16 phone screen, not cropped into it. Each hooked inside two seconds, read with the sound off, and gave the comment section something to do. Below is what each one did, roughly what it cost, and what a smaller brand can copy.
How we picked these seven
We judged on three things: the creative was vertical-first rather than a recut TV spot, the campaign had a reported business outcome or a major award, and it still worked when we rewatched it muted on a phone in 2026. We dropped several famous 2024 spots that were horizontal films with vertical crops, including most Super Bowl work.
The audience case needs no argument any more. The Pew Research Center’s social media fact sheet shows YouTube and Facebook still lead among US adults, while Pew’s 2024 teen survey puts YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat as the four platforms teens use most. All four now serve full-screen vertical video as the default ad unit.
The seven ads
1. CeraVe, “Michael CeraVe” (January to February 2024)
Ogilvy seeded a rumour that actor Michael Cera was the secret founder of CeraVe, then paid creators to “investigate” it in vertical videos for three weeks before a Super Bowl spot resolved the joke. The vertical content did the work; the TV spot was the punchline. It won the Social and Influencer Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2024. The lesson is sequencing: the creator posts came first and built a question the brand could answer. Most brands run it backwards and seed creators after the launch, when there is nothing left to speculate about.
2. Rhode, Peptide Lip Case launch (February 2024)
Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand launched a phone case that holds a lip tint through a handful of Reels on the Rhode Instagram account and her own. No spot, no voiceover, just the product being used for its one obvious purpose. It sold out on launch and the waitlist became the ad. The copyable idea is that a product demo is a complete vertical ad if the product has one visible benefit. We tell clients to find the three-second gesture before they write a script.
3. Marc Jacobs, creator takeovers (2024)
Marc Jacobs handed its TikTok account to creators with nothing to do with fashion: Sylvanian Drama restaged its soap-opera toy animals around The Tote Bag, and Nara Smith “made the bag from scratch.” Each creator kept their own format and the brand kept its logo. The trade-off is control. The videos look nothing like the campaign imagery, and that is why they outperformed it. If your legal team needs to approve every frame, this format is not for you.
4. Verizon with Jools Lebron, “very demure” (August 2024)
Jools Lebron’s “very demure, very mindful” video on her TikTok account became the catchphrase of late summer. Verizon booked her within weeks and ran a vertical ad in her own format, filmed the way she films herself. Dozens of brands posted the phrase in captions; Verizon paid the creator and got the credit. Trend-jacking only works at this speed if the shoot is one person, one phone, one day. We have watched a four-week approval chain kill the same play twice.
5. Duolingo, the five-second Super Bowl spot (February 2024)
Duolingo bought five seconds of regional Super Bowl time, showed its owl’s rear end with “Do your lesson,” and sent a push notification to users at the same moment. The spot was also posted vertical on the Duolingo social accounts, where the format fit better than it did on TV. The lesson is that a vertical ad can be one shot and one line if the brand already owns a character. Duolingo spent years building the owl on TikTok before it could spend five seconds cashing it in.
6. Dunkin’ with Sabrina Carpenter, “Shakin’ Espresso” (June 2024)
Dunkin’ launched a brown sugar espresso drink with a vertical spot riffing on Carpenter’s “Espresso” while the song was at its peak. Timing was the whole idea. The drink, the lyric and the summer all arrived together, and the vertical cut was the primary asset rather than a social version of a TV ad. Licensing a current hit for paid social is expensive and slow; brands that cannot clear a song should build the ad around an original sound they can own.
7. Nutter Butter, the surreal run (September 2024)
This one was organic, not paid, and it belongs here because it set the bar paid work was measured against. The Nutter Butter TikTok account posted deliberately unsettling, lore-heavy videos that rewarded people who watched the whole series. The comment section wrote the next episode. The copyable part is not the weirdness. It is the serialised structure: each post answered a question from the last one, which is the cheapest retention mechanic that exists.
What the seven have in common
| Trait | How the seven handled it | What we do on set |
|---|---|---|
| Hook | Product, face or question in the first frame | Shoot 4 to 8 alternate openings per concept |
| Sound off | Readable with captions or none needed | Captions baked in, kept out of the UI safe zone |
| Voice | Creator or character voice, not announcer | Talent reads from bullet points, not a script |
| Length | 5 to 30 seconds for paid, longer only for serials | Cut a 6, a 15 and a 30 from every take |
| Follow-up | Comments, sequels or a resolving spot | Plan the second post before shooting the first |
The safe zone matters more than people expect. Meta’s ads guide recommends keeping text out of roughly the top 14 percent and bottom 35 percent of a Reels ad so captions and buttons do not cover it. TikTok publishes similar guidance and live examples of top-performing ads in its Creative Center, which is the fastest free way to see what the algorithm is rewarding this month.
What has changed since 2024
- Longer limits. YouTube raised Shorts to three minutes in late 2024, and Instagram followed for Reels in early 2025, per the YouTube blog and Instagram’s announcements. Paid ads should still stay short; the extra length is for serial content like Nutter Butter’s.
- Instagram’s grid went 4:5. Profile thumbnails are now taller, so a Reel designed for 9:16 needs its key frame composed for the 4:5 centre crop as well.
- Trial Reels. Instagram added a way to show a Reel to non-followers first, which is a free hook test before you put money behind a cut.
- TikTok ownership. TikTok’s US operations moved into a US-majority joint venture in early 2026. Ad buying and specs did not change materially, but any plan that leans on one platform should have a Reels and Shorts version ready.
- Generative tools. Meta and TikTok both now offer automatic reframing, captioning and AI variations inside the ad manager. They are good for producing the sixth and seventh hook variant, and poor at producing the first.
What a vertical ad costs to make
From our own production schedule, a one-day vertical-only shoot with a small crew, one or two on-camera talent and a producer runs in the low-to-mid four figures, rising into five figures once you add a second camera for a horizontal master, a location fee, or recognisable talent. The cost driver is rarely the camera. It is talent usage rights for paid media, which can double a creator’s fee, and music, where an original or library sound is a fraction of a licensed hit.
One shoot day should return 10 to 20 usable cuts if the shot list was written as hooks rather than scenes. A brand that walks away with three polished 30-second edits has paid for a TV shoot and got a TV result.
What goes wrong
- Shooting horizontal “to be safe.” The 9:16 crop loses the edges where the action usually is. Shoot vertical and accept a weaker horizontal version, or shoot both with two cameras.
- Captions under the UI. The most common reason a client’s self-made Reel underperforms is text hidden behind the caption bar.
- One hook, tested once. Platforms decide a video’s fate in the first few hundred impressions. With a single opening you have no second chance.
- Approval lag. The Verizon and Dunkin’ ads worked because they shipped while the trend was alive. Two weeks of revisions turns a trend-jack into a reminder that the trend is over.
- Creator content run as a brand ad without rights. Boosting a creator’s post requires whitelisting or partnership-ad permissions on each platform, and a usage clause in the agreement. Skipping this is the single fastest way to get an ad pulled.
Start with the three-second gesture that shows what the product does, shoot it vertical with five alternate openings, caption it inside the safe zone, and plan the follow-up post before the first one goes live. That is the entire playbook behind the seven ads above, and it costs less than one day of a horizontal shoot.
