Old El Paso Spent $36M in 90 Days on Just 11 Creatives

Most brand spotlights on this blog track advertisers that spend consistently, test dozens of creative variations, and iterate on landing pages every few weeks. Old El Paso’s summer 2026 flight is the opposite of that story, and that’s exactly why it’s worth studying. In the 90 days between May 20 and August 17, 2026, Old El Paso put an estimated $36.2 million in US ad spend behind a campaign that ran almost entirely on YouTube — and almost entirely on two video creatives. It’s one of the most concentrated big-budget flights in Adbeat’s index, and it’s a clean, real-world illustration of a media-buying philosophy that looks nothing like the performance-marketing playbook most digital advertisers follow. ...

August 20, 2026 · 9 min · intelligencedesk

GEICO and Liberty Mutual Both Bet the Budget on YouTube. Only One Kept Betting.

Auto insurance is one of the most fought-over advertising categories in the US. It’s a roughly $350 billion-a-year industry in direct written premiums, and because coverage is legally required in nearly every state, the competition isn’t about creating demand — it’s about being the name a shopper remembers the moment they start comparing quotes. That dynamic has turned GEICO, Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, and Liberty Mutual into some of the most consistent advertisers in the country, year after year, regardless of economic conditions. ...

July 28, 2026 · 10 min · intelligencedesk

How Red Bull Built a 4.2 Billion-Impression Ad Machine: A Brand Spotlight

Red Bull doesn’t advertise the way most beverage companies do. It doesn’t run coupon campaigns, loyalty offers, or grocery circulars. It runs video at a scale that would make a Hollywood studio envious — and it uses display advertising not to push promotions, but to pull audiences into an ongoing stream of events, seasonal product launches, and branded entertainment. Over the past year, Adbeat tracked Red Bull generating an estimated 4.2 billion impressions across display and video channels — data spanning the US and the approximately 35 countries in Adbeat’s coverage network. That number is up 19% compared to the prior 12-month period. But the real story isn’t the volume. It’s the architecture behind it: a video-first strategy, a disciplined product launch calendar, and a landing page approach that turns ad clicks into content experiences rather than purchase pages. ...

July 20, 2026 · 11 min · intelligencedesk

Analyzing American Express’s $167M Display Ad Strategy

When I think of credit cards, I immediately think of American Express (AmEx)–particularly their platinum cards. Chances are that a lot of you do, too. That’s how popular this brand is in the payment cards industry. With a vision of providing the world’s best customer experience every day, AmEx has been issuing cards since the mid 1900s. People tout their customer service and rewards programs. But a big part of the reason this brand grew to have more than 141 million users? Their $167M display ad strategy! Let’s analyze their best display ads. ...

November 25, 2024 · 7 min · missjrupali@gmail.com

Brands only have 1.7 seconds to grab attention with video ads. Here’s how to do it

As an advertiser, it’s never been harder for you to capture and retain your audience’s attention. Research from the University of California, Irvine and Microsoft reveals that back in 2004, people spent an average of 2.5 minutes looking at any given screen before heading elsewhere. Today, this figure has dropped to just 47 seconds. All of which means that if you’re going to engage potential customers and compel them to take action, you’d better grab their attention fast. ...

October 22, 2024 · 8 min · philnorris1985@gmail.com

BFCM display ad strategy: Best practices from Home Depot, Pandora and more

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are make or break for retailers, with over 200 million consumers shopping in-store and online across the 2023 Thanksgiving weekend. Per Adobe Analytics, Cyber Monday remains the biggest online shopping day of all time, with total sales climbing 7.8 percent to $38 billion last year — including peak sales of $15.7 million per minute between 10:00 – 11:00 pm Eastern. With so much on the line, it makes sense to start planning your BFCM display ad strategy as early as possible. ...

September 19, 2024 · 8 min · philnorris1985@gmail.com

Ad Testing 101: Create Effective Ads That Drive Results

Walk outside your home, and you’re bound to see ads everywhere. On billboards, posters, buses, and even subway platforms. You’ve probably bought something after seeing these ads (as have millions of other people). The reason? These ads are effective. They tug at your heartstrings, make you miss something you never had, or convince you that your life will be better once you sign up for that gym membership. But how do brands know these ads will work? By testing them on various groups of people! In other words: ad testing. ...

September 13, 2024 · 8 min · missjrupali@gmail.com

Battle of the brewers: How Bud Light, Guinness & Modelo are competing through display ads

The pop of the bottle opening. The gentle glug-glug-fizz as you decant the golden liquid. The foamy head; the condensation on the glass. You just can’t beat a frosty beer on a hot summer’s day. Beer-related searches on Google spike during the hottest months of the year… …and with International Beer Day still in our recent memory ( who knew?), we decided to use Adbeat’s competitive intelligence data to analyze the display ad strategies of three of America’s biggest beer brands: ...

August 23, 2024 · 8 min · philnorris1985@gmail.com

How brands are using the Olympics in display ads (feat. Gillette, Intel, Toyota & more)

Not normally a big fan of weight lifting or equestrianism or modern pentathlon? You might change your mind, because the 2024 Summer Olympics (July 26 – August 11) are here. Given that the two previous editions of the summer Games both surpassed three billion viewers, it’s expected to be one of the most-watched televised events of the past decade. In fact, with the last three Games (two Winter Olympics and one summer Games) all taking place in Asia, viewing times for Paris 2024 will be a better fit for Western audiences — meaning TV figures could be even higher than recent events. ...

August 6, 2024 · 8 min · philnorris1985@gmail.com

How Shopify, Squarespace & Wix use display ads to fight for ecommerce supremacy

By 2027, global online sales are expected to surpass an eye-watering $8 trillion. So it’s no surprise that starting an ecommerce business consistently ranks as one of America’s most popular side hustles: Of course, to start an ecommerce business, you first need a website. And if you don’t have the coding skills to create one from scratch, your best alternative is to use a website builder. While there’s no shortage of options, not all are a natural choice for online store owners. But three solutions that definitely fit the bill are: ...

July 3, 2024 · 12 min · philnorris1985@gmail.com