An historical miniseries about warring gun-shooting families in Appalachia? The easy brand is "Hatfields & McCoys". But History, the channel of all things Americana, needed more -- looking to branch out of its non-scripted reality success. So here is a vintage sounding song in a music video set amongst vintage-looking footage in TV promos. The miniseries debuted with the largest ratings in cable history -- an eye-opening 14 million viewer level which continued the next two nights.

Athletes and underwear. Sure, Olympians are probably wearing some form of spandex or the latest high tech fabric. But everyday life? Fruit of the Loom's "Move To Comfort" commercials used the biggest sports event of the year, NBC's London Summer Olympics, including a guy in his boxers doing gymnastic rings on a beach. It aired during the actual male gymnastic competition. The judges (consumers) scored well here: a nearly 500% lift in engagement (likes and comments) and a 40% lift in brand recall.

For “Boardwalk Empire’s” season 3 premiere, HBO developed creative that featured main character, Nucky, as the audience had never seen him before, promising a season filled with dramatic tension and action. Through a traditional media campaign that included print, TV, radio, outdoor, search and digital, innovative promotions were the main thrust of the campaign. In one of the main features of the campaign, HBO partnered with Atlantic City casinos and hotels to offer Boardwalk-branded packages and VIP screening events across town.

“Swamp People” is one of the top shows on cable, but the level of buzz around it didn’t match its high ratings. For season three, History wanted to break out the series with views and press to raise the overall awareness. The comprehensive campaign used several communications channels to generate high-profile bizz, get local and national media coverage, as well as celebrating the show while positioning the network as a destination for relatable characters and quality storytelling. These efforts drove premiere viewership up 20 percent over season two.

Adobe created a short video for the launch of its Adobe Creative Suite 6 launch featuring a range of artists, musicians, designers and more talking about why they create. This style of video has been done before, but the responses from the artists are heartfelt and meaningful without ever veering into sap. That’s no small feat to be able elicit inspiring insight that makes a viewer feel in a short-form video.

Running shoe brand Mizuno sought to drive sales and brand awareness for its product in the U.S. Before launching the campaign, U.S. brand awareness was at just 1 percent. With awareness (and the sense of comfort that comes along with familiarity and experience with a brand) being the main barrier to purchase, Mizuno launched the Mezamashii Run Project. Instead of using their entire campaign budget on paid media, they strategically used the brand’s core consumers to help spread the message. They used digital, print and search in relevant …

Ads don’t have to be about your brand. They can be about the viewer. That’s why this Bloomingdale’s campaign stands out. It provides useful how-to fashion information on classy suits, ties, and shirts for men. The videos are quick and packed with information, and the simple tips list at the end is a nice finishing touch and a bonus for viewers.

With an engaging presentation, UM tells how it created a LinkedIn community of “informed elites” to grow awareness of a Norwegian energy company. The forum, paired with an online tool developed by respected media partners providing a visual guide to energy needs, attracted the attention of influencers, 30% of whom were at the CEO level. It even garnered comments from competitors! With 19,000+ members and an average of 2.14 comments per user, it’s no wonder Statoil’s business has doubled.

Farmers are generally out in the middle of “nowhere,” so the challenge is how to reach them. Media choices are few. The agency’s goal was to create a new medium to reach a coveted trade show audience. Enter an artist, who created 22-foot-tall hand-painted giant farmers with an accompanying billboard in a cornfield alongside a freeway in Ames, Iowa, the primary route to a trade show. The result: 12,039 unique farmer attendees, representing nearly 14 million acres.

To be fair, MEC had great material to start with for this campaign - clips from a popular film. But what really works is the humor and fun. It’s just hard to resist hitting that “fire cannon” button to to watch an animated zebra fly towards you. This campaign excels in taking already strong creative and bringing it to another level.