10 Found Content Ads That Should Make The Judges Roar

With everyone in advertising seemingly on Le Croisette at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the south of France this week, now seems like a good time to pause and reflect on some standout work from the past year.

And while some can’t help but be enthralled by the possibilities that Artificial Intelligence surely holds, more and more brands and agencies are beginning to understand the power of real, human content. So here’s 10 recent campaigns made by the visionary virtuosos of vibes who are bringing authenticity, creativity, and humanity back into advertising and transforming how stories are told by using real-world ingredients.

(Speaking of In Real Life, if you’re in Cannes reading this right now, look for our Founder Analisa Goodin, who will be on the ground mixing with marketers and preaching the gospel of Found Content.)

Here’s 10 spots that turned Found Content into storytelling gold in 2024-2025:

1. Miller Lite

Miller Lite’s  "Legendary Stories Start With A Lite" campaign, narrated by Christopher Walken and set to David Bowie's “Rebel Rebel,” weaves iconic archival footage into a tapestry of collective memory. This campaign is a great reminder that Found Content is a shortcut to emotional resonance. Instead of shooting scripted scenarios, the creative team curated genuine moments of shared laughter, celebration, and camaraderie from celebrities and “civilians” alike to show that Miller Lite has been making good times happen for a long time. It shows us that sometimes, the best way to spark connection is to celebrate the authenticity of memories we already share. Watch it here: Legendary Stories Start with a Lite

2. Con Edison

Con Edison’s "Everyday Energy" campaign takes real New York moments and mixes them with brand-produced shots of employees working in the same neighborhoods to present a seamless celebration of the energy of the city that never sleeps. Mixing Found Content into your production can bridge the gap between the abstract world of your brand or idea (in this case: sustainability) with authentic experiences that can’t be denied or chalked up to corporate speak. Found Content isn’t just visuals. It’s visual proof of your brand’s mission. Check out the Con Edison spot here: Everyday Energy

3. HomeGoods

I love HomeGood’s “Go Finding” campaign. I mean, it’s all about the joy of finding the perfect item and I am a Found Content Evangelist, so it totally makes sense. You can tell that the spots were written AFTER finding the content, using the real reactions of real people as the exclamation point. I love this little detail. Found Content isn’t just pretty pictures. It can inform the message too. The resulting spots feel like they popped right out of TikTok, because they genuinely did. And they don’t feel like fake “influencer” marketing because they turn genuine HomeGoods customers into influencers, not the other way around. See what I mean here: Experience the thrill of finding more of what you love for less

4. Teleflora

Teleflora knows Found Content. Last year, their Mother’s Day spot featured real, raw footage that had us all reaching for the tissue box or to call our moms. This year, their emotional "Never Walk Alone" Mother’s Day ad used Found Content in a different way: still photos are doctored to erase the mom figure at first, letting our imaginations do the heavy lifting. I’m told it all started with one photo of a Teleflora employee dancing with his mom at his wedding. One thing is for sure, when you start with real Found Content, you build deep emotional bonds through relatable human experiences that scripted advertising struggles to replicate. Here’s the spot (tissue warning): Never Walk Alone

5. Amazon

Did you know you can license tweets? How about Linkedin posts? How about customer review? With "5-Star Theater with Adam Driver", Amazon licensed real 5-star reviews from actual Amazon customers and had Adam Driver act them out, transforming customer feedback into compelling entertainment. It’s a reminder of how Found Content, even in written form, can dramatically amplify authenticity, humor, and personality, turning simple product experiences into memorable brand moments. And who doesn’t want their product reviews acted out by a huge movie star? Here’s one of my faves: 5 Star Theater with Adam Driver

6. Carnival Cruise Lines

Every Carnival Cruise guest takes photos and videos of their experience. Carnival Cruise Lines marketing team wanted to license some of that content for a TikTok-style anthem spot. But then they searched the Catch+Release Creator Marketplace and found The Davises. This family LOVES to cruise. In fact, they had so much Carnival cruise content, the brand was able to create an entire spot out of it. The Davises got paid to be in an ad for their favorite cruise line. And Carnival got a campaign for the foreseeable future. And that’s another beautiful thing about Found Content. It’s a great way to identify Superfans. The authentic love of a Superfan is something no influencer can touch. Judge for yourself here: Family Fun

7. ZUGU

ZUGU’s “Death Case” campaign injects dark humor into the typically mundane category of device protection. It also shows how sometimes all you need is a headline and the perfect piece of Found Content to make milk come out of someone’s nose (I’m the someone). ZUGU sells a product designed to secure your digital legacy after death, so tapping into the “Cameraman Dies” trend was a no-brainer. Here’s the film. (IMPORTANT NOTE: The creator did not actually die. That wouldn’t be funny. Not in the same way, anyway.) Death Case

8. Aflac

Aflac brilliantly capitalizes on internet "fail" videos, inserting their iconic duck mascot into the scenes holding a sign reading "Hope they have Aflac." Pro tip: If you are curating fail videos, miss the ones that have already gone viral. Dig a little deeper and find the funny fails that haven’t been blessed by the algorithm yet. You’ll save some money and you’ll be giving a creator a payday for their hard work. Or, in this case, maybe I should say hard knocks. Watch: Hope They Have Aflac

9. Philadelphia Cream Cheese

GUT’s “Land of the Cream Cheese” campaign for Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese is built around a patriotic country song performed by rising Asian American country star Travis Yee. The song celebrates Philly’s place in American cuisine on the Fourth of July. The team naturally used social media as a way to find all the ways Americans were actually using cream cheese in recipes (hello recipetok!). So when it came time to make the music video for their new anthem, Found Content was the obvious choice. I love it when research and creative can come together into one big delicious melting po t. And now I’m hungry. Here’s the video. If you have a cowboy hat, now is the time: Land of the Cream Cheese

10. State Farm

State Farm’s poignant spot “How I Got Here” featuring basketball prodigy JuJu Watkins emphasizes real-life mentorship and community support. The script is beautifully and professionally written. But the visuals are Found. Family photos and film clips from Watkins’ own life. Game footage from her college days. It all combines to pull us in. Genuine, unscripted personal stories are what make sports so addictive. We get hooked by the human-ness. Archival footage and family photos can do the same for your brand narrative (see Miller Lite above). Here’s the JuJu spot: "How I Got Here" State Farm

I hope you enjoyed these spots. But more importantly, I hope you got a new insight or two into how you can use Found Content to make more great work in the coming year. Want more inspiration? Search the Catch+Release Creator Community Marketplace every day. You’ll find tens of thousands of new pieces of content. Daily. I can’t wait to see what you make out of it.

Who knows? Maybe it’ll end up on next year’s list.