Marketing - Gold Standards

I would choose - 

1. Nike  - for their "Just do It.." Campaign.

2. Apple - for their "Think Different.." Campaign

3. Volkswagen - for their "Think Small..." Campaign

Now lets go in details each one of them-

1. Nike - I think Nike is best example of great marketing. Fundamentally Nike just sell shoes. However if we think of Nike we feel beyond that. Nike never tried to convince their customer how better their product is, rather they conveyed the customer what believe - In their ad campaign they respected great athletes, the  advised people whether its 1 mile or few steps just do it..it does not matter how long or how far you are running - what matters is you started doing it and keep doing..through such extra ordinary message consumer able co-relate their need and believed on the same. This is greatest success of marketing - Making customer believe what you believe 

2. Apple - I think Apple learned lot of lessons from Nike's Marketing Strategy. Steve Jobs himself accepted it in many Apple's discussion. If we look into Apple's Think different marketing Campaign

This is favorite my Campaign of all times. In this Campaign Apple too following Nike's strategy is not talking about or product or services they offer. Rather they are trying to convey why they exists and what people should co-relate when thinking about Apple. This makes customer believe that an Apple product is something that can change world. That is why Apple got most loyal customer in this world.  

A key takeaway here? Just because your product does some pretty amazing things doesn’t mean you need to hit your audience over the head with it. Instead, explain your product’s benefits in a relatable way so consumers are able to see themselves using it.

3. Volkswagen - Many marketing and advertising professionals like to call Volkswagen's "Think Small" campaign the gold standard. Created in 1960 by a legendary advertising group at Doyle Dane & Bernbach (DDB), the campaign set out to answer one question: How do you change peoples' perceptions not only about a product, but also about an entire group of people?

See, Americans always had a propensity to buy big American cars -- and even 15 years after WWII ended, most Americans were still not buying small German cars. So what did this Volkswagen advertisement do? It played right into the audience’s expectations. You think I’m small? Yeah, I am. They never tried to be something they were not.

That's the most important takeaway from this campaign: Don’t try to sell your company, product, or service as something it’s not. Consumers recognize and appreciate honesty.