A central pillar of these campaigns was simulated realism creating fictional situations believable enough that many people believed, at least temporarily, were real. This is a strategy of “false truths”: ads disguised as news stories or real product launches.

In Canva’s case, the execution was careful. The “launch” of the GracyOvos brand featured a professional visual identity and a limited-stock promise and was promoted just like any other new product. The Xuxa campaign began with cryptic teasers on the presenter’s social channels, with no mention of Canva, sparking enormous curiosity among her followers. In both cases, the reveal that everything was an advertising campaign came only after several days of speculation, functioning as a marketing plot twist.

This tactic of leading the public through a simulated reality and only then “flipping the script” recalls historic cases of disruptive storytelling in advertising. A classic Brazilian example is Folha de S.Paulo’s “Hitler” commercial. Released in 1987 and still remembered as one of the greatest ideas in Brazilian advertising, the film presented a series of positive achievements by an unknown man, only to reveal at the end that the man was Adolf Hitler, concluding with the moral: “You can tell a lot of lies using only the truth.” Like Canva’s campaigns, the viewer was led to believe an initial premise and then surprised by the delayed reveal of the real purpose—in Folha’s case, warning against half-truths and reinforcing the newspaper’s credibility.

Internationally, there are equally notable parallels. The “It’s a Tide Ad” campaign from the 2018 Super Bowl followed similar logic: the commercials looked like typical beer, car, or fragrance ads until actor David Harbour interrupted to announce that, in fact, everything was a Tide detergent ad. This meta-narrative played with the audience by pointing out that “if the clothes in the commercial are clean, it could be a Tide ad.” The idea was considered brilliant and highly effective, and was named one of the most effective campaigns of the 2018 Super Bowl by industry professionals. It demonstrated that even an ad’s format can be manipulated and parodied to keep the audience intrigued, a strategy similar to what Canva did by simulating fictional launches.

Disruptive Marketing Rooted in Local Culture

Another key element of the strategy’s success was the campaigns’ cultural grounding. Canva chose fully Brazilian references, understanding that standing out would require speaking the local audience’s language, both literally and figuratively. This hyperlocalization is evident in several aspects of the campaigns, starting with the protagonists: Xuxa and Gracyanne were not random choices. They are figures deeply embedded in Brazil’s popular imagination. Xuxa carries decades of Brazilian television history with her; her image immediately evokes children’s shows from the 1980s and 1990s, the “paquitas,” and the songs and catchphrases that defined a generation.

The “Faz Bonito” campaign tapped into this by recreating the atmosphere of her old variety shows with colorful costumes, assistant dancers (the paquitas), and iconic props such as her signature microphone. Even the name of Xuxa’s fictional company, “Xuxa Só Para Adultinhos”, is a direct joke on her real brand “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos,” humorously signaling to Brazilian audiences that a rich layer of nostalgia was being activated.

In the case of Gracyanne Barbosa, the campaign leaned on a specific feature of Brazilian fitness culture. Gracyanne is frequently mentioned in memes and entertainment news because of her extreme diet—most notably, her high egg consumption for protein. That viral trait of her public persona became the creative hook: the idea of her launching a line of “premium eggs” sounds absurd, but not impossible, which made it easy for many people to join the joke naturally. Canva itself noted in its announcement that Gracyanne took “her viral love of eggs to new heights with ‘GracyOvos,’ a fictional luxury egg brand” built entirely in Canva. In other words, the campaign used a local meme (the “egg-loving fitness muse”) as fuel for virality.

This immersion in local culture made the stories instantly recognizable and shareable within Brazil. The expressions, humor, and situations depicted spoke directly to Brazilians. Unlike generic global campaigns, these contained inside jokes from Brazilian pop culture. It is a form of disruptive marketing because it departs from the traditional script of imported or merely translated advertising. Instead, Canva showed that marketing innovation can come from creatively appropriating what is unique to each local market.

The strategy produced results not only in engagement, but also in brand positioning: Canva began to be seen as a company that understands Brazilian audiences and participates in current conversations. As Raul Taborda, Canva’s Creative Director for Latin America, observed, each campaign should be “as creative as the people who use our platform.” By embracing the playful, irreverent tone typical of Brazilian internet culture, the brand moved closer to the public in an authentic way.

It is worth noting that the local success of these initiatives ultimately became a source of inspiration across the company globally.

Canva has been investing in hyperlocalized campaigns in multiple countries: similar initiatives appeared in Indonesia with the “Gampang di Canva” campaign, telling the humorous story of an entrepreneurial grandmother, and in India with “Dil Se, Design Tak”, celebrating everyday creativity.

In every case, the formula is similar: specific cultural references, humor, and narrative adapted to each context. This demonstrates a strategic view that celebrating local culture can become a global engine of marketing innovation, creating cases strong enough to cross borders. Brazil’s “Faz Bonito” campaign, for example, became an internal example of “local design, global growth”, showing how speaking the local audience’s language can produce exceptional results while strengthening the brand worldwide.

Canva as an “Invisible Product”: From Advertising Through Promise to Advertising Through Use

Figure: Gracyanne Barbosa reveals the truth behind “GracyOvos.” The image shows part of the reveal video in which she demonstrates that she created the fictional brand’s entire identity using Canva—note the “Egg Queen” logo being edited on the platform. The design tool appears organically as a supporting character in the narrative, reinforcing the product message without requiring direct explanation.

A defining feature of these campaigns was that the product itself (Canva) remained invisible until the story’s climax. In other words, for much of the campaign, the audience consumed the content without knowing that they were actually watching a Canva advertisement. This choice reverses the traditional advertising model: instead of opening with the company logo and tagline, Canva chose to show its value in practice within the narrative. At the end of Gracyanne’s video, for example, comes the reveal: she appears inside the Canva app, assembling the GracyOvos logo and materials, and admits that she “created her entire brand” with the platform’s help. In a relaxed tone, Gracyanne thanks Canva Brazil for making the whole “joke” possible and announces that the fictional egg inventory has “officially sold out” because she supposedly ate it all herself, reinforcing the joke. At that point, the audience realizes it has witnessed an example of the product in use rather than an abstract recommendation.

Likewise, in Xuxa’s main film, the turning point comes when the magic behind the absurd products is explained: the video ends with the message that “anyone can create their own success with AI”, introducing Magic Media Canva’s new AI image-generation tool. Until then, the viewer has been entertained by a parody of a television show; only at the end does Canva enter the scene as a creative enabler. This technique of product placement within the campaign itself allowed the audience to understand Canva’s value in an implicit and contextual way. Instead of saying “our software does X and Y,” the campaign demonstrated it: it showed a fictional entrepreneur, Xuxa, solving problems and creating unusual ideas with design tools, and an influencer, Gracyanne, building a brand from scratch thanks to the platform. It is marketing through use.

Strategies like these capitalize on the principle of “show, don’t tell”. By hiding the product until the right moment, Canva avoided the audience’s potential initial skepticism or rejection (“here comes an ad…”). When the brand finally appeared, the audience had already been won over by the story, with many viewers entertained and impressed by the creativity of the staging.

The positive impact then transferred to the product: spontaneous social-media comments praised the idea, including “What kind of marketing is this?!”, “Canva nailed it!!” and even linked perceived value to the service, such as “I’m going to renew my Pro subscription now,” according to one user. These indicators suggest increased goodwill and intent to use the product as a direct result of the campaign, something that is difficult to achieve through conventional advertising.

In positioning terms, Canva managed to communicate not as a pushy advertiser, but as a creative partner almost a supporting character that enables the protagonists to shine. This offers a valuable lesson: in advertising-saturated markets, sometimes the best marketing is to let the product work behind the scenes of the story, then reap the benefits when the audience discovers and becomes excited by what it can do.

“Social First” and Amplification Through Audience Reaction

From the beginning, Canva’s 2025 campaigns were designed for a social-first environment: they were born on social media and for social media before any other channel. Launching the campaigns through Xuxa’s and Gracyanne’s personal profiles was strategic. Both figures already had millions of engaged followers, and any unusual post would naturally attract attention. When Gracyanne released the launch video for her gourmet eggs, the news spread organically: entertainment outlets and users on Instagram and TikTok began commenting on the former dancer turned food entrepreneur, creating buzz that grew exponentially. In Xuxa’s case, the cryptic teasers that preceded the campaign’s official launch generated a flood of comments and shares from fans curious to know what the “for grown-ups only” project she mentioned could be. Importantly, up to that point, no one connected it to Canva. In other words, people were spreading the message without realizing they were, in fact, promoting a brand.

This effect of virality driven by spontaneous reaction was fueled by the campaigns’ emotional and participatory elements. Three main triggers were explored: confusion, humor, and nostalgia. The initial confusion (“is this serious or a joke?”) sparked debate; uncertainty made many people search for information and bring friends into the conversation to make sense of it. The humor in the absurd situations generated shares simply because people enjoyed passing along something funny and unexpected. A Xuxa post about “glitter tea to put the voices in your head to sleep,” or Gracyanne posing sensually with an egg in her hand, was irresistible material for memes and playful comments. The nostalgia in Xuxa’s case reached older audiences emotionally, who shared the content along with personal memories (“if you lived through the 1990s, you got the reference!”). These user reactions became free fuel for the campaign, amplifying its reach far beyond what paid media could have achieved at the same cost.

From a media-strategy perspective, Canva also expanded the campaigns beyond digital, creating an effect of omnipresence. After its initial success on social media, Xuxa’s “Faz Bonito” campaign moved to television, streaming services, radio, and even billboards in major cities. The campaign stopped being merely an online viral moment and became a 360-degree activation, while still maintaining the playful narrative tone born on the internet. This multiplatform integration maximizes impact: people who first saw it on Instagram comment when they see it on TV; those who missed the online buzz understand the joke when they pass a billboard, and so on. As a result, the conversation generated by the audience became an essential part of the content. On LinkedIn and in marketing communities, for example, professionals discussed the Canva case as a “perfect example of strategic marketing combining nostalgia, humor, AI, and storytelling,” praising the courage to move away from the obvious. In short, the audience’s enthusiastic reception fed the campaign back into itself: entertained and impressed people became informal ambassadors for the message.