93 Creative Campaigns That Caught Our Eye in the First Half of 2025
Creative inspiration for the modern marketer from the past six months
Each Friday, Agency SOS puts out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week — campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment, and other inspiring bits.
Most marketers are so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting ideas from other industries. We highlight three each week and, hopefully, inspire people as they think about the next creative activation for their brand.
If you don’t already subscribe…you really should! (Listen to these people.)
Here are the 93 campaigns (in chronological order) that grabbed our attention from January to June.
01. Morning glory
Sometimes you need to wake up with a big, um…(you have no idea how hard we’re trying to avoid the obvious joke here.) Kellogg’s rebranded a few years back, but the bold ethos of the design hadn’t really made its way into advertising. Until now. A new spot broke over the holidays in the UK, featuring a strutting Cornelius the Cockerel (that’s the name of the bird on the Corn Flakes box, y’all.)
02. Mouth mind
There are times when you’re developing work for a client and you get REALLY excited about an idea or line…only to discover that it’s been done somewhere else. That happened to us this week. We the tingle over the line “open your mouth mind”…and then German Doner Kebab (and Quality Meats) dropped a campaign with that exact tagline! Setting aside our jealousy that they got it first, we love their bonkers new ads that not only introduce the brand to the U.S., but also explain the product. Super fun.
Watch the spots and read about the campaign.
03. Adult swingers
Kudos to Papaya, a mobile gaming company, who decided to go big, cinematic, and emotional for the launch of their new “Play On” brand campaign. “Swing” (by agency You’re the Goods) takes its time without trying to do too much — it’s just there to evoke the childlike joy of play. This is a company that already has a million “game footage” direct response digital ads, but when it came time to do a brand campaign, they reached for a bigger feeling than screenshots can provide.
Watch it. Read about it. Plus, they make great use of the spot on their website.
04. Dry January
Skipping alcohol the first month of the year has become a popular trend and brands love to jump on a popular trend.
St. Agrestis made a delightful spot to promote their phony negroni (AND they managed to rhyme “sans” and “consequence,” which we loved.)
Halo Top ice cream is suggesting you fill those cocktail glasses with ice cream instead.
And this wine and spirts retailer “supports” Dry January. Sorta.
05. Monday typo
We had to cover this one because folks are talking about it, but honestly, there’s something about it that bugs a little. Coors Light made a “mistake” this week with a typo in an ad. This got people (and media) chattering.
It was clear to us that it was a stunt; the “mistake” appeared in multiple big placement ads across many different channels — that takes some planning, y’all. And when the gang at ad agency Mischief started calling it out, savvy ad watchers knew they were behind it and fanning the flames of “typo outrage.” (Also, CMO’s don’t list the credits for real mistakes.)
Sure enough, it turned out to be completely planned promo for their Super Bowl giveaway. “Got a case of the Mondays? Get a special Monday’s case from us, the day after the big game.”
We were sorta surprised that so many people fell for the gimmick and praised the “genius pivot.” Suspect Mischief’s involvement had a lot to do with the attention; when you’re the hottest shop in the land, even your farts get applause. It’s a nice stunt, but the slobber seemed a little overblown.
See it. Watch it. Read about it.
P.S. We also liked their “chilled face roller” which was another tease in the lead up to the big game.
06. Severance stunt
Anybody who works in advertising has stuck a pop-up stunt into a deck at some point. “We should do an activation at Grand Central Station!” has been pitched more than once. The team at Apple TV+ actually pulled one off this week — a clever promo for season 2 of “Severance.”
We admired its simplicity and restraint. The real actors from the series, simply typing on keyboards and filing papers, in a glass-boxed office. It captured the surreal, offbeat vibe of the show and generated social buzz and earned attention. (Time called it “genius.” Lots of marketing stunts being called “genius” this week!)
07. Zombie ride
“The running-footage spot” is a staple of auto advertising. So much so, it’s almost impossible to sell a car ad that doesn’t feature long, languid shots of the vehicle driving around. (“Motion moves the metal!” an auto exec told us once.) So kudos to Kia (and Innocean Australia) for checking the boxes on the brief, but finding a way to keep it fun — zombies.
Watch “Shhh,” “Stayin’ Alive,” and “Zombie Proof.” Read about it.
08–09. Type stunts
Two different “type stunts” out this week from different brands. Kiehl’s skincare released “Pubic Display Type,” which is a font made out of, well…pubic hair. Yes, the idea itself is designed to grab earned-media attention, but it’s also based on their brand position to champion body positivity. Previous ads that showed models with pubic hair were censored…so this time they removed the models! Cheeky.
Cheetos released their own font this week called “Other Hand.” The gag here is that their dominant hand was so covered in Cheetos dust, the font designers had to use their less-dexterous hand. The result? A child-like typeface that feels like it could be Comic Sans’ less-polished cousin.
Watch the tongue-in-cheek intro film. Read about it.
10. Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is next week. (Year of the snake! 🐍) Lots of brands are rolling out ads in celebration…
This one from Gucci is a vibe (as you would expect.)
This one from Panda Express is a surprisingly charming spot about a new boyfriend meeting the family.
Apple went the music video route.
But, honestly, our fave might still be this one from Nike five years ago — a playful story about a determined girl who tries to refuse her auntie’s gift of a red envelope.
11. Sun spot
Australian agency SickDogWolfman decided to launch their own sunscreen brand…and promote it with a bonkers, face-melting ad.
12. Left to their own devices
You gotta give it to the OK Go guys — they seemingly have an endless well of cool technique ideas for their music videos. The band’s latest involves Inception-level creative-nesting using phones to…oh heck, just watch it.
Watch it. Read about it and see a terrific behind-the-scenes video on how they pulled it off.
13. Candy tombstones
Sweathearts has been an iconic Valentine’s Day candy for more than 100 years. So how do you make people notice something that’s been around forever? Stunt-y promotions that are earned-media catnip! Which is why the brand (and agency Tombras) wants that “4EVER” candy to equal commitment-heart-shaped TOMBSTONES.
Watch it. Read about it. See the website.
14. A.I. anthem
The Canadians don’t want you to fall for A.I. investment scams. (There are plenty…and more are on the way.) So the BC Securities Commission (and agency One23West) created a “We Are the World”-esque anthem with a slightly bleaker message: “We Are All F**ked.”
15. Chocolate math
Fun packaging idea from Cadbury (and VCCP and Bulletproof) to show how the chocolate bar is made for sharing.
See it and read about it.
16. Lawyer laughs
If you’ve watched daytime TV in the last 30 years, you’ve seen a TERRIBLE personal injury lawyer ad. Let’s just say that the genre is not fertile ground for creativity — a stiff attorney speaking directly to the camera, a fear-mongering pitch, and bargain basement production values are the norm.
So when a law firm in Connecticut called us and said, “We want to do something different, something better…ads that people will actually watch and remember,” we jumped at the opportunity.
This week, Trantolo & Trantolo unveiled their new “Don’t Fight Solo” campaign and we’re proud to have helped bring it to life. The spots GO BIG with big checks, big movie moments, and a (regional) debut on “the big game” this weekend.
Watch “House Call,” “Cards,” and “Sketch.” Read about the campaign (including the story of how this firm had to go all the way to the state Supreme Court of fight for the right to advertise.)
17. Legendary “what if?”
Famously, when Nike unveiled the original Air Jordans back in 1984, they ran afoul of the NBA rules that said, “shoes worn by athletes must be 51% white and must match the shoes worn by their teammates.” Michael’s black and red shoes did not. But instead of cowering, they decided to pay the $5,000-per-game fine so he could wear them. The rest is history. In a new spot, Nike asks “What if they didn’t agree to pay the fine?” Their answer: “You can’t ban greatness.”
Watch it. Read about it. Listen to the musical tie-in.
18. Annoying lemons
Long-time readers of this newsletter know that we love a good 15-second ad. An ad that only tries to say ONE thing, lands the joke, and gets out. So of course we like this new series of EIGHT (!) 15s that find a funny formula to sell seedless lemons.
Watch “Pushing My Buttons,” “Sour Blast,” “Laser Unfocused,” “Going Up,” “Taking Charge,” “Taxi Takedown,” “Too Close for Comfort,” and “Unparalleled Parking.” Read about the campaign.
19. Fashionable whimsy
Fashion label Jacquemus announced a partnership with Apple and dropped a shot-on-an iPhone film on Instagram that features “just a normal day at Jacquemus ateliers.” It’s quirky, shows off the zoom functionality of the 16 Max, showcases items from brand’s 2025 spring show, and rewards multiple re-watches.
20–26. Favorite Spots of Super Bowl 2025
Click here to watch all our favorites and read our full run down
Google
When this ad aired during the broadcast, it felt like the first chance to take a breath. After the bombastic Fox opening and the decibel-splitting volume of the game and the crazy kinetic commercials, the Google spot was a relief. Advertising A.I. technology is tricky, but they found an emotional, human story. Yes, tugging the father-daughter heartstrings is an advertising cheat code, but it was a really nice spot. Watch it.
Body Horror FTW
It’s always interesting to see what sort of executional trends bubble up each year. This year, strange (horrific?) body manipulations seemed to be the #1 go-to. Whether that was Little Caesar’s soaring eyebrows, Pringles flying facial hair, or Tubi’s hat-shaped skulls.
But our two faves were probably Mountain Dew’s “let’s make Seal into a seal,” which was the right kind of weird. And the nightmare fuel “winner” was “Let’s Go Tongues,” from CoffeeMate. It will be on many “most hated” lists, but it was also so damn strange that it stood out.
Bud Light
To be honest, we sorta didn’t want to like this one. (Still a little pissed at how the brand handled the Dylan Mulvaney thing; they should not have thrown her under the bus.) BUT, you gotta give credit where credit is due and their cul-de-sac spot was a return-to-form for a brand that’s made lots of great commercials over the years. Good performances, a great use of their cast, and genuine laugh lines. Watch it.
Chat GPT
This might have been the best example of “zigging” while others “zagged” — a spot that looked and felt different than everything else. It was a design-forward idea that leaned into their refined identity system. Elegant motion graphics to tell their story in a compelling way. Watch it.
Novartis Breast Cancer Screening PSA
A public service announcement that understood you still need to capture attention on adland’s biggest stage…using humor and, well, boobs to do it. With a perfect swerve toward its message: “Now that we have your attention, make sure you get screened for breast cancer.” Watch it.
Doritos
Years ago, Doritos revolutionized Super Bowl ads by handing the keys to their fans. They let “regular people” make and submit their own spots and then would air one or two on the biggest stage in advertising. They brought the contest back this year and the winning spot stood out for its simplicity — it was one of the best-paced spots of the whole broadcast. Probably because amateurs aren’t thinking about how much each second costs, they’re just trying to make a spot that lands. Watch it.
27. No flakes
CeraVe (and Ogilvy) had a winner last year with their Michael Cera campaign. This year, they decided to forgo the Super Bowl and are, instead, launching a big campaign for their new anti-dandruff shampoo campaign during the SNL50 celebration this weekend. “Naumôre Dandruf” is a 60-second spot, produced with SNL, about a faux heavy metal power trio that includes too many wonderfully stupid rhymes to count. They also “named” three celebs as “Head of CeraVe.”
Watch the SNL spot. Watch the HOC spots: Anthony Davis, Paige Bueckers, and Charli D’Amelio. Read about it.
28. Dangerous smells
Axe body spray (and LOLA Mullenlowe) get surreal-slapstick weird for the launch of their new sweet-smelling fragrance. As in violent babies, killer teddy bears, and a boxing dog.
Watch Dog,” “Bear,” and “Baby.” Read about it.
29. Double chicken
More weirdness! This one from KFC in the U.K. (and Mother London.) A series of short, trippy 10-second spots where the “zinger double down” (some sort of chicken sandwich abomination) emerges from the chaos. We like the chanting!
Watch bunk beds, floaty, watch, fragrance, and fight. Read about it.
P.S. A completely different campaign…this everything-is-cake ad from KFC Thailand came out in December, but we just saw it.
30. Delivery dance
“DoorDash delivery dance” is a pretty good pitch, in and of itself. These spots from Canada (and Hard Work Club) find charm in turning the mundane into movement. We’re treated to interpretive dances of couples with colds, parents with problems, halftime hankerings, and late-night cravings.
Watch it. Read about the behind-the-scenes.
31–32. Stunt-y two-fer
Tis the season where big agencies drop award-show-bait campaigns. These two stunts definitely feel designed to grab the ad judges’ attention, but they’re clever, so we won’t hold it against them.
“Chewed Art” from Orkin pest control (and DDB Chicago) turns images of termite damage into glossy photos fit for the walls of an upscale gallery.
Watch it, see it, read about it.
Another idea built for the case study video, this has a great hook: let’s re-write Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” in his handwriting with a single BIC ballpoint pen. From VML Brasil.
33. Lower smells
If it takes discipline to make a good 15-second ad, it takes even more to make a good 10-second one. Lynx (and LOLA MullenLowe) cracks the code with these simple-yet-memorable gems. It helps when your product is “lower body spray” (which is exactly what it sounds like) and your client isn’t afraid to GO THERE.
Watch “Basket,” “Cinema,” and “Boxing.” Read about it.
34. Deja do-over
When a brand puts out an iconic piece of work like Chipotle did with “Back to the Start” in 2011, it’s hard to do a sequel that doesn’t feel like a sequel. But that doesn’t mean that brands don’t try!
In 2013, they released “The Scarecrow,” which had a great track, but missed some of the original’s charm. They did a lovely job with one in 2021 called “A Future Begins,” with brought back the same stop-motion technique as the original.
Now the brand (and Venables Bell) takes a stab at a fourth with “Unfolded.” It uses a nice “paper bag” metaphor to tout its environmental creds, but it doesn’t have the storytelling charm or hand-made feel as others in the series. Still, we applaud a food brand that has bigger creative ambitions than just beauty shots of the food.
Watch “Unfolded.” Read about it.
35. Domino designs
We’re in the attention business. Sometimes, you just need to put something out there that people want to watch. Telstra (and agency Bear Meets Eagle on Fire) grabbed some dominoes and used them as a visual metaphor for internet that just works. (And avoided tarting it up with too many words.) Simple and effective.
Watch all three. Read about it. Watch the behind-the-scenes film.
36. Dancing Posey
Gap’s latest in the re-dance-i-fication of their brand. You could do a lot worse than a brief that says, “let’s let Parker Posey dance around for 90 seconds.”
37. Lemon lime horror
Gosh, this is dumb. In a great way. A man is deathly afraid of lemon-lime soda. Enter Starry. Cue freakout.
38. Freezer flag
Anybody who’s watched a late-night infomercial and seen the cascade of plastic lids tumble out of the cupboard knows that “over-dramatizing a problem” is a staple of the genre. So we applaud this one from Steak-umm (and Tombras) that solves a “problem” that’s not really a problem: how to locate your food a crowded freezer.
39. Snow Blizzard
This is so, so simple…but the best ideas usually are. DQ (Dairy Queen, for those not on an acronym basis with the chain) is turning snowbanks into giant Blizzards, their blended dessert treat. Amazing what a 7-foot spoon can do. Smart outdoor installations FTW!
See ’em and read about the campaign.
40. Oscar stunts
A lot of brands debuted new ads on the Oscars last weekend. (Like sports, it’s one of the few events people still watch live and, therefore, catch the commercials.) The “stickiest” might have been the multi-brand effort to celebrate stunt performers.
Watch ’em. Read about the campaign.
41. Lotta Liz
A.I. cloning of actors is a hot-button issue in Hollywood right now. (What rights do performers have to control their digital likeness?) So this campaign for Skinny Mobile in New Zealand (from Colenso BBDO) pushes boundaries by trading free-mobile-for-life to one customer named Liz in exchange for advertising rights to her cloned digital image. The message: we saved money on the ads and pass the savings on to you. The result is fun…if you don’t think too hard about the dystopian ramifications. 😬
P.S. Throwback shoutout to Skinny’s terrific outdoor-radio campaign from 2023.
42. Not Batman
State Farm (with help from agency Highdive) has a big, splashy comic-book spot, just in time for March Madness. The idea? Let’s let Jake from State Farm explain: “Having insurance isn’t the same as having State Farm. It’s like getting Bateman, when you need the protection of Batman.” Enter Jason Bateman (and a bunch of other celeb cameos.)
Watch it. See the extended cut. Read about it.
43. Crack sounds
The new global campaign from Magnum (and LOLA MullenLowe) keeps the focus a unique product experience — the crack of thick chocolate. Love the “sound wave” graphic treatment with the product at the center and the delightful slow-mo moments.
Watch “Birds,” “Cat,” “Pool,” and “Library.” Read about the campaign.
44. Glass fake-out
We raise a glass to this product-stunt idea from Kahlúa (and W+K London.) Feel pressure to order a pint on St. Patrick’s Day but would prefer an espresso martini? “The Schneaky Espresso Martini Glass” has you covered.
Watch it. See the glass. Read about it.
45. Break(up) dance
Apple has a gazillion dollars and enough smarts to hire super talented creative people and give them the freedom (and budget) to make something that doesn’t follow “the rules.” It’s little wonder that they’re one of the best marketers on the planet. For their latest, they let Spike Jonze make a five-and-a-half-minute music video with a moody-then-dancing Pedro Pascal. Ostensibly, it’s about the active noise cancellation of the AirPods 4, but it’s really just a VIBES piece from a brand that knows vibes. It’s probably heresy to criticize any aspect of it, but the thing doesn’t really kick into gear until the full-on dancing starts at 3:30, but advertising this big and splashy deserves its flowers.
46. Window moves
For our money, the BETTER dance video this week is the one from Pella Windows and Doors with a young girl (and star-to-be) dancing through her house while storms rage outside. From agency singlethread (and small team of talented collaborators), it’s lovely work that finds the sweet spot between charm, entertainment, and a pretty terrific product demo.
Watch it. (The :30 is smartly done, too.) Read about it.
47. Death deals
Can ads about life insurance be funny? These three from SunLife (and agency TBWA\London) sure are. “A little confidence goes a long way,” is a great set-up for these over-50 character studies: a naturist couple, a mom learning jujitsu, and a dad who carves his casket.
Watch them. Read about the campaign.
And since we’re talking “death,” here’s the latest from Liquid Death: Kegs for Pregs.
48. Play ball!
Major League Baseball is back, this week. MLB (with help from W+K Portland) has a new anime-inspired spot to kick off the new season.
Other Opening Day campaigns that we liked…
→ CoorsLight wants to buy you a beer if you have an obstructed view of the game. (“Obstructed Brews” pun FTW!)
→ Ryan Reynolds doesn’t know baseball, but that doesn’t stop him from using Opening Day to hawk his gin.
→ The Toronto Blue Jays have their own campaign to start the season.
→ 10 wild new ballpark food offerings.
49. Cat treats
Apparently, today is “National Respect Your Cat Day.” (If your marketing team can’t find some b.s. “holiday” on which to launch your campaign, they’re clearly not trying hard enough.) In honor of the felines, here are TWO new puss-centric promos:
Temptations (and TracyLocke) dress cats up like dogs to highlight the “treat gap” — apparently, dogs get 32% more treats than cats. And (shocker!) the cat treat people think that’s terrible! Watch and read about the campaign.
Over in the UK, Dreamies (and adam&eveDDB) take a more IRL approach with outdoor installations featuring 3D cats crawling all over the boards. See and read about the campaign.
50. Fortnite fizzooka
John, our founder, has a secret — he’s low-key addicted to playing Fortnite. So he was extra jazzed by this promo from Mentos (and BBH London) to introduce a custom rocket launcher in the game, where the mint’s chemical reaction with cola turns into a playable blaster. Then, smartly, they had some guys try and build a REAL version. It’s a venn diagram of cultural meme, branded gaming partnership, and influencer marketing.
Watch the teaser. Watch the trailer. Watch the film about the IRL build. Read about the campaign.
51. Copper isn’t sexy
Back in 2023, we created “The Copper Monster” for Ooma. The campaign highlighted the need to replace old copper telephone lines and positioned Ooma AirDial as the go-to solution. It was a big hit.
In January, our client called and said, “I want to bring him back…and I want to make him sexy.” Heck yeah! “Copper Isn’t Sexy” debuted this week at Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Vegas. Glad to have this fella back, strutting his stuff in the booth, in promotions, and in giveaway swag.
See and read about the campaign.
52. Human health
The healthcare brief, especially when it involves an app that you have to show, is deceptively tricky. (We know because we’ve gotten it from clients before.) We really like this new campaign from Amazon One Medical that keeps the humans, not the tech, at the center of these funny, relatable spots. Plus, any campaign that includes the line, “brace your urethra for turbulence” deserves all the flowers.
Watch “Mile High UTI,” “Dad Down,” and “Tattoo Regerts.”
53. Chilled voiceover
This is fun. To highlight their cold-activated cans, Coors Light hired “cold-activated announcers” and put their voiceover talent into an ice plunge to read their radio spots.
54. Liquid aloha
“Beer meets beach” is a tried-and-true brief, but Kona Brewing (and Duncan Channon) find beauty in the visual parallels in this new campaign. The mellow vibes deliver on the tagline’s promise: “Liquid Aloha.”
P.S. It’s a busy time for beach-y brews. Corona unveiled FOUR new campaigns in the last two weeks: Sunsets, Billboards, Newspaper, & Surf. And Pacifico just dropped their own history lesson.
55. Wine gone wild
We’ve long loved Juggernaut Wine’s eye-catching illustrated labels and there’s a great story behind them…
The animals — a lion for the Cabernet Sauvignon, a great white shark for the Chardonnay, an osprey for the Pinot Noir, and a killer whale for the Sauvignon Blanc — serve as metaphors for a larger story: grapes grown in extreme conditions that challenge the vines result in wines of remarkable depth and character.
So when Juggernaut approached us about making a new campaign, we said, “Your labels are one of your most distinctive assets — let’s bring ’em to life!” 🦁🦈🦅🐋
Watch them. Read about the campaign.
56. Beautiful bread branding
Rose Bakery (and Super Studio) use potato print-like technique and a logo inspired by lines scored into fresh dough to pay homage to the artisanal techniques of a traditional small town bakery.
See it and read about it.
57. British time
Bravo to the craft on this one — a 14-hour+, single-take, time-lapse for BritBox (and Uncommon Creative Studio) to highlight all the different shows on the service. Kudos to the main actress who deserves the overtime pay!
Watch it. Read about it. See the behind-the-scenes.
58. Rat race
Xbox knows how to do a big, sweeping brand spot that’s bigger than just gameplay footage. Their newest (from Droga5) is all about escaping the rat race. Nice insight and great visuals from directors David Fincher and Romain Chassaing.
59. Egg-scelent substitute
This is so smart! Price of eggs got you worried about Easter? The folks at Jet-Puffed have you covered — paint marshmallows instead. They priced it at $1.99 (the same price of a dozen eggs in 2022, before prices started to increase.) Super clever way to hitch a ride on a hot cultural topic and generate some earned attention for the brand.
60. Nothing ordinary…
This series is worth your time. It follows designer Devin Matthews as he seeks to bring more creativity into his life, by any means necessary.
Read about it. Watch the trailer. Watch the first episode about re-branding a local sandwich shop. It’s terrific.
61. Faraway vibes
Travel ads are deceptively tough to pull off because they all blend together and feel like the same ad. So we appreciate this new one from Away luggage (and American Haiku) that feels more dreamlike — the way you actually remember a special trip. It follows one woman’s trip to Thailand and earns the tagline, “Travel Changed Me.”
62. Update required
Not gonna lie, we have mixed feelings about crypto. But there’s no doubt that Coinbase is doing a good job of branding it (and themselves) for the future. Their Super Bowl stunt ad in 2022 got a lot of attention. Their newest (from agency Isle of Army), out this week and running during the NBA playoffs, is a riff on the “blue screen of death” and touts crypto as “the future of money.” We’ll see…but the animated craft of this spot definitely caught our eye.
Watch it. Read about it. Or here.
63. Totally real billboards
Truer words have never been spoken, Omid! Gaming the print and outdoor categories for Cannes Lions is an annual tradition and the feed is flooded with new “campaigns” that are designed to do one thing — win at award shows. But that doesn’t mean they’re not interesting. (The ethics of whether they’re “real ads” or not is a debate as old as time and in an era where robots are about to make most of the ads anyway, it feels a little quaint.) Award-bait or not, here’s a bunch of new OOH:
→ Stella Artois has two nice ones: “Hiders Keepers” and “Claustrobars.”
→ Lollipop celebrates molecules of fun.
→ Real-world captchas.
→ Popeyes says “yes.”
→ Postmates at Coachella.
→ KFC’s handmade billboards.
→ This one from Virgin Atlantic.
→ Spotify’s love letter to fandom.
→ Progressive’s “thirst trap” warnings.
→ Doordash dogs.
→ IKEA kids.
→ MINI crashes the NYC auto show.
→ Aer Lingus promotes “Irish exit.”
→ Chevrolet’s billboards to traffic signs.
→ This optometry service’s eye test billboards.
64. Panda aunties
We’re a sucker for a silly song. So we like this one from Panda Express (and Opinionated) with a group of concerned aunties asking, “Have you eaten yet?” Bonus points for the lyric, “Sometimes aunties have trouble with emotional expression…” Us, too, aunties.
65–66. Yeti x2
Yetis are having a big week selling meat-based products. Jack Link’s Sasquatch makes a new best friend while over at BUBBA Burger, the abominable snowman chats with an alien. (We give the win to the burgers for the tagline “You Bubba Believe It.”)
Watch BUBBA spot. Read about it. Watch Jack Links spot. Read about it.
67. Kiwi saves
We don’t speak Japanese, but really like this stop-motion ad from kiwi growers in Japan. Just your typical cat-eats-so-much-junk-food-that-it-has-a-near-death-experience-but-kiwi-brings-it-back-from-the-grave-and-teaches-the-cat-to-eat-healthy story.
Watch it.
68. Truck launch
Slate Auto is launching a new electric truck, but the campaign is unlike any traditional vehicle unveiling. The folks at Mischief designed a series of fake businesses who all use the truck. A human taxidermy company. Feline therapist. Fine endangered meats. A service to drive around your crying baby. (OK, that one sounds pretty good, actually.)
Watch the human taxidermy spot. See the other fake companies. Read about the launch and campaign.
69. Musical mom fears
Life360’s “Family-Proof Your Family” campaign was one of our favorites of 2024. They (and agency Alto) are back with a follow up and it’s pretty great, A live-action-and-animation musical about parental fear that’s legit LOL.
Watch it.
70. Avoid apple mistake
Busch Light beer is bringing back “Bapple” — its apple-flavored lager — for the first time in three years. (Apparently, fans have been clamoring for it?) They found a fun way to announce the return… Ronald G. Wayne, who co-founded Apple Computer, sold his stake in 1976 for just $800. It turned out to be a billion-dollar mistake. Busch (and The Martin Agency) recruited the now-90-year-old Mr. Wayne to promote the beer’s return. “This time, I’m not missing out on a great Apple-related opportunity.”
71. Plastic blood
Yes, we know this is one of those “solve-a-serious-problem” projects that’s created to win awards, but we’ll assume their heart is in the right place and the craft IS eye-catching. Brazilian biotech company OKA (and agency DM9DDB) is raising awareness about the dangers micro and nano plastics pose. The grab-your-attention headline: they made items with microplastics extracted from human blood. 😬 They also made a cool typeface! Based on the microscopic images of the blood plastic.
Watch the print-objects film. Watch the typeface film. Read about it.
NOTE: This campaign caught our eye back in May and, sure enough, it won big at Cannes Lions…before it was withdrawn because it might not be 100% truthful. Award show fakery? Color us shocked!)
72. Mentos jingle
Commitment is a marketing superpower. Sticking with a line, a jingle, a campaign for years…it’s how great brands are made. But marketers often get tired of the same-old and shake things up. (Sometimes that’s good, sometimes it’s a disaster.) Mentos (and agency Highdive) brought back an updated version of a “beloved” brand asset: their Freshmaker ear-worm jingle from the 90s. Updated for TikTok and featuring content creator (and legit musician) Carter Vail, they have loads of goofy charm.
Watch ’em and read about the campaign. See all nine. Read about the jingle’s history. Watch some of the classic ads.
73. Candy boom
Sometimes an obvious idea can be delightful — Warheads candy is blowing up stuff. Specifically, their mascot, to promote their new Atomic Fizz candy. But what we really like about this campaign (from Tombras) is that it’s grounded in a sales-focus brief: “we need to move the merch.” Sales targets unlock explosions. Smart.
Watch ’em and read about the campaign.
74. Light launch
If you’re going to use a clichéd visual metaphor (like “lightbulb = idea”) you better find a fresh way to execute it. Genesis (and agency INNOCEAN) is up to the task with this cinematic stunner. Terrific visual effects and motion-picture-quality sound design make this much more than your typical running-footage car launch.
Watch it (with headphones!) Read about it.
75. School poops
This spot starts with a kid farting in class…and gets even more glorious from there. UK toilet paper brand Andrex (and FCB London) tap into the all-too-real fear of pooping at school with a surreal celebration that features a great lead actor, a supportive dog, and a celestial “pooooooo” chorus. “First School Poo” is a follow up to last year’s “First Office Poo.” which was also great.
76. Fake news
This one stirs up some complicated feelings, but that’s probably the point. Columbia Journalism Review (with help from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York) has a new PSA to warn of the dangers of fake AI images…by bringing fake AI images to life to sing about the dangers of fake AI images. It’s a worthwhile effort as fakes are distorting citizen’s perceptions of reality. The video cites its sources for the fake images it uses, including how many impressions they gained. But it also brings them to life in a “fun” way that weirdly gives them more “life.” Does the video unintentionally make the phonies feel more real? It gives you a lot to think about…which is more than most PSA’s do.
Watch it. See the site. Read about it.
77. Shadow beer
Yes, this is a gimmick outdoor campaign, created as much for the case study as anything else. But it’s still a simple clever idea — branded shadows to promote your beer brand. Brahma (and Grey) find a unique way to grab attention by using the sun to cast their brand name on the ground…and then turn those shadows into a social campaign and in-store activation. If you’re going to do a stunt-y outdoor like this, you should absolutely turn it into a case study to amplify the stunt and give it a chance to help your brand, well after the billboards come down.
Watch the case study and read about the campaign.
78. FatBoy 15s
These are so dumb…and we love them. Long time readers know we STAN a great campaign of 15s — a series of simple ads that find one joke/structure, mine the hell of it, and don’t tart up the ad with a bunch of other stuff. FatBoy ice cream sandwiches (and agency TDA Boulder) got the memo.
Watch “Smart Speaker,” “Baseball,” and the 6-second spots. Read about the campaign.
79. Legendary waters
Anniversary campaigns are a creative minefield. Truth is, the people who care most about your company’s birthday are the internal folks sitting around HQ’s conference table — not the real people you need to reach with your ad campaign. Finding a way to make “normals” care about your milestone means telling a good story and executing with style. Topo Chico (and agency Preacher) do both with their new anthology-style campaign, traveling from the Aztec empire to the arrival of rock ’n’ roll in Mexico in the ’60s.
Watch it. (Or watch the individual spots: “Princess,” “Good Year,” and “Special Delivery.”) Read about it.
80. Reverse it
The-entire-story-told-in-reverse is a technique that’s been done before, but online supermarket Ocado (and agency Uncommon) uses it to good effect in this new spot. Lots of great detail, terrific photography, and a just-right music track.
81. Old fingers
Olds FTW! Not sure we totally understand the need for the ŌURA ring (it tracks your sleep) but this new campaign (from agency Nice&Frank) makes good use of seniors and deserves credit for selling the great line, “Give us the finger.”
82. Nude tease
Australian streamer SBS has a cheeky (pun intended) new campaign that uses nudity to grab your attention and make larger point. The “We go there” campaign (from Droga5 ANZ) features a naked man, dashing through various SBS shows. To prove that you can see stuff on their service that you won’t see anywhere else, you can actually watch the NSFW full-frontal version of the spot on their site. (The more chaste broadcast version is linked below.)
Watch it. Watch their “Life” and “Death” 15s. Read about it.
83. Sizzling static
We know…this is one of those ideas that gets green-lit because it’ll make a great case study. (You can smell the award show thirst!) But branding radio static is subversive enough that it earns the shout out. In this promotion, Burger King (and BBDO) claimed all the blank radio airways and equated it to their sizzling grill. Stunt-y (and probably not as “real” as the case study would suggest), but clever as hell.
84. Nutty spot
With a name like Nutpods (yes, that’s the real name of this non-dairy creamer brand) you hope that their campaigns will be a little, well…nutty. This one (from agency Callen) doesn’t disappoint. Sometimes it’s as simple as letting fridge crooners sing your product benefit over and over again. And “Have yourself a delicious moment” is the sort of creative platform that could live a long time.
85. Breakup artists
Here’s a new spot that would never get greenlit in America: a “tech demo spot” that dives into the chaos of modern love: sex, nudity, infidelity, arguments, reconciliations…with the product itself way in the background. Norwegian tech brand Stø gives us a short film called “The Breakup Artists,” that may or may not do anything to elevate the brand, but it’s a fascinating bit of film craft. Also, these two deserve each other. 😬
Watch it and read about it.
86. Miley mojo
This is a smart, strategic, and fun social promotion for TikTok and Miley Cyrus. The campaign (from Mojo Supermarket) brought Cyrus superfans to LA to hear a preview of her new album, and then surprised them with an intimate concert performance of all the new songs. It also perfectly promoted TikTok as “the ultimate place for fan and artist connection” while empowering the 100 fan-fluencers to share the experience with their audiences. That’s what they call “social synergy” folks!
Watch the promo. Read about it.
87. Cannes, Cannes, Cannes!
Cannes Lions — the ad industry’s annual orgy of self-adulation — dominated headlines (and LinkedIn) during its run. The excesses of the festival are well-documented, but it WAS the center of the ad universe this week and worthy of attention. Plus, it’s good to see the great work that bubbles up each year and gains greater visibility. Highlights:
🏆 The Winners — Watch all the Grand Prix-winning case studies and see the full breakdown of all 838 Lions handed out.
📈 The Numbers — The festival received 26,783 entries this year and collected $38.7M in entry fees, alone. Check out a full breakdown of the entries and see which categories trended upwards.
👀 Activations — Brands (many of them tech companies) had some incredible IRL activations along the beach this week.Take a tour of the IRL pop-ups at Cannes this year.
🎲 The Game — Do ad awards really honor creative prowess? Or do they celebrate agencies who are willing to pay entry fees and play the game? Brands play, too. Even Sir John Hegarty thinks we should be more focused on effectiveness. (Our John wrote up these “fixes” 10 years ago; he’s glad he didn’t hold his breath waiting for them.)
💸 The Cost — It’s hard not to notice how much is spent on the festival ($130M+) when so many are losing their jobs. It’s a little gross. Also, as this post from Zoe Scaman illustrates, speakers don’t get a free ride. (And mansplaining opportunity cost is obnoxious.)
🌪️ Controversy — Tongues are wagging about a few big winners from Brazil (somebody lost their job over it.)
🤫 VIP Section — As if the festival wasn’t exclusive enough, now there’s an even MORE exclusive Cannes experience?
🦁 Other Animals — The awards the festival SHOULD hand out, in addition to lions.
📹 Festival Recaps — A million of them showed up on LinkedIn the week after; we liked this guy’s video reports.
🏝️ Can’t Lions — An idea for an alternative festival in 2026.
88. AI goes primetime
Kalshi, a sports-betting marketplace, aired an AI-generated ad during the NBA finals…and ad land lost its mind over it. Because the ad was created in two days and cost just $2,000, using Google’s Veo 3 video tool. None of these people exist and none of this footage was actually shot; it was all created by the robots.
Us ad-industry insiders have seen our feeds flooded with AI video these last few weeks, but this primetime debut was an eye-opener for many. Bottom line: the business is going to need a lot fewer people to make ads going forward and budgets (and margins) are going to going to get squeezed. Is the ad any good? (Are MOST ads any good?) It’s eye-catching, and it did its job: got people talking about a new brand. The AI future is here, like it or not.
Watch it. Read about it. (But it’s sad that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.)
P.S. This AI-generated monkey-drinks-beer film also got a lot of attention this week as “the future of advertising.” Yay? 🤦🏻♂️
P.P.S. You should also read this: “Madison Avenue Braces for the AI Apocalypse.”
89. Cereal killer
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (and The Martin Agency) introduce a cannibalistic character that thinks his own kind are delicious. Watch it.
This behind-the-scenes video is pretty great. (Will we see more of this as part of an anti-AI backlash?)
90. Go long
Capri Sun (and Mischief) introduced their longest drink pouch for the solstice, the longer day of summer. Read about it.
91. Student WOW
It’s not often we say this, but the best new ad we saw this week was a student spec ad! From the students at VCU Brandcenter (with help from local production partners), this spec spot for U-Haul is one of the best things we’ve seen this year. Built on a great insight (moving isn’t about boxes or the truck, it’s about where you’re headed) and then made with loads of craft, it’s beautifully done. Snap up these grads while you can!
92. Out-of-the-box outdoor
Love this billboard campaign from Canva, that popped up around Waterloo Station in London. Clever “breaking the fourth wall” executions that speak to scenarios that marketers (their target audience) will recognize and smile about. Smart and funny, it’s out-of-home that makes you jealous you didn’t do it first.
See them all and read about it.
93. Pack songs
We’ve been fans of the previous iterations of this JanSport campaign (it was one of our favorites of 2024), so you’d think we’d be immune to its charms by now…but backpacks singing wildly off key is just so gloriously stupid, we can’t get enough.
Watch “Elevator Love,” “Bug,” “Overpacking,” “Rotting,” and “Messy Car.” Read about the campaign.
442 Bonus Bits
We include bonus links in each issue. Here are all 442. (Yeah, that’s a lot.) Some gems in here, so click away!
🏈 The Pop Tarts Bowl was back and it delivered more mascot insanity. (Including the zombie resurrection of last year’s consumed pastry!)
🗣️ Rosetta Stone shows how joyful it can be to learn a new language.
🔥 Wendy’s made an ornament that will roast you.
🎁 MullenLowe finds a good use for the ideas clients didn’t buy.
☕️ Sabrina Carpenter is shakin’ that Ess’ (puns for Dunkin.)
🔎 Google’s Year in Search.
🥬 Ocado lets food do the talking.
🐶 Even wise guys love their dogs.
🐯 Where have all the mascots gone?
👟 What if Nike advertised like most B2B brands?
🕶️ Meta Ray Bans welcome you to our dystopian future.
🦾 A.I. imagery as inspiration, not the final creeative.
🗞️ Love this papier-mâché art from Bernie Kaminski.
🔮 Pinterest Predicts 2025: see next year’s trends now.
📈 More than 200 “What to Expect in 2025” Trend Reports.
🎥 Annual recap from Pepsi’s in-house agency. (Big brands don’t need as much outside agency support as they used to!)
💡 How to reclaim your life from work.
🧼 Dove outdoor campaign wants you to be “unready for anything.”
🪒 Do you have the password for Dollar Shave Club?
🪩 18 immersive experiences open now and coming soon.
🎁 Great how-to decks from seasoned ECD John Long.
🥩 Steak-cations are better than stay-cations.
🚘 Hyundais are now “add to cart” on Amazon.
🥊 Boxing ballet for Deezer.
🐸 The Great Frog jewelry brand gets groovy.
🛒 The fastest-growing brands on Instacart.
👩🏼🎤 Art Vinyl names record cover artwork of the year.
🎧 Audible takes you away.
🏟️ The Super Bowl is coming: tracking all the ads.
🐌 On paper, a 60-second monologue from a slug shouldn’t work, but it does.
📣 Your CEO is not your brand voice.
⚡️ Not sure we really understand the idea behind this employment agency’s “energy drink made from the essence of GenZ,” but the body-horror visuals do grab attention.
🔺 Doritos unveiled its three “Crash the Super Bowl” finalists.
📈 LinkedIn’s new brand campaign.
🔥 Hot sauce face-off.
🖐🏼 Five graphic design trends for 2025.
🏠 The four brand architecture options.
🌳 Back to Nature’s bold identity makeover.
🏃🏽➡️ 10 print ads in 10 weeks show the effects of running.
🚙 Ford turbocharges vintage ads to relaunch Capri.
🎶 “Name This Oreo” game offers musical discounts.
🍔 Cruising around in mascot costumes makes a surprisingly fun spot.
✈️ Uber campaign for London Gatwick. (Clearly Cannes bait, but still charming.)
🪑 Benedict Cumberbatch and a chair star in ad for National Theatre Live.
🐑 Australian Lamb’s annual big commercial takes on the comment section.
🦙 Monday.com deploys musical llamas.
🌶️ The Tale of Texas Pete.
🏦 Bank spots with a sense of humor?
🏩 Photo series of Japan’s “love hotels.”
🥣 Progresso Soup Drops (this is inspired.)
💰 Substack spends $20M to court TikTokers.
🧠 A shift in thinking for online content creators.
🧐 Lipton’s direct-mail book for “the hard curious.”
🧢 7–11’s streetwear collections are pretty great.
🎞️ How 27 filmmakers collaborated on one music video.
👀 Motion graphic eye candy to promote the ADC Awards.
🗄️ LinkedIn doesn’t want you to become part of the furniture.
📦 Dropbox’s online brand guidelines site is pretty sweet.
💾 IKEA embraces old viral trends to celebrate the “better late than never” intro of their loyalty program.
💡 Pitch advice from Bryan Cranston.
🎂 Can’t even begin to wrap our brain around the editorial and sound mix process by Questlove and team for this terrific film celebrating 50 years of SNL musical guests.
☕️ New brand spot from Starbucks (with a winking-fun choice of music track.)
🐻 Man vs. bear in new whiskey spot.
👽 Alien goes for a ride in new Citroën ad.
🏃🏻♀️ Netflix runs through all its shows, literally.
⏳ Cher turns back time for Uber Eats.
📺 Why your brand needs a “social show.”
🧴 Skincare brand puts truths in black and white.
👶🏼 Sometimes you pitch an idea 15 years too early.
🌈 ‘Chromotherapia’ photography exhibit.
🧤 Handy: new identity for glove maker.
🍅 Heinz outdoor campaign.
🛹 Zen and the art of skateboarding.
☎️ Vodafone celebrates double coverage with big spot.
🍔 In the UK, McDonalds launches minimalist outdoor and print and new TV.
💡 DeckOfBrilliance.com offers idea generation tools for creative professionals.
💸 From our founder this week: pitch winners and fundraising songs.
🎨 The 2025 Pinterest Palette.
☕️ New Starbucks anthem spot.
🍺 Australian brewery Coopers keeps it original.
🥦 Tesco’s new food campaign and brand platform.
📊 New WARC report: brand vs. performance.
🍕 7–11 offers “emotional support pizza.”
🍸The Tito’s spokescart is back.
☘️ Uncle O’Grimacey is back to promote Shamrock Shakes.
🌭 Mustard hypes mustard at the Grammys.
🇧🇷 Chevrolet celebrates 100 years in Brazil.
🧀 Tillamook’s boat story.
🚗 Kia is giving away cars instead of buying an SB ad. Try and win.
🛁 Take a bath in Papa Johns garlic sauce.
🐯 The complications of putting so many mascots in one spot.
🍑 Kim Kardashian is Skims’ Fairy Butt Mother.
🏟️ Super Bowl print ad for ESPN.
🌹 DoorDash is selling threesomes for Valentine’s Day.
😴 Curry’s makes good use of the ball pit.
🍕 Black and white pizza design.
🙊 Don’t laugh at brand building.
🪦 The Duolingo owl is dead. (But probably not really.)
🧴 Little sisters crash new Eos campaign.
🤔 What do the SB spots say about our biz?
💕 V-day spots from around the world.
🍔 McDonalds UK’s “Order like Stormzy.”
📚 Roald Dahl identity system.
🚎 Volkswagen has their own SNL50 ad with “The Californians.”
🏀 Warriors break out FOOH (faux out of home) to promote All-Star game.
📺 George Tannenbaum shared a bunch of old, memorable SB spots (very much worth a watch.)
🗽 StreetEasy knows New Yorkers who regret moving out of the city. Video & Stills. (The tell-us-your-story dial-in is pretty inspired, too.)
👶🏼 So many babies in one spot.
🎤 A look inside the K-pop design machine.
🛒 Shopper resists the club card for 30 years.
🐻 Bears chase car through the woods.
🪨 Designing The Cure album art.
💃🏽 Valentino gets stylishly weird.
👽 First commercial from Zoox (robotaxis from the future.)
🛏️ IKEA slid into folk’s DMs in the middle of the night to sell mattresses.
🥔 Lay’s had a Super Bowl spot, but held this Matrix-themed one for debut on SNL50.
🌎 BBDO launched their new global positioning.
🍎 The best apple (fruit, not computer) spot we saw this week.
🔥 The best “our hot wings will send you to the toilet” spot we saw this week.
🤔 Should indie agencies play the RFP game? (Panel discussion this Tuesday.)
🥃 This new Maker’s Mark spot. (Anybody else want the block to melt down to a single cube before he dropped it in?)
💪 John’s “Tough Love Tuesday” post: these ad jobs are never coming back.
👶🏻 Kids ruin everything, but that’s OK. That’s the message in this campaign to establish IKEA in the Middle East.
🍿 Skinny Pop makes good use of Jennifer Aniston.
🐀 VCU Brandcenter students place ads for rats.
🚨 The aesthetics of surveillance.
😵💫 Cinnabon social goes rogue.
🧥 Pioklepiokle’s brand identity.
🏀 ESPN has “Bracketbrain.”
🐝 Beyonce is back in Levi’s.
🛩️ Audi outdoor goes paper airplane.
🥗 Knorr says, “you can deliver better.”
🫧 Eye-popping motion-graphics textures.
🥫 High-end tomato juice for Bloody Marys.
💪 Creatives should build their own platform, not rent others.
🍺 Budweiser positions itself as “The Beer Behind Hollywood.”
🏎️ Liquid Death announced the winners in their NASCAR promotion.
🅿️ Luka and Jordan Brand find way into Angeleno’s hearts: free parking.
🏜️ Billboard Arabia’s “Sounds of the Land” case study. (This will probably pick up a lot of ad awards this year since it’s the type of idea that’s created to win a lot of ad awards.)
🤔 Should independent agencies play the RFP game?
🤷🏻♀️ Is this the most honest billboard ever?
🆎 The difference between “typeface” and “font.”
🥤 Dig this new packaging for Spindrift Soda.
💡 Layoff advice.
🍤 Puppets promote shrimp.
🏙️ The Sims creative influence.
📚 Replace scrolling with books.
🇮🇹 The Venetian says “Viva Las Venice.”
🧊 New identify for new prebiotic iced tea.
⭐️ Los Angeles launches tourism campaign.
🛠️ New tool to stick a branded item into an AI image.
🍸 Amazon’s James Bond play is a race against the clock.
🧵 Crafty! Burberry uses cross-stitch embroidery to animate new spot.
🌎 Bloomberg Media introduces “The Contextualist” in Tea, Bird, Tides.
💪 R/GA bought itself back from its holding company to go independent again.
🪚 This Bosch spot makes more sense than the one they ran on the Super Bowl.
🍋 Original Source spot embraces AI effects, but they feel sorta right for this one.
🛋️ Another new Axe spot featuring a long leather couch. (The sound design on this one!)
🟣 Behind the balls: the best ad ever filmed in San Francisco.
🎨 Painting The New York Times every day.
💁🏻♀️ Women in advertising history you should know.
🤔 13 lessons creatives wish they’d known earlier.
🍗 Two from KFC: this bonkers gravy ritual + A.I. takes on all the fried chicken recipes on the Internet.
⛳️ FootJoy says “we’ll let you stick a joke at the end as long as you do 20 seconds of product shot.”
💄 Beauty brand launches sketch comedy series “The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls.”
🧼 Duke Cannon body wash embraces 70s low-fi aesthetic for new campaign.
🐇 Bunny farts (and other punchlines) rule this creative’s new t-shirt line.
🌖 Capri Sun introduces “moon punch.”
🎈 Airheads goes on a speed date.
👗 Digital fashion at Paris Fashion Week.
🏡 Is it Redfin or Rentfin?
🎭 We had a crappy week…and then it got better!
👙 About that giant inflatable Kim Kardashian…
🏠 The National Association of Realtors says “Don’t DIY” in two nice new spots.
⚾️ Ohtani vs Ohtani for New Balance.
🍰 Embroidered cakes.
🇨🇭 Swiss passport design.
☀️Sun-assisted outdoor.
🥣 Quaker Oats makes ugly ads.
🎩 Mr. Peanut is going to be in a movie.
⛹🏻♀️ Wallpaper (literally) from Sports Illustrated Germany.
🐐 Lots o’ big name athletes in this new one for Dick’s Sporting Goods.
🕶️ This is how you do fashion show content.
🍺 Rad packaging for General Admission Brewing Co.
🎶 Musicbed’s 2025 music-in-film trend report.
🔥 A love letter to the lost tradition of queer matchbooks.
🍜 Times New Ramen (the noodle font you didn’t know you needed.)
🤖 The problem with all those AI demos.
👎🏻 The production company “loan out” pressure from holding-co agencies is no bueno.
🎾 This eye-popping mega-zoom tennis teaser.
🙌🏻 Classy client provides feedback after a lost pitch.
🍼 Frida releases breast milk-flavored ice cream.
🏃🏿♂️➡️ Puma’s new take on “runner’s high.”
🏠 Diesel invites voyeurism in “The Houseguests.”
⚡️ Why motion is the future of brand identity.
✋🏻 Meticulous animation.
👃🏼 Sniffable billboards.
🏔️ Sundance is moving to Boulder, Colorado.
🙌🏻 Creator vs. algorithm: creating a cult following.
🖇️ Wait, is using LinkedIn to find your agency a bad thing?
🏀 UK campaign wants to remove all the “no ball games” signs.
🖼️ Beige campaign to save the local arts scene in Charlotte, NC.
✌️ Twix ditches “left vs. right” with new campaign and updated packaging.
🎬 How “Napoleon Dynamite” rewrote the indie marketing playbook 20 years ago.
💡 12 brand-building lessons from Oatly’s departing Chief Creative Officer.
🤠 Liquid Death released a country song based on people’s hateful comments about their product.
🌶️ Chili’s is finally opening a Scranton restaurant (yes, like in “The Office.) Watch the spot.
🤔 That post-pitch client feedback was rad…but it’s also a little sad how starved we are for basic decency.
🤦🏻♂️ You’re not insane. Posting about normal advertising stuff feels crazy in the midst of real political chaos.
v🎥 This looks rad.
🩲 Aussie underwear campaign.
🔤 Futuristic fonts make moves.
🧥 Metra’s social approach.
🎯 Zoe Scaman on the REAL Gen Z.
🚙 “Pole pillows” from TD Insurance.
🍷 Gallo goes UGLY with new wine brand.
🧴 Neutrogena makes Jon Cena disappear.
🥤 Two from Coke this week: loud & quiet.
🥗 Bagged salad gets supermarket applause.
🚚 Fighting tyranny one LED billboard truck at a time.
🚿 There’s only so much Harry’s grooming products can do for you.
🏥 Children’s Hospital SickKids has powerful new spot for its 150th birthday.
🐾 VW turns indestructible car part into a dog toy.
⚖️ Skittles wants you to “legally acknowledge the rainbow.”
🍕 California Pizza Kitchen is not acting its age as it turns 40.
🏨 Marriott Bonvoy’s new global campaign from W+K New York.
🌯 Burrito brand releases lingerie for air fryers. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
🤪 April Fools’ brand stunts: List #1 | List #2 | List #3 | List #4
🌴 Brian Cox “clocks off” for Malibu Rum.
🦉 Inside Dualingo’s writer’s room.
🤡 Liquid Death invites you to murder clowns.
🇺🇸 It’s a lovely day: Guinness visits all 50 states.
☕️ Seattle’s Best Coffee to the rescue.
🧑🏻🦲 Sunscreen for baldies.
🥔 Ruffles meets corduroy.
🐈 Cling-y cats.
🐕 These dogs don’t deserve it.
🌚 Moon pie uses NASA’s cameras.
💡 Advice for new advertising grads.
🥚 MGA Toys’ egg-themed music video.
🧾 JCPenney “has the receipts” in new campaign.
🍝 Pasta brand has half a million Spotify followers.
✋🏻 Experiential’s newfound power in an AI-driven world.
🍫 Kit Kat introduces “The Break Brothers.” But also this one.
🤩 Starbucks’ “Glen” is an all-time ad classic. They just remade it as “Roy” for a new product.
🥤 3 things that make Coke better at marketing. Also, this campaign about it’s place in literature.
💥 The tough-love truth everybody in advertising needs to read.
👀 MidiBalls to fight testicular cancer, in concert.
🏀 NBA Playoff teaser goes big and cinematic.
💥 Any scene, directed by Michael Bay.
😍 Obsession is good for creativity.
👷🏽♂️ Ford says “doing beats talking.”
👌🏼 Agencies, if they were siiiiick.
🏁 Vans checkered debut at Milan Design Week.
🪴 Califa Farms releases a playlist for your plants.
📊 The power (and proof) of brand building.
🍺 Pringles and Miller Lite collab
🪩 Behind-the-scenes on OK Go’s latest music video.
😃 Marathon smile filter.
🚀 Zendaya goes to space for On.
👶🏻 Danny Trejo for Huggies.
📺 Jimmy Fallon’s marketing reality show.
☘️ Derrick White and Sam Adams merch collab.
😩 How we’re feeling right now: the gulf of reality.
💌 One woman’s art changed the way people feel about their bills.
🛜 Fresh visuals and vibe from Canadian internet provider.
🖌️ Illustrators fight back against A.I. action figure trend.
🌉 San Francisco adland turned back the clock at Grumpy’s.
🙋🏽 Scratch and sniff armpit billboards.
👃🏼 Can you smell design?
🏀 Michelob takes fans courtside.
⚖️ Nike made a 7-and-a-half minute film called “The Trial of Luka Dončić.”
🎮 Paul Rudd recreates his 1991 Super NES ad for Nintendo Switch 2.
🧠 Abbi Jacobson’s brain runs wild in this spot for CBD gummies.
🥞 Local ads FTW: Judy is crushing it on Instagram.
🎢 The new business rollercoaster for agencies.
🎶 Re-recording a classic song for your ad.
😬 Make an A.I. thing, risk the A.I. backlash.
🔥 SNL skewers Cheetos Flamin’ hot.
🍟 KFC Spain compensates customers for crappy fries.
🥨 Flashback: this British Bake Off teaser from 2017 is still great.
✌️ There are only two possible stories (and what that means for your career.)
🗽 The New Yorker uses 700 covers to celebrate its 100th birthday. Watch.
🥜 “Peanut Butter Jelly Time!” is back.
🐮 Laughing Cow wants its own emoji.
📸 Photogs “What I See” vs. “What I Take.”
💃🏿 Gallery from Met Gala 2025.
🅰️ Adobe’s new branding.
🦶🏻 Caveman runs.
😢 Elmo got laid off.
🏈 Faux OOH: Casino kicks football.
🇬🇧 Olivia Coleman promotes crumpets.
💨 Motion graphics made accessible to all.
🏔️ Dew Over: Mtn. Dew will re-do your tattoo.
🏎️ Full-sized Formula 1 cars made out of LEGO.
😬 Autodesk chooses God as its spokesperson?
🏜️ Mega sculpture 50 years in the making finally opens.
💪 Experiential marketing to surpass $100 billion by 2026.
🦸🏻 There are no new biz superheroes coming to save your agency.
☕️ Dunkin’ deploys male eye candy to say “we’re more than just a snack.”
💡 Lying in job interviews and LinkedIn tips.
🛹 Liquid Death decapitates Tony Hawk.
🎢 Loewe’s charming animated spots.
🪒 Harry’s takes on “big razor” in mockumentary.
🏴☠️ Grumpy pirates discover iced tea.
🦁 Is Cannes Lions in danger? (Probably not.)
🔈 JBL makes a speaker so big, you can’t return it.
👩🏻🦰 LOLAVIE ad makes smart use of Jennifer Aniston.
🎈 Insurance ad with absurdist balloon lady.
🥪 Subway welcomes IKEA to the neighborhood.
☁️ Proton goes playful to highlight privacy paranoia.
😬 This take on WPP’s re-org generated strong feelings.
💻 Apple’s new “get a Mac for college” campaign.
💡 Timely marketing insights from Nathan Jun Poekert.
😂 HBO Max mocks itself over rebrand rebrand…rebrand.
👀 Look back at the last 25 years of marketing.
🎬 Cinematic universe for brand deals.
💀 Are the funnel and flywheel dead?
🍊 Aperol’s ode to Italy.
📻 Great new radio from Deliveryeasy.
🧠 What does brain freeze look like?
🖼️ Artful spot for Rust-Oleum Canada.
😵💫 Psychedelic folk art in motion.
✉️ A terrific “how I got a job in advertising” story.
✈️ New AirBNB “mini people” ad touts experiences.
🤖 LinkedIn tip: Don’t outsource your humanity to the robots.
🥤 Adobe and Coke team up to train AI to make ads.
🇲🇽 Casamigos drops new campaign (and Clooney is nowhere to be found.)
🎰 Uno (the card game) opens a social club in Vegas.
💃🏽 Loads of style in this brand campaign for F&F.
🎀 What Jaguar’s failed rebrand can teach us.
🔼 Toblerone eats freaky.
🤝 Jony Ive and Sam Altman team up.
⚓️ Levi’s ditches Dockers (and John’s a little sad.)
📦 OfferUp introduces “box man.”
📹 Font inspired by cam lyfe: Onlysans.
😬 TFW it’s uncomfortable to go mini-viral.
👀 Skims wants attention for its pierced nipple bra.
✍🏻 Love these childlike educational illustrations.
⚽️ Best sports partnerships of the year (so far.)
🥩 Call of Duty made real “beef” to settle scores.
⚾️ MassMutual makes good use of a kids choir.
🤣 No joke: The Onion opens its own creative agency.
🛄 IKEA: Now THAT is how you do a station takeover.
🍕 Domino’s has a winner with fan-created social post.
📐 Tilted world: SAP does big budget, high-production value B2B.
🥅 God bless Pablo Rochet: his hockey-themed latest for Discover.
🏨 New HotelTonight campaign with a split-screen assist from AirBNB.
💋 Very mixed feelings about this lips-as-a-stand-in-for-buttholes outdoor campaign.
🛒 Cinematic supermarket spots for Morrisons.
🍍 The definitive pineapple-on-pizza spot.
🚽 Liquid Death’s latest: toilet taste test.
👩🏻💻 The 3D digital art of Intranet Girl.
🎾 Tennis vs. the sun.
🐈 Whiskas’ Purrrrrcast.
🔼 Toblerone tantrum stunt.
🟢 Big Green Egg lets you cook over fire.
🇨🇦 Tim Hortons celebrates The Canadian Dream.
🤦🏻♂️ Adverting copy is getting worse — and it may be on purpose.
⛰️ AllTrails new anthem spot captures the real feeling of hiking.
🚫 RXBAR blocks the b.s. in your LinkedIn feed.
🦈 Our Juggernaut spot is going to the movies this summer.
🍾 Dom Pérignon pops open a new celeb-driven campaign.
👶🏻 Nepo Babies for babies (and the National Diaper Network.)
⛱️ Cornetto unwraps summer in this print and OOH campaign.
📞 Netherlands financial services firm protects against scammers.
🐟 Of all the surreal German telecom spots we saw this week, this was our favorite.
⛈️ Veo 3 is impressive but why are we excited that a bunch of people are going to lose their jobs?
🍴 KFC unveils finger lickin’ forks.
🚜 The future of farming.
🏋️♀️ Dick’s does funny raps.
🤔 VW cures “decidophobia.”
📧 Omnnicom’s email insanity.
🥶 Coke’s brain freeze animations.
👟 Nike + LEGO collab. (See sets.)
☝🏼 Form + Fidget digital playground. (Try it.)
🧴 CeraVe scares the crap out of people.
🍸 Absolut is “Born to Mix.” See new spot.
🍑 Do most people even want “good” ads?
🫖 Ice-T offers “Ice Tea Insurance” for Lipton.
👍🏻 Sprout Social is doing good B2B social work.
🏃🏽♀️➡️ LEGO remakes Run-DMC with “She Built That.”
🤪 9 signs your client project is headed for chaos.
🏢 Maybe agency consolidation isn’t so great for clients.
💪 Eos Fitness introduces the world’s cutest gym bro.
🍕 A direct mail piece John still thinks about, 30 years later.
🍒 Tom Brady launches his own (checks notes) fruit snacks?
☕️ Starbucks is hiring two full-time “coffee content creators.”
🎱 8 things I learned in entertainment that advertising should.
😬 The Pikapocalypse seems a touch too dystopian for our taste.
🏅 ESPN (and BSSP) launch new brand platform: Sports Forever.
🤦🏻♂️ This is what happens when you cram too many messages in one ad.
🧶 Terrific VFX (a world made of that sweater!) in this debit card spot.
🌵 Aubrey Plaza mocks celebrity tequilas in new ad for Cointreau.
🤦🏻♂️ Joe Burns: Why is Advertising Getting Worse?
🃏 Mediabank introduces “Family Roast” card game.
💡 Agencies highest value is as “thought partners,” not makers.
🔥 Our sexy copper monster cos-played fireman this week.
💰 Media planning made simple: fund your favorite stuff.
🛒 If you don’t win at the shelf, nothing else matters.
🤔 What happens when AI floods social media?
🪞 Click-through traffic is now a “vanity metric.”
👩🏻💻 Creating consistent characters in AI.
🏆 Didn’t win a Lion? Print your own!
👏🏻 Touchland turned hand sanitizer into a $880M flex.
🏰 Brand is your moat, protecting you from the competition.
🤘🏼 Liquid Death clones Ozzy Osbourne? And their mom’s gargle hot sauce?
🙄 Not every creative decision has to be rooted in some big reason or backstory.
📈 Which brands are getting the most social shares on TikTok?
🍓 What to do when a TV show calls your product “hot garbage.”
📢 Walton Goggins fronts big new brand campaign for Walmart.
🐔 McDonald’s micro-influencer strategy.
😀 A brand built in a few hours? Meet Moodlings.
📺 Lil Dicky (who used to be an account guy at the ad agency that has the Xfinity account) made a music video for Xfinity.
🫀 Tools for Humanity re-works a childhood song to promote humanity in an AI world. Watch it.
🛝 UNICEF reminds us that when adults play with their kids, it’s magical. Watch it.
👞 Yerba Madre’s new dirt shoes.
🌌 Coke’s BIG new Star Wars ad.
🍽️ Charming and simple IKEA ads.
🚪 DoorDash battles the “summer scaries.”
🧳 Stop-motion baggage.
🎾 New Balance plays tennis inside a shoe box.
💻 Apple keeps pulling its own ads.
🇯🇵 Why Japanese commercials are so weird.
🐷 Peppa Pig is entering her big sis era.
🏳️🌈 Corporate Pride was quieter this month.
📊 The “Excel aesthetic” is having a moment in graphic design.
👋🏻 Etsy celebrates 20 years as the antidote to mass-made.
✒️ Advertising fails “sell me this pen” test.
🖍️ Crayola’s creativity open call.
⚽️ BBC’s claymation footballers.
🗄️ LinkedIn’s new outdoor campaign doesn’t stick to billboards.
🐈 This LYNX spot (and the story behind the strategy.)
📼 Hootsuite sends VHS tapes to influencers.
🌅 Stop motion using thermal cameras for WWF.
🎉 Agency SOS celebrates its 4th anniversary.
💡 Mind Your Business — a cultural report on the LGBTQ+ community.
🌈 The case against owning a brand color and the rise of the rainbow pack.
📧 Comms benchmark report: how employees actually consume information.
⚰️ George Tannenbaum: Keep Doing This and Die (a warning to the advertising industry.)
FROM EARLIER:
15 Favorite Ad Campaigns of 2024
67 Things That Caught Our Eye in the Second Half of 2024
89 Things That Caught Our Eye in the First Half of 2024
15 Favorite Ad Campaigns of 2023
78 Things That Caught Our Eye in the Second Half of 2023
98 Things That Caught Our Eye in the First Half of 2023
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Kovacevich is a creative director and the founder of Agency SOS. He writes a weekly email highlighting three bits of creative inspiration for modern marketers. You can subscribe, if you’d like.
