Advertising
02 Wieden+kennedy
The world’s top independent ad agency helped brands such as Ford, Nike, and new NBA sponsor Michelob Ultra navigate the pandemic; forged Ford’s unprecedented content partnership with Disney to announce the new Bronco; and picked up U.S. creative duties for Mcdonald’s, which, aiming for greater cultural relevance, launched the Travis Scott meal. W+K’S work is spicy— even without BBQ sauce.
03 TBWA \ Worldwide
The agency’s most laudable work this year was for Apple, particularly a mini-sitcom ad called
“The Whole Working-from-home Thing,” which perfectly distilled the confusion, collaboration, and chaos of doing office work at home during a pandemic. TBWA also made an amazing five-hour spot—filmed in a single take—that was essentially a full tour through Russia’s iconic Hermitage museum.
04 Translation
By mixing ’90s Sportscenter footage with a modern script for State Farm, Translation created the most talked-about commercial that aired during ESPN’S hit Michael Jordan docuseries, The Last Dance. In November, it helped Beats by Dre rediscover its creative heart with “You Love Me,” directed by Melina Matsoukas, written by Lena Waithe, and with music by Solange Knowles.
05 Observatory
In addition to savvy spots for Chipotle and Netflix (which teamed with Ben & Jerry’s to invent flavors for certain Netflix shows), Observatory worked with Nike to create the brand’s in-house entertainment division, Waffle Iron Entertainment, which has more than a dozen projects in development. With Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, it sold the doc The
Day Sports Stood Still to HBO.
06 Maximum Effort
Ryan Reynolds and Co. have churned out one entertaining, subversive ad after another for Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile, as well as Samsung and Netflix. The company began the year by turning Peloton’s lemon of a Christmas ad into viral lemonade for Aviation Gin, and ended it with a charming video hyping Reynolds and fellow actor Rob Mcelhenney’s acquisition of
Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC.
07 Highdive
This 30-person agency was the champ of the 2020 Super Bowl for persuading Bill Murray to relive Groundhog Day for Jeep (in a spot that was nominated for an Emmy) and Jason Momoa to appear muscle-less for Rocket Mortgage. Highdive, which saw revenue grow 35%, proved that major brands don’t need a big agency to create attention-getting work.
08 Uncommon London
The indie firm’s most notable work was a mental health campaign for broadcaster ITV, which paused the live airing of Britain’s
Got Talent to have the hosts encourage the audience to check in with friends and family. Uncommon also created a candle line with fragrance brand Earl of East, featuring scents of things people miss, like a pub, a music festival, and the movies. Profits went to U.K. hospitality workers.
09 BBDO
For Dunkin’, BBDO New York established an innovative influencer partnership with the most-followed Tiktoker, Charli D’amelio, to bring her favorite Dunkin’ order to the menu as “The Charli,” giving her millions of fans something to leave the house for. Tapping a big social star is the kind of obvious move many brands miss or botch. But this was as flawless as D’amelio’s dance moves.
10 You & Mr Jones
Over the past year, the “brand tech” company has raised $260 million at a $1.36 billion valuation to reinvent the holding company. It acquired influencer marketing agency Collectively and is decentralizing content creation. Subsidiary Oliver helps others build in-house operations, including Unilever’s U-studio, which increased its digital content production by 40% during the pandemic.