One of just a handful of female-led advertising sound and music companies, Barking Owl, founded by music production vet Kelly Bayett, made an indelible sonic imprint on the advertising landscape in some of the year’s most impressive and important work. The company also steered audio post-production on Expensify’s first Super Bowl push, “Expen$ify This,” from now-shuttered JohnxHannes. The campaign included a spot and an “expensable” music video featuring 2Chainz and Adam Scott. It did the same for Reebok’s “Storm the Court” from Venables Bell & Partners, and delivered more whimsical sound effects for Wieden+Kennedy’s “Let’s Be Kids” for Fisher-Price.

Another distinguishing moment was Procter & Gamble’s riveting “The Look,” for which it created a restrained, sonic world of music, sound design and mix to underscore the realities of the African-American male experience. “It’s about the micro-racism that happens every single day, sometimes subconsciously,” Bayett says. “You want to highlight it without shaming people.”