Although Division7 is less than five years old, it appears on Ad Age’s A-List for the third time. In 2020, it was a production company to watch. In 2022, it was a production company Standout. The company is now No. 7 on the Production Company A-List for its outstanding array of storytelling, from memorable Super Bowl spots to tear-jerking short films.

Last year started out with a bang for Division7, which had two buzzy spots in the Super Bowl. The first was a laugh-out-loud commercial for Hellman’s featuring former linebacker and current coach Jerod Mayo—a match made in condiment heaven.

The spot, aimed at reducing waste, showed Mayo careening across the screen numerous times to swipe wasters off their feet, including an injured mother, an elderly woman and Pete Davidson. Directed by Kris Belman and led by agency Wunderman Thompson, the spot was a hit on Big Game lists.

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Division7’s second spot in the 2022 Super Bowl broadcast was “Real Tone” for Google’s Pixel 6 phone, made with agency Gut Miami. The spot highlighted new Pixel 6 camera tech that more accurately captures the color of darker skin tones. Directed by Joshua Kissi, the spot is mostly a montage of images showing the rich diversity of color the phone can capture, contrasted against opening images of people of color washed out against dark backgrounds.

The spot, which featured an unreleased Lizzo track, “If You Love Me,” was part of a larger campaign that went on to win a Grand Prix in mobile at Cannes Lions.

Kissi ended the year with strong work—a holiday short film for Chevrolet. Part of the auto brand’s “Holiday Card to America” series that began in 2021, Kissi’s addition follows the life of a woman through her memories in a vintage car—loving ones with her husband, mournful ones when he dies in war then joyful memories of neighborhood children playing around the Chevy in the street.

Shown in increasingly fast bursts of emotion, the car comes to a sputtering end, it seems, as the woman reflects on her life lived through relationships. Spoiler: There’s a happy twist in the end.

Rounding out the range of emotions, Division7 managed to slip some thrills into the year as well. For Nestlé Extrême, female directing duo Similar But Different took pillow fighting to the next level. In a classic case of taking things a little too far, a friendly, giggly sleepover romp escalates to high-flying acrobatics through city streets as two women pursue one another with pillows as weapons.

“There’s a trope within ice cream ads: a pristine model daintily eats the treat without making even the slightest mess,” the company wrote in its A-List entry. “Extrême wanted to break those clichés.”

See all the winners of Ad Age's 2023 A-List Awards here.