Somesuch continues its seven-year streak on Ad Age’s production company A-List with a strong year of entertaining storytelling.

Star director Kim Gehrig (named Director of the Year at Ad Age’s Creativity Awards for her work in 2021) had another exceptional year in 2022. She helmed an inspiring spot for Apple showcasing the tech giant’s accessibility features. Named Ad Age’s No. 1 ad of 2022, it showed a diverse range of people with disabilities, including a blind performer, a deaf mom and a cheerleader with Down syndrome using Apple device features in ways unique to their needs, but with an unexpected tone of joy and set to an original track featuring words from Muhammad Ali. 

The uplifting spot took an exciting approach to show off product features and was tied to International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3.

Gehrig also brought life to another topic not always depicted with flair: menstruation. In a spot titled “Periodsomnia” for period care brand Libresse, Gehrig artistically portrayed a night of discomfort from stained clothes, cramps and sweat featuring a gender-diverse cast.

Made with agency AMV BBDO, the spot used thermal filters and abstract clouds of red to beautiful effect, hypnotically swirling to the numbing rhythm of its electronic score.

The commitment to diversity in Gehrig’s work is emblematic of Somesuch’s approach as a company, too. Co-Founder and Global CEO Sally Campbell was among Ad Age’s Leading Women last year, and the company also takes pride in its gender diversity and inclusion, reporting a roster that’s a combined 63% female, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+.

For Kia and the NBA, director Stuart McIntyre took a similarly cinematic approach, but with a uniquely introspective quality. “Driveways,” made with agency David&Goliath, merges the two brands through the ubiquitous American pastime of driveway basketball.

Featuring a spoken-word soundtrack of basketball-themed poetry, the spot melds various film qualities: a frenetic style to imitate playing the sport, fast snapshots of still images and gracefully smooth shots tracking the arc of a ball.

Somesuch’s portfolio also included a bit of the bizarre and hilarious as well. For free-range dairy brand Cravendale, director Sam Hibbard created an ode to the very cows producing the milk. Set among picturesque hills of grass, farmers sing to their livestock, “Everybody’s free to feel good!”—the titular line of Rozalla’s dance track.

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The deadpan faces of the farmers as they serenade the cattle, and sometimes the viewer as they gaze straight into the camera, is a delightful middle ground between joyful and slightly uncomfortable laughter. The spot was made with agency Wieden+Kennedy.