From the pandemic and vaccinations to cryptocurrency, Arts & Sciences directors mastered topical themes last year—including in several popular 2021 Super Bowl spots.

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These included Mike Warzin’s “Last Year’s Lemons” for Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, in which friends reconnect over all the lemons that 2020 delivered. And there were several commercials directed by Matt Aselton, who helmed M&Ms’ Big Game ad in which characters apologize to people they have wronged with packets of the candy. The comedy leaned into topical references—mansplaining and calling someone a “Karen” among them—with understated humor. 

Aselton also directed Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen in the power couple's first commercial appearance together in a fast-paced Big Game spot for cryptocurrency trading brand FTX, as well as the hilarious Sam Adams effort that saw “Your Cousin From Boston” letting the Clydesdales loose. And outside the Super Bowl, Aselton deployed a charming take on the song “Part of Your World,” from Disney’s "The Little Mermaid," for the Apple iPad. 

Other highlights included Alex Prager successfully capturing the weirdness, elation and joy of people reuniting socially in “Let’s Grab a Beer, America” for Anheuser Busch and Wieden+Kennedy New York in the wake of the vaccine rollout.

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Having opened its London office at the end of 2020, Arts & Sciences signed several new directors including The Bobbsey Twins from Homicide. U.K.-anchored projects including included Warzin’s “Bring It” for Uber Eats and Mother London, in which an upbeat delivery driver serenades office workers, and Anthony Mandler’s Oscars spot for Expedia featuring Rashida Jones. Mandler, whose feature film debut, "Monster," premiered on Netflix, also brought some inspiration to basketball with “Impossible Is Nothing—Trae Young” for Adidas out of Cartwright.

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