Ten more companies that crafted the best ads of the year

Anonymous Content Anonymous Content director Malcolm Venville helped to kick off McDonald’s consistently delightful “Famous Orders” campaign with a pre-Super Bowl ad that showed the go-to meals of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Travis Kelce and even fictional characters including Dracula and Marty McFly. The shop then dove into the Big Game itself with Tim Godsall on another Squarespace celebrity outing starring Winona Ryder (picking up where he left off with his Keanu Reeves teasers in a previous push). Jason Koenig brought a fresh body-positive POV to Halo Top, urging viewers to “stop shoulding yourself”; Dee Rees helped introduce Regina King as Cadillac’s new brand ambassador in the “Never Stop Arriving” ad; while Patrick Daughters captured John Legend’s vivacious performance for Bai’s “Flavorful Hydration.” —Ann-Christine Diaz See all of Ad Age's A-List and Creativity 2021 winners here. Arts & Sciences Arts & Sciences delighted us all year-round with entertaining—and at times, thought-provoking—contributions to the commercials world. Matt Aselton introduced us to a character we can’t get enough of—Sam Adams’ bumbling, lovable “Your Cousin from Boston” from Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Mike Warzin’s comedy was at an all-time high too, notably on Coors Light’s hilariously bittersweet holiday ad starring “Beer Man,” who was like the snowman version of the pandemic agony we endured in 2020. Artist Alex Prager was also behind the year’s strangest, most intriguing Christmas push. Miller’s “Farewell, Holiday Parties” via DDB was both a spot and art installation that captured the habits of white-collar partygoers who had become all but extinct during the pandemic. —Ann-Christine Diaz Buck The restrictions on live action production in 2020 gave plenty of room for animation and VFX companies to shine. And shine is what Buck did on some of the year’s most artfully crafted ads. Adobe’s “Pure Imagination” Oscars spot, created with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, was an explosion of creativity, set to the iconic Gene Wilder track of the same name. Buck was also behind the spectacular “It Comes Naturally” ad for Unilever’s Shea Moisture, created via BBDO and Joy Collective. The company brought to life and pieced together the vibrant, mesmerizing artwork of six different Black artists in a celebration of the diversity of Black women—each second of the film worthy of being framed. —Ann-Christine Diaz Caviar Amid the struggles of 2020, Caviar reached a pinnacle with the release of “Sound of Metal.” Written and directed by its director Darius Marder and executive produced by Head of Films Bert Hamelink and Managing Partner Michael Sagol, the film earned multiple 2021 Oscar nominations and ultimately the nods for Best Sound and Best Editing. On the commercials front, director Alan Yang, executive producer of “Master of None” and “Little America,” took time out to helm Apple’s hilarious privacy ad, “Oversharing.” Cloé Bailly was on board for Bumble’s humorous push in which Helena Bonham Carter discusses the perils of dating, while Jody Hill brought his comedic chops to Facebook Portal’s series in which Rebel Wilson puts on her Martha Stewart hat in time for the holidays. —Ann-Christine Diaz Epoch Martin de Thurah presented a hopeful glimpse at a life begun under quarantine for Facebook. Using archival footage and shot over just two days, the work with Droga5 recounts the birth and early life of a centenarian born in 1920, during a months-long lockdown due to the influenza pandemic. Emma Westenberg directed HP’s Gen Z-focused ode to activism, which aired just after the U.S. presidential election, and Matias & Mathias kept busy with a trio of spots revisiting Old Spice’s Isaiah Mustafa for Wieden+Kennedy, lauding Megan Thee Stallion for Spotify’s “Wrapped” and creating a grumpy holiday tale featuring an angry Santa Claus for Posten.—I-Hsien Sherwood Nexus Studios Nexus Studios kicked off the year with a rotoscoped film bidding adieu to the beloved Volkswagen Beetle with Johannes Leonardo, which aired at midnight on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Working with an in-house team at meditation app Headspace, it delivered the brand’s first TV campaign. The company also brought to life other pandemic-era feats: an educational augmented reality program for the World Health Organization that taught healthcare workers how to safely don and use PPE; a Facebook Portal spot in which grandparents read children’s books to their loved ones over video chat; and Google’s guided tours of real- life locations with the help of AR mapping technology.—I-Hsien Sherwood Partizan Partizan enlisted the Gondry brothers, Michel and Olivier, to relaunch Facebook Messenger for Leo Burnett. Michel was also responsible for a fantastical musical spot for Burger King—a country-inspired number from We Believers featuring yodeler Mason Ramsey that brought the serious issue of cow farts and burps to the climate change conversation. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet delivered a fanciful cityscape with 72andSunny for Adobe, mixing animation with live action in a spot that took four months of post-production. Anthony Wonke directed a long-form film about the storied life of Johnnie Walker that aired on Discovery and Amazon Prime, and Warren Fu stranded Travis Scott in a surreal desert for a PlayStation 5 launch film.—I-Hsien Sherwood Radical Media Radical Media’s Mollie Mills powerfully shone a light on the underrepresentation of female artists and producers in the music industry in “2%,” a promo for the Grammys that featured a female choir performing “Underdog” by Alicia Keys. Fred Armisen both directed and starred in 30 clever Google spots in which he morphs into an array of characters to highlight the various features of the company’s suite of devices, including the Nest, Chromecast and Pixel. Dave Meyers directed celebrities including Snoop Dogg in the rapper’s first Corona commercials and Anna Kendrick in Frito-Lay’s holiday “Sound of Music”-themed ad while helming music videos for the likes of Ariane Grande. Radical also produced the Netflix documentary “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” —Alexandra Jardine Reset Reset’s Ian Pons Jewell continues to be one of the industry’s most sought-after talents. He brought his distinctive style to Squarespace’s “Launch It,” using space metaphors to convey a fantastical representation of the explosion in small businesses, while he transported “Black Panther” actor (and future Oscar winner) Daniel Kaluuya into a dreamscape for Xbox in “Us Dreamers.” He also recreated a zombie invasion and the D-Day landings in “First Steps” for Oculus. Elsewhere, Markus Walter created an epic gladiator film for Jif’s new squeezable packaging, and Adam Hashemi took a family on a magical adventure in a fun spot for the Nissan Rogue. —Alexandra Jardine Superprime Superprime’s Damien Chazelle blazed a trail for the industry with a cinematic nine-minute blockbuster for Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign, showing off the capabilities of vertical video. Mike Bernstein hilariously spoofed console advertising with "PS5," depicting a special Philadelphia Cream Cheese set as a highly covetable object. Samuel & Gunnar provided an opportunity for armchair travelers to let out their pandemic frustration with Iceland’s tourism campaign “Let it all out,” and The Malloys tapped into our collective longing for normality with ESPN x NFL’s "Ready for Football—It's All Coming Back to Us Now,” backed by Celine Dion’s epic vocals. Meanwhile none other than Taylor Swift chose Superprime to produce her directorial debut, the music video “The Man,” which wittily transformed the singer into a male version of herself. —Alexandra Jardine

Ten more companies that crafted the best ads of the year

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