The top 5 creative campaigns to know about right now

People hate AI. Or do they? This week, we got an example of a fun generative AI project that consumers were initially wary of—but quickly came to like. Along with that largely virtual effort, we got four interesting campaigns centered in the real world, which is always reassuring. Three were playful, while one was quite sobering—but all four brought a level of creativity that broke through. See the full top 5 below. Enter the free 2025 Young Creatives Contest here 5. Lynx: Lynx With Catnip Agency: LOLA MullenLowe The way to a woman’s heart is through ... her cat? Often yes, says Lynx, the Unilever brand known in the U.S. as Axe, which launched a new catnip-scented product—so guys can impress the cat, and thus impress the girl. Lots of brands dream up gags like this, but there’s usually little follow-through. But Lynx spent months actually developing the scent, then got A-list director Andreas Nilsson to direct an amusing spot about it. That commitment elevates it to another level. 4. Chili’s: Scranton Branch Agency: Jon Marshall & Daughters Chili’s continues its run of strong creative by embracing its connection to “The Office,” which figured in the plot of several episodes, as Dunder Mifflin employees occasionally lunched there. In reality, there was no Chili’s in or around Scranton, Pennsylvania—but the chain is opening one on April 7. It got “Office” stars Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery and others to film ads for the opening, and it will be the only Chili’s nationwide to serve an “Awesome Blossom,” which was discontinued years ago but is returning to just the one location. 3. Dreamies: Ad Attack Agency: adam&eveDDB A playful idea meets excellent craft in this adam&eveDDB project from London, which involved placing fiberglass cats on and around billboards for Dreamies cat treats. It’s a great visual, having hungry felines climbing drainpipes, stalking rooftops and hanging off the ads. In a nice touch, the hand-painted sculptures were created using 3D renders of actual cats looking for Dreamies treats. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here 2. Us Weekly x The Harris Project: The Missing Issue Agency: Havas New York Celebrity magazines are known for eagerly chasing drama. This campaign saw Us Weekly admirably stepping back and considering its actions. The magazine worked with The Harris Project to raise awareness of so-called “co-occuring disorders,” where substance misuse is accompanied by mental health struggles. Much of Us Weekly’s celebrity coverage in the past has focused on the former but ignored the latter—so it rewrote some old articles to offer the mental health context around specific cases. The Harris Project says the success rate is much higher when people with co-occuring disorders have them treated together. 1. Skinny Mobile: Liz Agency: Colenso BBDO Here’s our favorite AI project in a while—a campaign from Skinny Mobile in which the New Zealand telecom digitally cloned one of its happiest customers and will feature her in AI-generated advertising over the next two years (giving her free service for life in exchange, which is a bargain). The key here is that the agency did lots of content featuring the woman herself, Liz Wright, so the public got to know and like her. This paved the way for the AI version, who’s a tad creepy—but by this point, viewers are on board and won’t just react negatively to her. It’s a clever way to actually produce campaigns at a lower cost (the brand says it passes along the savings to its customers) while wrapping it in an entertaining and embraceable concept. Enter the free 2025 Young Creatives Contest here

The top 5 creative campaigns to know about right now

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