The top 5 creative campaigns you need to know about right now

Undeniable truths and entertaining falsehoods—we saw a bit of both in this week’s breakthrough ad campaigns, with realism and fantasy holding equal sway. On the fantastical side of things, we saw an amusingly ludicrous mini-musical and a complete fabrication of a tourism campaign. Leaning more into realism were an herb company’s quirky testimonials and Ikea’s no-hold-barred depictions of how real life gets messy. Both approaches, in the end, were fruitful. Below, check out our picks for this week’s Top 5. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here 5. Monica Lewinsky: Stand Up to Yourself Agency: Mischief Monica Lewinsky has been making compelling anti-bullying PSAs for years. But her latest one, unveiled this week, used a clever misdirect to shine a light on a type of bullying that often isn’t recognized as such. The hard-hitting spot came from Mischief, making its debut collaboration with the activist. Not quite a social experiment, yet far from a traditional PSA, this work felt like a fresh way into a discussion many brands have joined lately—just not in this interesting of a way. 4. Gaia Herbs: The Right Way Agency: Baldwin& Employee testimonials usually put people to sleep, but they work like a charm in Baldwin&’s new campaign for Gaia Herbs. Kate Renner, Gaia’s farm operations manager, and Tim Murray, its director of quality control, bring an easy rapport as they play up the nerdy nature of their jobs in scripts that effortlessly communicate the brand’s values—and how those values integrate into its production process. In a category (herbal supplements) with more than its share of shady players, this work—supported by a celeb element with Gisele Bündchen—succeeds in really building up the trustworthiness of the Gaia brand. 3. Tourism New Zealand: There's No Place Like It on Earth Agency: Augusto Taika Waititi is a big advocate for his home nation of New Zealand, but it’s more fun when he pretends not to be. This three-minute-plus film stands out for its meta take on celebrity endorsements, with Waititi suggesting his stunt double could do the job just as well as he can—that is, until he can’t. Director Jackie van Beek does a great job here not only capturing Waititi’s trademark zaniness (the spot references, and is nicely timed to, the forthcoming season 2 of “Our Flag Means Death”) but also joining the onscreen action herself as she shepherds the fake film-within-a-film through its troubled production. There’s only one section of the spot that really pushes the landscape shots, but as this client has long understood, you have to hook people in a bigger way first to get them to pay any attention at all. 2. Ore-Ida: Deliciously Predictable Agency: Johannes Leonardo The topsy-turvy mini-musical is an advertising genre all its own. (Think, to name just one recent example, of the Super Serious spot for Impossible Foods.) Now, Kraft-Heinz and agency Johannes Leonardo have put their own spin on the format in a legitimately odd, amusing and self-aware production for the frozen potato brand Ore-Ida. The sheer range of scenarios and visual styles in the two-minute film is impressive, and the lyrics and melody are off-kilter enough to stay interesting. The tagline, too—“Deliciously Predictable”—is a weird union of opposites on its own, yet pleasantly so. All in all, it’s a colorful way to talk about the usually colorless brand attribute of consistency. Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards Final deadline approaching for annual program Enter here 1. Ikea: Life Is Not a Catalog Agency: Try Oslo There’s a long history of advertising calling out its own artificiality, and Ikea plays the part well in this three-spot campaign, themed “Life Is Not a Catalog.” The spots start out showing seemingly pristine homes, but things devolve pretty quickly in relatable ways—a dog pees on a rug, a mother is laid up sick on a couch, a couple of teens clean up after a rager. This is real life intruding on advertising’s perfection, and the spots really go for it, with the mom in particular delivering a convincing vomiting performance. (But don’t worry, the couch cover is removable and washable, which is the point of the campaign—to emphasize how easily cleaned Ikea’s products are.) Of course, the “reality” here is staged as well, but coming from a democratizing brand like Ikea, the sentiment rings true—and certainly stands out in the mostly manicured world of home goods advertising. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here

The top 5 creative campaigns you need to know about right now

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