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

Advertising typically aims to please, but it’s often at its best when it has more of an edge. Several of our favorite campaigns this week pushed the boundaries, including one brand punking another with data insights and a very entertaining TV campaign where people are just angry and screaming. We also traveled back to the 1980s for an elaborate misdirect; saw a top sports brand offer advice to stressed-out youth athletes; and enjoyed the excellent craft on a beer campaign tied to South America’s solar eclipse. See the full top 5 below. A-List & Creativity Awards Enter for a chance to be recognized as the best in advertising Submit your entry here 5. Pressbyrån: Bulatella Cannelle Agency: Åkestam Holst NoA Sweating the details works wonders for any creative, and this campaign for a Swedish convenience store chain certainly didn’t skimp on its elaborate fiction, inventing a whole fake 1980s Italian fashion universe to sell $1 cinnamon rolls. The whole thing is pretty bonkers, but the music video below—presented as an unearthed artifact from four decades ago—is inspired in its vintage look and cheesy performances. The out-of-home ads are fun, too, with the cinnamon rolls popping up in all the wrong places. 4. Corona Extra: For Every Slice of Sun Agency: David Miami There was a lot of hubbub around April’s solar eclipse in the U.S., but there was another one last week in South America—and it brought us this excellent campaign from David Miami for Corona. The brand got photographers to shoot the product during the celestial event, with the crescent sun in the background looking like the lime wedge that famously goes in the Corona bottle. AI probably could have approximated these visuals, but the care that went into handcrafting them—under intense time pressure—makes them really special. 3. Adidas: You Got This Agency: Opinionated Opinionated is always doing strong Adidas work, and these spots grab you right away. Presenting high-pressure moments in youth sports, the ads pause midway through to allow pros (Patrick Mahomes, Aliyah Boston and Anthony Edwards) to remind the kids it’s just a game—one they love to play. Derek Cianfrance brings a great visual vibe as director, and it feels like this work could actually be useful to its audience, not just another hero montage like so many sports brands do. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here 2. Wendy’s: Frosty Fix Agency: VML Wendy’s punking McDonald’s isn’t new, but it felt fresh in this gag, where Wendy’s Frosty trucks pulled up alongside McDonald’s locations where the ice cream machine was broken to dispense treats. Also notable is that Wendy’s partnered with McBroken.com, an independent website run by an ordinary consumer, to get the data on the machines. Brand feuds are always fun, particularly when there’s a new wrinkle. 1. Roku: Less Screaming, More Streaming Agency: Fellow Kids We’ve already pontificated about this campaign at length (are you getting our new Creativity Weekly newsletter?), but it bears repeating: This is next-level comedy, taking relatable family scenarios to hyperbolic extremes and then memorably presenting Roku as the solution. Every spot is flawless, from the writing to the performances (Hungry Man’s Dave Laden directed) to the cheesy Wii-like transition music in the middle. Even the tagline is weirdly perfect. One spot is below; see the other two here. It’s probably too much to ask for a sequel, but honestly, we need more of these. Football marketing news Tracking Super Bowl, NFL and college brand moves Read more here

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

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