Watch: The top 5 creative brand ideas you need to know about right now
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Welcome to a live episode of the top 5 creative brand ideas you need to know about right now.
Ad Age's Creativity Associate Editors Alexandra Jardine and I-Hsien Sherwood are joined by Ad Age reporter Adrianne Pasquarelli to count down the creative highlights of the week, including multiple portrayals of Santa, and a devilish take on 2020.
5. Orange: Unicorn Grandpa
Agency: Publicis Conseil
A grandfather receives a smartphone for Christmas in a holiday ad from French telecom provider Orange, in which some joyous humor comes from how creative he gets with it. The spot, from Publicis Conseil, sees him bemused by the phone until his granddaughter sends him a picture of herself with a unicorn filter. What happens next will delight you as he sets off to recreate his own version via the homemade route.
4. UN Women: Censored Images
Agency: Mullen Lowe New York
At number four this week is a powerful outdoor campaign for UN Women that features posters of pixelated photographs, with copy suggesting the sinister stories behind them. Created out of MullenLowe New York and Mediahub, the “UNSeen Stories” effort have captions like “this is a photo of a man raping his wife.” The ads go on to explain that the images are blurred out because it’s illegal to show such acts, “but in 41 countries, it’s not illegal to do it.”
3. Beats: Flex That
Agency: Virtue Worldwide
In a new spot for Beats Naomi Osaka, the tennis star who also appeared in a recent Beats spot that ask ‘Do you love Black people?', prepares herself for the court. Osaka, who has made headlines by using her platform to support Black Lives Matter, wears her hair emblazoned with a beaded message: “Silence is Violence.” The campaign comes from Virtue Worldwide and it’s part of a series that also features the musician Cordae and the rapper Flo Milli.
2. Xfinity: The Greatest Gift
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
We’ve seen a lot of different portrayals of Santa in ads this year, but perhaps the best yet is from Steve Carell, star of “The Office” and movies, who plays Saint Nick as a stress-eating, overbearing boss in this short film from Comcast Xfinity. Created out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and directed by MJZ’s Craig Gillespie, the three-minute-plus spot for the telecom brand sees Carell dealing with the elves via a video call as they attempt to package the intangible gift of the holiday spirit.
1. Match: A Match Made in Hell
Agency: Maximum Effort
As a hellish year comes to a close, this commercial for dating site Match depicts Satan finding love with a girl called 2020. Match enlisted the help of board member Ryan Reynolds and his agency Maximum Effort in creating the ad, which develops from a romantic meeting in the park to picnicking in empty sports stadiums, hanging out in socially distanced gyms and deserted movie theaters, a toilet paper raid and a selfie by a dumpster fire, all soundtracked by Taylor Swift's "Love Story.” It ends with the message: "Make 2021 your year."