It’s magical every time a 12-foot skeleton or Tiger King captures the cultural consciousness. Time stands still as every agency and brand weighs in with a tweet or campaign spinoff. This year’s most talked about items range from the binge-worthy to the trend-worthy and the edible to the blockchain-able.

The metaverse and NFTs

To get the obvious out of the way first, 2021 is the year every brand went virtual. From Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale to Facebook’s Meta rebrand, the explosion of popularity for digital goods led brands from Taco Bell, Chipotle and Coke to Dunkaroos, Balenciaga and State Farm into the metaverse. As technology progresses and the metaverse transitions further from concept to reality, this trend is sure to make lists for years to come.

Read: How NFTs are used by marketers—a continually updated list

Read: 12 marketing execs leading the metaverse charge

'Squid Game'

“Squid Game,” Netflix's Korean game show murder-thon was its top performer in September. According to the streamer’s new analytics site, the show has racked up tens of millions of hours of viewership and remains on its top 10 list among non-English TV shows for the 13th week in a row. Brands took to social media to share spoofs of the show’s imagery, Louis Vuitton signed one of its stars and the theme song was a top sound on TikTok for weeks.

Read: How 'Squid Game' is winning attention from brands

Celebrity fast food meals

Last year, McDonald’s collaborated with J Balvin and Travis Scott on custom meals, but when mega-popular K-Pop group BTS followed suit in 2021 and McDonald's made its meal internationally available, one of the year’s biggest food trends emerged: the celebrity meal. At McDonald’s, Saweetie and Mariah Carey followed suit and other chains produced copycats.

Berries and cream

Who could’ve predicted a 2007 Starburst ad would reappear on a list of 2021’s buzziest talking points? That’s the power of TikTok, where the little lad who loves berries and cream trended for weeks in the fall. Users cut the candy jingle into popular songs and danced his jig. The actor who portrayed the little lad, Jack Ferver, joined the platform for his own twist on the 14-year-old campaign and was a hot profile for major media outlets. As of writing, the hashtag “#BerriesAndCream” has 1.8 billion views on the platform. Berries and cream mania has even oozed into the holiday season—a Little Lad inspired brew from Shiner Beer dropped last week.

Clubhouse

Someday Silicon Valley mommies and daddies will tell their tech startup babies the fable of Clubhouse, the audio-centric social media platform that spectacularly ascended then plummeted since its launch in 2020. Hype for the app skyrocketed last year as lockdowns made a commodity of human interaction and in February of this year, daily active users peaked at over 4 million. That number has since plunged 80%, according to data from Insider and Apptopia. Back to talking IRL.

See Ad Age's 2021 Year in Review here.