Creativity quiz 2023—test your knowledge of the year’s top ad moments

It’s been quite the ride in advertising since Jan. 3, the first proper workday of 2023—when Ad Age published, among other stories, predictions from 33 execs about what the year might have in store. Now that we’re on the other end of 2023, how much do you remember of the year’s twists and turns in the world of creative advertising? See our 2023 Marketers of the Year here For the quiz below, we put together 25 questions to test your knowledge of the past 12 months, with topics ranging from alien-language billboards to prehistoric product innovation—and everything in between. Along with our ranking of the 40 best ads of 2023, it’s a good snapshot of creative work that really got people talking this year. Good luck with the quiz, and here’s to a creatively eventful 2024. 1. Pepsi unveiled a new logo in March to near universal acclaim. What new colors did it introduce to the brand? Baby blue and turquoise Electric blue and black Light plum and dark raspberry Sky blue and vermillion red The soda giant’s visual rebrand—its first since 2008—was meant to reflect boldness and energy, as well as pop culture and digital cachet. Read more here about how designers reacted to the refresh. 2. Executives from which indie agency own the rights to the name “Cocaine Bear” and licensed them to Universal for the movie? Cornett Erich & Kallman Orchard Preacher After coming into possession of a taxidermied bear in 2015, Cornett execs invented a larger-the-life backstory for it—which eventually led to the movie eight years later. Read the whole sordid story here. 3. Which shop was named Ad Age’s 2023 Creative Agency of the Year in March? The Martin Agency Mischief Rethink Slap Global Read more here about the award-winning combination of buzzy yet strategic work that is Rethink’s specialty. 4. What brand recall score did Burger King’s “Whopper Whopper” campaign achieve when measured by Accelerant Research in January? 78% 85% 93% 99% The chain achieved rankings of 62% for both likability and engagement in the same study. Read more here about OKRP’s “Whopper Whopper” campaign for BK. 5. Grimace, whose purple milkshake captivated McDonald’s fans (and TikTokers) in 2023, was introduced in 1972 under what name? The Evil Grimace Grimace the Giant Taste Bud Grimace the Milkshake Man Grimace the Purple Blob Though he is indeed a purple blob—and has been described by McDonald’s execs as both the embodiment of a milkshake and a giant taste bud—Grimace was first known as Evil Grimace, a character who stole kids’ milkshakes. He was later reimagined as the friendlier Grimace we know today. Read more here about Grimace’s eventful 2023. 6. Which dating app launched a colorful campaign in February with the tagline “It starts with a swipe”? Hinge OKCupid Match Tinder Mischief launched the Tinder campaign at the end of February. It included eye-popping print, digital and OOH ads illustrated by hyperrealist French artist Pol Kurucz, along with videos directed by Los Pérez of Biscuit Filmworks. Read more about the campaign here. 7. A buzzy new creative co-working space opened in Portland, Oregon, in February in what unexpected location? Abandoned DMV Creative director’s basement Portland City Hall Repurposed roller rink Jason Kreher opened the space in an abandoned DMV in the Lloyd Center Mall, the mostly empty Portland shopping mall where Tonya Harding once learned to skate. It was called, appropriately enough, DMV. Read more about the project here. 8. Which legendary creative director was honored at Cannes in June with the Lion of St. Mark award for lifetime achievement? Colleen DeCourcy Mary Wells Lawrence Piyush Pandey Susan Hoffman Hoffman was employee No. 8 at Wieden+Kennedy and is now the heart and soul of the agency, following the founders’ deaths in 2021 and 2022. Read our profile of her brilliant career here. 9. Which Oscar-winning actress portrayed Mother Nature in Apple’s short film about sustainability in September? Ariana DeBose Octavia Spencer Regina King Viola Davis In a memorable performance, Spencer grilled Apple execs, including CEO Tim Cook, on how the company’s plans were coming along to be fully carbon neutral by 2030. Read more about the spot here. 10. Wunderman Thompson and food-tech company Vow created what prehistoric dish in March from the DNA of an extinct animal? Dodo dumpling Mammoth meatball Passenger pigeon pudding T-Rex T-bone Unveiled in the Netherlands, the Mammoth Meatball was created from the DNA of the long-extinct woolly mammoth and its closest living relative, the African elephant. It received global attention, including a mention from Stephen Colbert, who said Vow’s goal of “mixing and matching cells from unconventional species to create new kinds of meat” sounded a lot like Taco Bell. Read more about the meatball here. 11. Modelo Especial overtook Bud Light this year as the best-selling beer in America by dollar sales. Which of the following brands is not among the top 5 best-sellers? Budweiser Coors Light Michelob Ultra Miller Lite Bud Light lost its place following the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brand's PR disaster over a promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Read more about the controversy here. 12. Saucony, the running shoe brand, signed unconventional NIL deals this year with what kind of college students? Engineering students Marketing students Mathematics students Nursing students The brand teamed up with the Galen College of Nursing to develop the NIL Student Nurse Initiative. The program, dreamed up by agency Doner, began by giving NIL sponsorships to four of Galen’s top nursing students. 13. MoonPie unveiled billboards in December written in which language, developed in the 1960s to communicate with aliens? Geonosian High Valyrian Lincos Zentradi Inspired by congressional hearings on extraterrestrials, agency Tombras identified aliens as its client’s new potential customer base. Read more about the otherworldly campaign here. 14. Indie agency Atlantic New York got attention for providing what service to attendees of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June? Airport shuttle rides Babysitting Moped pizza delivery Paragliding lessons The agency operated its own car service throughout the week, offering free rides between Nice airport and Cannes to prospective clients willing to hear the agency’s elevator pitch on the way. Read more about the stunt here. 15. Which of the following was NOT the basis for a McDonald’s campaign this year? An obscure mathematical theorem How drunk people sound when ordering Doubts about the existence of Santa Claus The shape of people’s eyebrows McDonald’s did indeed roll out campaigns inspired by the Chicken McNugget Theorem, late-night drunk orders and how eyebrows resemble the Golden Arches. It was Burger King, though, that questioned the existence of Santa. 16. Which commercial finished first in the USA Today Ad Meter as the top ad of the 2023 Super Bowl? Amazon “Saving Sawyer” Dunkin’ “Drive-Thru with Ben Affleck” The Farmer’s Dog “Forever” NFL “Run With It” The pet food company’s 60-second spot featured a chocolate Labrador who grows up alongside his owner from childhood to her having her own family as an adult. The other spots here were the top three runners-up. Read more about the Farmer’s Dog spot here. 17. Ogilvy New York produced one of the oddest ads of the year in October for what local small business? Brooklyn dentist Manhattan bakery Staten Island realtor Queens taxidermist Ogilvy made a two-minute spot—complete with loud on-screen graphics and intentionally awkward moments—for Island Wide Realty, a real estate company on New York’s Staten Island owned by Anthony Bernardo. Read the whole backstory of the spot here. 18. Travis Kelce’s whirlwind autumn, fueled by a romance with Taylor Swift, made him an even more popular pitchman. Which of the following brands did he NOT endorse this year? DirecTV Dodge Pfizer State Farm Already a popular endorser, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end hit the brand stratosphere this fall—appearing in more ads during NFL games than any other athlete, per iSpot.tv. Dodge ads, though, were not among them. Read more about brands’ love affair with Kelce, and about how the NFL reacted to the Kelce-Swift relationship. 19. Which former late-night TV personality directed spots for Regal Cinemas in August urging people to get back to the movies? Andy Richter Craig Ferguson James Corden Samantha Bee Conan O’Brien’s erstwhile late-night sidekick directed a trio of spots from agency Quality Meats that showed characters from genre movies accosting people about not coming to the theater. Read more about the amusing campaign here. 20. Which celebrity actor lied his way through a series of TravisMathew apparel ads in March? Ben Affleck Chris Pratt Matt Damon Robert Downey Jr. Pratt was at his deadpan best in the campaign from Imagine Entertainment, in which he invented ludicrous stories about the brand’s history—suggesting, for example, that it was founded by a man named Aaron Turdberry. Revisit all the spots here. 21. Zaxby’s, the Southern restaurant chain, accosted which Northern city in October with billboards ridiculing its favorite food item? Boston Chicago New York Philadelphia Zaxby’s promoted its Fried Chicken Philly with cheeky outdoor ads in Philadelphia (along with a video starring Dolph Lundgren) poking fun at the original Philly sandwich. Read more about the amusing campaign here. 22. Which 2023 Super Bowl advertiser punked viewers with an ad that made it seem like someone was changing the channel? Doritos Planters T-Mobile Tubi Tubi’s “Interface Interruption” used pre-recorded footage of the game’s real announcers before cutting away to show Tubi’s own interface—prompting people everywhere to scramble for the remote. Read more here about how “Interface Interruption” came together. 23. Which brand aired a Black Friday campaign in November inspired by its own holiday ads from the ’90s, which were themselves inspired by variety shows from the ’60s? Amazon Best Buy Coca-Cola McDonald’s Amazon aired spots for Black Friday and Cyber Monday that harked back to its 1999 “Sweatermen” campaign, which in turn was an homage to the Mitch Miller and Lawrence Welk shows of the ’60s. Read more here about the nostalgia-upon-nostalgia marketing play. 24. Which 1990s band’s drummer endorsed an enema kit sold by beverage brand Liquid Death in April? Blink-182 Counting Crows Hanson Matchbox Twenty The gag product, called the “Enema of the State Collectible Enema Kit,” was promoted by Travis Barker, drummer for Blink-182—which released the album “Enema of the State” in 1999. Read more here about the bizarre product. 25. Lego rolled out a global campaign in September under what tagline? A World of Play Live, Love, Play Play Is Your Superpower Play On “Play Is Your Superpower” launched with a freewheeling film starring a group of precocious kids—with a cameo from Jane Lynch. Read more about the campaign here. Share your score

Creativity quiz 2023—test your knowledge of the year’s top ad moments

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