Subprime mortgage lender Ameriquest became 2005’s overachiever with a pair of sleeper hits from DDB Direct L.A. and director Craig Gillespie. Both show people who land in situations where they seem to be something they are not -- a lead-in to Ameriquest's pledge to not judge borrowers too harshly. (In retrospect, that might not have been the best business strategy, as Ameriquest shut down in 2007, but the marketing was on point.)

In one of the Super Bowl XXXIX spots, a man preparing a surprise dinner ends up looking like a cat killer. In this one, a cellphone talker is mistaken for a stickup artist and is unceremoniously maced and beaten.

Both wound up in the top 10 of USA Today’s Ad Meter, enough to encourage the Super Bowl first-timer to come back with two spots in 2006 ("Friendly Skies," "Doctor").

Production company: MJZ. Copywriters: Pat McKay, Josh Fell. Art directors: Feh Tarty, Michael Mittelstaedt. Agency producer: Vanessa MacAdam. Editing: Spot Welders. Editor: Haines Hall. 

BRAND: Ameriquest

YEAR: 2005

AGENCY: DDB

SUPERBOWL: XXXIX

QUARTER AIRED: Q1