Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: EDEKA: Time to Come Home. This ad makes me uncomfortable. I mean if it were a Black family - generally speaking - we would have been like, "What the fuck are you doing scaring the shit out of us like that, Big Daddy?! Do you know how much our plane tickets cost?!" HOWEVER, everyone in this white family in the ad looked decently well off. So, they - generally speaking - could have afforded the plane tickets! HA HA HA So, as the CD, I would have considered the audience, I would have liked the fact that the idea made me uncomfortable, I would have zeroed in on the fact that the ending is totally unexpected and I would have said, "What the hell. Let's do it!" Oh, and I would have asked the creative team this question, "Do Germans - generally speaking - leave their parents home alone for Christmas? That's fucked up!"

Runner up: Virgin Mobile: Are You Ready For Some Hollywood Magic From Kevin Dillon. It was between this and the [v]Nike[/b] joint. But I chose this one, because Nike has its formula down pat - albeit, it's a formula that never goes out of style. The Virgin joint captivated me from start to finish. I wanted to know where it was going. And once I saw where it was going, I wanted to watch it, again. Which is ALWAYS one of the top priorities of any ad. Make the consumer wanna do it (i.e., watch it) over and over and over. When you create work like that, you don't have to repeat the brand name 10 times in 30 seconds, nor make the logo bigger.

BEST PRINT
Winner: Presse Cafe: Wake-Up Call. Rule #1 - Whatever ad idea you come up with, make sure that you can't simply replace the logo of the brand your advertising with another, different, competitive brand logo. Rule #2 - Rules were meant to be broken. Rule #3 - There are exceptions to every rule. Wake-Up is so dope, Rules #2 and #3 definitely apply.

Runner up: PADI: Apollo. Truth trumps b.s. any day of the week. We're so busy trying to go to Mars (which is cool), that we forget there may be a real life Sub-Mariner and Atlanteans right here on Earth. (Your Marvel card is revoked if you aren't hip to this reference.)

BEST OUTDOOR
I don't mean to be a wimp, here, and not be able to choose a winner. But I just can't. This is some of the illest outdoor I've ever seen. ALL of this stuff is truly worthy of the words, OFF THE SKILLET, or as my sons would say, "These are LIT!"

Hyundai went to great lengths to make you cry. Watching their VR piece makes you want to bust Kim Jong Un upside his head and say, "Wake up!"

The Volvo Trucks piece reminds me of the American Tourister commercial with the gorilla, except the 21st century version is more high tech and the gorilla is replaced by a young girl. If you didn't believe Volvo Trucks were rugged, you'll believe it now.

Andrex's outdoor ad is genius. Sure, you can have "that" bathroom in your house. Talk about truly hitting home!

{url_new=http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad/75813/Old-Spice-High-Five-Mannequin]Old Spice[/url_new] spices up your arm pits in the most highly imaginative way possible. HA HA HA Old Spice's work never gets old. Pun intended.

Dope how a big company, like Pizza Hut, has the balls to actually say MERRY CHRISTMAS, instead of just Happy Holidays (except for at the end). And the creative way they did it?!?! Geez Louise, it doesn't get any more creative than that, Jack Frost.

Now, if you're going to force my hand and make me pick just one - even though ALL of the above are deserving ... I'd have to go with DePaul's Just One Look. I'm a sucker for homeless people. No one should ever be homeless, but yet, we see them all around us every day. We're numb to them. This outdoor UN-numbs you ... unless, you're like Mr. Grinch and your heart is the size of a pea.

BEST RADIO
Winner: BHV: Procrastination. I thought BHV was gonna make a brotha feel bad... because that's me! THAT'S FRICKIN' ME! And I know that I'm not the only one. Fortunately, although this radio spot is speaking to women, it gives the brothas an out! (Not just my Black soul brothas, but my White, Brown, Red and Yellow soul brothas, too.) If BHV was in the states, I could just give Smoke (my wife) BHV's contact info and feel proud! HA HA HA.




This week's guest judge is Jimmy Smith, partner, chairman and chief creative officer, Amusement Park, Santa Ana, California.

Many people know how influential advertising greats Lewis Williams, Dan Wieden, John Jay, Jim Riswold, Jon Kamen, David Lubars, Lee Clow, Michael Roth and funk leg-end, Bootsy Collins have been in the career of Jimmy Smith. However, what many people don't know is that if it were not for Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, David White and Agnes Moorehead - Jimmy might never have considered a career in advertising. Montgomery, York, White and Moorehead played Sa-matha Stephens, Darrin Stephens, Larry Tate and Endora, respectively, on the TV show, "Bewitched." Darrin was a creative director and Larry was an account executive. Not only did the show introduce Jimmy to advertising, it unintention-ally planted the seed of the idea of branded entertainment.

Throughout his career, Jimmy - a 2012 Fast Company magazine Top 100 Most Creative member - has worked his magic in a variety of roles as a copywriter, creative director, author, TV writer, video game creator, film and record produc-er. His work has been recognized for its fresh advertising approaches (One Show, Cannes, D&AD, ANDY, Time magazine), for its TV show originality (Emmy nomination - Gatorade Replay) and for its beauty (Stiftung Buchkunst International Book Art Competition, Copenhagen Museum of Applied Arts - Soul of the Game). And in 2013, Jimmy added TV show talent to his list of accomplish-ments, as he appeared as a judge on VH1's reality show, "Model Employee."

As you'll often hear Jimmy say, "Jesus has hooked a brotha up!"