Vauxhall Motors: Lionesses

The English public has had an ambiguous relationship with women's football at best.For every empowering "Bend It Like Beckham" story, there have been a million laddish gags and chauvinistic put-downs. So when Vauxhall wanted to congratulate the England Women's team for reaching the World Cup semi-finals, we saw a chance to acknowledge that their biggest victories were won years before the tournament even began. The ad from McCann Central UK ran in national press on the day of England's victorious play-off match against Germany.

It was tweeted and retweeted by thousands of football fans, the BBC and even, best of all, by the England players themselves.

Result.