BEST TVFavorite: Orange '
Cybersecure'. Yes, it's a bit too long, but I'm sure all the cutdowns would be equally as effective. Great performances and the production values fit the concept well. I was hoping all the dialogue was directly taken from statements as opposed to being "inspired by", nevertheless it's a strong concept and I'm sure it'll be quite effective.
Runner-up: Krungsri First Choice '
What The Fast!'. Made me lol and want to see more. I know it's the old "our product is like this" approach, but it's done super well. Well written and lovely casting. "You smell bad." "Sorry." Good stuff.
BEST PRINTFavorite: Mizani - L'Oreal Caribe '
ART'. A beautiful way for the brand to use its space to celebrate the legacy of Puerto Rico's Afro-descendant community. Lovely craft too. I'm sure this would be part of a much larger campaign, with more touchpoints, but the print was immediately engaging and definitely rewarding.
Runner-up: Travel Value Fashion '
Saint Laurent'. Simple, and fun way to show the product without needing to show the product.
BEST OUTDOOR Favorite: The Melanoma Fund '
Silhouettes - Football'. It's classic, old-school outdoor, but it works in two ways. Firstly, it's preventative (obviously). Yet secondly, if you have any moles on your body which are shaped anything like a person playing soccer, you should definitely get it checked out.
Runner-up: Mercury '
Password's on the back'. I'm not sure effective OOH should require people to view both sides of a billboard, but hey, at least they followed through and actually put the password on the back.
BEST INTERACTIVEFavorite: Met-Rx '
Flex'. It's always tough to get people to change their behavior and legitimately start using a different flex emoji, but I like the ambition. Simple, fun and easily campaignable. Plus, even if no one uses the new emoji, if they pay John Cena to post it to his socials, the campaign will still work.
Runner-up: Tater Tots '
Ore-Ida Tot-Protecting Pants'. Welcome back Jon Heder! If your brand has ever naturally shown up in pop culture, then it's low hanging fruit to gain some cultural relevance for a moment. Which is why you should not hesitate and convince your strategist to let you step away from the framework for a second and pick the fruit.
BEST RADIOFavorite: Suzuki '
Selling Cars to Kids'. Book your Sirens breakfast now. An easy winner. Probably the pick out of all the categories too. I thought there would likely be a law against advertising cars to young children, but I'm glad there seemingly isn't. As a parent of a young child, there were some solid laughs there. Offering up the promise of sleep? Perfect. Also, "it's fun to say" the brand name around the house? Genius. And Santa's favorite car? Lol. But buried under all the brilliant writing, there's a great strategy too. Nicely done.
Runner-up: Superloop '
Job Titles'. As an EVP ECD, I take great offense to this ad.
This week's guest judge is Jim Curtis, EVP, global executive creative director at McCann Worldgroup, New York.
Jim is an award-winning creative leader with extensive experience leading large creative teams across a diverse breadth of communications.
During his career he has worked with brands including BMW, Volkswagen, L'Oreal, Comcast, Hennessy, Mastercard, Tourism Australia, Under Armour, McDonald's, Mailchimp, Sprint, Fujifilm, Clearasil, CUB and more.
His work has been awarded at all major international shows, including Titanium at Cannes, yellow pencils at D&AD and golds at the Effies, One Show and Webby Awards. As well as being named Twitter's Super Bowl Ad of the Year and a finalist in YouTube's TV Ad of the Year. He has also served on a number of award juries including the 2023 Cannes Lions film jury.
He is passionate about the transformative power that big ideas can bring to brands, culture and people's everyday lives. Most of all, he loves working with good people who are impatient about making great work that gets the whole world talking.
