BEST TV Winner: Dunkin' '
Battle of the Coffee Brand Bands'. Last Super Bowl, the DunKings came out of nowhere and stole the show. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon poked fun at themselves as members of a wannabe Boston boy band. This year's sequel does not quite live up, but it's still a lot of fun. The wardrobe is even more garish, and Jeremy Strong is hilarious as he goes 'full method' in a vat of Dunkin' coffee.
Runner up: DoorDash '
Basketball'. As a child of the eighties, Kurtis Blow's 'Basketball' has never quite left my head, so I loved seeing DoorDash bring it back in this ode to the game. The 2 plus minute film is more a of a music video than a spot, which makes me like it even more.
BEST PRINT Winner: Three Sweden '
Shared Plans'. Smart to use Valentine's Day to encourage people to invite others to share a wireless plan. I like the insight - and the simplicity.
No runner up.
BEST OUTDOOR Winner: Coopers '
Forever Original'. To bring their 'Forever Original' line to life, the brand created a campaign of hundreds of unique artworks, each centered around the shape of the bottle. Ironically, the concept itself isn't so original (Absolut vodka did it decades ago) but it's well executed and a lot of fun to look at. I'm a sucker for this kind of simplicity in out-of-home.
Runner up: Fondation Digestive '
Scanitary Paper'. Direct marketing doesn't get much more direct than this. QR codes on toilet paper in public bathrooms to encourage getting tested for colorectal cander. Gross, but effective.
BEST INTERACTIVEWinner: Child Focus '
The Unwearable Wardrobe'. This campaign is designed to create awareness of the disturbing trend of 'deepnudes'. Interestingly, it does so by talking about clothing - in this case, what victims were wearing when they were targeted.
Runner up: Yili Group '
Twin Sister'. The logo for the Paris Olympics looked eerily like a famous Chinese TV host. I love how the agency saw an opportunity and jumped on it.
This week's guest judge is
Tom Murphy, chief creative officer, VML North America.
Tom joined VML nearly two years ago, lured by the chance to elevate then-Wunderman Thompson's creative reputation. Since then, Tom has been the driver of some of the agency's most visible work and new business wins and a key player in post-merger VML's strategy to leverage creativity with brand experience, customer experience and commerce.
At VML, Tom has leaned on humor and comedic star power for the agency's Super Bowl work including last year's combination of SNL's Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson for Hellmann's "Mayo Cat" to demonstrate that the perfect grilled cheese sandwich features mayo on the outside of the bread, Hellmann's was banned from inside the city limits of Toast, NC for National Grilled Cheese Day. He championed the wildly surreal cult-like aesthetic for Obey Tongue for Sir Kensington's and the low fi Gold Peak iced tea lens to create Instagrammable Golden Hour photos.
Some of his most impactful work for the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism's "Stand Up to Jewish Hate" earned a Gold Effie and Grand Effie contender for its effective portrayal of the small size of Jewish population is and how largely it is impacted by hate. More importantly, the campaign continues to inspire bystanders to show their support for the Jewish community, as evidenced in its Oscars ad which retold the story of solidarity between a local church and neighboring temple, which received a bomb threat during a bar mitzvah ceremony.
Tom also helped to launch Mended Murals for Vaseline, which restored street art in Black communities to connect the community to Black dermatologists for skin cancer screenings.
Prior to joining WT Tom was CCO of McCann New York. He's proud to have been a part of culture-touching ideas including Fearless Girl for State Street Global Advisors, True Name for Mastercard, Universal Love Songs for MGM Resorts.
