So the year is almost done. Are things any less weird and discombobulating than they were 12 months ago? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m still experiencing discombobulation most days. Comfort, when it comes, is often in the form of creativity. And I’m happy to report that there’s been no shortage of beautifully conceived, original and entertaining advertising this year. Here’s my personal pick of the best of the best from 2022 …

All Star Mechanical

Right, let’s kick off with this. Kind of surprising in that it’s an ad for a small Heating and AC company that only ran in a local paper in Michigan. But if the most powerful weapon in advertising is the truth, then what a punch this packs. More on the uplifting story of Larry Kirchoff, the man behind All Star, here.

Client: All Star Mechanical

Agency: All Star Mechanical

ITV ‘Britain Get Talking’

ITV have made some important work around mental health over the last couple of years, but I think this spot stands out as one of the best things they’ve done. Based on a super simple thought – what we say isn’t always what we mean – it’s executed with the same subtlety and heart you’d expect from a Ken Loach film.

Client: ITV

Agency: Uncommon

Prod. Co.: Anonymous Content

CALM ‘Suicidal Doesn’t Always Look Suicidal’

And sticking with the theme of mental health, this ad for CALM poleaxed me when I first saw it. Suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal. And surely there’s no more powerful way to say it than this?

Client: CALM

Agency: Adam & Eve / DDB

Prod. Co.: Rogue Films

Ocean Spray ‘Power Your Holidays’

OK. Time to lighten things up a little. I read a statistic in one of Dave Trott’s articles about how in the UK just 4% of advertising is remembered positively, 7% negatively and 89% not at all. And given UK ad spend is £20bn, that means £18bn and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears is wasted. There’s no missing this seasonal US spot for Ocean Spray though. Bold work, brilliantly directed, that demands attention and gives in return.

Client: Ocean Spray

Agency: Orchard Creative

Prod. Co.: Biscuit Filmworks

KFC ‘Anything for the Taste’

If getting noticed is your first task, your second is to keep your audience with you. And the best way to do that is simple – tell them a story. The story of Mr Molapo is, purportedly, a true one and it plays out like a 90 second movie. There’s an interview with one of the ad’s creators here.

Client: KFC

Agency: Ogilvy South Africa

Prod. Co.: Romance Films

Ace & Tate

There’s a great story about one of my creative heroes, Brian Eno, and his friend the artist Peter Schmidt. One day Brian was stuck. So Peter asked him, “What if you don’t do the things that nobody had never thought of not doing?” In other words, what if you don’t do the things that people always do as a matter of course? Like showing sunglasses in a sunglasses ad.

Client: Ace & Tate

Agency: Base Design

 BBC Eastenders / Frozen Planet

And on the subject of doing things differently, this has to be one of the year’s most innovative uses of media. On October 12th the end credits of Eastenders took an unusual turn. As the camera settled on the final aerial view of London, the Thames was shown to be in flood, with much of the city underwater. The camera then pulled back seamlessly into a message from David Attenborough about the need to act on climate change, which itself became a promo for Frozen Planet 2. Brilliant.

Client: BBC

Agency: BBC Creative

Globant ‘1000 slides’

I know what you’re thinking – what about the funnies? Well, here’s one. And it’s a beaut. The great thing is that it’s for an IT consultancy. Not exactly a category you’d associate with humour …

Client: Globant

Agency: Gut Agency

Müller Corner

I’m a sucker for simplicity. And it doesn’t get any simpler than this perfect ad for Müller Corner yoghurts. Tasty.

Client: Müller

Agency: VCCP

BA Business / leisure

Often a good test for a big advertising idea is how fruitfully it can sustain a range of executions. ‘Good things come to those who wait’. Or ‘You either love it or you hate it’. BA’s latest campaign passes this test with flying colours. There are 500 different executions; the principle being that you never see the same one twice. No grinning flight attendants here, just perfectly crafted copy.

And the TV spots are just as good, with a lovely unforced intimacy. Great work.

Client: British Airways

Agency: Uncommon

The Alzheimer’s Society ‘It’s not called getting old’

To be able to build a film around a single repeated line is impressive. When the line is as mundane as ‘What time shall we leave tomorrow?’ and the film as devastatingly moving as this ad for the Alzheimer’s Society, well, that’s extraordinary. It’s brilliantly played and directed too. I wrote a piece deconstructing how it works here.

Client: The Alzheimer’s Society

Agency: New Commercial Arts

Back Market ‘Hack Market’

One trend I’ve noticed this year is ‘the hack’. It’s a cheeky approach where a challenger brand inveigles their way into the marketing or, in this case, on to the premises of a bigger rival. And there’s no bigger rival for Back Market than the behemoth that is Apple. This hack was as beautifully conceived as it was ballsy. 

Client: Back Market

Agency: Marcel

BBC ‘100 Years of the BBC’

So the idea of stringing together a bunch of disparate clips together to create a seamless script may not be new, but this example - a spot created to kick off the BBC’s centenary celebrations - is perfectly executed. Long live the BBC.

Client: BBC

Agency: BBC Creative

Prod. Co.: Academy Films

Cards of Qatar

A while back I decided not to watch the World Cup. The spur for me to boycott the finals was this campaign, Cards of Qatar. Like many people, I’d read articles about the horrifying tally of construction deaths among migrant workers, but it was only once those numbers became names and faces that the human cost of the tournament became appallingly clear. It may not have discouraged Pepsi, Budweiser and the rest, but it certainly had an impact on me.

Client: Blankspot

Agency: Blankspot

Joe Lycett

And finally, sticking with the World Cup, one of the smartest pieces of communication this year came not from a brand but from an individual. Namely the comedian Joe Lycett. Appalled by David Beckham’s decision to squander his moral principles in exchange for cash, Joe made a pledge which got the nation talking about LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar. You can read about how he did it here. Take a bow, Joe.

So there we go. All done for another year.

May 2023 bring you peace, love, happiness - and less discombobulation.