Country
22 articles
SKF | THE FAROE ISLANDS SPACE PROGRAM | 2026
A bearing maker announced a plan to colonize Mars. Except the stage isn't actually Mars—it's the Faroe Islands. But the fact that they're so dead serious about it is irresistible.
CARITAS | VEHICLE OF HOPE | 2026
They turned the Pope's official car into a mobile clinic for children in Gaza. And it took not one but two popes to say yes. Has any other ad ever cast actual popes—plural—in its campaign?
BURGER KING | THE MOLDY WHOPPER | 2020
A burger covered in mold became one of the most beautiful ads in the world. In 2020, Burger King released footage of a Whopper rotting over 35 days, with the tagline "The Beauty of No Artificial Preservatives." It broke a food-advertising taboo head-on.
DOCONOMY | DO BLACK | 2019
A credit card stops working. Not because you spent too much. Because you emitted too much CO2. A card like that actually exists.
THE BANK OF ÅLAND | ÅLAND INDEX / BALTIC SEA PROJECT | 2017
Every time you pay with your card, your CO2 emissions arrive right alongside your bill. A small Nordic bank built the world's first system to do exactly that. It won the Grand Prix in the Cyber category at Cannes Lions in 2017, and today it's used by more than 90 banks in over 40 countries.
STOCKHOLM PRIDE | LOS SANTOS PRIDE | 2017
They put a pride parade into the world of GTA5 that absolutely cannot be destroyed. In a city where you're allowed to run over pedestrians and shoot criminals, they made the one thing you can't attack—and thinking about what that means gives you chills.
IM SWEDISH | THE HUMANIUM METAL INITIATIVE | 2017
Melt down guns, turn them into metal. That simple idea won the Grand Prix in the Innovation category at Cannes Lions in 2017. The metal, made from seized illegal firearms, is called Humanium Metal.
Volvo Trucks | The Hamster Stunt | 2016
A 175-gram hamster takes the wheel of a 15-ton truck. The setting: a bumpy road right next to a cliff edge at a Spanish quarry.
COMMERCIAL RESIDENCE | House of Clicks | 2016
200 million. That's a staggering number. But it wasn't just a number. Etched into all those countless clicks was the shape of the house that two million Swedes dreamed of. They took that data and turned it into bricks and mortar, actually building a real house out of it. It might be the most romantic use of big data you'll ever see.
LIDL | BOSSE’S MILK | 2015
One grumpy guy's name ended up printed on milk cartons all over the country the very next month. Nobody expected a single post to get such a serious response.
Volvo Trucks | The Epic Split feat. Van Damme (Live Test) | 2013
The moment Enya starts singing, my jaw dropped and I let out a tiny "whaaat" (I was in public, so I kept it quiet), and my mouth just stayed open until the end. This 75-second film, released in 11/2013, still hits just as hard today.
SWEDISH INSTITUTE AND VISIT SWEDEN | CURATORS OF SWEDEN | 2012
Handing the country's official Twitter account to a different ordinary citizen every week. No checking what they tweet. That's the bet Sweden made.
ABSOLUT VODKA | ABSOLUT MACHINES | 2008
In 2008, robot orchestras showed up in Stockholm and New York. Someone, somewhere in the world, would send a short melody over the web, and the machines would "interpret" it on the spot, turning it into a three-minute song. It was a wonderfully romantic experiment cooked up by Absolut.
DIESEL | HEIDIES 15 MB OF FAME | 2007
In 2007, if you opened diesel.com, instead of the usual homepage you saw a hotel room. Two women were holding an employee hostage, shouting that they wanted to be famous. This went on for five days.
SAAB | INFINITE DRIVE | 2004
In 2004, back when internet connections were still slow, there was an ad that tried to create a drive that never ends.
BURNING HEART RECORDS | MILLENCOLIN BATTLE | 2002
In 2002, putting a CD into your computer launched a game. Looking closer, I was stunned. This was basically Guitar Hero, three years before Guitar Hero existed.
MILKO | MUSIC MACHINE | 2001
Back in 2000, the web was still a quiet place. Most campaign sites were static HTML pages, and banners were just animated GIFs. Into that world, the Swedish dairy brand MILKO let loose a dancing cow.
DIESEL | 5 AM MONO VILLAGE | 1997
In 1997, DIESEL actually won the Grand Prix at Cannes with two separate ads — one was "Little Rock," and the other was this one. Both were made by the Swedish agency Paradiset DDB, and the same brand winning two Grand Prix in the same year is almost unheard of.
TELENORDIA | INTERNET | 1997
It was 1997, the early dawn of the internet, back when images loaded "from the top down," line by line.
DIESEL | LITTLE ROCK | 1997
A western hero gets shot dead by the villain. And the ad uses that to talk about "success." This is the piece that won DIESEL and PARADISET DDB the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1997.
SKANDINAVISKA ENSKILDA BANKEN | THE PROPOSAL | 1973
Back in 1973, a bank commercial won the Grand Prix at Cannes. It's a work from over 50 years ago, but it makes me grateful to be living in an age where you can still watch it on YouTube.
BALAMUNDI AB | BALAMUNDI | 1971
Sweden, 1971. This ad won GOLD, and more than half a century later, it's still up on YouTube. But honestly, I don't really know what the brand was, what it was selling, or what the context around it was. Still, something about this footage made it worth keeping.