Emotion
473 articles
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION | 10 KPH LESS | 1998
A speed-reduction ad released in 1997 by Australia's TAC. It shows, without flinching, a car hitting a person at 70 km/h.
IMPULSE | ART SCHOOL | 1998
A nude model at an art school "reacts" when a woman arrives late to class. The awkwardness of the moment gets expressed through the objects around them, used as metaphors. This was a body spray commercial that aired on British television in 1998.
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.
Apple | Think Different | 1997
In 1997, Jobs returned to an Apple that was on the brink of bankruptcy, and what he put out into the world wasn't a new product or a discount—it was just two words. "Here's to the crazy ones"—this 60-second tribute to crazy people became more than an ad; it became a declaration.
VOLKSWAGEN | Surprisingly Ordinary Prices - Dentist | 1997
A dentist, hand still inside a patient's mouth, freezes with wide eyes. That single shot became part of British advertising history in the 90s.
BRITVIC | SAINT GEORGE | 1997
A 90-second commercial that ran just 10 times carved its name into advertising history. The budget went almost entirely into production, and the airtime was limited to a single show, TFI Friday. This wasn't cutting corners—it was the plan all along.
GUINNESS | Not everything in black and white makes sense (Bicycle) | 1997
A fish hops on a bicycle and pedals smoothly off the edge of the screen. In that one moment, every bit of logic built up before it gets turned upside down.
NTTドコモ | ポケベル「はじめる」 | 1996
In 1996, a 15-year-old girl lying on an octopus slide in a park, humming a little tune, appeared on TVs across Japan. "I got a pager for my birthday," she said in a sweet, slightly lisping voice. Her name was Ryoko Hirosue, and this commercial turned her into an instant star.
VOLKSWAGEN GROUP | LUNCH-BREAK | 1996
London, 1996. This was the era when Volkswagen was taking on the UK market around the theme of "affordability." The title is "LUNCH-BREAK." What happens during a lunch break? There's something in that humor and sharp eye for detail that feels distinctly BMP DDB Needham.
NIKE | THE WALL | 1995
In 1995, some true legends of soccer history came together for this one. Bebeto, Jorge Campos, Éric Cantona, Paolo Maldini. Back when the internet wasn't nearly as developed as it is now, NIKE and Wieden+Kennedy put out this incredibly lavish film into the world.
サントリー | 恋は、遠い日の花火ではない | 1994
This line was born in 1994, in the weary air that settled over Japan after the bubble economy burst. It appeared in a commercial starring Kyozo Nagatsuka and Yuko Tanaka—but in the end, it was this copy alone that stuck with people, far more than the renewal message "OLD is NEW" it was meant to carry. I happened to witness that very phenomenon.
PEPSI-COLA | PLAYGROUND | 1994
In 1994, a commercial featuring basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal interacting with a kid became the second most popular commercial in America. It also won a Gold Lion at Cannes. That 90s Pepsi feeling—celebrity, youth, and a dash of rebellion all mixed together. But I could barely find any articles that talk about the story behind this campaign.
NISSIN FOOD | HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM | 1994
This is the Uintatherium installment, from 1994. It's part of the era when the series that had already stunned the world with mammoths and moas was still going strong. A caveman gets tossed around by a giant mammal, but in the end there's just the word "hungry?" and that white cup with red. By now this rhythm needs no explanation. It's one of the sequels in the series that won the Grand Prix at Cannes as a whole and became a landmark in Japanese advertising history.
JOHN SMITH’S BITTER | Penguins | 1994
In 1994, a British beer brand ran with the slogan "No nonsense," putting penguins who tap dance and sing on screen alongside comedian Jack Dee, who wears a scowl the whole time.
LEVI | Creek | 1994
In a black-and-white scene by a river, two girls catch a glimpse of a naked man. What had been left behind wasn't just clothes — it was a pair of 501s. It looks like a modest little ad, but this is the one BBH's own founder has called his personal favorite.
NISSIN FOOD | hungry? | 1993
At the Cannes festival, someone shouted "Hungry!" In 1993, Moa and Synthetoceras won the Grand Prix together, two films at once. Even across 60 years of Cannes, it's one of the legendary moments.
SMIRNOFF | MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE | 1993
In 1993, a Smirnoff bottle bent the world out of shape. Look through it, and piano keys turn into penguins, an old man turns into a walrus, a brooch turns into something else entirely. Surreal, witty, and a little unsettling all at once. This "through the bottle" idea became one of the defining images of Smirnoff in the 90s.
PERRIER | LE LION ET LA LIONNE | 1991
This film won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1991, and it's still the only French film ever to win the Film Grand Prix. 28 years later, it's remembered by one in two French people, and in 2019 it was voted the greatest ad of all time by the magazine Stratégies. That's how far a water ad can go.
YMCA SUMMER CAMP | SLEEPING IN | 1991
An ad for YMCA Summer Camp from 1991, back when videotapes were still the norm. The title is "SLEEPING IN." It means sleeping late in the morning. Somehow that one phrase seems to capture both kids' summer vacations and what parents are secretly thinking.
JR東海 | クリスマス・エクスプレス | 1989
When this commercial came on TV, it was nothing but pure excitement. Breathing in the air of the 1989 bubble economy, set to Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve," Riho Makise dashes through Nagoya Station. It's only one minute long, but it leaves you with the happy afterglow of having watched a short film. Even now, the scene where 17-year-old Makise hides behind a pillar, waiting, hits with incredible force.
APPLE | L'HÉRITIER | 1989
In the back seat of a Rolls Royce, a father tells his son: "The people who work for you aren't there to think. They're there to do as they're told." Cold words. And that discomfort was exactly the trap.
VOLKSWAGEN | Launch II | 1988
In 1988, this film won the Grand Prix at Cannes. It came from the golden pairing of VW and DDB, but honestly, I barely know any details about it myself.
ソニー | 新世代ウォークマン WM-501 | 1987
Looking at it again, this is a seriously great piece of work. The idea, the direction—everything about it is excellent. But at the same time, it's a little sad to think that even a masterpiece like this had to work in a line about the "EX Amorphous Head."
VALISERA | FIRST BRASSIERE | 1987
Brazil, 1987. The title says it all: "FIRST BRASSIERE." An ad that captures the exact moment a girl becomes a woman touches something universal, no matter the era or the country.
AGNESI | SILENCE（Silenzio, parla Agnesi） | 1986
An ad that showed nothing but silence, all for the sake of one final line, won Gold at Cannes. A commercial that made saying nothing say everything.
LEVI | Laundrette | 1986
In 1985, a 60-second spot aired in Britain the day after Christmas, and it turned jeans—once seen as uncool—into something to long for. What Nick Kamen took off wasn't just his clothes, but the heavy baggage of jeans being "your dad's clothes."
APPLE COMPUTER | 1984 | 1984
January 22, 1984, third quarter of the Super Bowl. On screens watched by 960,000 people, 60 seconds ran with no product and no specs in sight. Just a woman hurling a hammer, and a screen shattering. The two commentators looked at each other and couldn't help but ask, "What was that?"
OTICA ERNESTO | A BOY AND A GIRL | 1983
An ad for a Brazilian eyeglass store, from 1983. The title is "A BOY AND A GIRL." A boy and a girl. Simple, but a title that makes you feel like something's about to happen.
LEGO | KIPPER | 1981
LEGO, 1981. A mouse turns into a dog, a cat turns into a dragon, a submarine turns into an elephant. For 45 seconds, every time the bricks get rearranged, something new appears.
BLITZ-WEINHARD | ELK CREEK CUT OFF | 1980
A piece made by Ogilvy & Mather in 1980. I still haven't been able to track down the full content, but just the title alone is enough to pull you in.
COTY | FRENCH LESSON | 1978
This perfume ad for Coty L'Aimant won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1978. Released with the line "Do you speak L'Aimant?", the film feels like a mirror reflecting how the British saw the French—and how they saw the French language and the culture of perfume.
GUINNESS | BLACK POT | 1976
This Guinness ad won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1976. It seems to pair two quiet moments: a player sinking the black ball in snooker, and someone slowly drinking down a Guinness. "Slowly putting away the black" — both are about putting away something black, and neither should be rushed.
NOLAN SPA | PARABREZZA | 1975
In 1975, Italian helmet maker NOLAN put out a short film. Its title was "PARABREZZA" — the Italian word for "windshield." A brand that was only three years old at the time used the ad to carve its own roots into the story.
THE SEVEN-UP COMPANY | UN STORY | 1972
A 1972 TV commercial for 7-Up, titled "UN STORY." Back then, psychedelic billboards lined America's highways, and "Uncola" had become a catchphrase among young people.
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.
RONSON | COMET | 1967
In 1967, a quiet revolution was happening in the world of lighters.
UNITED BREWERS ASSOCIATION | WHO SAYS BEER IS A MAN'S BEVERAGE? | 1962
In 1962, an American beer industry association asked a simple question: "Who says beer is a man's beverage?" Behind that single line, you can sense a real intention to change the times.
CHEVROLET | CORVAIR OLYMPICS | 1960
In 1960, Chevrolet was the challenger. Into a compact car market dominated by the Volkswagen Beetle, they threw a punch with the Corvair's revolutionary rear-engine, air-cooled design. The launch campaign was named "OLYMPICS," and it reportedly won a Grand Prix.
CHEVROLET | STATION WAGON | 1959
It's 1959. This is the year Chevrolet's station wagons hit American roads with cat's-eye taillights and tailfins that looked like wings. The ad film, made by Campbell-Ewald, reportedly won a GRAND PRIX.
BARCLAYS BANK | Put Una Money For There | 1956
This is the first British ad to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, back in 1956. It's called "Put Una Money For There." It's a three-minute animated ad built around a calypso sung in pidgin English (simplified English), urging West African farmers to "put the money from your harvest into Barclays Bank." Ba-ba-ba-boom. That tune is impossible to shake, and when you remember this was 1956, it's pretty wild.
CHLORODONT TOOTHPASTE | IL CIRCO | 1954
In 1954, at the first advertising film festival held in Venice, this piece rose to the top of 187 entries. At this festival, which would later become Cannes Lions, "Il Circo" won the very first Grand Prix.