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Nikka Whisky | No Labels | 2025
When Every Label Was Stripped Away, What Remained / Nikka Whisky "No Labels"
They peeled the labels off the bottles. And they peeled the assumptions off people, too. That's the moment whisky became a way of living.
Method
minimalism
16 articles
Stella Artois | 2024
A Palm Full of Tattoos Says It All / Stella Artois "The Most Famous Chalice Model"
No face. No name. Just a tattooed hand. And yet, fans could tell instantly who it belonged to: David Beckham. Here's the clever twist Stella Artois pulled on celebrity advertising.
British Airways | 2024
British Airways' "Windows": No Logo, No Words, Just Passengers' Faces Telling the Story of Travel / BRITISH AIRWAYS "Windows"
No logo. No text. No QR code. British Airways' outdoor ad "Windows" doesn't show the view from the plane window—it shows only the faces of passengers looking at that view.
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COINBASE | Less Talk, More Bitcoin | 2022
20 Million Visits in One Minute, Then the Site Crashed / COINBASE "Less Talk, More Bitcoin"
Just a QR code bouncing around the screen, for 60 seconds. No celebrities, no narration, no product explanation. At the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of advertising, Coinbase chose to do "nothing."
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LINEモバイル | 愛と革新。 | 2017
The power of saying nothing / LINE Mobile "Ai to Kakushin. Debut"
45 seconds of Non staring silently at the camera. Kirinji's "Aliens" plays, and at the end only the words "Love and Innovation." appear. It never says the service is cheap. There's nothing else it needs to say, and that's exactly the point.
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キユーピー | コンビニエント | 2015
Not "Delicious," Just "Convenient" / Kewpie Half "Convenient"
This is an ad for a condiment, but it never says "delicious" or "good for you." The only word it says is "convenient." Mariko Takahashi just stands there on screen, and that's it.
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PlayStation | Play Face | 2009
The obvious truth that emotion shows on your face / PlayStation 3 "Play Face"
Emotion shows on your face. That's basically what the word "expression" means, so it's obvious - but this campaign captured that obvious truth head-on. The faces of people playing a game. That's it. But that's everything.
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ソフトバンク | ブラッド・ピット&キャメロン・ディアス シリーズ | 2006
No Explanation at All. The Answer Is "=SoftBank" / SoftBank Brad Pitt & Cameron Diaz Campaign
I remember the first time I saw this on TV, I actually said "whoa" out loud. You could feel the sense that SoftBank had bought Vodafone and was coming out swinging at the market, and then boom, there's Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz. It's a commercial that's purely about looking cool, nothing else. And it taught me that sometimes just being cool is enough.
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JEEP | Snow Covered | 1994
You can't see the car, but you know it's a Jeep / JEEP "Snow Covered"
It's 1994, and for 30 seconds something moves through a landscape buried in snow. The vehicle itself never once appears on screen. And yet everyone watching thought, "Ah, that's a Jeep." This is the ad that became the first car commercial ever to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, and even 30 years later, it hasn't lost an ounce of its power.
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NISSIN FOOD | HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM | 1994
30 years later, your stomach still remembers / NISSIN FOOD "HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM"
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.
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SINGAPORE TRAFFIC POLICE | GLASSES | 1993
The moment four glasses lined up, the crash had already happened / Singapore Traffic Police "GLASSES"
Four beer glasses float over the road. Then a crash. That's it, that's the whole ad. But these thirty seconds would go on to be recreated all around the world. Singapore, 1993. To stop drunk driving, this ad chose to make people think, not to shock them.
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BATCHELORS | ODE TO A PEA | 1990
An Ode to a Single Pea / BATCHELORS "ODE TO A PEA"
A white plate. One single pea. A violin swells as a poetic voice intones, "Oh pea, perfect sphere of jade, why do you torment me with your beauty?" Britain, 1990.
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NYNEX | If it's out there, it's in here / DUMBWAITERS | 1988
The Yellow Pages Even Listed Dumbwaiters / NYNEX "DUMBWAITERS"
A phone book ad that actually gets a laugh — that's a big deal. NYNEX's Yellow Pages ads were a memorable presence in the northeastern US in the late '80s.
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AGNESI | SILENCE（Silenzio, parla Agnesi） | 1986
The Ad That Spoke by Staying Silent / AGNESI "SILENCE"
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.
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FRATELLI BRANCA DISTILLERIE | BR… BRANCAMENTA | 1975
Four Consonants, Carved into Italian Advertising History / FRATELLI BRANCA DISTILLERIE "BR… BRANCAMENTA"
"Brrr." Just four letters, and somehow they carry the brand name, how to drink it, and the sensation all at once. This campaign, which began in 1971, is said to have become the most famous piece of onomatopoeia in the history of Italian advertising.
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LEVI | WALKING BEHINDS | 1972
In 1972, They Won the World With Nothing but Backsides / LEVI'S "WALKING BEHINDS"
1972. The year the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions went to a Levi's ad that showed nothing but people walking away from the camera. The title says it all: "WALKING BEHINDS." Walking figures, seen from behind. The fact that someone had this bold a point of view over 50 years ago is amazing.