Year
34 articles
DOVE | Real Beauty: How a Soap Brand Created a Global Self-Esteem Movement | 2025
An ad for soap has spent 20 years picking a fight with the definition of "beautiful." In 2025, it won three Grand Prix at Cannes. This isn't really an ad campaign anymore—it's bigger than that.
アクエリアス | NEW YOU キャンペーン 泳げるようになりたい | 2024
This is a video following a 75-year-old grandmother over 30 days, starting from when she could barely even put her face in the water, as she works toward swimming 25 meters freestyle. It's lovely to see swimmer Kosuke Kitajima coaching her wholeheartedly, showing that age doesn't matter when you want to swim. But what really makes this commercial so moving isn't that part.
東京ガス | 家族の絆 おばあちゃんの料理 | 2020
Everyone has some small regret. A word you blurted out back then. A line you can never take back. Sometimes that kind of thorn stays stuck in your heart for years without you ever pulling it out. This commercial carefully draws out that exact kind of pain over 90 seconds. By the end, you'll want to cry, and you'll want to go see someone.
ナイキジャパン | ざわつかせろ | 2016
If someone stood up to give the opening oath at Koshien and said, "Please pay attention to me," the whole stadium would start buzzing. Nike knows exactly how to pick a fight.
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.
銀のさら | 秘密篇 | 2016
I honestly can't understand why Ginnosara made this commercial. But that's exactly what's great about it. The world would be a richer place with more things like this in it.
JOHN LEWIS | The Bear and the Hare | 2015
A bear who sleeps through winter had never once seen Christmas. So his best friend, a hare, gives him an alarm clock so he won't miss it—a story told in just two minutes.
Apple | Misunderstood | 2015
I'm seriously obsessed with this one. I can still vividly remember what I felt the first time I watched it. It shows a shy teenage boy who isn't exactly disliked by his family but definitely isn't the center of attention either, acting in his usual unimpressive way. The mood turns slightly sour, with a vibe of "come on, it's Christmas, put the phone down and spend time with the family" — and then the whole thing flips completely around. I love how skillfully it plays with your emotions.
UN WOMEN | THE AUTOCOMPLETE TRUTH | 2014
Type "women should" into Google's search box, and it fills in the rest with words of discrimination. This wasn't any one person's opinion—it was the answer pulled straight from everyone's search history.
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION | Ungiven Gifts | 2014
209 gifts, each painted white, stand in a square in Melbourne. Toys, handbags, a vase, a scarf. Each one even has a handwritten tag attached, but there's no one left to receive them.
OLD SPICE | Hawkridge | 2013
In 2013, Old Spice released a scent called Hawkridge. The ad for it shows a man playing poker suddenly getting swarmed by hawks—you have no idea what's going on, but somehow you totally get it.
BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION | HARD, FAST & EFFECTIVE | 2013
People who watched this ad ended up saving 28 lives. An ad whose success gets measured not by awareness or likability, but by "how many people came back from the dead" — that's not something you see every day.
FUNERAL INSURANCE COMPANY DELA | Why Wait Until It's Too Late | 2013
A funeral insurance company stopped talking about funerals and started saying "say it today" instead. And that's what won the Media Grand Prix at Cannes. An ad that reaches this far without ever mentioning the product.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL | NO MEANS NO | 2013
In 2013, Amnesty International in Norway made an ad to help change a law. In an interactive video, a woman's voice is muted, and then a signature restores it. Few campaigns have put this much direct faith in advertising's power to change society.
OLD SPICE | DIKEMBE MUTOMBO'S 4 1/2 WEEKS TO SAVE THE WORLD | 2013
According to the Mayan calendar, the world was supposed to end on 12/21/2012 (December 21, 2012). Old Spice picked its savior: Dikembe Mutombo, one of the greatest defenders in NBA history. And the whole idea of saving the world through an 8-bit game is already pretty absurd.
METROPOLE ORKEST | METROPOLE TWEETPHONY | 2013
A Dutch orchestra on the verge of disappearing due to budget cuts had a full 52-piece orchestra perform a song live that was composed entirely on Twitter. You didn't need an instrument, just 140 characters.
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.
キリン のどごし〈生〉 | 夢のドリーム4 カンフー篇 | 2013
This is the best one. The one at the top of the list I look at whenever work gets so rough I think I can't go on. Mr. Ishida, his junior, Shoko Nakagawa, Jackie Chan, the production team, and above all the client who greenlit this whole thing—everyone involved here is the best.
CAPE TOWN TOURISM | SEND YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE TO CAPE TOWN | 2013
"If we can't send everyone to Cape Town, let's send their Facebook profiles instead." In 2013, someone actually turned that idea into an app.
THE BARBARIAN GROUP | CINDER | 2013
At Cannes Lions 2013, the very first Grand Prix in the newly created Innovation Lions category went to a development tool made by an ad agency. And it's one they give away for free. It sounds like an odd thing to win an award for, but the reasoning behind it makes complete sense.
日清カップヌードル | SURVIVE! | 2013
In 2013, Nissin went and did something wild. A young office worker in a suit of armor charges into a Western army, shouting "Nice to meet you!" before getting blown away by a cannon. A job-hunting student gets grilled by a polar bear interviewer in a blizzard, and at the beach, a monstrous shark attacks people, demanding "likes!" It's completely absurd, yet it captures the mood of 2013 exactly as it was.
GREENPEACE | TOXIC TOURS | 2013
They set up a fake travel agency and started selling tours down a polluted river. The footage shows celebrities grinning as they recommend "snorkeling in crude oil" or "surfing chemical waves" — it's so dark it's hard to laugh.
GEOX AMPHIBIOX | THE ULTIMATE WATERPROOF TEST (7 Days of Rain) | 2013
They built three artificial rain clouds and kept one man soaked in rain for seven days straight. The location: the middle of Barcelona. Even though the sky was clear.
IBM | People For Smarter Cities | 2013
A billboard becomes a bench. A roof. A ramp. Why does something so simple move us this much?
SINGTEL | Old Phones Give New Life (Project Silverline) | 2013
All it took was loading five special apps onto old, unused iPhones. That alone reconnected more than 1,000 elderly people living alone with the world around them.
KBC | THE GAP IN THE MARKET | 2013
In 2013, the number of people starting businesses in Belgium had dropped 14% from the year before. Banks were reluctant to lend money, and had basically become the "enemy" of anyone with a dream. KBC Bank set out to flip that around.
WestJet | Christmas Miracle: Real-time Giving | 2013
It looks like it's using some amazing technology, but the real secret is just a live camera and 175 people doing the legwork. Here's what makes WestJet's Christmas campaign work so well.
SMART FORTWO | OFFROAD | 2013
A tiny car takes a spectacular tumble off-road. Instead of hiding what's normally seen as a flaw, this ad shows it off proudly, then drops one line at the end: "SMART is as useless off-road as an SUV is in the city." That shameless confidence is just great.
Coca-Cola | Security Cameras | 2013
It wasn't until my third watch that I realized how clever it was to use security camera footage this way — the first time, I just cried, plain and simple.
ADIDAS | WINDOW SHOPPING | 2013
11pm, an empty street. A blue sneaker in the shop window catches your eye. But the store's closed—normally that's the end of the story. Adidas made it so you could shop just by touching that window.
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH | TREE CONCERT | 2013
Who would believe a tree could hold a concert? But it really happened in a park in Berlin. One night, a 100-year-old chestnut tree became a musician.
THE LINCOLN MOTOR COMPANY | HELLO AGAIN | 2013
A brand that had been around for 90 years decided to shed 90 years of being "your dad's car." The password was "Hello, Again." Nice to meet you, once more.
Harvey Nichols | Sorry I Spent It On Myself | 2013
At Christmas 2013, the upscale department store Harvey Nichols came right out and said, "Sorry, I spent it on myself." It was an ad that threw the whole idea of Christmas being a season of sharing straight out the window.
WWF | THE ANT RALLY | 2013
Bugs staging a protest. That ridiculous idea won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.