Year
42 articles
Apple | Shot on iPhone | 2025
"Shot on iPhone" started out as a camera ad for the iPhone 6s and has now run for 10 years, winning the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2025. It's a textbook example of a long-running brand campaign.
Harvey Nichols | Shoplifters | 2017
Security camera footage became the ad itself, and it won the Grand Prix at Cannes. And the ones doing the filming? Actual shoplifters.
GEICO | Unskippable | 2016
YouTube ads get skipped after five seconds. 96% of people hit that button. But when a voice tells you "This ad has already ended, so it can't be skipped," your finger stops.
家庭教師のトライ | Try IT はじまる | 2016
Dancing to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," all kinds of people shake their phones and dance along. This is the launch commercial for Try IT, a free video lesson service. Heidi, Peter, and Grandfather all dance too, in a bright, fun world.
PlayStation | できないことが、できるって、最高だ。 | 2016
"It's the best feeling, doing what you couldn't do before." This tagline gets turned into a long-form celebration of life itself. I don't think it got much buzz, but I honestly think it's pretty amazing.
トヨタ | Loving Eyes | 2016
A story about a father and daughter, released for Father's Day. Ads about fathers and daughters aren't exactly rare, but the turn it takes in the second half will definitely make you cry. The first half alone is pretty intense, but once the song starts playing in the girl's voice partway through, it's completely over for you.
ライオン | 働く女性への応援歌 | 2016
It's a train at night. Women heading home begin to sing, one by one. Set to a reworked version of the song "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido" ("That Wonderful Love, Once More"), the new lyrics quietly unfold: "I worked hard today, no excuses."
NYT VR | THE DISPLACED | 2016
The New York Times tucked one million Google Cardboard viewers into copies of its Sunday paper. Inside was an 11-minute VR documentary called "THE DISPLACED." Readers who opened it up found themselves standing right in the middle of a refugee camp. The following year, it won two Grand Prix at Cannes.
NTT DOCOMO | 3-SECOND COOKING | 2015
A shrimp flies through the air, passes through flames, and becomes shrimp tempura in 3 seconds. For the dumplings, the ingredients collide in midair and come together in 2.244 seconds. No CG, all real footage. The only thing you can say watching this video is "what is DOCOMO even doing" — and it still walked away with three Golds at Cannes.
BAOBEIHUIJIA | Search for Free WiFi, Search for Missing Children | 2015
What if the WiFi network you were about to connect to was named "Help, Find Me"? In China, more than 200,000 children go missing every year, and this was the answer TBWA/Shanghai came up with.
サントリー BOSS | ヘッドライト・テールライト | 2015
Less weirdness, more love — that's what I felt watching this commercial when it aired at the end of 2015. The Alien Jones series started out as a bit of an odd concept, but it's been quietly turning into "the way things just are," and honestly, I'm starting to think it's heading toward becoming a truly moving epic. I'm looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it.
au | SYNC YELL | 2015
There was no time to wonder how much of this was set up and how much was real, because the tears were already coming early on.
HAMMERHEAD NAVIGATION | HAMMERHEAD ONE | 2015
A "T" shape sitting on your handlebars. This device, named after a shark, handles bike navigation using nothing but light. No phone, no map, no headphones needed. LEDs blinking at the edge of your vision tell you "turn right soon" or "keep going straight." It's so simple that it actually feels brand new.
LEICA | 100 | 2015
100 years ago, Leica took photography "out of the studio." This 2-minute film tells that story through the recreation of 35 iconic photographs. The seamless transitions, the flawless execution, and that provocative narration. The first time I saw it, I forgot to breathe.
VODAFONE | Between Us | 2015
Some ads are designed to never be found. This is the story of a secret app built to protect women in Turkey from domestic violence.
VOLVO | LIFEPAINT | 2015
All they did was hand out cans of paint, and it brought home two Cannes Grand Prix. This is the story of a reflective spray Volvo made for cyclists in 2015.
CBC | ABLA FAHITA | 2015
A puppet made for an ad got investigated by the state on terrorism charges, and still went on to win the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes. This actually happened in Egypt.
MICROSOFT ONENOTE | Collective Project | 2015
Showing college students an ad just doesn't land. So Microsoft stopped making ads and instead "did" the story of a student trying to change the world.
BUYMA | A Kind Drone | 2015
Two completely naked ballet dancers move beautifully while four drones chase after them, covering up exactly the parts that need covering, for a solid minute and a half. This absurd little world is a perfect example of "doing something stylish." Maybe it rode the wave of a popular "don't worry, it's fine" catchphrase of the time, but this video, made by Dentsu, goes so far over the top it stops being a joke and starts being art.
VOLVO | INTERCEPTION (The Greatest Interception Ever) | 2015
Hijacking the Super Bowl without paying the $4.5 million entry fee. The moment rivals poured $60 million into their own ad slots, Volvo was trending worldwide on Twitter. This is the Cannes Grand Prix winner.
NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11TH MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM | 9/11 Memorial Museum Exhibition Design | 2015
70 feet below Ground Zero, there's a museum. But it's not a "finished" museum. As Jake Barton of Local Projects put it: "It doesn't need to be finished. It can be an experience that keeps changing."
SUUMO | 足跡 | 2015
A 2015 SUUMO commercial starring Yoshinori Okada. A child appears who feels almost like a fairy, yet also completely real, reflecting the father's state of mind. After he asks "Is that true?", the simple reply "It's true, I know it." catches you off guard and brings the tears.
RED CROSS | SOS SMS | 2015
Just type "*SOS" on your phone's lock screen, and paramedics can instantly pull up your medical conditions and blood type. It sounds small, but that one line can be the difference between life and death.
Marc Dorcel | #HandsOff | 2015
If you want to watch porn, keep both hands on the keyboard. I had to laugh at that one. A porn site telling you not to let go of the keyboard — that twisted, mischievous logic is just perfect.
truTV | First Ever Cinemagraph TV Ad | 2015
A TV commercial that calls itself the world's first cinemagraph. Shot over one night in Times Square, it's just ten seconds long.
John Lewis | Man On The Moon | 2015
The yearly John Lewis Christmas ad. Just the fact that it's something to look forward to as the weather turns cold already makes it a winner, but the way it consistently exceeds expectations feels almost miraculous.
earth music&ecology | 合唱 | 2015
Aoi Miyazaki singing Miyuki Nakajima's "Nobody Is Right" — that alone could have carried the whole commercial. And yet something about it bothered me.
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.
John Lewis Insurance | Tiny Dancer | 2015
A girl who's a bit chubby, wears glasses, and isn't even that good at ballet dances through the whole house. That's all it takes to win millions of hearts.
キリン | メッツ | 2015
Just go with it. That's basically the whole approach, and there's something refreshing about how committed it is. When Kirin Mets relaunched in 2015, this "Entrance" ad is what came out of it. Dragon Ball, Dempagumi.inc, Nobunari Oda, Gachapin... pop culture icons dance, burst with energy, and belt out "We want Mets!" over and over in this 30-second spot. It strips away almost every detailed message, throwing nothing at you but the sheer presence of "This is Mets!"
JOE BOXER | INACTIVITY TRACKER | 2015
The world's first tracker for recording "not moving" was born. At a time when Fitbits covered every wrist, Kmart's pajama brand did the exact opposite.
マルコメ | 料亭の味 カップみそ汁 夜食篇 | 2015
The third animated commercial in the "Ryotei no Aji" series came out in February 2015. A daughter on edge from exam prep, and a father who's lost the knack for talking to her. So late one night, he quietly puts together a midnight snack for her. That's the whole story. And somehow that's exactly what makes it so moving.
WHAT3WORDS | 3 WORDS TO ADDRESS THE WORLD | 2015
It's not an ad. But it won the Grand Prix at Cannes. In 2015, Nick Law, president of the Innovation jury, called it "the best body of work I've ever seen." That product was what3words.
Gatorade | Forget Me | 2015
184 goals. Abby Wambach, who holds the record for the most goals scored in international soccer history, men's or women's, retired on December 16 (12/16), 2015. Her final message was "Forget me." Right to the end, Wambach was Wambach.
ALWAYS | INTIMATE WORDS | 2015
If you don't have the words, you can't describe your symptoms. If you can't describe your symptoms, you can't get diagnosed. The indigenous women of Oaxaca had no words to talk about their own bodies.
Apple | Someday At Christmas | 2015
90 seconds just isn't enough. Honestly, I wish I could watch and listen to this for three hours straight. At this point, it's gone beyond what you'd normally call a commercial.
OWLET BABY CARE | Owlet Smart Sock | 2015
A sock measures a baby's heart rate and oxygen level, and sends an alert to a parent's phone if something seems off. It's a product designed by R/GA that won Gold in the Innovation category at Cannes in 2015.
ファンタ | ファンタだよ！TVに出よう | 2015
Collecting the "wouldn't it be great if..." wishes of teens in their 10s and then airing the chosen ones as nationwide TV commercials is quite the ambitious move. The boy who drew a face on his belly and ate marshmallows was great, but this one is also incredibly funny.
LIGA CONTRA EL CANCER | Shadow WiFi | 2015
On a beach in Peru stands a big blue wall. Get close, and your phone picks up WiFi on its own. But the signal only reaches inside the shadow the wall creates.
SAKKER EL DEKKENE (STOP THE SHOP) | LEBANON4SALE | 2015
Fighting corruption can feel like a hopeless battle. But an NGO in Lebanon realized something: corruption is a business too. And if it's a business, it can be shut down.
Nike | LAST | 2015
The camera keeps moving backward the whole time. It's graceful, but there's something otherworldly about it too. Set to Aretha Franklin's "Every Little Bit Hurts," that same shot just keeps going.
CERVEZA SALTA | TOOTH IMPLANT | 2015
A rugby player loses a tooth during a match. It happens all the time. But this campaign actually implanted a 'tooth that doubles as a bottle opener' in place of the lost one. The surgery, the bottle-opening scene—it's all real. This project won a Titanium Lion at Cannes Lions 2015.