The 10 best ads of 2024 (plus, one that’s really bad)

Well, here we are. The traditional time to look back, reflect, and evaluate the past 12 months. Thankfully, this story isn’t about food intake, exercise, or productivity—it’s about advertising! There has been some incredible brand work created this year across many different platforms, film, experiences, and more. But this is a more targeted look at some of my favorite commercials.

I’ve tried to adhere to criteria that include level of difficulty, creative inventiveness, risk, and sheer entertainment. We’re all confronted with gajillions of advertising images every single day. Most of it can be generously categorized as cultural wallpaper. At the very least, these select few pieces of brand work not only weren’t a waste of time, but in fact made me laugh, think, and, yes, maybe even shed a tear.

One thing you’ll notice is the absence of perhaps the most discussed piece of 2024 advertising, DoorDash’s “DoorDash All The Ads.” I’ve sung the praises of this all-conquering Super Bowl campaign at various points this year, so I decided to shine some light elsewhere.

And of course, I’ve also saved some space for my least favorite ad of the year. Read on to find out.

The ‘Best Literary Angler’ Ad Award

Yeti “All That Is Sacred”

Okay, so technically this debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in late 2023, but didn’t become available for everyone to see in wide release until this past July. Directed by Scott Ballew, “All That Is Sacred” is a 34-minute portrait of Buffett and his group of friends in Key West, Florida back in the late 1960s and ‘70s. Featuring writers like Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison, Guy de la Valdéne, and Richard Brautigan, it spotlights their shared obsession with fishing. It’s a combination of interviews with those of the group still living, shot over the past few years, and footage from a little-seen 1973 doc called Tarpon, by de la Valdéne and Christian Odasso. Yeti produced the film, and launched it for free on YouTube and across its digital channels.

Back in July, I asked McGaune what he thought of the film being produced and promoted by a brand. “Given that it’s such a lovely piece of work, I hope it isn’t dismissed as a commercial,” he said.

No chance.

The ‘Best Brand Collab for Goth Teens’ Award

Liquid Death “Corpse Paint”

It opens on a scene straight outta ’90s advertising: Two girls sit in a pink-plastered bedroom fawning over a teen magazine, except the dreamy heart throb gracing its pages looks like a lead singer for a Norwegian death metal band. This is the ad announcing Liquid Death’s collaboration with e.l.f. Cosmetics called “Corpse Paint.”

The coffin-shaped makeup kit included the Dead Set (Matte Magic Mist & Set), the Kiss of Death (O Face Satin Lipstick in the shade All Night), Eye Die (No Budge Cream Eyeshadow in the shade Wispy Cloud), Dead Line (H2O Proof Eyeliner Pen), the Brush with Death Putty Applicator. It sold out in under 45 minutes, setting a record for e.l.f., and the campaign hit over 12 billion impressions within two weeks of its launch.

The ‘Charles Barkley Putting Personality Back In Hoops’ Award

Adidas “No Lie”

Despite the proliferation of signature basketball sneakers over the past few decades, there’s been a dearth of memorable advertising around them. Named for Chuck’s 1993 Nike ad “I Am Not A Role Model,” this award goes to Adidas and Anthony Edwards.

In the Adidas campaign for his Ant 1 shoe, created with agency Johannes Leonardo, the Minnesota Timberwolves star proved he not only has the skills to potentially be the face of the NBA, he’s got a sense of humor and talks juuuust the right amount of trash to be a brand star. In “No Lie,” Edwards takes a lie detector test in the now-familiar peach setting of the campaign. The Celtics, Eastern Conference, MVP voters, among others catch some thinly-veiled strays. It’s a perfect complement to last season’s “Receipts” when his pal read out receipts of people criticizing him, including real comments from legend Carmelo Anthony, and rapper Cam’ron. It’s a perfect example of the brand bringing real basketball fan culture into its ads, trash talk, hot takes, trolls, and all.

The ‘Super Bowl Shuffle’ Award for Excellence in Football Music

Omaha Productions “Manningcast: The Musical”

Before every NFL season, brands ramp up their advertising hype in order to tap into America’s most popular sport. Beer, snacks, cars, insurance—you name it. But ahead of this season, Omaha Productions decided to take things up a notch to promote the new season of The Manningcast, hosted by brothers and legendary QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.

This was an 11-minute extravaganza of unexpected proportions. Picture a Broadway show starring NFLers, alongside cameos from Robert Downey Jr, Jimmy Kimmel, Pete Davidson, Snoop Dogg, and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Magical.

There’s even a solid auditions video to go along with it. All in all, It’s easily the best musical association with pro football since the 1985 Chicago Bears released “The Super Bowl Shuffle.”

The ‘Best Reverse Psychology’ Ad Award

Visit Oslo “Is It Even A City?”

Visit Oslo is the tourism marketing board for Norway’s capital city, and this year it may have created one of the best—or at least, most unique—pieces of tourism advertising ever made. The spot features an Oslo resident complaining about his hometown and how it just doesn’t measure up to world-class tourist destinations. Swimming in the city center, no waiting times for restaurants, it feels more like a village than a city, you can walk from one side to the other in 30 minutes, and the lines into museums are short. All things you wouldn’t get in New York or Paris.

Oslo tourism skillfully plays with the marketing norms of its category, surprising its audience even more, making the impact of the work that much stronger. Within a day, this thing had gone viral. And now we all know a bit more about Oslo than it being the hometown of Edvard Munch and A-ha.

The ‘Best Use of a Celebrity’ Award (Tie)

Cerave “Michael Cerave”

Supercell “Squad Up!”

This is an incredibly tough category. Ryan Reynolds is an annual contender, and his work hyping Deadpool & Wolverine this year is no exception. Ben Affleck absolutely ruled the Super Bowl with his absurdly straight-faced musical career for Dunkin. And Snoop Dogg going smokeless for Solo Stove.

It’s a category so tough, in fact, that I couldn’t pick just one ad. First up is Cerave’s surreal and hilarious enlistment of Michael Cera, who just bought into this idea so completely that he was out signing bottles of moisturizer in random pharmacies. Ad agency Ogilvy missed out on the Cannes Grand Prix with this one, but it remains in the upper echelons of 2024 work. The commitment to the bit and unexpected nature of the celebrity is what impressed most with this one.

In May, Supercell dropped a banger for its new mobile game Squad Busters, featuring an unlikely crew of Chris Hemsworth, Christina Ricci, Will Arnett, Ken Jeong, and Auli’i Cravalho. At five minutes long, the risk here was it would quickly resemble an overcooked SNL skit. The group follows one innocent man around his day, trying to convince him to join the game. The result is a hilarious introduction to the Squad Busters universe, and Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” stuck in your head.

The ‘I’m Not Crying YOU’RE Crying’ Award

Chevrolet “The Sanctuary”

It all starts at what appears to be a Thanksgiving family party, where a young man is getting peppered with questions about his post-high school plans. He’s rescued by his dad, who takes him out in the recently passed granddad’s 1987 Chevy truck.

As I wrote the other week, what stands out here is just how quickly the story establishes the emotional stakes. Too many ads go for a big emotional pay-off without a strong enough foundation. This approach is a bit of an anomaly in auto advertising right now (hell, any advertising). And for good reason: It’s incredibly difficult to do it well, and incredibly easy to be too sappy or cliche. The last time I remember another car ad coming close is Mercedes’ 2017 spot “Be A Good Parent” or a 2018 VW ad called “Generationer.” All examine the complex relationship between fathers, sons, and cars in their own way. And now Chevy joins them in that cryball car ad canon.

The ‘Best-Ever Ad For a Pen’ Award

Montblanc “100 Years of Meisterstuck”

Sometimes you get a commercial for a brand you never really expected. Like when Werner Herzog made a feature-length doc with Netscout. Or any ad about restless leg syndrome ever. In May, luxury pen brand Montblanc enlisted award-winning director Wes Anderson, with actors Jason Schwartzman and Rupert Friend, as alpine explorers/brand ambassadors. They show us the Mont Blanc Observatory, high mountain library, and writing room atop Mont Blanc. Anderson also unveils a new Montblanc pen he designed called “The Schreiberling” (The Scribbler), to be released next year.

The occasion is to celebrate the centenary of a pen whose name translates to Masterpiece. Anyone who could or would want to pay $500 for a pen pays attention to detail. And there may be no more detail-oriented director than Anderson. Here he brings his trademark whimsy and humor to an utterly surprising product category. It’s among Anderson’s best commercial work, and easily the best-ever ad for pen.

‘Commercial Least Likely to Make You Dry Heave’ Award

“The Last Barf Bag” Dramamine

There are certain product categories that are perceived by ad creatives as either a nightmare or dream come true, depending on your outlook. The creatives at FCB Chicago clearly saw Dramamine as the latter.

How else do you make a 13-minute doc called “The Last Barf Bag” as a tribute to airplane sick bags and the effectiveness of your product? Released in April, it tells us the story of the barf bag through the perspectives of several enthusiast collectors, with the premise that Dramamine works so well, it’s making the barf bag obsolete.

Entertaining, informative, with a extremely high degree of difficulty. Now, we just need a brand merch with the reindeer barfing ice cubes on it.

And finally, last and kind of least, is my pick for the biggest missed opportunity this year…

The ‘Can’t Read The Room’ Award for Worst Ad

Apple “Crush”

First, a caveat: This isn’t actually the worst ad of the year. In fact, it’s not even the worst AI-related ad of the year (Congrats, Toys R Us). But what makes this controversial Apple spot my pick for worst ad is based on just how badly one of the world’s best and most successful marketers missed the mark.

In May, Apple dropped a new ad for its newest iPad Pro. We see a collection of creative tools like turntables, a piano, trumpet, cans of paint, a sculptured bust, a writing desk, camera lenses, all piled up in an industrial crusher. Then, it was all smashed into oblivion to the tune of Sonny & Cher’s “All I Ever Need Is You.”

Created in-house, the aim of the spot is clearly to illustrate just how many amazing creative tools and possibilities are accessible in the new iPad. But at a time rife with concern and discussion about the increasing role of AI in creative work, here is Apple using visceral destruction to demonstrate the superiority of technology. Unlike so many of Apple’s ads over the years—and even this year with spots like “Flock” and “Heartstrings”—instead of possibility and magic through technology, “Crush” conveys the feeling of loss. As an ad—an Apple ad—that’s exactly what it was.