Work of the Week: 12/06/26
Nike – Rip the Script
Chosen by Laura Swinton Gupta, editor-in-chief
The world may be gearing up to see the biggest footballing nations in the world duke it out on the pitch, but for ad nerds the real battle is in the ad breaks. Or like, the digital equivalent of the ad breaks. Adidas shared its wares a few weeks ago and now it’s time for Nike to lace up its boots and show some skills. Rip the Script is a kinetic, frenetic display of confident football choreography. I do have strong opinions on ads that are about making ads, but here the action escalates in blockbuster style pitting fake movie magic against the reality of sport. It makes sense. Nike draws from its deep bench of football and celebrity talent, even featuring the ultimate US soccer star, Ted Lasso. But for me, Man of the Match has to go to dynamo Dan Streit for his bravura directing.
QuikTrip – Savor Summerhood
Chosen by Alex Reeves, managing editor, EMEA
There’s a sad American rock song I like that taught me “you get old enough to know that happiness is just a moment.” And don’t the team at Laughlin Constable just know it? It’s that flicker of perfection that these films for convenience retailer QuikTrip captures. Shot on film by Prettybird directors The Coles, the five spots give us a taste of that feeling when all of summer’s promise is realised, even in the most mundane of settings. An unexpected audio backdrop of Cornershop’s ‘Brimful of Asha’ sets off the feeling. And how do we access such joy? An $8 meal deal, perfectly timed when we need it most. It’s advertising for an everyday brand, made with confidence and self-respect. A class act.
Tropicana – Give Life Some Juice
Chosen by Sunna Coleman, reporter, Asia
Just delightful. A happy-go-lucky sloth chances upon a refreshing bottle of Tropicana orange juice nestled among luscious leaves. He takes a sip for a natural lift and with a bounce in his step, marches through the rainforest to the beat of Connor Price and Forrest Frank's 'UP!'.
As he parades through his magical habitat, the environment springs to life, with jumping frogs, flying fish, and creatures big and small. The enchanting, joyful spot ends on a high with the sloth being carried away on the wings of a flamingo. Developed in partnership with creative agency FIG, 'Give Life Some Juice' brings to life the feeling of being transported to the tropics with every sip of Tropicana.
FOX One – The FIFA World Cup Comes First
Chosen by Paul Monan, head of creative excellence
It was a big week for multi-film campaigns. There were a lot of really good 30-second ads but these four might just be the best of the lot.
US streaming platform FOX One is broadcasting all 104 matches of the FIFA World Cup. With more matches than ever before, and seemingly more streaming platforms than ever before, there's plenty of content competing for attention.
The idea of being distracted may not be unique but this campaign, by Anomaly, is so flawlessly put together that it doesn’t really matter. They’re all funny, with a couple veering into quite dark territory (see the Lifeguard film). Amidst a deluge of trope-laden football/soccer (delete as appropriate transatlantic friends!) this feels pleasantly refreshing.
The wider campaign includes creator partnerships, social content, out of home and media activations but the films are so good they work alone.
Booking.com – The Easiest Way to Anywhere
Chosen by Zara Naseer, writer, editorial strategy
The craft in these Booking.com ads from Zulu Alpha Kilo are what really won the LBB editorial team over. Directed by Fiona McGeein in partnership with Arts & Sciences, each one shows a protagonist daydreaming their way out of a mundane situation and into a travel fantasy, and the way that contrast is presented is just so well done. What stood out to me was the grade shift from dull and oppressive to sun-drenched and vibrant, the sound of the mode of transport marking the transition between reality and fantasy, and the steel drum holiday spin on The Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Juicy’. Each choice packs maximum storytelling into just 30 seconds worth of ad space.
Heinz x Heineken – The Match We’ve All Been Waiting For
Chosen by Abi Lightfoot, reporter, Americas
As nations prepare to face one another at the World Cup this Summer, HEINZ and Heineken have shown the good that can happen when two opposing forces come together.
Launching limited edition packaging created by The Kitchen and EPDM at Kraft Heinz, in partnership with LePub Milan and PR agency The Romans, the project saw the two brands come together to create the ultimate six-pack. Shaped like a traditional six-pack of Heineken, the brands have cleverly replaced the sixth bottle with a bottle of HEINZ ketchup, and merged the logos in the process, making everyone wonder, has the Heineken logo always linked to HEINZ quite so seamlessly?
Unveiled via striking product and people-led photography by Paolo Zerbini, the campaign is a reflection of what can happen when two brands realise they work well together, and choose to embrace it: seeing each other as peers instead of rivals.
Uber Brazil – Chega Junto
Chosen by Jordan Won Neufeldt, Canada reporter
As far as building World Cup hype goes, this campaign from Wieden+Kennedy Sao Paulo does things beautifully. While Brazil leaning into its status as the only country in history to have five stars on its jersey somewhat irks me as a Germany fan, there’s absolutely zero reason why the brand shouldn’t revel in this, ahead of the tournament. Specifically, by offering a limited-time six-star rating for passengers travelling with Uber, it’s a fun way to give fans a headstart in the quest to rally around making it official for the men’s national team. Exclusive, clever, yet simple and creative – what’s not to like?
Uber Eats– 'Who Could Cook At A Time Like This?
Chosen by Scarlett Sherriff, reporter, EMEA
There’s little that can be considered more iconically English than Gordon Ramsay telling you that you are useless. For the iconic chef, known for his prowess with the knife and the skewer, and streamlining ridiculous menus, to suggest an Uber Eats order rather than a home-cooked meal requires a momentous occasion. For example, penalty shootouts. Nailbitingly stressful events that England fans are more acquainted with than they would like to be. As ever, Gordon is right, anyone who cooks in those moments is wrong. An extremely apt campaign from Uber Eats. It’s been 60 years of hurt, who doesn’t want to indulge in a takeaway during the match time?
Nike x Patta – The Netherlands X2 Capsule Collection
Chosen by Ben Conway, reporter, Americas
Ahead of the World Cup, Nike has partnered with various streetwear brands and national football federations to release co-branded apparel capsules that celebrate the nations' cultures and sporting pride.
This latest edition, partnering with Patta for The Netherlands, is directed by 100%'s Paul Geusebroek and centralises people and traditions with Surinamese-Dutch heritage. This ties into Patta’s own history, as its founders are Surinamese Dutch, and gets other Surinamese Dutch football legends involved, including Virgil Van Dijk and Edgar Davids.
Switching from moody street corners to ethereal spaces illuminated by the team's iconic shade of orange, the film is an upbeat, vibrant celebration of a complex national identity, but one ultimately rooted in a togetherness that few events conjure more readily than the World Cup.
Nothing – Wearing Nothing
Chosen by Zhenya Tsenzharyk, managing editor, editorial strategy
When simplicity works, it’s unbeatable. A series of athletes expressing their physical prowess and modelling the new, blue Nothing headphones colourway, adorned with the sentiment that athletes wear ‘nothing’ when practicing their discipline, is an example of exactly that. Captured by photographer Theo Sion, the images evoke ‘90s era Calvin Klein via the lenses of Mario Sorrenti and Bruce Weber, updated for a contemporary audience. Sensual without sensationalism, the images celebrate great design through a tactile visual language that feels classic and timeless.
Premier Inn – Night at Premier Inn
Chosen by Laura Swinton, editor-in-chief
Blindfolded and dropped into a random Premier Inn location, British Twitch streamer Danny Aarons managed to hook his audience for 10 hours straight in an unusual interactive escape room adventure. The stream attracted over 881,000 unique viewers and generated 8.9 million view minutes thanks to an innate understanding of audience, creator, platform and brand. Creative agency Leo UK went several steps further than the usual video game play content that makes up most Twitch brand collabs to create something surprising and silly that proved a hit with Danny’s audience of teens and early 20-somethings, also, coincidentally, the exact market for budget hotels. It’s a fickle audience that would quickly turn off from or troll any tie in they deem cringe, but Danny’s followers stayed with it, which speaks volumes.
Green.com.au – The Solar Inheritance
Chosen by Tom Loudon, AUNZ reporter
Among the most provocative, uncomfortable campaigns of the year, ‘The Solar Inheritance’ asks a question which at first sounds satirical: why can't the dead help power the living?
Created by independent agency Bounce and produced by Somewhere Nowhere, the Green.com.au campaign targets Australia's deepening energy inequality by proposing thousands of hectares of cemetery land be repurposed for solar generation.
It’s a provocation that weaponises dark humour to make a serious point about inequality, and forces a conversation polite policy discourse would rather avoid.
In grounding that provocation in real data and a functional prototype, it transforms what could have been mere shock value into an unusually concrete proposal -- one that's uncomfortable precisely because it's hard to dismiss as just a stunt.
