Work of the Week: 13/02/26
Bankwest – Just Enough Bank
Chosen by Sunna Coleman, reporter, Asia
Extending Bankwest's existing 'Just Enough Bank' platform, three new spots are introduced, highlighting a humorous list of things to worry about, other than your banking. From realising you're turning into your mother to creepy neighbours or being abducted by aliens, the campaign reminds us that when we don't have to fret over finances, we can get back to fretting over the smallest and silliest things.
DVLA – Clampy
Chosen by Cathy Meyer-Funnell, EMEA reporter
There are probably not many people who would expect a surreal deadpan sense of humour in a spot for the DVLA, but AMV BBDO has managed to achieve just that.
The two 20-second films, directed by Biscuit’s Florence Poppy Deary, introduce the audience to ‘Clampy’, a talking Welsh wheel clamp explaining how unhappy he is at being forced to go to work due to people forgetting to tax their vehicle. In one instance, poor old Clampy is bemoaning missing his son’s birthday party because of his day job. In the other, Clampy is unfortunately in the firing line when a dog cocks its leg against the car wheel - none of which would have happened if the car owners had kept on top of their tax.
It is utterly ridiculous but turns a potentially dull subject into something irreverent and funny, while still putting across the message clearly. It’s the agency’s first work with the DVLA, so who knows what further scrapes Clampy could get himself into?
Dunkin’ -- Good Will Dunkin’
Chosen by Scarlett Sherriff, reporter, EMEA
Being UK-based and an espresso-guzzling independent coffee shop dweller, I am certainly not a Dunkin’ frequenter. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself pining for a sugary iced coffee, a '90s sitcom rewatch, and a bit of joyously silly Dunkin’ merch after watching the Super Bowl spots.
Ben Affleck’s love affair with the brand is a long-standing cultural phenomenon that has seen the pages of Vanity Fair, Business Insider and more, so it makes perfect sense that his studio Artists Equity is behind the 60-second Super Bowl ad he also stars in.
The brand knows that if it can’t satisfy the snobs, it sure can deliver fuzzy nostalgia in spades. And it does so with a star-studded cast featuring Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Alfonso Ribeiro and more. De-ageing the cast, parodying 'Good Will Hunting' and '90s inspired bucket hats and windbreakers are the icing on the doughnut. It is pure, simple escapism. Sometimes that’s just what is needed…
Coinbase – Everybody Coinbase
Chosen by Addison Capper, managing editor, Americas
The Super Bowl remains one of the few moments of true collective viewing in modern culture. An event of that scale tends to breed big, loud communication, which is exactly why quieter, more understated ideas can sometimes cut through. Coinbase proved that in 2022, with its now-famous Big Game spot featuring a QR code drifting across TVs like a DVD logo bouncing around a standby screen.
This year, working with agency Isle of Any, the crypto brand returned with another brilliantly simple, deliberately lo-fi execution that leaned into the collective viewing dynamic, effectively turning living rooms across the United States into one giant karaoke session. It was a curveball, the kind of idea that risks dividing opinion. But seeing brands and agencies push themselves to try something genuinely new is exactly why I love writing about this industry.
Meadow Fresh – Fantasy Heard
Chosen by Paul Monan, head of creative excellence
Every season, without fail -- normally sometime around Christmas -- I give up on my Fantasy Premier League team. Normally, I'm so far behind that I simply cannot be bothered to try to catch up. But it doesn't stop me from fervently building a squad every year alongside over 11 million other players.
Fantasy sports leagues are big business, with large player bases. In North America, tens of millions play fantasy football (the American kind). Now, a new fantasy league has popped up in New Zealand, except this time the players aren't humans, they're cows.
'Fantasy Herd' - devised by McCann NZ for best-selling milk brand Meadow Fresh - is inviting players to draft their own squad of dairy cows from a 500-strong herd, for a six-week competition that will land the winner $20,000. Points are accrued from farm and milking-shed data, captured by solar-powered smart collars worn by each cow. It's bringing dairy farming, one of NZ's most important industries, into popular culture by gamifying it and marrying it with technology.
It's a fun, unexpected initiative that will hopefully educate people on the care that goes into farming. (And if you want to join the LBB mini league, here's the code: 4XSGCQ).
poppi – Super Bowl Commercial (Vibes)
Chosen by Zhenya Tsenzharyk, managing editor
Charli xcx continues to be the moment with a spot for the prebiotic soda brand poppi, directed by Object & Animal's Aidan Zamiri, which premiered at the Super Bowl. She's joined by one of the OG 360 party girls, Rachel Sennott, and together they bring Vibes... VIBES! to a dull lecture, transforming it, briefly, into an enviable rave.
It's all spectacle and minimal narrative (complimentary) as the soda can opening summons the two icons, and they kick off the partying to the sound of Charli's 'Club Classic'. There's neon, someone projectile vomiting confetti, a horse, and a flamethrower. Do those things communicate the experience of drinking poppi? Who knows? But I'm really here for all the vibes.
He Gets Us – Is There More to Life than More?
Chosen by Laura Swinton Gupta, editor in chief
Perhaps the most provocative ad of this year’s Super Bowl, here’s a spot that sat bang in the middle of the USA’s biggest celebration of consumerism and asked the audience if there might be more to life than buying stuff. Eye-catching, colourful, dynamic and - most notably - modern, this spot from Dallas-based agency LERMA/ and director Salomon Ligthelm is the latest ‘He Gets Us’ commercial from Christian campaigning group Come Near.
It’s a group that’s stirred up controversy thanks to affiliation with right-wing groups that oppose LGBTQ+ rights and abortion (though the platform’s emphasis on inclusion and forgiveness has also been criticised on the other side as ‘too woke’ ). So there was quite a bit of debate about whether or not to include the film in this week’s round-up.
In the end, that provocation made the work too notable to ignore. There’s no denying that the film itself is stylishly crafted and strategically interesting, as it taps into the visual language of wellness and self-help. It’s bolder and more creatively interesting than previous years’ outings, and it says a lot about how religious groups are learning to wield the levers of culture and media in increasingly sophisticated ways.
Liquid I.V.– Take a Look
Chosen by Tará McKerr, Americas reporter
Electrolyte powder brand Liquid I.V. took to the Super Bowl to ask Americans to take a look at… their pee. Based on the discovery that most people are unknowingly dehydrated, the brand wanted to nudge viewers to use their daily bathroom breaks as a litmus test.
I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for the sachets, which acted as support after a few too many rosés at Cannes, but that was cemented when I learned how analogue the production and post-process were for this project. Couple that with a catchy '80s ballad, build-up that teased the ad like a blockbuster, and you’ve got one of my favourite Big Game spots of this year. Asked about project quirks, the team shared, “We also named each of the toilets. The porta-potty’s name is Rusty.”
CeraVe – Moisturize Like a Derm
Chosen by Alex Reeves, managing editor, EMEA
When ‘Ashy Ankles-gate’happened, the internet was absolutely ruthless to basketball legend Kevin Durant. But we love a redemption arc, don’t we? And CeraVe has played a blinder here. Instead of shying away from the memes, they’ve leaned right in with ‘Moisturise Like a Derm’.
It’s the perfect way to tackle a pretty unsexy behavioural problem – that we all neglect our skin until it becomes everyone’s business (or what the brand calls a ‘Skincident’). Naming an NBA superstar the ‘Face of Legs’ is just the sort of absurdity I can get behind. That shot of the camera taking a ‘never-ending journey’ up his now-glistening limbs? Classic.
Hats off to the team at L'Oréal for turning a moment of internet cringe into pure ‘medutainment’. It’s silly, self-aware, and it actually solves the brief. Kevin, your ankles are looking great, mate.
Levi’s – Backstory
Chosen by Abi Lightfoot, Americas reporter
Levi’s landed at the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years in the most on-brand way possible – backside first. Showing up at the Levi’s Stadium in the brand’s home city of San Francisco, it unveiled a montage of butts with ‘Behind Every Original’, a global campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day LA.
Directed by Kim Gehrig via Somesuch, the spot, soundtracked by James Brown’s ‘Get Up Offa That Thing’, stars a range of high-profile behinds, from artist Doechii to Woody from ‘Toy Story’. Showing how the brand intersects across music, fashion, sport, art and more, the campaign leans into the brand’s most recognisable assets to tell a distinctly Levi’s story, one that many wearers around the world could envision themselves being part of.
Kingsford – Savor It
Chosen by Ben Conway, Americas reporter
After the mad rush of the Super Bowl -- the onslaught of celebrity-stuffed ads with all the bells and whistles vying desperately for my attention -- this portrait of perfect relaxation was not only welcome, but needed.
BBDO Chicago’s latest for charcoal brand Kingsford, directed by Furlined’s Greg Hackett, distils the process of having a BBQ with friends and family into a series of serene vignettes, shot on 35mm film. The beautiful cinematography goes hand-in-hand with the mouth-watering sound design to really draw you into the uber-relaxing locale, and make you long for some coal-cooked food.
The film is a delightfully peaceful minute of your life, imploring you to ‘savour it’ a little more in this fast-food world.
Uva – Uva Uva Bombón
Chosen by Laura Swinton Gupta, editor in chief
Here’s a Super Bowl hack that is exactly the sort of work that we’d describe in the WOTW judging room as ‘neat and tidy’. It’s not flashy but it hits the mark in almost every respect, tied up in a bow.
Ahead of Bad Bunny’s halftime show, Puerto Rican e-commerce platform Uva announced that if the singer said the word ‘uva’, they’d unlock a selection of products discounted to $1. Of course, Bad Bunny’s hit 'Tití Me Preguntó' - which opened the show - contains the lyric ‘Uva Uva Bombón’, so they knew there was a 99.99% chance that bet would pay off.
The activation from San Juan-based agency de la Cruz Ogilvy enabled this Puerto Rican platform to capitalise on a homegrown hero hitting the Big Game, while leveraging the brand’s own name perfectly. That connection was too good an opportunity to pass up, and the team took full advantage.
Nike – ACG
Chosen by Olivia Atkins, Craft Editor
This relaunch from Wieden+Kennedy Portland outright refuses to romanticise the outdoors in the way so many sporting brands do. Instead of sweeping drone shots, ACG delivers in a loud, grainy and slightly unhinged way.
The Attenborough-esque opener leads viewers into a false pretence and sense of familiarity, only to yank it away mid-sentence, to reveal ACG’s truer form: packed full of adventures, performance-first and pounding with heavier music. Executive produced by Jackass co-founder Jeff Tremaine, his influence is instantly recognisable. The trail running and mountain pursuits feel raw and human; nothing is sanctified or too clean. Instead, the realness of adventure is positioned front and centre, inviting viewers to dive right into the action.
What’s also impressive is the scale of the reset. Beyond the film, ACG has collaborated with interesting partners, like Inter Milan, to coordinate a mountain football stunt, as well as train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois, who headed to the Swiss Alps by train and reviewed their facilities. Beyond the campaign, it's clear ACG is actively building out its world.
Kruger Products – Parent Assist
Chosen by Jordan Won Neufeldt, Canada reporter
I’ve got to hand it to Kruger. For a brand that manufactures and sells tissue products – a traditionally unglamorous category – it sure knows how to make an absolutely spectacular ad. In this case, ‘Parent Assist’, created by TBWA\Canada and directed by the one and only Mark Zibert, is a spot I’d willingly watch over and over again… and I don’t even like hockey all that much! (I know, sacrilege, considering my nationality). From the decision to include a children’s rendition of 'We Will Rock You', to the sheer chaos depicted on screen, it’s messy, it’s funny, and there’s just so much to love!
On top of that, it all just feels so quintessentially Canadian. I may not have grown up playing, and (hopefully) didn’t put my parents through the scenarios depicted here, but I know there’s a whole lot of families from coast to coast who can identify with the creative.
Emotional resonance, humour, and refusal to blatantly plug products in favour of actual storytelling? This is craft advertising at its finest!
