shots Staff Most Admired Work

In advertising, you usually spend all your time looking for the hot, the new, the next. But sometimes it’s good to look back, to appreciate the old that was once new, to see how far we’ve come.

To celebrate our 150th issue, shots takes a nostalgic trip and browses the industry’s rich creative history to pick our favourite 150 agencies, directors, production and post houses, spots, Super Bowl spots, creative gurus, brands, music videos, online campaigns, shots staff most admired work and most important changes.

Danny Edwards, editor

Sony Bravia Balls

Agency: Fallon London

Director: Nicolai Fuglsig

There are a hundred other campaigns I could easily, and rightly, laud but this film is one that, for me, most readily encapsulates all that can be great about advertising: a brave client, passionate creative people and the marriage of a killer idea and beautiful execution. The discussion over whether advertising can ever truly be art is one which is occasionally raised, and never fully answered, but this, in my opinion, is as close as it gets to being both.

Ryan Watson, news editor

Puma Hardchorus

Agency: Droga5 New York

Director: Ben Gregor

Aired during the half-time interval of the FA Cup game between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur – which fell on Valentine’s Day in 2010 – the two-minute film sees a group of football ‘hooligans’ (real life Tottenham fans) come together in a pub to give a heartfelt rendition of Savage Garden’s Truly Madly Deeply. Honing in on the high emotion of the day and applying the romance of the FA Cup to the Valentine’s theme, the broadcast marked an ingenious, yet brilliantly simple, execution encouraging football fans to “let your better half know how you feel”. The best creativity is born from tapping into truths, emotion and the genuine passion of its audience and Droga5 is an agency which understands this.

Emily Ansell, news reporter

Boots Here Come The Girls

Agency: Mother London

Director: Traktor

This feel-good spot for Boots in 2007 not only got the UK geared up for the festive season, it also made Here Come The Girls the must-play song at every Christmas party. Agency producer Ange Eleini, who worked on the spot while at Mother, describes it as the “women’s national anthem” and I have to say that I agree – every time I watch the ad online I want to grab my dancing shoes, curl my hair and get ready to take on the world.

Tom Archer, senior researcher

Wheat Thins Puppet

Agency: BEING, New York

Director: Ulf Jonansson

What’s not to love? It’s a melancholy, snack-addicted puppet having a full episode and being restrained by humans after making some of the best noises I’ve ever heard. 

Isobel Roberts, contributor

Skittles Touch 

Agency: TBWAChistDay New York

Director: Tom Kuntz

Funny, irreverent, ridiculous – yet still somehow poignant and touching, the idea, casting and execution all come together expertly. It might highlight my somewhat unsophisticated sense of humour, but this ad still gets me every time. Comedy (and Tom Kuntz) at its best.

David Knight, contributor

Beastie Boys Sabotage

Director: Spike Jonze

The 70s cop show spoof has become something of a cliché, in music videos and everywhere else. But the originator, Spike Jonze’s video for Sabotage, is still miles ahead of the imitators. When it was made, 20 years ago, it was groundbreaking in its use of humour for a music video – a pitch-perfect parody which also works as satire. It still looks flawless, still unbeatably cool, and still intensely pleasurable to watch. 

Simon Wakelin, US contributor

Guinness Surfer

Agency: AMV BBDO London

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Dark, mysterious and masculine, Surfer features an incredible sequence of images set to a pulsating soundtrack from the dance music group Leftfield. Black and white framing with the classic look of surfers collides with state-of-the-art effects of the day and a futuristic soundtrack. It’s epic advertising to me; Glazer at his best. It’s Guinness positioned as eternal as the waves, and equally as powerful.

Sarah Shearman, US contributor

Arcade Fire The Wilderness Downtown

Director: Chris Milk

The interactive music video for Arcade Fire’s track We Used to Wait is celebration of the creative possibilities of technology. You have to download Google’s Chrome browser to get the best experience, but it doesn’t feel like an ad, you want to interact with it. I loved being able to type in postcodes to get a personalised video, although it doesn’t really work with the English countryside.

Carol Cooper, contributor

Lacoste The Big Leap

Agency: BETC Paris

Director: Seb Edwards

For me, Lacoste The Big Leap exemplifies the magic of advertising – the union of highly skilled artists (BETC Paris /Seb Edwards/MPC London) to produce a stunning, bite-size piece of art. Within a couple of minutes the audience has been taken on an uplifting, rewarding cinematic journey, a story has been told that draws on a classic theme, it’s got gorgeous protagonists, a cracking soundtrack, wow-factor CGI, jeopardy, sex, high drama and a happy ending. Also, the neat visualisation of ‘the big leap’ metaphor/tagline bestows upon the brand the kind of heroic, aspirational wonderment that makes you forget that they’re basically flogging rather dull polo shirts. Nice one.

Tim Cumming, contributor

Cadbury Gorilla

Agency: Fallon London

Director: Juan Cabral

From the Noughties, it’s got to be Gorilla. Other ads are more baroque and ambitious (Sony Balls, anything from Guinness) but you can’t beat the direct, clean impact of simplicity – or a really good gorilla suit.