Creative effectiveness platform System1 has used its Test Your Ad platform and Competitive Edge database to reveal the top 10 global ads from 2025 by emotional response, channel and category cut-through.

The list, which is dominated by the UK, recognises brands based on how strongly each ad performed relative to direct competitors, highlighting the creative choices that delivered true distinctiveness and a measurable competitive edge. 

System1’s Star Rating is widely used to predict long-term brand-building potential, but this ranking takes a different approach, focussing on memorable impact within the category, across channels and contexts where attention is hard-won.

“Cut-through is not about playing it safe or copying the category mood of the moment."

The top 10 spots, listed below, reveals a clear pattern; that the most effective work did not rely on one emotional 'formula', instead using emotion strategically. Consistency was key, as was taking risks and going against traditional category conventions. Many of the campaigns also embraced bold storytelling shifts, including the use of AI and using a wider emotional range, from amusement and surprise to tension, sadness and even moments of negativity, all in a bid to sustain attention and drive engagement.

“Cut-through is not about playing it safe or copying the category mood of the moment," said Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer at System1 and host of Uncensored CMO. "It is about deliberately choosing an emotional stance that makes your brand impossible to ignore.This year’s top ads prove there is no single formula for earning attention. From Irn-Bru’s culturally sharp humour and Dove’s long-standing commitment to real beauty, to deliberately provocative work from American Eagle and Lynx, the common thread is intent. When brands fully commit to an emotion, whether that is joy, discomfort or something more challenging, they create memorability, conversation and commercial impact. That is how attention is earned in a sea of sameness.”

The top 10 ads of 2025

Best in brand-building

Dove #ChangetheCompliment [US]
3.1 Star Rating uplift versus the ‘Soaps and Personal Wash’ category.

Best in short-term impact 

Warburtons The Inspection [UK] 

0.55 Spike Rating uplift versus the ‘Bakery Category’.   

Best in brand recall 

Uber In Good Time [UK] 

26% higher fluency versus the ‘Mobile App’ category, and 28% higher than the average for 'Travel', making it the most recalled brand versus the category.   

Best of festive 

Coca-Cola Holidays Are Coming [US & UK]

Top scoring holiday/Christmas ad in the US and UK across Star, Spike & Fluency Rating.   

Most provocative 

American Eagle Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans [US] 

16% uplift in negative emotion ‘contempt’ versus the ‘Fashion’ category, making it the most polarising ad of the year.   

Most subversive 

Lynx Lynx Lower Body Spray [UK] 

21% uplift in emotional response ‘disgust’ versus the category, tapping into one of the rarest emotions to cut-through.   

Best in comedy 

Irn-Bru Made in Scotland for Girders [UK] 

56% ‘amusement’ score, the highest across all categories in 2025.   

Best in sport 

Uber Eats Football is For Food [US] 

48% uplift in 'happiness’ versus sport-themed ads, a category that typically struggles to resonate with mass audiences and skews toward already-engaged fans.   

Best in outdoor 

Cadbury All Heroes, No Zeroes [UK]

First ever 5.9 Star Rating for outdoor, against an average of 2.5 Stars.