Best Ads of the Week: Soho’s sensory-rich short & Greenpeace’s star-studded cartoon

This week, the NFL honored Hispanic Heritage Month, Ryan Reynolds cussed out Pumpkin Spice Season and Peet’s roasted fake coffee fans.

Aviation Gin: A Few Thoughts on Pumpkin Spice by Maximum Effort

To celebrate Negroni Week, actor Ryan Reynolds is making his feelings about pumpkin-spiced drinks very clear. Made popular by Starbucks, the cinnamon-spiked drink first came on the market back in 2003 and is one of the brand’s most popular seasonal offerings. But it doesn’t look like Aviation Gin will be following suit.

Titled ‘A Few Thoughts on Pumpkin Spice Season,’ the ad sees Reynolds mix a negroni cocktail while conveying his hatred for the Fall favorite. The spot comes from the actor’s own ag agency, Maximum Effort.

Save the Children: Our Proudest Moments Are Theirs by Don’t Panic

Save The Children, a humanitarian organization dedicated to helping children around the world, has released a new campaign titled ‘Our Proudest Moments Are Theirs.’

Beyond simply tugging at heartstrings, the 60-second spot aims to rally individuals worldwide to unite behind the charity’s mission and recognize the enduring significance of its work. The work weaves together three true stories of hope and transformation, from a mother-daughter reunion in Bangladesh and a young refugee’s first day of school in Syria to a child being born.

Greenpeace: A Story About Survival by Rumpus Animation

In a new animated spot for Greenpeace, viewers see an eel voiced by Camila Cabello and a flying fish portrayed by Jane Fonda in the depths of a dank, contaminated and murky ocean. Hardly able to see while surrounded by plastic and dead animals, the pair try to make their way to the ‘clear water,’ guided by a helpful whale voiced by Simon Pegg.

NFL: Hometown Heroes by Admiration

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the NFL this week released a new campaign titled ‘Hometown Heroes’ as part of the league’s season-long campaign honoring Latino heritage: ‘Por La Cultura.’

Produced by Admiration, the ad series delves deep into the origin stories of three Latino NFL standouts: Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers, Alijah Vera-Tucker of the New York Jets and Christian Gonzalez of the New England Patriots. In so doing, Hometown Heroes seeks to emphasize a universal truth shared by Latino NFL players and athletes at large: their passion for the game and subsequent journeys to success were profoundly shaped by their leaders back home.

Soho International Film Festival by Gigil NYC

To promote the Soho International Film Festival, creative agency Gigil NYC has created a mind-bending short that sees a woman’s senses get a little mixed up while sitting in a movie theater. We see her react to emotional scenes in unusual ways, with tears streaming from her mouth, covering her nose in fear and laughing through her eyes.

The ad celebrates the 14th year of the festival, which finishes on September 21 and has 110 films on its roster.

Bombay Sapphire: The World is a Gallery by BBDO New York

A new campaign from Bombay Sapphire aims to elevate cocktail dresses like never before. Bacardi’s gin brand tapped fashion visionary Christian Siriano to design the first-ever haute couture gown inspired by the Bombay French 75 cocktail. The collection debuted at Siriano’s Spring/Summer 2024 New York Fashion Week show on Friday. Siriano’s French 75-inspired gown mirrors the effervescence of the cocktail. Designed with whimsical touches that mimic the zesty lemon, bubbling champagne and vibrant gin notes, the creation incorporates elements of Bombay Sapphire’s signature blue bottle.

Ramsbury Gin: Never Out of Place by B-Reel

A new spot titled ‘Never Out of Place’ for Ramsbury Gin sees a sole gin bottle take a little trip on a silver plate through various rooms in a fancy hotel. As it is dragged around the building, guests look on in bewilderment before the tray stops at the feet of a glamorous-looking woman lounging by the pool.

The campaign will run until October 31 in the UK, Canada, and Germany via online, video-on-demand (VOD), digital-out-of-home (DOOH) and social media activations. To coincide with the film, there are still images of the brand’s gin and vodka bottles that will be used in an outdoor campaign.

Bloomberg: Context Changes Everything by Wieden+Kennedy New York

A trio of short films convey how the outlet’s data-driven research can pose solutions to modern global issues.

In a society where opinions often overshadow facts, Bloomberg Media’s new campaign, coined ‘Context Changes Everything,’ aims to emerge as a beacon of truth, with a resounding call for context and precision.

The new work comprises three 30-second spots: ‘Sand,’ ‘Office’ and ‘AI.’ Each clip addresses a core topic within modern business within Bloomberg’s fresh reporting lens, positioning the publication as the leading purveyor of fact, context and data-based business reporting. The spots were shot to look as if they were done in one take before closing on the following tagline: ‘Context changes how you see things. Context changes how you change things. Context changes everything.’

Peet’s: Coffee for Coffee People by Mischief

Peet’s Coffee, the java juggernaut known for roasting coffee beans since 1966, is percolating a return to the basics of coffee advertising with its debut campaign, ‘Coffee for Coffee People.’

In six spots, the campaign pokes lighthearted fun at overly complicated coffee orders, while showcasing the brand’s dedication to the simply perfect roast. In the hero spot, ‘Mango Breeze,’ a mother and two kids attempt to order three drinks at the drive-thru. Each drink sounds less like coffee than the last, from the daughter's “large pink mango breeze lemonade drink with extra acai and fusion blast syrup” to the mom’s own “non-fat sweet persimmon fizzer, with no foam, extra hot, extra dry with a half-caff triple berry and fusion blast.” The barista walks out on them before she they even complete the order.

McDonald’s: McDelivery, You In? by Leo Burnett UK

When it comes to McDelivery, it appears that everyone in the United Kingdom is in.

Today, McDonald’s released a new ad campaign titled ‘McDelivery, You In?’ portraying the irresistible allure of McDelivery.

Central to the campaign is a hyperbolic, fast-paced 60-second film that takes place in a British flat. When one family starts a McDelivery order, all of their neighbors join in, placing their orders without a single glance at the menu.

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