It’s been a pretty wild year in the world of advertising and brand work.
Amid broader industry shifts, there has been some incredible brand work created this year across many different platforms, film, experiences, and more. But as we bring 2025 to a close, I wanted to take a more targeted look at some of the best commercials of this year.
I’ve tried to adhere to criteria that includes level of difficulty, creative inventiveness, risk, and sheer entertainment. Despite how much great work is out there, sadly, most advertising can be generously categorized as cultural wallpaper. But these select few pieces of brand weren’t a waste of time—they made me laugh, think, and, yes, crave a fast-casual margarita.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Best Social Commentary Commercial for a Meat
Australian Lamb “The Comments Section”
What is it about Australian Lamb? And I’m not even talking about the meat. The Aussie meat producer marketer is making a habit of crafting hilarious social commentary while hyping the taste and quality of its young sheep.
This year, it holds a mirror up to online culture and the absurdity of how people act in the comments compared to IRL.
The results are simply delicious.
Best Self-Aware AI Commercial That Absolutely No one Should Copy But Many Will
Kalshi “The World’s Gone Mad”
If you were watching the NBA playoffs when this ad aired, you’d be excused if you thought someone snuck some ‘shrooms in your beer glass. Unhinged doesn’t even begin to describe how the prediction market platform Kalshi went about introducing itself to the broader American public.
Hilarious, wild, and an absolute AI-generated nightmare, the spot immediately grabbed attention, but also burned the bridge of shock-and-awe AI ads behind it. Any other spot that tries to use this approach will just be a copycat—see: McDonald’s now-pulled European holiday spot. I’m definitely not a fan of AI slop advertising, but here Kalshi sets the bar for AI as a creative ad gimmick.
Bonus points here for the equally funny behind-the-scenes spot that quickly followed online.
Best Reinterpretation of a Classic Tagline
Nike “Why Do It?”
When Walt Stack ran across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nike’s first commercial, “Just Do It” became the tagline and philosophy that propelled the swoosh to become an iconic global brand. Now almost 40 years later, Nike needed to remind a new generation what “Just Do It” actually means.
Launched in September, the brand’s campaign was called “Why do it?”, and it took aim at the pervasiveness of cringe culture, which often frames earnest effort as uncool. “Those three words mean so much to us, but we can’t just be holier-than-thou about it,” Nike chief marketing officer Nicole Graham told me at the time. “We have to make sure that those three words are resonating with each generation.”
Narrated by Tyler, the Creator, and starring a laundry list of star athletes, this was a stylish way to bridge the brand’s heritage as an iconic advertiser, with a modern message that shouldn’t get old.
Best Blockbuster Video Game Commercial
Battlefield 6 “Live Action Trailer”
Created with agency Mother LA, the video game giant appears to be bringing Battlefield 6 squads to life with the help of Zac Efron, NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, chart topper Morgan Wallen, and MMA fighter Paddy Pimblett. It harkens back to the days when Call of Duty enlisted Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel (2010), or Jonah Hill and Avatar’s Sam Worthington (2012) to hype its new releases. Except the celebs in this spot only last for about three seconds.
Set to Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” it quickly becomes clear that the game doesn’t need to rely on the celebrity of Efron, Butler, Wallen, and Pimblett, but its strength is actually in the community of everyday players that make it what it is.
A clever play on a classic gaming trope to help launch a blockbuster.
Best Meta Movie Marketing Award
A24 “Marty Supreme zoom call”
It’s 18 minutes long. Here we get Chalamet—sporting a bright yellow tank top, buzz cut, and dainty necklace—joining a Zoom call full of supposed studio marketing execs leading the prom campaign ahead of the film’s December 25th release. The star actor then gradually unloads an increasingly ridiculous list of ideas to market the film. As my colleague Grace Snelling wrote, it may be his best role yet. Absolute genius.
Meta advertising in entertainment used to be the lone realm of Mr. Ryan Reynolds. Here, by lampooning entertainment marketing in a way that doesn’t give anything away about Marty Supreme, while still building curiosity and hype, A24 and Chalamet raise the bar.
Best Brand Apology Award
Ram Trucks “This is our Ram-demption”
It can be surprisingly difficult for brands to admit they’ve made a mistake. It’s even harder to get them to actually apologize for it. Back in June, Ram Trucks did both shockingly well.
In 2024, parent company Stellantis announced it would discontinue the automaker’s popular Hemi V-8 engine for its Ram 1500 full-size pickup truck beginning this summer, and fans were upset—to say the least. Sales dropped 18%.
Created with the ad agency Argonaut, the apology spot was shot entirely with practical effects, and featured CEO Tim Kuniskis behind the wheel of the truck, doing doughnuts, drifting, and taking a few hot laps on a NASCAR track.
Here he says, “We own it. We got it wrong. And we’re fixing it.” It’s a simple, textbook brand apology, creatively combined with the kind of pep talk aimed to get brand fans hyped for what’s next.
New Sports Tradition We Didn’t Know We Needed Award
Oscar Mayer “Wienie500”
Part commercial, part sports event, this year Oscar Mayer redefined what was possible when you make a car in the shape of a hotdog. First created in 1936 as a promotional vehicle for the brand, the Wienermobile has seemingly always been part of the hotdog brand’s heritage.
So the brand asked itself a simple question, why not race them? The Wienie500 raced five of the brand’s famed Wienermobiles against each other at the Indianapolis 500 in May. It streamed live on the Fox Sports app, getting 150 million total views; media coverage and social media attracted nearly seven billion earned impressions, and Oscar Mayer saw its biggest Memorial Day sales lift in years.
Best New Country Song to Sell Margs
Chili’s “Ride the ‘Dente”
Word on the street is that Chili’s sells more margaritas than any other U.S. restaurant chain. In 2024, it sold more than 25 million margs. So when the brand was looking to connect with a NASCAR audience, it combined country music, margaritas, and some good ol’ fashioned hilarious copywriting to create an epic music video featuring its signature marg, the Presidente.
The tune is catchy and the lyrics are remarkably transparent:
Chili’s wanted to reintroduce the Presidente Margarita to a NASCAR audience
But that was pretty complex, so we came up with a catchy line
And it ends with, “I’m singing ‘bout Chili’s y’all.”
It’s a lifestyle choice.
Most Creative Use of a Billboard
Steph Curry “Shot Ready”
To promote the Golden State Warriors’ star’s new book Shot Ready, Curry and his publisher Random House enlisted agency Known to create what may go down as a pantheon billboard.
Timed with three days of a November supermoon, the billboard makes it look like Curry is actually shooting the actual moon, as it crests over the Los Angeles skyline, in a perfect arc.
So much of our world—and especially advertising—is digital, that billboards have become a welcome analog canvas for creativity. Bonus: They are still able to spread globally thanks to our social feeds. This joins BBC’s 2020 remake of Dracula, and the original Deadpool ‘s emoji as one of the most creative billboards in recent memory.
Best Commercial That’s Also a Feature Doc That’s Also A Commercial
WhatsApp “The Seat”
Okay, okay, I’m cheating here a bit, I know. Brand entertainment is not technically a commercial. But WhatsApp is so embedded in this entire story that I can’t really help but make an exception.
Back in May, Netflix debuted a new doc that chronicled Mercedes search for its new F1 driver after Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving for Ferrari. The one-hour doc was directed by Kyle Thrash, and produced by RadicalMedia, but it can also be considered an elaborate WhatsApp commercial.
The Meta-owned app is a producer, and created the whole project with its content partner Modern Arts.
With a budget similar to a 60-second ad,The Seat is the ultimate example of non-interruptive advertising that people actually want to watch.