It's been one hell of a year, so boiling it all down into a few humble little articles is no easy task. But we're going to try. This year we expanded our horizons a little bit, encompassing the entire creative spectrum, and as such, these lists will encompasses a rather eclectic array of stories from the world of design, technology, fashion, art, and (of course) advertising (our bread and butter if you will). So sit back, relax, pour yourself a large Baileys (it's Christmas after all), and prepare to get all misty eyes as we take you all on a brief journey through the year that was 2015.
January: Newcastle Brown Ale goes satirical for the Super Bowl
Though Newcastle Brown Ale, the Heineken-owned British beer brand that is surprisingly popular across the pond, might have lacked the finances to buy a national TV ad during the 2015 Super Bowl, they did manage to strike upon an ingenious way in which to buy regional TV space. The company effectively crowdsourced its Super Bowl 2015 ad by asking other marketers to pitch in and help pay for its placement during the big game. A buy in got the marketers' logos and messaging included in the spot, with the campaign operating under the title “Band of Brands” and the tagline, “Football is a team sport, now marketing is too.” The idea was to get smaller brands, which would never usually be able to afford air time in such an expensive slot, to band together, and it proved rather successful, with many smaller brands joining the fight against Budweiser and their ilk. And who doesn't love a good underdog story?
February: Cannes Lions shines a light on subpar employees
The Cannes Lions festival took a rather unconventional approach this year with its own ad campaign called “Invest in Creativity,” which features print ads and online videos created by McCann London. The tongue-in-cheek message behind the campaign is that employers should consider sending their worst performing members of staff to this year's festival, thinking of it as an “Investment in creativity.” As the campaign points out; it's cheaper to send them to Cannes than to offer them severance, and it might just ignite a fuse in them.
March: Droga5 Deletes Cameron Diaz
To celebrate International Women's Day on March 8 this year, No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, an initiative run by the Clinton Foundation, engaged Droga5 in a collaborative effort to raise awareness of how far we still have yet to go when it comes to gender equality. They did this (rather brilliantly) by attempting to literally erase women from the media landscape for a full day, underlining just how empty the world would feel without them. The symbolic campaign was titled simply “Not There,” and directed the public to the bespoke NOT-THERE.org website to learn more about what they could and can still do to help progress the state of gender equality.
May: The Fourth is strong with this one
For the last few years, May the 4th (be with you) has become something of an unofficial “Star Wars Day” holiday amongst certain fans, and with a new film released this year, people seemed to be feeling the force this year more than ever before. This enthusiasm extended to ad land, with a number of brands using the occasion to give their products a relevant 'force' push. Honestly, many of the attempts made came across as a little obvious, but a handful of brands actually appeared to put a bit of effort into it.
June: Dannes Lions, the latest addition to the winners circle
The advertising industry is not exactly renowned for taking the piss out of itself. Indeed, the only major zeitgeist defining piece of entertainment set around the industry in recent memory (Mad Men) glamorised ad land to almost the point of fetishism. The Dannes Lions Festival of Advertising, however, aimed to tip the balance somewhat. The festival, which is an obvious spoof of the Cannes Lions Festival, hosted it's inaugural event this year. The idea behind the festival is to celebrate comedy in advertising, and it does so by asking for submissions of work from creative agencies across the world. The event is one of those rare stunts that's kind of a hoax, but not entirely, and it's rare to see such witty pathos in advertising, so we can't wait for the Dannes Lions 2016.
July: Piers Morgan is terrible and he knows it
The National Lottery put everyone's least favourite douche at the front and centre of a new advertising campaign from AMV BBDO, which took a tongue-in-cheek look at those spots that show us where our money has gone. In this case, it went (hypothetically) to Piers Morgan and the equally loathsome Katie Price, and the result was some actually rather hilarious ad work! The “Please Not Them” campaign promoted not only the Lotto game, but the Good Cause Projects that it helps to fund.
August: The Muppets take a selfie with the Blair Witch
A horror-themed video by Wieden+Kennedy London for Three saw new brand mascot Jackson venture out into the woods with his best friend Steve, with the intention of reviewing LG’s flagship smartphone. Horror and (mild) hilarity ensued. The ad saw Three and LG taking a new slant on promoting a smartphone, opting to demonstrate the handset’s key features in extreme but entertaining circumstances. Jackson and Steve test the GPS on the way to their campsite, its camera capabilities in the woods, and the bright LCD screen when camping in their tent, all the while being spooked by seriously strange happenings. What made the ad so adorable, is that Jackson looks and acts like he fell right out of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Because he actually did!
October: Did Call of Duty take its latest Twitter stunt too far?
Call of Duty Black Ops 3 developer Treyarch issued an apology earlier this year for a Twitter campaign that suggested a terrorist attack was taking place in Singapore. The rub is that the campaign was tailored to appear genuine, with the developer changing the name of their Twitter account to “Current Events Aggregate,” and giving it a current affairs makeover completely unrelated to Call of Duty or video games in general. To lend legitimacy to this account, they started by sending out a series of benevolent tweets about fashion, movies and other such piffle, before dropping the literal bomb with a major (fake) terrorist attack tweeted in real time. It's a world away from the more cinematic, conventional campaign from 72andSunny that debuted back in April, and is arguably more interesting, but it's an approach that appears to have cost the game some brownie points in certain circles.
November: Tomb Raider fans left to dangle from a billboard by McCann
Just when you thought video game inspired out of home advertising activations couldn't get more inventive, McCann London only go and strap 8 maniacs to a billboard to promote a Tomb Raider game. It's a campaign that not only begged the question; “How far are people willing to go for a free holiday?” but; “Where is there left to go from here?”
December: Stella Artois and Mother give New York a starry night
This Christmas, Stella Artois gave city-dwellers in New York and Buenos Aires a taste of something they don't get too experience too often; a starry sky. Together with lead agency Mother London, and production company UNIT9, the beer brand brought to life a pop-up installation that opened in invited people to experience and interact with a seemingly infinite night's sky like never before. The installation was crafted using over 500 kinetic LED bulbs arranged in clusters, with motion triggered lights placed throughout the starscape and a built-in audio reactive element mimicking the actual range of sound that stars make (yes, stars make noise according to NASA, with whom Mother consulted on the project).
