Ads of the Year, 2021
The Top 21 Ads of 2021
It's time for the ads of the year.
Welcome to The Ad Spot, a Friday rundown of the week's most talked-about ads. Here's what was trending this year.
Our best ads of the year list is here. We’ve scoured every issue of the Ad Spot from 2021 and our team has selected the top 21 ads of the year.
Congratulations to all of the agencies that worked hard on these 21 ads, and a special shout out to Forsman & Bodenfors, TBWA, and BBDO for being a part of multiple ads that made the list.
It’s been a year of great ads, on to 2022!
21. GM - No Way, Norway
The first of five Super Bowl ads that made the cut this year was a star-studded lineup featuring Will Ferrell.
Agency: McCann
Release date: February 2, 2021
20. Liquid Death - No Brainer
Literally a 30-minute infomercial. We watched the entire thing on our lunch break back in May, NO RAGRETS.
Agency: Party Land
Release date: May 17, 2021
19. Visit Sweden - Discover the Originals
Rebranding is hard, especially when IKEA names all of its products, including toilet brushes, after your cities, lakes, and mountains.
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Release date: November 30, 2021
18. Airbnb - Strangers
If you’re an Ad Spot subscriber you’ll remember this from last week, we just loved this spot. It’s the most recent ad to make the cut.
Agency: Client Direct
Release date: December 9, 2021
17. Burger King - Feeling Uncomfortable?
BK released four print ads of jam-packed restaurants that seem a world apart from 2021.
Agency: DAVID Madrid
Release date: June 4, 2021
16. Mountain Dew - The Joy of Painting
Mountain Dew found a "lost episode" of The Joy of Painting where Bob Ross paints a bottle of the good stuff. This definitely isn't CGI. Here's the full episode.
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day New York
Release date: March 1, 2021
15. Netflix - The World is Watching
Netflix streamed movies from Area 51 to the galaxy back in July.
Agency: RSA Films
Release date: July 22, 2021
14. Oatly - Wow, No Cow
I really don’t know whether this ad is brilliant or terrible, but it’s the fact that 10 months later I’m still thinking about it that it’s got to make this list. Send hate mail to your draft folder.
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Release date: February 7, 2021
13. Balenciaga - The Simpsons
How do you break fashion week? After your show, you drop a 10-minute short featuring your brand being rocked by the likes of Homer, Lisa, and everyone else from Springfield. It's basically a mini-episode. This was fantastic.
Agency: In-house
Release date: October 2, 2021
12. United Nations - Earth to COP
This short film was shown at the opening ceremony of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. The images are powerful.
Agency: AnalogFolk/London
Release date: November 2, 2021
11. Heineken - Shutter Ads
We knew the moment this came out that it would make our end-of-year list, and here we are.
Agency: Publicis Italy
Release date: June 21, 2021
10. Anheuser-Bush
Made us want to grab a beer with all of you.
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Release date: February 2, 2021
9. Chipotle - The Future Begins
A great little short film from Chipotle.
Agency: Observatory LA
Release date: November 15, 2021
8. Mint Mobile - Dream Job
Mint Mobile brought back Satan for another ad spot that delivered.
Agency: Maximum Effort
Release date: April 7, 2021
7. Apple - Tracked
Apple's ad promoting privacy features on the iPhone was a hit.
Agency: TBWA\Media Arts
Release date: May 20, 2021
6. Extra - For When It’s Time
This epic 2-minute spot went viral back in May. It's absolute chaos in the best kind of way.
Agency: Energy BBDO
Release date: May 3, 2021
5. Zillow - Susans
What if every version of yourself had a meeting with each other? Zillow also released another great ad in April titled The Journey.
Agency: Fig
Release date: April 6, 2021
4. M&M’s - Come Together
Our second highest-rated Super Bowl ad of the year.
Agency: BBDO New York
Release date: February 2, 2021
3. Google - A CODA Story
The search engine dropped two spots during the Oscars, A CODA Story which was fantastic, and An Octopus Story which was also well done.
Agency: In-house
Release date: April 24, 2021
2. The Humane Society - Save Ralph
This is a masterpiece. The stop motion, the celebrity cast you'll recognize (Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Olivia Munn), the clear message and call to action. And of course, Ralph, the new spokes-bunny of the global campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics. Watch it.
Agency: In-house
Release date: April 6, 2021
1. Amazon - Alexa’s Body
From the Super Bowl, this was easily one of the funniest ads of the year. Amazon brings in Michael B. Jordan as Alexa.
Agency: Lucky Generals
Release date: February 2, 2021
So that’s a wrap. Those are the ads that made us laugh, cry, and wish we were married to Michael B. Jordan.
To all of our subscribers, thank you for making The Ad Spot what it is. It’s your encouragement, enthusiasm, and readership that keep us writing every Thursday evening, and shipping you the newsletter every Friday morning. Cheers to 2022!
