Work of the Year: LBB Americas’ Favourite Campaigns of 2024
The LBB Americas editorial team has spent a good chunk of the latter parts of 2024 digging through the year’s Work of the Week archive in a bid to choose our favourite campaigns. Our ‘Work of the Year’ if you will.
We have split the work into three Collections: USA, Canada and LATAM. You can view each collection of work by clicking on the hyperlinked countries in the previous sentence, or via the list below.
However, each member of the team has also picked one personal favourite, which you can see below. These might not be ‘the best’ or technically ‘Grand Prix’ worthy work, but they are indeed campaigns that made us emotional, laugh, cry, or just simply left their mark on us.
We hope you enjoy checking it all out.
Until next year,
Until next year,
The LBB Americas editorial team: Addison Capper, Adam Bennett, Jordan Won Neufeldt, April Summer, Abi Lightfoot, and Ben Conway
- Check out the US Work of the Year Collection here.
- Check out the Canada Work of the Year Collection here.
- Check out the LATAM Work of the Year Collection here.
Volkswagen - An American Love Story
Chosen by Adam Bennett, features editor, Americas
Anthemic, sweeping, and proudly brand-building. There’s a lot that feels comforting and hopeful about this effort from Johannes Leonardo and Park Pictures, using the past as a frame for a positive future. It grounds the brand in an attainable, everyday kind of aspiration where it feels totally at home - and intrinsically tied to America’s story.
Presumably, that’s exactly what VW had in mind when it decided to return to the Super Bowl following a decade-long absence. And to top it all off, the official launch of the ID. Buzz was accompanied by a delightful embrace of joy later in the year. If the aim was to get people feeling good about the electric camper, it’s mission accomplished.
Tonal - Stop Working Out in the Past
Chosen by Ben Conway, reporter, US and LATAM
Tonal's 'Stop Working Out in the Past' is the inaugural piece of work from Ari Weiss' new agency, Quality Experience - and they've kicked things off with a cinematic belter. With echoes of bygone ad classics - Ridley Scott's '1984' ad for Apple comes to mind - the film doesn't say more than it has to. Yet, I wouldn't call it restrained.
There's no voice treading all over the ominous score, leaving room for the SFX to build the tension and drive the narrative. The greyscale enhances the period production design, and gives Pulse Films’ director Aube Perrie license to play with twilight and shadow.
The spot is more concerned with building atmosphere than plying you with information, and keeps first-time viewers guessing - 'Is this an ad? What for?' - right until the end, where the serene workout and gentle fan noise contrasts with the storm in every way.
Tagline. Logo. Out.
One of my favourites in recent memory.
Addison Capper spoke with Tonal and Quality Experience about the making of this ad. You can read it here.
Air Canada - Ticket to Dream
Chosen by April Summers, North America features lead and Canada reporter
For me, Ticket to Dream is the stand-out ad of 2024 for a few reasons. Firstly, the storytelling is extraordinary. I would happily watch a feature length version which told the story of this Team Canada athlete and her family. Secondly, the way the music and direction marries up to elevate such an inspiring narrative feels incredibly cinematic. And finally, the copywriting. That tagline really hits different.
I am not a POC, or an Olympic athlete... but I am an immigrant, in Canada, and I can vouch for the joy that is afforded to those of us who board a plane in pursuit of a new life. The message of Ticket to a Dream will ring true to the 23% of the population who will always remember the day they landed in Canada, everything that led up to that point, and everything they have achieved since. I will undoubtedly be thinking of Air Canada's Ticket to Dream every time I board one of their flights - whether I'm going home or somewhere new - and isn't that exactly the point?
Fellow Canadian reporter Jordan Won Neufeldt did an in-depth Behind the Work feature on this campaign. Check it out here.
adidas - Hey Jude
Chosen by Abi Lightfoot, Americas members reporter
I’ll admit it feels slightly odd to be picking an ad celebrating England’s football team as my favourite US spot of the year, but despite this ‘Hey Jude’ by Johannes Leonardo - the second time the New York agency has been mentioned in this list - is undoubtedly my top pick.
Launched in the run up to UEFA Euro 2024, the adidas campaign is more than a brand campaign to me, it epitomises a moment in time and a shared feeling of hope and optimism. The montage of new and archival footage, directed by Spindle’s Greg Hackett captures the highs and lows of being an England fan. Bottling the feeling of expectation and anticipation and then uncorking it with a bang, timed to the iconic “Na na na nananana, nannana” lyrics, it’s impossible to not sing along.
Starring football heroes, cultural icons, aspiring young footballers and fans, the spot shows how sport unites us all, as we rally in support of one young player in particular – Jude Bellingham – who is finally revealed in the end shot.
Perhaps the only thing that could make me like it even more is if we’d actually won…
CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation - The Orange
Chosen by Jordan Won Neufeldt, Canada reporter
Being asked to select a favourite piece of advertising from the Canadian market is mean. There was so much good creative this year, and it took me a while to come up with my answer. However, I’m proud of this selection. To me, it represents the fact that advertising should be able to make you feel something. In a world where so many campaigns are about innovation, it feels like sometimes, we stray away from creating work that’s fundamentally beautiful. This is that. The artistic style is excellent. The music is wonderfully curated. And the decision to reframe something that we all know is terrifying – cancer – through the innocent eyes of a child is heartbreakingly brilliant. I love this work, and I’m not ashamed to say that the ending gets me every time.
I did an in-depth Behind the Work feature on this campaign. Check it out here.
Manscaped - The Boys
Chosen by Addison Capper, managing editor, Americas
A key reason why I love this campaign is that I could so easily have hated it. Making funny advertising is not easy. Making legitimately funny jokes about your nether regions - also not easy. Doing both in a TV-safe way? Challenging at best.
But, thanks to a cleverly childish visual metaphor in which every male’s testicles are depicted as a pair of miniatures - the boys, the campaign’s namesake - identical to each character, the folks at Pereira O’Dell and Manscaped succeeded. The kicker is that their hairstyles change throughout the spot, once the MANSCAPED Lawnmower 5.0 Ultra, has worked its magic.
Ruckus Films founder and director JJ Adler and the VFX experts at KEVIN, brought on board to bring the idea to life, used a technique called ‘forced perspective’, which was used to great effect on Elf by making Will Ferrell’s character larger and on Lord of the Rings, making the hobbits smaller in relation to the world and characters around them.
A final point I love about this seemingly manly campaign? It came from the brains of an all-female team, Sophia Held and Lily Ramos.
I also did a bit of a deep dive on this campaign. You can take a look here to find out more.
