A Look Back at the Best Ads of 2016

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Adweek's list of the 10 best ads from 2016 runs the emotional gamut. There is comedy. There's drama. There's even a bit of spy intrigue. If that mix sounds a little like the box office for any given year, that's no surprise, says Henry C. Boyd III, marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "More and more we are seeing spots that are more than a commercial," he says. "They are minimovies." 

It's a trend that took hold with the popularity of YouTube, and it's one that's likely to be with us for a while, experts say. Boyd breaks down AdWeek's top 10 for 2016 and what makes them so good.

'Taylor vs. Treadmill'

"Apple Music. It's Taylor Swift, the one the only," Boyd says. 

Swift, the pop music darling, is shown in a daily workout routine in this in-house ad, getting revved up to her music mix and hitting the treadmill. She gives the viewer a glimpse of her personality, that she's not just locked into the pop music, as she gets "totally into Drake," Boyd says.

"And then she does this classic slapstick wipeout. It's very funny," he says. "I mean, the ability to laugh at yourself really shows that you have arrived. This is a very clever spot."

'Rocket Car'

"Good old Old Spice," says Boyd. "We're using humor here, and this is the longer length. It's a minimovie."

The Wieden + Kennedy spot works, Boyd says, because it's stylish and engaging, and at the end, the viewer has been entertained and amused. 

"Think about the old commercials we used to see. They were 30 seconds, 15 seconds. Rarely did you see them come in at a full minute or longer. Then along came YouTube," Boyd says. "Now we have this format."

"The classic, shorter commercials are giving way to these longer commercials that are out there," he says.

'OK Go. The One Moment.'

"Wow. There is so much to take in here," Boyd says of the Morton Salt commercial by Ogilvy & Mather. "It takes me back to early MTV when music videos first came out."

The visually compelling ad offers little clue about the product it's hawking, until the end.

"As soon as he picks up the yellow umbrella, you just know," Boyd says.

It works because it's daring, with great music, and as soon as it ends, you want to watch it all again.

'My Mutant Brain'

Spike Jonze directs this offbeat four-minute perfume ad for Kenzo featuring "Leftovers" actress Margaret Qualley.

"It's about finding your inner self, and it's visually entertaining," Boyd says of the Framework commercial.

'Portraits'

"I like this Jeep spot a lot because they are able to tell a story through still photos," Boyd says, "and to great effect."

The message, conveyed in a quiet 60-second series of still photos from iris New York, is that Jeep "has been here all along," Boyd says. The spot, which aired during the 2016 Super Bowl, commemorates the brand's 75-year anniversary, with historical, celebrity and everyday images. It's strikingly shot in vertical format – a nod to the advertising's growing audience of mobile users.

"At the end of the 60 seconds," Boyd says, "you get this sense that people are all interconnected and intertwined. And, really, who couldn't love this baby?"

'Come Together'

"This just works. It's a small movie. It's Wes Anderson. And it's got ‘The Little Drummer Boy,' one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs of all time," Boyd says.

Adweek called the beautiful 4-minute spot from adam&eveDDB for clothing retailer H&M "the year's most delightful Christmas ad."

Adrien Brody stars as a conductor whose train is delayed by snow on Christmas Eve. Unable to get the passengers to their holiday destinations, the conductor hatches a plan to bring Christmas aboard. "This is what the holidays are all about," Boyd says. "It's this ultimate expression of love."

'Evan'

"If ever there was a testament to how powerful a medium that advertising could be, this is it," Boyd says of the arresting ad, a minimovie for Sandy Hook Promise. "We think we know the storyline, until the end."

The memorable, two-and-a-half-minute commercial, from BBDO New York, is set in a high school and focused on a teen boy named Evan, who begins to fall for a girl.

"You are just drawn into this story. This guy, he's got to find the girl," Boyd says. "That's what we're looking for. Had we been paying attention, we would have seen this other, important and scary thing that's happening in the background."

The spot is powerful. "It just floored me," Boyd says. "It's the ultimate in public service announcements."

'Da Da Ding'

This three-minute Nike commercial from Wieden + Kennedy, Delhi, is a paean to athleticism told by an impressive series of Indian women.

"This is a great spot, and a strategic spot, in my opinion," Boyd says, with India's growth positioning it to one day become one of the largest markets in the world for Nike and numerous other brands.

"They have this really cool, 'Da Da Ding,' this catchy, hiphop rhythm, and we are reminded why Nike is such a stellar brand," Boyd says.

'Duel'

"The action is so vivid," Boyd says. "You are watching this, wondering ‘What happened?' Are they spies? Are they agents?"

The Audi spot from Venables Bell & Partners offers up the action in stunning rewind, and breaks through the clutter of the rest of the ad landscape. In the end, the actors are valets, dueling over who gets to drive a customer's Audi around from the parking lot.

"It's brilliant," Boyd says. "It's a unique spot."

'Rule Yourself: Michael Phelps'

Olympic swimming superstar Michael Phelps stars in this captivating 90-second ad for Under Armour that follows his grueling training regimen. The spot from Droga5 shows Phelps waking before dawn, swimming, sometimes towing a parachute behind him underwater, lifting weights. Each scene is captured in dim lighting for the final setup: "It's what you do in the dark/That puts you in the light."

"Wow. Under Armour. Michael Phelps is the man. Can we just say that?" Boyd says.