YOUR Top Ten Spots of 2017

As the year comes to an end, I've decided for once not to reveal to you what my favourites were among our 52 Spots of the Week on this website. Instead, we'll give you what your favorite films were. That is, according to the data that we have on the total number of Facebook users that saw the post - views in news feed, directly on our page, or through shares. This reach is all organic, none of the posts were sponsored.

In the following, the 10 highest ranking commercials in descending order:

10 Nike “Vogue”

Client: Nike. Ad Agency: Nike, New York. Creative Director: Rudah Ribeiro. Director: Daisy Zhou. Production Company: Public Record

Synopsis: We watch Puerto Rican transgender dancer Amazon Mother Leiomy (Leiomy Maldonado), aka the “Wonder Woman of Vogue,” while she is voguing and reflecting on her achievements in life. (An “Equality” commercial following on from Nike’s earlier “Unlimited Courage” campaign featuring Chris Mosier.)

9 Uniqlo – Because Of Life Campaign

Client: Uniqlo. Ad Agency: Droga5, London. Creative Director: Devon Hong. Art Director: Ulrika Karlberg. Director: Chris Blauvelt. Production Company: Somesuch, London

Synopsis: In the first spot for Uniqlo Lifewear, women are seen engaging in some very eccentric moves through a set somewhat reminiscent of the recent Kenzo commercial. The second features a slo-mo sequence of aesthetically pleasing black-and-white images designed to demonstrate the breathability of Uniqlo apparel. In the third, a woman dancing dreamily, and seemingly unobserved, at night in a gas station shop suddenly notices a man outside is watching her.

8 McCafé “Shops”

Client: McCafé. Ad Agency: Leo Burnett, London. Creative Director: Matt Lee, Peter Hayes. Art Director: Matt Lee, Peter Hayes. Copywriter: Matt Lee, Peter Hayes. Director: Tony Barry. Production Company: Knucklehead, London

Synopsis: How niminy-piminy some hipster cafés have become these days! From coffee served in a tiny little cup to embarrassing WiFi passwords, and from an overwhelming range of differentoptions to outrageous prices – nothing escapes the attention of this entertaining spoof. Coffee bought at McCafé, by contrast, is refreshingly simple and affordable.

7 José Cuervo Tequila "Last Days"

Client: José Cuervo Tequila. Ad Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Los Angeles. Creative Director: Kevin Jones, Paddy Fraser. Art Director: Jeff Dryer. Copywriter: Andrew Jasperson. Director: Ringan Ledwidge. Production Company: Rattling Stick, London

Synopsis: Doomsday is upon us and the world outside is falling apart, yet a bunch of people inside a bar pay no heed to the devastation occurring all around them. To The Elvis tune “It’s Now Or Never,” they dance a very last dance while the roof is taken off by the storm and the jukebox packs up. “Tomorrow,” affirms the Pay-off, “is overrated.” Spot for Cuervo Tequlia.

6 Virgin Media “This Is Fibre”

Client: Virgin Media. Ad Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), London. Creative Director: Carl Broadhurst. Art Director: Felipe Guimaraes. Copywriter: Lambros Charalambous. Director: Sam Brown. Production Company: Rogue Films, London

Synopsis: Peering into a broadband cable, we might be surprised by the chase between movie and series actors we see going on inside there.

Subsequently, however, we discover that it’s all down to the imagination of a worker called out to install broadband for a customer. Commercial for broadband services from Virgin Media.

5 Leroy Merlin “Life’s Adventure”

Client: Leroy Merlin. Ad Agency: BETC, Paris. Creative Director: Olivier Apers, Stéphane Xiberras. Art Director: Viken Guzel. Copywriter: Jean-Marie Gateau. Director: Henry Reynald Gresset. Production Company: La Pac, Paris

The life of a couple takes an eventful turn when they buy themselves an old house by the sea. As they set about renovating it, the house suddenly slips down to the shore and into the water, transforming it into a floating home that bobs on the ocean like their own life’s ups and downs. Spot for home improvement retailer Leroy Merlin.

4 Royal Jordanian Airlines

Client: Royal Jordanian Airlines. Ad Agency: Memac Ogilvy, Dubai. Creative Director: Mohd Kamal. Art Director: Hadi Alaeddin. Copywriter: Paul Shearer. Director: Omar Hilal. Production Company: Deja Vu

Synopsis: We listen to the thoughts and fears of a guy sitting on a plane talking about flying and the looks and reactions of people around him. For the record: Flying itself is not what this man is afraid of. Commercial from Royal Jordanian Airlines inviting passengers to stand up against discrimination.

3 Mada Masr

Client: Mada Masr. Ad Agency: JWT (J. Walter Thompson), Beirut. Creative Director: Akhilesh Bagri, Gautam Wadher, Aly Seifelnasri. Art Director: Gautam Wadher. Copywriter: Akhilesh Bagri. Director: Björn-Axel Sjöblad. Production Company: Deja Vu

Synopsis: “Suzy’s Beauty Salon,” “Handball Team”
In the first of two commercials, we are privy to some inappropriate goings-on – inventory misappropriation, non-sharing of tips, spousepoaching, etc. – taking place every day in a beauty saloon but unseen by the public and their customers. The second introduces us to the complex web of corruption, cronyism and nepotism running through an under-14 handball team. So how, the spots inquire, might this political microcosm compare with the real world of politics? A commercial for progressive Egyptian newspaper Mada Masr.

2 Moneysupermarket “Dirty Dancing”

Client: Moneysupermarket. Ad Agency: Mother, London. Creative Director: Mother, in-house, London. Art Director: Mother, in-house, London. Director: The Bobbsey Twins From Homicide. Production Company: Blink

 Synopsis: When Masters of the Universe protagonists He-Man and Skeletor suddenly come across as real softies by dancing the finale of Dirty Dancing in a bar, this can only be the result of some very special deals they got at Money supermarket.

1 Libresse #Bloodnormal

Client: Libresse. Ad Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers (AMV) BBDO, London. Creative Director: Jim Hilson, Toby Allen. Art Director: Nadja Lossgott, Nicholas Hulley. Copywriter: Nadja Lossgott, Nicholas Hulley. Director: Daniel Wolfe. Production Company: Somesuch, London

Synopsis: A film breaking one of the last-remaining taboos: it accompanies women having their period, highlighting all the side effects that come with menstruation and doing so in highly natural, no-holds-barred manner. For starters, let’s change the blue fluid commonly shown on a pad to a genuine red…