New York Showcase: The Best of The Big Apple

Picking our favourite recent work out of the New York ad industry was no small feat. The sheer amount of work that the city produces makes it a tricky list to curate. But here goes… our bumper Big Apple best from the past six months.

Southern Comfort - 'ShottaSoCo'

Wieden+Kennedy’s Southern Comfort ‘Whatever’s Comfortable’ ads are some of LBB’s favourite of recent times. But this week the agency has taken a whole different direction and launched ‘ShottaSoCo’, a series of mad, Taiwanese-style animation, brain-washing films. 

AICP - ’35 Years from Now’

The AICP imagined different CCOs 35 years from now, offering up one of the funniest Call for Entries campaigns we’ve seen in some time.

Under Armour - ‘Rule Yourself’

Big, bold, beautiful synchronisation makes up this Under Armour spot from Droga5, Oscar-winning director Wally Pfister and The Mill. 

Great Nations Eat - ‘China for America’

This powerful PSA from BBH New York highlights the startling amount of people in the U.S. that struggle to afford food. 

Comcast - ‘Emily’s Oz’

Goodby Silverstein & Partners NY and Comcast asked Emily, a young blind girl, to describe what she sees when she watched Wizard of Oz. They then transformed her interpretation into this majestic film, along with a making of and a short documentary about her. 

Wilkinson Sword - ‘Swordplay’

Man and woman sword-fight their through a beautiful mansion (and to near steamy nakedness) in this J. Walter Thompson film for Wilkinson Sword. We spoke to the team about how they made it. 

Nestle - ‘Natural Bliss Cafe’

To promote Nestle’s new, err, ‘au natural’ coffee creamer, 360i stunned coffee shop visitors with in-the-buff baristas.

PlayStation Vue - ‘Wouldn’t You’

Johannes Leonardo and MJZ’s Fredrik Bond imagine if video game perks affected real life in this fun spot for PlayStation Vue. 

Caterpillar - ‘Driving Range’

Ogilvy New York transformed a series of Caterpillar machines into a marauding driving range in this nifty stunt. 

Samsung - ‘That New Phone Feeling (GIF-powered)’

For the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S6, Big Spaceship crafted this music video completely out of 30 gifs. 

General Electric - ‘Time Upon A Once’

BBDO New York and Andreas Nilsson mixed things up in joyous, majestically crafted General Electric spot.

Lowe’s - ‘HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’

These Lowe’s ads out of BBDO New York and directed by Joachim Back feature some pretty big stars. Just not as big as the product they advertise. 

Patrón - ‘Art of Patrón VR Experience’ 

Thanks to firstborn, a custom-built specialised drone and an Oculus Rift headset, tequila geeks can now find out how Patrón is distilled up in the Mexican highlands of Jalisco. And all as if through the eyes of a bee. Neat. We actually spoke to the firstborn team about the project here. There’s also a 360-degree web experience.

WATERisLIFE - ‘The Last Family Portrait’

A family in Sub-Saharan Africa loses a loved one to unsafe drinking water every 20 seconds - with nothing to remember them by. Deutsch teamed up with WATERisLIFE to give families their first ever family portraits. 

Mother NY - ‘is looking for Fresh Meat.’

When Mother New York went on the hunt for new interns, they launched this mentally meatilicious recruitment vid. 

Evolve - ‘Playthings’

These anti-gun prints from McCann New York feature dildos, condoms, tampons and children. And they’re really, very good. An equally brilliant video PSA preceded it. 

GLAAD & Gay Men’s Health Crisis - ‘Celibacy Challenge’

The FDA screens blood donors on their sexual orientation - not risk. And so Saatchi & Saatchi NY enlisted Alan Cumming to star in this very funny and important PSA to get the procedure reversed. 

Johnsonville

Droga5 has conjured up some funky weird work in recent months for Johnsonville sausages… 

This cringe-fest of a faux ‘80s album commercial is courtesy of D5 Films’ Mike Long.

And M ss ng P eces' Ray Tintori brings new light to the term ‘sausage fingers’ in this gem. 

State Farm - 'Magic Jingle (The Coneheads)'

DDB New York and Chicago brought back The Coneheads for their commercial debut in this State Farm campaign.