Review of the year: Top Creative Moments of 2024

With some of the best creative campaigns featured over the last 12 months, the Creative Moment team went into a festive huddle to choose our most memorable.

January

We begin with Surreals' effort at the start of the year which at the time SHOOK's co-founder Gemma Moroney pitched as the winner without the other 11 months getting a look in! She had a point.

"Surreal is billed as a ‘better’ cereal, but whilst everyone would expect them to bowl in with a slick health campaign they, apparently, can’t be bothered—and I love them for it."

Find out why Gemma thought this brand nailed it here.

February

Next up we congratulate M&C Saatchi who joined forces with London-based youth organisation RISE.365 and Clear Channel to launch a thought-provoking out-of-home campaign called 'Changing Narrative'.

"Many young Black men experience bias daily, with people jumping to conclusions based on damaging preconceived narratives about them. The new campaign seeks to challenge these everyday biases held in UK society. 

The work depicts negative narratives as a series of book covers. Each cover features a young RISE.365 volunteer paired with a title based upon real judgement they have unfortunately experienced. These shocking titles were taken directly from conversations between the young men and M&C Saatchi."

Find out more about this insightful campaign here.

And if you are interested in seeing more from Rise365, check out its more recent work in October with Good Relations tackling texturism here.

March

Now this was a tough month to narrow down so we want to give a shout out to three campaigns that stuck in our collective memory.

This work from New York agency SMALL for Coordown was well-publicised, well-talked about and well-shared—and rightly so.

"CoorDown, a leading Italian non-profit advocating for the rights of individuals with Down syndrome, marked World Down Syndrome Day with a campaign examining the impact of negative assumptions, suggesting that positive perceptions can foster greater opportunities in education, employment, relationships, and other aspects of life.

Titled "Assume That I Can," the video features Madison Tevlin portraying a young woman with Down Syndrome challenging societal expectations. Tevlin's character confronts limitations imposed by others, demonstrating that their beliefs, not her disability, hinder her progress. She argues that by changing perceptions and offering opportunities, individuals with Down Syndrome can thrive."

If you missed it (er, how did you miss it?) then you can read all about it here.

March

Portland's Leila Mountford highlights the importance International Women's Day carries for so many women around the world but asks, this year in the UK, is it lacking? It’s a powerfully written article which highlights three evocative past campaigns that still carry an important message.

"I wanted to highlight a few old campaigns from different regions that remind us of the reality for many women still today. Some of these campaigns are over a decade old, some recent, but these issues are very much still rife in society, starting with my home country, South Africa."

Keep reading here.

March

This tiny but mighty campaign for Cadbury's mini eggs was created by a small team at VCCP London (naturally) along with production company Girl&Bear and creative digital agency Bernadette.

"Coming in at a little over one inch, the ads, carrying JCDecaux branding (with its agreement) sit on mini-billboard displays. The small-scale campaign includes miniature accessories created by model maker Paul Baker, such as tiny ladders and brushes that resemble those used for poster pasting.

These little gems are a gorgeous example of how a tiny idea can garner almighty praise."

Have a little read here.

And one more for March

Picked for its skill on so many levels, and how nice it is to see a piece of work created by hand, as it were, with real stunts, the final campaign for this epic month is by Uncommon for Avios. This sublime film illustrates how the every day can pay for your holiday.

"The stunt was created almost entirely in-camera — a feat only made possible thanks to the expertise of the e-foilers who were recruited from different corners of the world. The scale and complexity of the work is a world-first. Everyday’s epic stunt was choreographed by James Bond’s No Time To Die stunt coordinator Boris Martinez and e-foil expert Adrian Valios and directed by Uncommon Creative Studio’s Sam Walker, through Pulse Films."

The full feature is here.

April

Boasting beautiful art direction and knitting together the everyday with the elegant, Creative Moment was glowing about this eclectic and occasionally absurd offering.

Steve Howell, executive creative director at Dark Horses said: “We all have a side of us that wants to go full-on glitz and glam, and Ascot is the perfect place to unleash it. We wanted the outfits to be imbued with a sense of the personality wearing them, and we’ve begun to push the work towards more archetypal characters for a greater demonstration of what the ‘Ascot You’ can be.”

The full feast for the eyes can be found here with a collection of the posters.

May

Mental Health Awareness Week always draws some exceptional work, and in 2024 we saw McDonald's remove the iconic smile from Happy Meal boxes for the first time.

"McDonald’s UK and communications agency Ready10, together with Leo Burnett UK, have created a multi-channel campaign following research commissioned by McDonald’s which reveals that almost half (48%) of UK children feel like they must be happy all the time, even if they do not want to be.

McDonald’s has created and distributed 2.5 million limited-edition Happy Meal® boxes to over 1,400 McDonald’s restaurants across the country. Selected locations will also receive stickers showcasing an array of emotions children experience, allowing kids to communicate how they are feeling by placing stickers directly onto the boxes."

Read more about this heartfelt and effective integrated campaign here.

May (an honourable mention)

And how could we pass the month of May without mentioning the—would we say 'controversial'?—Apple vs Samsung battle over the worthy battleground of creativity. The issue was hotly debated and took up plenty of space on our LinkedIn timelines.

For context, it began with this, then Samsung did this. 

Make of it what you will, but Axicom's executive creative director Graeme Anthony thought this..."While some may dismiss it as a little lowbrow or lazy, there's an undeniable thrill in witnessing two industry titans clash. Samsung's counterpunch surpassed mere mockery. It was a polished, seamless, and utterly brilliant piece of content."

Read more here.  

June

Now, if you haven't listened to this already, shame on you. In June this year, the Global Creativity Review spoke with three brilliant women in the creative industry and asked them about their favourite work. Here they share their creative picks, their views and generally have a good chat about some great creative work.

Thank you to Kat Thomas, founder and chief creative officer at One Green Bean, Lora Martyr, executive creative director at Taylor Herring and Olivia Mushigo, senior creative at Good Relations.

Listen to the full episode here. 

June

Once more, we had to choose a piece of work that simply cannot go without mention, this time: 'Til I died: 12 murals from the British Heart Foundation illustrate the tragic loss of 12 young lives each week from heart disease.

Gemma Moroney, co-founder SHOOK, says, "This is a masterclass in an integrated idea that - I hope - will seep into culture. In short: 12 murals, to represent the 12 young people who will die from sudden cardiac death every week in the UK, each with a subverted version of the football chant “‘til I died”.

Full feature is here.

July

This is for those who are knocking, or have perhaps surpassed, forty as McDonald’s ushers in a McFlurry of nostalgia for its 50th birthday. 

Directed by Smuggler’s Fenn O’Meally and spearheaded by Leo Burnett UK, the film features a young boy dressed in ’80s attire dancing to the ’80s hip-hop track “Know How” by Young MC. As the film progresses, the entire party joins in, culminating in a montage of McDonald’s restaurants over the past 50 years.

For the film, Leo Burnett and Smuggler recreated an ’80s version of the Woolwich McDonald’s, complete with retro menu boards, a kitchen set, and a party area with vintage furniture like Cheeseburger Stools, an Apple Pie Tree, and a mural featuring characters like Hamburglar, Birdie, Mayor McCheese, and Grimace.

Creative Moment's Tom Hall ((I cannot speak to his age and he is not here to defend himself) says of the work; "The lengths that McDonald’s has gone to in this campaign is testament to the overriding feeling that something is ‘missing’ in 2024’s high street culture.

See what else he thought about this throwback campaign here.

August

To mark this summery month we want to send a loud shout out to our PR Stunt Watch team who write religiously about the work that catches their eye for the benefit of Creative Moment readers.

We thank you for your watchful, creative eyes over the past 12 months, and in the summer of 2024 our experts spotted RNLI’s float awareness, Lidl’s croissant bag and Liquid Death’s casket cooler.

Let's show our appreciation for Golin's Kim Allain, Frank's Lee Sanders, BCW's Greg Double.

More here.

September

September saw a powerful installation of inflated birthday balloons to mourn missed loved ones for World Suicide Prevention Day. 

Created by adam&eveDDB’s for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), in collaboration with ITV, 'Missed Birthdays' was a thought-provoking installation bringing attention to the stark reality that suicide is the leading cause of death among young people under 34.

At the centre of this campaign is an installation featuring 6,929 birthday balloons in Westfield London, with each balloon symbolising a young life lost to suicide over the past decade. 

Shout out to PR agency Hope&Glory, design agency King Henry Studios, media agency the7stars, technical production team Creative Giants, audio post production 750mph and photography by Together Associates. 

You can find the full details of the work here but also, due to its impact and contributors who wanted to cover it, you can read two reviews; one by MHP Mischief's Ottilie Ross here and PHA Group's Tudor Crockford here. 

September

And of course, September saw the reveal of our Creative Moment Awards 2024 winners and you can see the complete list of those that won alongside their award-winning work here.

October

With a focus on health, October saw these two cracking campaigns.

Parkrun by Meanwhile:

"Parkrun’s ad relies on a similarly simple yet satisfying decipher, with a message about the proven benefits of social activity and exercise relayed in the form of a mock doctor’s note prescribing Parkrun as a form of therapy." 

Here's the full write-up on the campaign.

October

And ASICS Desk Break by Golin:

"To make the message hit home, ASICS enlisted Succession star Brian Cox, who gets up from his desk while offering stern, but playful words to employees about the dangers of the desk in degrading mental health in the workplace."

We would highly recommend you take a look at both if you haven't seen them already.

November

November saw the eager launching of the inevitable Christmas ad season with enthusiastic entries from all the usual suspects, and a spate of brands new to the holiday marketing whirlwind. We all had a lovely time commenting on them, but here are some of our highlights, including Waitrose’s innovative whodunnit series, JD Sports redefining family in its spot by Uncommon, and a beautiful story from Disney.

If you haven't had your fill of Christmas ads yet, check out our top choices below.

Waitrose solves its Christmas mystery, but was it as tasty as we hoped? Well, the answer is a fairly resounding yes according to how well it was received.

"Directed by Tom Hooper and created by Saatchi & Saatchi, the two-part campaign will be remembered for its star-studded cast, including Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) as the charismatic detective, alongside Sian Clifford (Fleabag), Joe Wilkinson, and Rakhee Thakrar (Sex Education).

The mystery narrative here feels apt for Christmas when we tend to watch that kind of thing on the telly (indeed, just last week I finally watched The Mousetrap at the theatre - another synchronicity). But the plot works well to showcase some pretty tantalising morsels of food under the radar as you try and work out the character’s various motives. A simple trick, well executed."

You can check it out here thanks to Tom Hall, Creative Moment.

November

JD Sports redefines ‘Family’ at Christmas with a campaign by Uncommon, and along with it, says Creative Moment's Tom Hall, "JD presents a unique perspective on traditional family constructs through the eyes of its consumers — redefining what family really means today.

It’s an invitation to everyone to celebrate not only the families they are born into but the friends and connections that they have found along the way. The people who pull them up and hold them high. Drawing on the diversity of modern families — biological or otherwise — to honour family in its broadest and most inclusive sense."

The full story is here.

November

Surely a contender for the best ad of the season, The Walt Disney Company’s effort draws on its iconic back catalogue to create the elusive ‘magic’ so many lesser brands shoot for, Disney mines rich history in stunning Christmas ad.

Reviewed by our very own Tom Hall, he says of this work, "The art of creating a genuinely heart warming advert relies on successful storytelling. The power of this overused term, however, lies in the execution, and this ad is something of a masterclass.

The four-minute runtime is a genuine journey, introducing the main character in a sympathetic manner, then giving glimpses of his home life through the eyes of his new tentacled chum, who shares his imaginative world: fittingly, through the cutout eyes of a Mickey Mouse hat".

Check out the full feature here.

December

We have seen a lot of great creative work this month but who could forget all the curfuffle over Jaguar? Like it or loathe it, there was an acknowledgement that it’s been a long time since so many people were even talking about the iconic brand. So, are there some glints of hope shining through the sunroof?

Tom Hall reckons so.

"One saving grace was the teaser shot of the new Jag, whose rear end might prompt a Kardhashian-level rethink of the brand if it’s an indication of the overall styling. It’s also possible that the stripped-back logo might be fitting for a sleek electric model.

For now, though, it seems like a missed opportunity for the brand to lean into its heritage and strong brand currency.

Read all about it here.

December

Although December isn't quite over yet, we wanted to end on a less controversial note with this from Apple highlighting the power of sound in this moving AirPods Pro 2 ad.

"Apple's latest holiday advertisement, entitled ‘Heartstrings’ focuses on a father with hearing loss who, through the advanced features of the AirPods Pro 2, reconnects with his daughter’s guitar playing on Christmas morning."

And with that, congratulations for reading all the way to December—you can take that warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart from Apple's advertising gift and go open your presents now.

Here it is, in all its glory.