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Here’s what we think stood out creatively across the globe in February.
I am refraining from calling this new series ‘ads of the month’ or anything like that. I want to use this series to spotlight the most effective creative work each month, across ideation, craft and execution. Whether something is labelled ‘ad of the day’ is beside the point, what matters is how an ad moves the needle. Often, this will only be seen within a series of multi-disciplined areas of marketing judged over a prolonged period of time.
February’s selection spans categories that are not naturally glamorous. Vehicle tax enforcement becomes character-led storytelling with humour. A pharmaceutical sponsor stunningly frames the scientific method as cultural narrative during an Olympic cycle. A beauty brand tests the limits of transparency in an unmoderated digital forum. A gambling harm initiative alters the environment rather than the message.
None of these campaigns will determine quarterly earnings on their own. But each reveals how brands are choosing to compete. And that, we think, is worth watching. Worth documenting.
As an official Olympic and Paralympic sponsor of Milano Cortina 2026, Eli Lilly and Company released Never Over, created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland.
The film blends archival athletic footage with medical research imagery, structured around the scientific method and voiced by 1950s educational audio. There is no product mention. Instead, the edit moves through repetition: train, test, refine, repeat.
Olympic advertising typically peaks at triumph. This film focuses on iteration. In a pharmaceutical category facing public scrutiny and politicisation, Lilly aligns itself with process rather than breakthrough.
The message, then, isn’t “we cure.” It’s “we continue.”
Credits
Brand: Eli Lilly & Co.
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Portland
Directors: Martin + Lindsay
Production: Furlined; Emilie Muller Productions
Editorial: Joint
Dove invited Reddit to review its Intensive Repair 10-in-1 Serum Mask — and promised to publish the feedback unfiltered.
As covered in Adweek and LBB, the campaign by DAVID London incorporated both praise and criticism into OOH, film and social placements. Reddit’s visual language — usernames, formatting, avatars — remained intact.
The move extends Dove’s long-standing “Real Beauty” platform into a space defined by bluntness. But this wasn’t chaos. It was managed transparency. The brand knew the median outcome would likely validate the product.
In a trust-fractured environment, verification is a growth lever. Dove shifted from testimonial performance to testimonial proof.
Credits
Brand: Dove Hair (Unilever)
Agency: DAVID London
Creative Partner: AKQA Paris
Media: WPP Media
LaLiga chose inheritance over highlight reels.
Created by El Ruso de Rocky and directed by Gabe Ibáñez, the campaign centres on matchday rituals passed across generations. The number 42 references the clubs across Spain’s top two divisions.
Rather than sell competition, LaLiga sells continuity. That’s strategic. In a market saturated with player transfers, streaming rights and commercialisation, the most defensible asset is generational loyalty.
This is league branding as cultural infrastructure.
Credits
Brand: LaLiga
Agency: El Ruso de Rocky
Director: Gabe Ibáñez
Production: Bambina Films
Media: WPP Media
Ahead of the 2026 Toyota Premiership Season, the Australian Football League extended its “Get in on it” platform.
Created by TBWA Australia, the campaign uses the “specky” — the iconic aerial mark — as its emotional pivot. The film cuts to the reactions it triggers in the crowd.
The strategy isn’t to explain the game. It’s to frame fandom as a reflex. In a national sport with high penetration, growth comes from widening emotional permission, not rewriting rules.
Platform consistency is the asset.
Credits
Client: AFL
Agency: TBWA Australia
Director: Kale McRedmond
Post: Manimal Post
Sound: Rumble Studios
The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency introduced “Clampy,” a character inspired by wheel-clamping enforcement.
Created by AMV BBDO and reported in Creative Salon, the campaign uses humor to dramatise inconvenience. Forget to tax your vehicle; Clampy attaches himself.
Public-sector campaigns often lean on warning. This one leans on irritation. Behavioural economics tells us people discount future penalties. Clampy makes the cost feel immediate.
Credits
Client: DVLA
Agency: AMV BBDO
Director: Florence Poppy Deary
Production: Biscuit Filmworks UK
Post: Shift Post
NIOD and Uncommon replaced spa products with urban pollutants to launch SDEM3.
As reported in Muse, creators received mock hazardous “facial” kits filled with city toxins. The discomfort is intentional.
In a saturated premium skincare market, NIOD reframes the category from enhancement to defense. The enemy isn’t age. It’s environment.
The strategy is environmental salience, not beauty aspiration.
Credits
Brand: NIOD (DECIEM)
Agency: Uncommon
Volkswagen continued its “Tough feels better in an Amarok” platform.
Created by Bernbach, the film places a wedding in rugged terrain, reinforcing durability paired with comfort.
This is reinforcement advertising. In a price-sensitive auto market, clarity beats novelty. The brand line compounds.
Credits
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: Bernbach
Director: Torstein Bjørklund
Production: Good Oil
Costa Rica’s Imperial Beer redesigned its label to emphasise the rolled “R” characteristic of local pronunciation.
Created by Garnier BBDO and produced by RINO FILMS, the campaign reframes stereotype as pride.
Packaging becomes cultural statement. Specificity becomes moat.
Credits
Client: FIFCO (Imperial Beer)
Agency: Garnier BBDO
Production: RINO FILMS
Director: Juan Gordon
In Australia, poker machines typically lack a distinct losing cue.
Developed by Neil Walshe Creative for The Truth About Addiction & Stories of Hope, the project introduces a psychology-informed losing sound and tests it with unaware players.
This is systems design, not messaging. Instead of urging restraint, it modifies the environment.
In public health communication, that shift matters.
Credits
Project: The Truth About Addiction & Stories of Hope
Creative: Neil Walshe
Director: Milos Mlynarik
Production: Rumble Studios
Garage Beer launched a six-week content series starring Jason Kelce as a beer “scientist.”
Reported in Muse, the work was developed in-house and structured as weekly episodic drops.
Serialisation builds habit. In challenger beer, personality scales faster than polish.
Credits
Brand: Garage Beer
Creative: In-house (CCO Corey Smale)
Director: Jordan Phoenix
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