25 Years' Creativity: Steve Elrick's favourite ads from the past 25 years

A quarter century. Long time.

I had a few of the ‘classic’ Spikes winners in the back of my mind but needed a refresher by checking the list of ‘platinum’ gongs of years gone by. 

The ones I would have ‘LIKED’, but also ‘LOVED’ had they the button to click on then… (Kudos to Optical 88 and Remy’s Raise the Red Lantern, which were two of my absolute favourites from my Hong Kong days).

My biggest “LOVE” is split, unsurprisingly, between two Thai-born TVC’s.

Black Cat Whisky really, for me, launched the Thai creatives as the Kings and Queens of Asian TV with a daring piece of colourful, quirky, ballsy film that took the breath away – either because you were laughing so hard or simply gasping at the sheer chutzpah, scale and confidence of this 90-second Thai comedy masterclass.

Oh - and one that was grounded on a very single minded strategy and solid proposition: a price/quality dig at the market leader JW Black. From start to finish, flawless genius.

The other… and 2nd only in running order; Smooth E from 2006 – the category and  ‘code’ breaking series of films that I just adore. Adore. Funny, funny, funny. Daring, daring, daring.

And just about the largest confident middle finger up at the category conventions of skincare I’ve ever seen.

Maybe because it’s the stuff of the nightmares for those FMCG marketing automatons and research drones who laugh nervously and try to dismiss it as an aberration. Nah, it’s the exceptional that breaks the rules.

And because there’s simply too many others too mention, I’ll give a shameless plug to the beautifully understated print winner of 2003 Levi’s Women’s 501 from BBH which ended up being the most awarded print campaign in the world that year (Gunn Report).

The simplest of ideas for the most iconic of products shot by one of the masters of the game Nadav Kander. Crafty.