It’s been another bumper year for The Drum’s creative section, with our Ad of the Day series alone raking in nearly a million views.
It’s a real privilege to be the person who selects our Ad of the Day and it’s something I take very seriously.
Each day, I’m faced with hundreds of campaigns in my inbox from around the world, across all sectors, and my role is to highlight the one that stands out, the ad that is not just eye-catching but meaningful and worthy of discussion.
I see it as signalling to the industry, ‘This is the ad you must watch today,’ because, in a world flooded with content, it’s easy for great work to get lost in the noise.
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This list below, of the 20 most-viewed spots named Ad of the Day in 2025, encompasses sectors including retail, technology, food and fashion, reflecting the broad spectrum of ideas that resonate with our audience.
It is also clear from the list that, in the age of AI, human craft and creativity still reign supreme. Technology can support ideas, but it’s the human touch that makes an ad truly resonate.
I hope that, in the year ahead, this celebration of originality and thoughtful creativity continues to thrive, inspiring both established and emerging talent to push the boundaries of what advertising can achieve.
Tesco unveiled a fully integrated campaign titled ‘It’s Not A Little Thing. Its Everything’ celebrating the crucial part food plays in everyday moments and sees a continuation of the logo being played with.
Revolut explored the idea of disappearing into a cardigan pocket, using the conceit to help viewers imagine new ways to save, spend and invest.
Anomaly collaborated with director Ian Pons Jewell on the spot, which highlighted options customers could access and how they might manage their finances.
The campaign played out as a dream sequence in which consumers were taken “literally into their own pockets” – a place where “money felt different,” according to Anomaly chief exec Camilla Harrisson.
Kia explored what everyday life in Australia might look like during a zombie apocalypse in an offbeat ad promoting its EV cars.
The spot demonstrated that the key to dodging the walking dead is staying quiet, showing Kia’s silent EV5 and EV9, allowing the protagonist to continue daily life and even head to the shops in a world overrun by zombies.
It was the first Australian work from French filmmaker François Rousselet, fresh from directing films for A$AP Rocky and the Rolling Stones.
In this Uber Eats ad, Javier Bardem, who is well known for playing malevolent characters, bemoans that it is quite taxing having to be so rotten all the time.
Bardem said: “Playing a bad guy can be very demanding. Even villains deserve a little downtime after a long day of being evil. And that’s exactly what Uber Eats delivers.”
Yorkshire Tea HQ welcomed Sarah Lancashire for a TV spot, which featured the actor reprising her popular police officer character, Catherine Cawood, from the drama Happy Valley.
The playfully scripted ad sees Lancashire sleuth her way to the truth to find out who stole a packet of biscuits. With a cozy story focused on office politics, tea, biscuits and a much-loved character, Lucky Generals couldn’t really go wrong.
Leo Burnett UK created this global campaign, built around the idea that sometimes you’re not just hungry for McDonald’s, you’re really hungry for McDonald’s – a feeling shared by fans worldwide.
The hero film, ‘Rumble,’ directed by Eric Wareheim, followed a man at work whose slight stomach rumble grew into an office-shaking roar, only settling once his Big McDonald’s Hunger was satisfied by the Big Arch.
In a relatable spot, Monday.com portrayed an office where employees initially dread yet another software update, anticipating it to be a hassle. However, to their surprise, the work management platform proves to be straightforward and user-friendly. Adding a playful and dramatic twist, the ad features singing CGI llamas.
Lacoste celebrated its ambassador, Novak Djokovic, by transforming its iconic crocodile logo into a goat (‘greatest of all time’), honoring the tennis legend’s extraordinary career as he competes in the US Open.
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Tesco’s F&F range unveiled the second installment of its ‘Style it Out’ campaign, with Emmy-winning filmmaker Alex Prager returning to the director’s chair.
The hero spots range from a leaky ceiling to an awkward moment in an elevator and even a car breaking down – all relatable scenarios that turn chaos into chic.
Anthropic unveiled ‘Keep Thinking,’ a brand platform featuring its Claude model as the AI of choice for problem solvers. Created in partnership with Mother, the multi-million-dollar campaign marked the company’s first foray into paid advertising.
The campaign debuted with a 90-second hero film showcasing problem solvers working with code, fixing bikes, creating art and even contributing to marine conservation.
Canva launched the ‘Love Your Work’ campaign across the US, aiming to help people ditch outdated presentations filled with cluttered slides, poor fonts and endless decks.
The campaign humorously tackled the issue, featuring Emmy and Oscar-nominated actor Lorraine Bracco as Dr Lang, a no-nonsense therapist leading an intervention for old-school slides.
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In a five-and-a-half-minute ad, Apple promoted its new AirPods 4 and the noise-canceling feature. The contrasting spot began in a cold, icy landscape, where Pedro Pascal portrayed a character navigating heartbreak. From the depths of his despair, he glimpsed his future self in a vibrant dreamscape, where everyone around him became part of the music.
Tesco’s Clubcard turned 30 and, to mark the milestone, the retailer released a retro-themed ad reflecting on the last three decades. The spot followed two neighboring couples: one who had signed up for the Clubcard in 1995 and one who hadn’t.
Viewers saw how their lives unfolded, with the Clubcard couple enjoying the rewards while the others missed out. The ad covered three decades of trips, travel, theme parks and meals out, each scene infused with British nostalgia and soundtracked by Darude’s iconic 90s hit Sandstorm, before the lead character finally gave in to fomo and signed up for a Tesco Clubcard in 2025.
McDonald’s unveiled a series of outdoor ads focusing on its breakfast menu, featuring close-up shots of various items. Relying on viewers recognizing the food, the brand stripped back all notable logos and branding from the creative.
Virgin Media unveiled the latest chapter in its ‘To Better and Beyond’ brand platform, starring a curious, adventurous elephant in a spot titled ‘Trunk Trucker.’ Created by VCCP, the spot leaned into a new entertainment-focused direction for the brand.
This fourth film followed a series of animal-led adventures, including ‘Highland Rider,’ ‘Goat Glider’ and ‘Walrus Whizzer.’ While previous iterations focused on Virgin Media’s broadband offering, this ad shifted the storytelling to highlight Virgin’s TV service.
Puma unveiled its new brand campaign, ‘Go Wild,’ which emphasized the joy of running. The work represented the brand’s largest marketing investment to date and marked the debut of a renewed brand DNA, with a 40% increase in marketing spend compared with 2024.
Set to Afroman’s Because I Got High, the short film showcased the many ways everyday people enjoyed running, without focusing on winning.
Apple promoted the ‘clean up’ feature on the iPhone 16 with a kooky spot showing a young man eager to display his muscular physique. The complication arose when his mother took the photos, visible in the bedroom mirror’s reflection. Viewers saw that she could be easily edited out of the final images using the new feature.
The comedic spot was directed by Andreas Nilsson, known for his work on music videos for artists such as The Knife, MGMT and Goldfrapp.
Heinz dropped its logo in a confident billboard campaign highlighting its slogan ‘It Has to Be’ without featuring the brand name. Each ad showcased classic Heinz products paired with their most popular accompaniments, soup with bread and ketchup with fries, creating a recognizable message.
Despite the absence of a logo, the design remained unmistakably Heinz, thanks to its distinctive typeface, drawing on the brand’s 156-year heritage.
Apple showcased the Clean Up feature in the Photos app on iPhone 16 Pro with a lighthearted campaign starring Garrett the Cat, a feline with a strong sense of importance.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Andreas Nilsson, the spot followed a user who removed Garrett from a photo. The move did not go unnoticed, as he was promptly scolded by his partner and stared down by the unimpressed cat. Realizing his mistake, he quickly restored Garrett to the image.
Google Pixel’s ad campaign, ‘Vanilla,’ followed people in their everyday lives, but instead of holding up their smartphones, viewers saw a sea of identical ice-cream cones.
The hero spot was part of the brand’s ‘Ask More of Your Phone’ campaign, which launched in 2017.
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