Bestads Best of the Week Reviewed by Renata Leão, Executive Creative Director, Droga5, São Paulo
Each week Bestadsontv.com [the global arm of Campaign Brief] picks the very best advertising in the world, in every medium – which is reviewed by a top creative director or team to select their own personal favourites.
This week’s guest judge is Renata Leão, Executive Creative Director, Droga5, São Paulo.
Winner: Road Safety Authority ‘Take 2‘. I love how simple this is. The film-set device gives a familiar road-safety message a fresh structure: you can reset a scene, but you can’t reset a crash. “Take 2” then becomes a memorable trigger to look right, left and right again. It gives drivers a behavior they can actually remember, and because it comes directly from collision data, the simplicity feels earned. Shocking, but memorable.
Runner-up: Stella Artois / Netflix ‘The Auction‘. What I like is the confidence of the partnership. Rather than simply putting Stella inside The Gentlemen, serving a beer becomes a ritual, performance, and power move. The five-step pour gives Stella something ownable, while the Guy Ritchie universe gives it attitude and entertainment. It understands the difference between product placement and cultural placement. Stella Artois has been doing this to perfection.
Winner: TAFE SA ‘Get Dad the Skills He Needs‘. I love how this turns a Father’s Day cliche into a useful gift. We’ve all given Dad another tool when the problem was never the equipment. It was the skills. The DIY disasters make that truth funny, then land the idea perfectly: instead of more stuff, give Dad the ability to use what he already has. Simple, human and perfectly relevant to TAFE SA. Concept-wise, it’s spot on.
Runner-up: Nedbank ‘Pet Savings‘. This finds a great human truth inside a financial problem. Everyone knows pets disappear when they sense a trip to the vet, so showing owners hiding from vet bills is funny and instantly clear. The straight-faced photography makes it even better: ridiculous situations, genuinely worried expressions. A simple visual metaphor you understand before reading the copy. It makes me chuckle.
Winner: IKEA ‘The Swedish Test‘. IKEA has accidentally taught the world Swedish through product names for decades, so I love turning that brand quirk into a game. “The Swedish Test” takes something people already joke about and invites them to prove they can pronounce IKEA. It feels particularly right for TikTok, turning the catalogue into entertainment and, basically, a Swedish language lesson. Too bad this campaign didn’t run in Brazil. It would have made Brazilians want to learn Swedish.
Runner-up: Spotify ‘Playlist It‘. I love taking something personal, the playlist, and putting it into the public space of the city. For Gen Z, music is a way of saying who you are. Real fan-created playlists in reactive outdoor placements make the medium feel like an extension of Spotify itself. These aren’t generic billboards; they’re pieces of people’s identities meeting the street. As a brand lover, I loved this campaign.
Winner: Loto ‘LotoNI PetPasswords‘. Instead of frightening people with hackers and security warnings, LOTO starts with something embarrassingly relatable: using pets’ names as passwords. The creative leap is making the pet the protagonist, carrying the family’s cybersecurity burden. It’s funny and slightly ridiculous, making you recognise your own behaviour while turning an invisible digital vulnerability into something immediately visible. Brilliant concept.
Runner-up: Garnier ‘SKIN RESCUE – Breakout Alert‘. I like the decision not to advertise skincare to gamers, but to make skincare part of gaming. Pelicanger’s 3D-scanned face becomes a Fortnite environment and Garnier’s serum becomes the weapon. The product isn’t decoration; it’s part of the mechanics. That’s the difference between putting a brand where the audience is and giving them a reason to want it there. Hope Pelicanger didn’t feel too self-conscious knowing that gamers all over the world were aiming their weapons at his pimples.
This week’s guest judge is Renata Leão, Executive Creative Director, Droga5 SP.
Previously ECD at DAVID SP for three years, she helped take the office to Top 3 most awarded Brazilian agency at Cannes in her 1st year, and most awarded in Brazil at LIA, Andys, Clio and D&AD.
Ranked 43rd among the Top 100 Creative Executives in the World by The Drum and 22nd by Creativepool, she has also served as Film Juror at Cannes Lions.
Her work for brands like Coca-Cola, Google, Avon, Netflix and Burger King has earned over 100 awards across Cannes Lions, The One Show, Clio, D&AD, Effies and beyond.
Register for FREE HERE and receive the Campaign Brief Asia Daily Bulletin and/or the global Best Ads Best of the Week Bulletin.