Ad Age

The top ten ad agencies are:

1. J Walter Thompson
2. Leo Burnett Worldwide
3. McCann Erickson Worldwide
4. BBDO Worldwide
5. Grey Worldwide
6. DDB Worldwide
7. Ogilvy And Mather Worldwide
8. Foote, Cone, and Belding Worldwide
9. Y&R Advertising
10. Publicis Worldwide


Advertising can make or break a product regardless on the actual quality, sensibility, or need of the product. Ads create an image in our mind that we automatically relate to the product or service when we see it off the tv. After viewing some of the advertisements created by the above companies I can definitely say that there are a couple that stick out among the rest.

The first one that caught my attention was the AIDS ad by Leo Burnett Worldwide. It's provocative, racy, and definitely not something you would expect to see on TV due to the nudity and sexualness. The point they're trying to make is that every ten seconds someone in the world dies from AIDS. So to get the message across without the use of a boring, public service announcement, they stick a bunch of people having sex in the top half of an hour glass and then every ten seconds one of them falls through and lifelessly falls to the bottom half. It keeps my attention, it's to the point, and the message stays with you after the commercial is over.

McCann Erickson Worldwide had the next ad that I liked. While flipping through their print ads I fell in love with the "Store the Impossible" ads. I've never even heard of it but the animals on the ads are so freaking cute that it makes me want to find out more about the ad. The picture is of a huge, oddly shaped mouse and inside the mouse you can see an elephant. The other ads include a frog with a hippo inside and a squid with a whale inside. I thought the idea of the pray eating or "storing" their extra-large enemies/predators was a creative and fun way to advertise a boring subject.

I was so excited when I opened Grey Worldwide's webpage and saw one of my favorite Captain Morgan's commercial. This was cool because I've actually seen some of their work on TV. The commercial is about 3 guys that go to a bar. As soon as they get there one of the guys' wife calls and hears the background noise and starts fussing because he was supposed to go to her sister's wedding. The entire bar becomes quiet as he tells his wife he's at home watching TV, then the other customers begin making voices that sound like commercials. It's priceless.

--Abbey Griffin
8/27/08