Choosing the best ads of 2025 wasn’t about polish or perfection. It was about survival. This was the year of wildfires and whiplash, mergers and mass layoffs, Trump headlines on a loop, then more Trump, then smoke in the sky again. The industry didn’t just feel unstable. It felt exhausted. And when reality gets that heavy, people don’t want more realism. They want relief.
That’s where advertising stepped in. Loud. Musical. Surreal. Occasionally unhinged. No, Marjorie Taylor Greene wasn’t the Creative Director. Brands understood the assignment. We needed escape. We needed humor. We needed something that wasn’t another reminder that everything was on fire, literally or metaphorically.
Wieden and Kennedy’s Netflix “You’re Not Ready For This” leaned fully into spectacle. The Martin Agency turned Cinnamon Toast Crunch into a slasher parody with “Cereal Killer,” because of course they did. Musicality made a fullcomeback. Apple danced. Jordan Brand sang. Sabrina Carpenter did what she does best, selling with a wink, a shimmy, and just enough filth to make it memorable. Doritos went full absurdist with a woman wrestling a rogue hand in her couch for a bag of chips, a moment so strange and committed it felt like advertising therapy.
In a year where the news cycle felt relentless, and reality refused to cooperate, the best ads didn’t try to fix the mood. They sidestepped it. They leaned into joy, chaos, nostalgia, and nonsense. And honestly, we needed every second of it.
So here it is. Reel 360’s Best Ads of 2025. The campaigns that made us laugh, dance, sing, stare, and briefly forget what year it was.
Reel 360 News Top Spots of 2025
15. Ela Road Films wins Gather Contest with Maison Huis juicer spot
Ela Road Films took home the top prize from the Gather Contest, a global cinematic competition sponsored by Ohhh! Contest and MBY x Maison Huis, with a spot that’s as colorful as it is heartfelt.
The 35-second film, titled Lemons, delivers a playful twist on the adage “when life gives you lemons.” In the story, a little girl struggles to attract customers to her lemonade stand—until her parents bring out the Maison Huis cold-pressed juicer, turning her luck (and the juice) around. Once the fresh lemonade starts flowing, so do the crowds. The spot closes with a clever voiceover: “When life gives you lemons, juice them.”
14. KATSEYE stars in Gap fall campaign for low rise denim
Gap leaned into nostalgia and new energy with the launch of its Fall 2025 campaign, Better in Denim, fronted by global girl group KATSEYE. Set to Kelis’ early-2000s anthem Milkshake, the campaign revives the low-rise jean and reintroduces Gap’s iconic Long & Lean silhouette, while celebrating individuality through music, dance, and style.
Directed by Bethany Vargas and shot by Bjorn Iooss, the high-energy film features choreography by Robbie Blue, blending Fosse technique, ballet, hip-hop and jazz funk. The six members of KATSEYE, one of the fastest-rising acts in global pop, perform in head-to-toe denim, styled to highlight their diverse backgrounds and individual voices.
13. Pedro Pascal dances through heartache in Apple’s AirPods 4 ad, Directed by Spike Jonze
Apple didn’t just launch the AirPods 4; they made a statement. Apple teamed up with director Spike Jonze (Her, Being John Malkovich) and fan-favorite Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, Fantastic Four: Next Steps) to create Someday, a cinematic flex that turns Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) into an emotional, visual, and musical experience.
In the film, Pascal seeks solace in music after a breakup. As he walks forlornly through the world, Pascal uses the device’s Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to brighten up his world, which visually transforms throughout the film. The bleak winter scene is infused with life, and Pascal is suddenly moved to dance, bringing everyone else along for the ride. TBWA\Media Arts Lab created the dreamlike spot.
12. Sabrina Carpenter likes to leave it in… for Redken
Pop powerhouse Sabrina Carpenter kept her winning streak alive, this time, on the beauty front. The singer-actress, fresh off back-to-back hits with Manchild and Tears, stars in Redken’s new “Leave It In” campaign for their Acidic Bonding Concentrate (A.B.C.) Leave-In Treatment, a product designed to protect, strengthen, and smooth hair while repairing damage at the bond level.
The whimsical spot plays right into Carpenter’s self-aware charm. It opens in a luxe hotel room as Sabrina stretches for her Redken Leave-In perched on a mountain of luggage. When the pile topples over, she’s transported into a dreamlike Broadway fantasy, complete with singing bellhops, top hats, and a saxophonist dressed as, yes, a giant bottle of conditioner. Between the choreography and the chaos, Sabrina delivers her signature wink to the camera: “The longer you leave it in, the better it feels.”
It’s camp, comedy, and killer hair rolled into one, the perfect fit for an artist whose mix of boldness and humor has defined her current pop era.
11. Old Spice goes full swashbuckler in hilarious ad
Old Spice has once again raised the bar for absurdly entertaining advertising, this time setting sail on the high seas for a campaign that’s as fresh as its legendary scent.
Created by independent Spanish agency Burns, the “Unbelievably Long-Lasting, It Can Only Be Old Spice” campaign takes a playful jab at deodorants that fail to live up to their promises. And what better way to prove Old Spice’s new, longer-lasting formula than by putting it to the ultimate test—aboard a filthy, foul-smelling pirate ship?
Directed by Martín Jalfen through production company ROMA, the new blockbuster-style commercial introduces viewers to a band of scurvy-ridden, odor-challenged pirates, where fish guts, unwashed feet, and a general lack of hygiene reign supreme. In this stinky seafaring society, smelling fresh is downright suspicious, and when one particularly pleasant-smelling crew member is sniffed out, the pirates immediately brand him an intruder. His crime? Smelling too damn good for too damn long.
10. Martin comes up with killer idea for Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Move over, Making a Murderer. Step aside, Serial. There’s a new true crime obsession, and it’s crunchy, swirly, and sprinkled with Cinnadust. In what might be the most gloriously unhinged breakfast campaign of the year, Cinnamon Toast Crunch has launched Must Cinnadust, a full-blown true-crime-inspired universe where the cereal squares aren’t just delicious, they’re dangerous.
Think Dateline meets Dexter, but with animated cereal. Yes, really.
Developed by The Martin Agency and Passion Productions, the creative is a visual and tonal leap for the brand. The campaign premiered on June 16, unfolding via :30s, :15s, and six-second social “episodes,” all drenched in dramatic lighting, monologue-heavy voiceovers, and slow-motion scenes that scream cinnamon noir.
9. Dove’s “Change the Compliment” earns highest System1 score
Dove’s latest campaign, “Change the Compliment,” proved that authenticity and emotional storytelling still drive results. The global campaign, created by Zulu Alpha Kilo and directed by Haya Waseem, has earned the highest possible creative effectiveness score from System1, just weeks after launching for International Day of the Girl.
System1, the leading creative effectiveness platform, tested the spot with its Test Your Ad system and awarded it 5.9 stars out of 5.9, placing it at the very top of System1’s global effectiveness scale.
The “Change the Compliment” campaign builds on Dove’s legacy of challenging beauty norms, urging parents and role models to praise girls for who they are, not just how they look. The film itself blends found footage and candid moments of real girls, emphasizing the universal experience of appearance-based praise and its unintended consequences.
8. Beyoncé and Levi’s reinvent denim in “Pool Hall” Campaign
New Billionaire, Beyoncé came back with another jaw-dropping collaboration with Levi’s, this time taking over a pool hall in the latest installment of the REIIMAGINE campaign. Following the success of the “Launderette” spot, which reimagined a classic Levi’s ad, “Pool Hall” brought an edgy, modern twist to the brand’s legacy with a denim-on-denim showdown featuring none other than Justified star Timothy Olyphant.
Directed by Grammy-winning filmmaker Melina Matsoukas, “Chapter Two” in the campaign blends nostalgia with reinvention, showcasing Levi’s as both timeless and effortlessly cool. Beyoncé exudes confidence as she takes on Olyphant in a high-stakes game of pool, proving that denim isn’t just fashion; it’s an attitude.
7. Six Flags puts a stake in Halloween with terrifying short
This year, the amusement park giant returned with an even bigger, bolder, and scarier film that showcases Halloween attractions at participating parks. It is less an ad and more a short horror movie, nearly eight minutes, created by horror aficionados for guests who love their scares.
Titled Come Out and Play, the film leaned into the arthouse side of the genre, with a steady mood of dread, hair-raising sound design, and a shadowy threat named Smiley. He is searching for a friendly face, in a manner of speaking. The intention is simple: to make viewers feel the fear they will experience at Six Flags this Halloween.
6. EA unites fans in global rally cry for Battlefield REDSEC
Electronic Arts (EA) and Mother Los Angeles joined forces once again for the launch of Battlefield REDSEC, the first-ever free-to-play entry in the iconic Battlefield franchise.
The new global campaign served as both a rally cry and tribute to fans who have shaped Battlefield’s legacy for over two decades. The live-action film captures players across the world, from offices and construction sites to classrooms and cafés, who instantly drop everything the moment they hear the unmistakable Battlefield theme. What follows is a cinematic cascade of fans mobilizing, connecting, and diving into the game’s new free-to-play arenas.
5. Glad and Oscar the Grouch drop trash-filled musical collab
Glad dropped the most unexpected and delightful collaboration of the holiday season. The nation’s leading trash bag brand teamed up with the one creature on Earth who truly loves garbage. Oscar the Grouch steps out of his can and onto center stage for a whole musical number that revives Glad’s classic “Don’t Get Mad. Get Glad.” campaign.
And yes, it absolutely slapped.
The ninety-second branded film, created by FCB (now TBWA) and directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, reimagines Oscar’s iconic song I Love Trash as a Broadway-style ensemble piece. We open on familiar territory. Oscar is grouchy. People are annoyed by trash. Nothing new there. But the world suddenly transforms into a joyful chorus where everyone embraces trash as passionately as Oscar does, all while Glad products save the day from rips, leaks and bad smells.
4. A Woman. A disembodied Hand in a Couch. Doritos. FIGHT!
Ela Road Films, LLC earned its first Silver Telly Award at the 46th Annual Telly Awards for the Doritos “Go Bold” campaign, recognized in the Online Commercial: Campaign Branding category. Created for Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl platform, the campaign stood shoulder to shoulder with work from brands and studios like Pixar, ESPN, NASA, and MTV Entertainment Studios.
The Couch Doritos spot starred indie Horror Scream Queen, Rachel Amanda Bryant, locked in a ridiculous, escalating battle with a disembodied hand hiding in her couch, both fighting for a single bag of Doritos. While it did not ultimately air during the game, its central idea mirrored the winning Super Bowl ad’s premise, which featured a man battling an alien over Doritos with the same exaggerated, no-holds-barred intensity.
TIE. Bradley Cooper takes on football’s tasty conspiracy for Uber Eats
Uber Eats came back with another deliciously unhinged chapter of its “Football Is for Food” campaign. Bradley “Go Birds” Cooper became the conspiracy theorist America didn’t know it needed.
Created by Special US, the new multi-channel push doubles down on the long-running joke that football might have been created solely to sell food. And honestly… after watching these, you can’t help but wonder. Cooper corners Cowboys legend Troy Aikman, grilling him about Dallas’ suspiciously food-centric roster. CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, T.J. Bass, it’s basically a pregame charcuterie board. Aikman plays it cool. Cooper? Absolutely not.
TIE. Matthew McConaughey uncovers NFL food conspiracy for Uber Eats
For its fifth consecutive Super Bowl appearance, Uber Eats served up a wild conspiracy theory courtesy of Matthew McConaughey, one that suggests football was actually invented to sell food.
In the spot, McConaughey embarks on a surreal time-traveling journey, reimagining key moments in football history through a food-focused lens. The story kicks off in 1876 with the naming of the pigskin, then leaps through time to suggest that Buffalo (wings) earned a team for obvious reasons, players should be named after kitchen appliances, Peyton Manning’s Omaha calls were really about steaks, and this year’s Big Game venue, Caesars Superdome, was clearly inspired by a salad.
2. Netflix claims “We’re not ready” for what’s next
There are spots we like. Spots we love, and then there was the creative Netflix delivered. Mind blown. We weren’t ready!
Netflix’s latest brand campaign isn’t just teasing what’s next; it’s pulling audiences straight into the action. The streaming giant’s newest film, You’re Not Ready, is a high-energy, three-minute thrill ride through its 2025 lineup.
More than just a sizzle reel, the spot, directed by Megaforce in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy Portland, blended iconic Netflix titles into one cinematic journey that mirrors the excitement of diving into a great story.
1.The NFL Helps Kids Realize They Are Somebody
What a remarkable spot this was, especially in the context of our current climate. Created by 72andSunny, Demario Davis, Arik Armstead, and Adam Thielen teamed up with kids across New Orleans, not just to play, but to pave the way. It was more than just football—it highlighted the NFL’s ongoing commitment to uplifting the next generation and creating a real impact beyond the game.
There was no shortage of work that made us laugh, think, and occasionally get a little misty-eyed. If we could, we would have turned this into a three-part series. Narrowing it down was brutal, but a few standouts deserve a proper shout.
Honorable mentions go to Wieden and Kennedy’s Jordan Brand musical, which swung big and stuck the landing. John Travolta dusted off Greased Lightning as Santa for Capital One and somehow made nostalgia feel fresh again. Gaming showed up in force with bold campaigns for Call of Duty, Diablo IV, and Borderlands, while Apple delivered a genuinely moving musical centered on accessibility.
Add in Margaret Qualley and A$AP Rocky bringing effortless cool to Chanel, Sheraton’s unexpectedly soothing Good Night Room, Garage Beer teaming Jason Kelce with the Predator, and a long list of others that could easily live here, and you get a clear picture of just how strong and wildly varied advertising was this year.
See you in 2026!
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360 News. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on LinkedIn.
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