Campaign Annual 2007: Top 10 TV and Cinema Ads

OK, we'll admit it, perhaps a 90-second shot of a gorilla banging the drums to Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight has a tenuous connection with chocolate at best. Who cares? The public didn't, and loved it in their droves, proving that sometimes a truly creative idea just works.

Writer/art director: Juan Cabral Director: Juan Cabral, Blink

2. PG TIPS 'THE RETURN'

Mother pulled off a comeback of hilarious proportions in reuniting Al and Monkey in its first campaign for PG Tips. It was perfect casting - the pair are funnier now than they were when they flogged ITV Digital way back when.

Writer/art director: Mother

Director: Danny Kleinman, Rattling Stick

3. SONY BRAVIA 'PLAY-DOH'

After the ever-so-slight disappointment that was "paint", Fallon's third "colour like no other" spot for Sony Bravia is a triumphant return to the form of "balls". Hundreds of coloured bunnies jumping around New York to the tune of the Rolling Stones' She's A Rainbow is about as good as it gets. What will the agency's mercurial creative director, Juan Cabral, come up with to trump this?

Writer/art director: Juan Cabral

Director: Frank Budgen, Gorgeous

4. SKODA 'BAKING FABIA'

Easily the oddest car ad in living memory, Fallon's "baking Fabia" did just that - employed a team of bakers to make a full-sized model of the car out of cake. Dementedly brilliant and testament to an agency that's creatively on fire, and a client not afraid to buy edgy work. And the viewers loved it, too.

Writers/art directors: Chris Bovill, John Allison

Director: Chris Palmer, Gorgeous

5. BRYLCREEM 'EFFORTLESS'

WCRS's man-gets-dressed-with-minimal-effort spot for Brylcreem was a nice slice of understated wit. The lengths to which the director Fredrik Bond went in order to film the morning routine were in inverse proportion to the apparent effortlessness on screen.

Writers/art directors: Oli Beale, Tori Flower

Director: Fredrik Bond, Sonny London

6. VOLKSWAGEN 'NIGHT DRIVE'

In these days of carbon footprint reduction and global warming, it's a brave car maker that exhorts the pleasures of driving for the hell of it. DDB London pulled it off in this spot for the VW Golf, though, no doubt in part a result of the well-placed Richard Burton voiceover.

Writers/art directors: Sam Oliver, Shishir Patel

Director: Noam Murro; Independent, Biscuit Filmworks

7. LEVI'S 'DANGEROUS LIAISON'

Close to a century of jeans styles get an airing in Bartle Bogle Hegarty's clothes-changing spot for Levi's. Fast, fun and sexy, it's bang on brand and shows what long-standing agency-client relationships can bring to brand advertising.

Writers/art directors: Dean Wei, Steve Wakelam

Director: Ringan Ledwidge, Rattling Stick

8. HEINZ SALAD CREAM 'POURABLE SUNSHINE'

An ad as warm as the mythical British summer day it's set in, McCann Erickson's spot for that most British of condiments, Heinz Salad Cream, brought a minute or so of sunshine to a dismal July. Great use of different film stocks and a brilliant soundtrack from an old episode of Sesame Street.

Writers/art directors: Neil Clarke, Jay Phillips

Director: Vince Squibb, Gorgeous

9. SMIRNOFF 'SEA'

A CGI tour de force from JWT that aims to show what Smirnoff's purification process would do for the oceans, were it applied on a massive scale. The sea begins to spit out everything that's ever been thrown, or has sunk, in it, starting with coins and ending with battleships.

Writer: Adam Griffin

Art director: Rob Spicer

Director: Danny Kleinman, Rattling Stick

10. SONY WALKMAN

We started this list with Fallon, we middled with Fallon, we've ended with Fallon. In the Walkman ad, an orchestra gathers to play a piece of music, but each performer plays only one note. It underlines the idea of professionalism, quality and craftsmanship.

Writers/art directors: Samuel Akesson, Tomas Mankovsky

Director: Nick Gordon, Academy.

This article was first published on Campaign