Seen and noted

BEST TV
Favourite - Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare: Discover Your Power. Sorry folks, but it has to be COD. This is easily the most fun, action-packed and generally 'seat of your pants' film I have seen this week. Being a huge COD fan who spends way too long playing the games in this franchise, I am quite simply a sucker for this. The communication is well-executed and perfectly pitched. I wish I had shot it!

Runner-up - John Lewis: Monty the Penguin. In terms of a runner up, it has to be John Lewis and it's a very close second. In the UK, John Lewis is the iconic Christmas advert that people talk about and it's masterful the way the brand and its agency adam&eveDDB has managed to pretty much 'own Christmas' in the eyes of the media and general public. Coming up with another film that resonates must have been a difficult task. Yet the casting and the music track are just perfect. Call me a sucker for sentimentality, but I have to admit I kinda welled up a little. Hats off to the team. As an aside a friend told me they have been in a John Lewis store today and the penguin display was surrounded by people. The penguin toys have already sold out and are changing hands online for double the price. Job done!

BEST PRINT
Favourite - Lego: Homerine. Homer as Wolverine? What's not to love! This ad resonates with me as I really liked the recent Lego film and have been amazed by the brand's ability to reinvent itself. I remember only having Lego space men to play with - now the kids have Homerine! This is very effective print work that makes you think and also nostalgically remember happy times.

Runner-up - AADC AWARDS: Baby. This is a great ad full stop but the fact I've just had a baby probably makes it even stronger for me. Who knows? Maybe it is my subconscious that's giving out these awards. Either way, it's simple and strong.

BEST OUTDOOR
Favourite - Pepsi Max: Monster Mirror. This really worked for me. Someone I know very, very well, who never ever pays much attention to advertising (out of spite for me I think) showed this ad to me and discussed it at some length on our sofa. The only slightly negative criticism they made was that it was not scary enough!

Runner-up - IKEA: Early Christmas Sale #1. This tells me everything I need to know and makes me smile at the same time. Perfect.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Favourite - Honda Civic Type R: The Other Side. It's made by a competitor, so it's difficult for me to like this so much - but I do. A friend of mine is a creative on this campaign, which makes it slightly easier and I am very jealous we did not make it. This has been shared by everyone in the office and has been a huge hit. It's the best work in this area in a long time and the perfect synergy between film and online. Great, great work!!

Runner-up - Child Helpline International: Free Our Voices. I see a lot of interactive and online content every day of the week at B-Reel - but this still really caught my eye and was very engaging. The use of mobile phones was very cleverly executed and the casting was interesting. I wish this campaign every success and it's for an extremely worthwhile cause.




This week's bestads judge is Alex Grossman, executive producer and head of sales at B-Reel, London.

Alex has recently joined B-Reel after working for four years at the award winning production house Rogue Films. Alex has worked with some fantastic directing talent including Sam Brown, Paul W.S Anderson and Kevin Macdonald. Before Rogue, Alex worked at production houses such as Homecorp, The Mob and Therapy Films and in his career he has helped create ads for leading brands such as Guinness, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Adidas, Nike and Land Rover. He currently lives happily in London with his partner and new baby.