The 10 most innovative companies in advertising

The persuasion industry was largely defined during the pandemic year by images of empty city streets set to the soundtrack of swelling piano music. We really were all in it together, right? That’s why this year’s crop of most innovative companies in advertising stands out, because they transcended the cliches and produced exceptional, noteworthy work that succeeded in getting attention amid a universe of distractions.

1. Goodby Silverstein & Partners

For balancing Super Bowl hits with anti-racist PSA work

In February 2020, prior to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police, the San Francisco-based agency introduced the fantastic “Not a Gun” campaign for Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, a company that leads bias training. The campaign raised awareness of the fact that Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people and asked people to sign a petition to encourage police de-escalation training. Amid the protests after the Floyd and Taylor killings, GS&P created a film, Being Black Is Not a Crime, and accompanied it with a print ad for Tulsa protesters that appeared in the oldest Black-owned newspaper, the Oklahoma Eagle. Once torn out, the ad could be used as a protest sign during the rallies in Tulsa during Trump’s visit. Courageous Conversation has experienced triple-digit growth, which founder Glenn Singleton attributes to GS&P’s work. “If you have the best creatives in the world,” says Goodby partner and chief creative officer Margaret Johnson, “it’d be a crime not to use their powers to try and make the world better.” The agency was also a founding member of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign against Facebook and all the while, the agency held its reputation as one of the strongest Super Bowl specialists with big game work for Doritos, SodaStream, Pepsi, and Cheetos.

2. Wieden+Kennedy

For pushing creative boundaries for massive brands