Q1 2025 Round-up: Some of the best ads and copywriting I saw this quarter
Picks from a copywriter's Pinterest and email inbox
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Creatives, IYKYK: a lot of your time is spent browsing others’ work for inspiration, insights to crack open, or just good old procrastination!
For me, that means reading books and Substacks, watching Netflix, going through social media, listening to music, and scrolling through Pinterest and my various newsletter subscriptions.
Since I heard that some of you liked the piece on nostalgic Filipino ads I did last year, I decided to make a regular round-up of creative work that caught my eye this Q1. Please note that these ads didn’t necessarily come out between January-March of this year, but I gathered them during this period. This compilation is a little delayed due to recent life events, but here it is!
Q1 2025 inspo round-up
“Done Rockwell” - Rockwell
I first spotted an ad from this campaign while at Power Plant Mall with my fiancé, and I immediately went, “Woah, that’s so smart!” I love when a brand name itself has some low-hanging fruit for good copy.
“Yakult. Impossible” - Rai, for Yakult, via Ads of the World
People are mostly visual creatures, and this is the age of YouTube and TikTok, not the long-form written ads like Volkswagen’s “Lemon”. That said, as a copywriter working in digital advertising, it’s rare for me to encounter ads that are in the middle ground. Copy-first, and featuring a “straight” visual with “twisted” copy.
BarkBox website - BarkBox via SEMrush
The fur-mom and fur-aunt in me felt all kinds of kilig seeing this sample from the SEMrush newsletter. The play on words in the headline, the alliteration in the subheadline? Paw-fect.
“Better Work for Women” - Indeed
I love how this series used powerful visuals to show just how incomplete 16% less really is. Especially the bites on the ice cream and burger! Great work, and I hope employers do better by women.
Ikea OOH, via Canva
Ikea’s creativity is top-notch, whether it’s heartwarming videos, humorous OOH, or insightful executions. I probably have a dozen Ikea ads (from different countries) in my Pinterest! That said, I find it especially disappointing that they have all this ad budget and appreciation of beauty…but destroy our beautiful planet for more profit (and to greenwash, too!)
“IKEA does not practice what they preach regardless of whether it is the European Union nature directives, Romanian national legislation, or the FSC forest certification standard. But as a company with revenues of billions of Euros and Romania’s largest private forest owner, [IKEA and Ingka] should be an example of best practice.” (Source)
“Duolingo Roll” - via James Carbary
While I didn’t get to catch the campaign during its run, James’ digest showed that Duolingo is on a roll with their marketing. There were even fake reviews and real science facts!
“Your Attention Please” - Novartis
It’s not a Q1 round-up without at least one Super Bowl ad! I particularly liked the insight and execution for this one. It resonates with just about everyone, whether you’re someone who can relate to all the untoward glances, someone who has done the glancing, or simply someone who cares about their loved ones’ health (because those born male can get breast cancer, too).
“Computers Can’t Cry” - Y&R, via Very Good Copy
I’ve written about my thoughts on AI a couple of times before, and this ad was comforting to read. And to think it came out in 1964! I hope this comes as a comfort to fellow creatives who may be worrying about job security in the coming decades.
What did you think of these ads and this new series? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Thanks for sharing these. As a an ex-Ad gal (WPP, Y&R, VMLY&R) I have to interject. My favorite Y&R house ad has to be "Backbone." It's a great reminder for both agency folks and clients that you need to have a backbone to run an agency. Five sentences long, written by Ray Rubicam. Check it out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdPorn/comments/pjktfn/backbone_yr_1966/