And the Winner of the Emmy for Best Commercial Is….

Despite my fondness for commercials, I was not aware until yesterday that there is an Emmy award for the best commercial.

So of course, I had to check them out.

Here were the five finalists (two featuring Apple products):

Behind The Mac – Make Something Wonderful – Macbook: Behind the Mac, people with passion are changing the world for the better.

A Great Day In Hollywood – Netflix. A Great Day in Hollywood is inspired by “A Great Day in Harlem” – A moment that captured the spirit of New York City, the center of the jazz world, in 1958 at a time that was considered the “golden age of jazz.” Netflix is bringing that feeling back with a Great Day in Hollywood, representing a moment in time within Hollywood where Black people are getting more opportunities across the industry. A true coming out celebration.

Dream Crazy – Nike: The “Dream Crazy” campaign’s two-minute anthem film, which stars Colin Kaepernick and a host of other athletes, builds on the controversial tweet from the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback that read, “Believe in something. Even if it means losing everything.”

Shot On iPhone XS – Don’t Mess With Mother – iPhone: Earth. Shot on iPhone by Camp4 Collective, featuring stunning images of nature from around the world. Don’t mess with Mother.

Point Of View – Sandy Hook Promise: It’s class election day at this high school and everyone has a point of view. Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) is a national nonprofit organization based in Newtown, Connecticut. SHP is led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.  SHP’s mission is to prevent gun violence and other forms of violence and victimization BEFORE they can happen.  SHP is a moderate, above-the-politics organization that supports sensible program and policy solutions that address the “human side” of gun violence by preventing individuals from ever getting to the point of picking up a firearm to hurt themselves or others. Our words, actions, and impact nationwide are intended to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation.

And the winner is…

Dream Crazy by Nike.

As it turns out, for some odd reason, it was also the only one of the five ads I’ve actually seen before reading about their selection as a finalist.

But after watching all of them, I have to agree with the Television Academy.

While I thought they were all great commercials, I found the Nike ad to be the most effective, followed closely by the Point of View – Sandy Hook ad.

As I’ve stated before, I think commercials require a special skillset to produce a high-quality film that gets your message across in a very short time period.

All of these commercials do that, so kudos to them.

Perhaps what excites me most about this post is simply having learned about this award. I plan to go back and look at the prior years to see if there are any great commercials I’ve missed. If so, you can bet they will show up in this blog. 🙂