The Creatives Room

Food & Drink Ads

Food and drink advertising has the luxury of starting from a product that people already love - and the challenge of making them love a particular brand of it more than all the others. The best campaigns in this category don't describe the food; they evoke the experience of it. The warmth of a Sunday morning with a cup of something hot. The anticipation before a meal with people you love. The particular satisfaction of the first sip of something cold on a hot day. These are the feelings that food and drink advertising has to carry, and the best work carries them without sentimentality.

The campaigns in this collection

  1. Ravenous - Profile · Jack Smyth · 2024

    Cover for Henry Dimbleby's Ravenous. The Earth as a half-eaten doughnut lands the argument instantly - our hunger consuming the planet, junk food and ecology bound together.

  2. Steak - Quadrille · Luke Bird · 2025

    Cover for Tim Hayward's Steak. The glistening cut of raw meat, shown in full detail, puts the subject front and centre - an unabashed, mouth-watering celebration of beef.

  3. Sylvia Plath’s Tomato Soup Cake - Faber · Henry Petrides · 2025

    Cover for an anthology of writers' recipes. The soup-can cake nods both to Plath's actual recipe and to pop-art kitsch - a witty mash-up of literature and cookery.

  4. Animal Sanctuary - Thomas Beck Stvan · 2009

    Cover for Gene Baur's Animal Sanctuary. The devotional, illuminated ornament reframes farm animals as subjects worthy of reverence, matching the book's argument for compassion and a plant-based ethic.

  5. Milk - Knopf · Barbara deWilde · 2011

    Cover for Anne Mendelson's Milk. The single luminous bottle glowing out of black elevates an everyday staple to the star of the show - our "first food" given reverent, timeless treatment.

  6. Epic Cuts - Dalstrong

    Dalstrong hands its knives to chef Brian Dunsmoor and simply films the cutting. The insight: a blade is best argued for by the quality of the cut it makes, not by spec claims, so slow motion turns ordinary prep into a sustained visual trance where the edge passing through food is the entire demonstr

  7. Christmas - Clas Ohlson

    A Christmas film for Clas Ohlson: a hapless, half-collapsed gingerbread man plays for warm humour - the Scandinavian home-and-hardware brand as the fixer that saves the festive day.

  8. CFT (2019) - CFT · 2019

    A film for CFT: an apron-clad worker at a floured surface foregrounds hands-on craft and food production - the human process behind the brand's output.

  9. Vegetables That Inspire You - DIA

    "Vegetables That Inspire You" for DIA: a home cook among fresh produce in a vivid green kitchen pitches the supermarket's vegetables as sparking everyday culinary creativity.

  10. Hawaiian Double Burger - KFC

    KFC "Hawaiian Double Burger". A product spot launching KFC's Hawaiian Double burger.

  11. Refresh Your Galaxy - Coca-Cola

    "Refresh Your Galaxy" for Coca-Cola: a red-lit Darth Vader helmet signals a Star Wars tie-in - fusing the franchise's universe with Coke's promise of refreshment.

  12. Mr. Double Checker - Coca-Cola · 2018

    "Mr. Double Checker" for Coca-Cola: a comic-book-styled hero character fronts a playful campaign, using superhero framing to dramatise a Coke promotion or product claim.

  13. Monkey Chess - ESTATHE · CD'I · 2017

    Estathe "Monkey Chess". A playful, offbeat spot using a monkey-chess gag to give the iced-tea brand quirky charm.

  14. Mini Games - Cinnabon · 2019

    "Mini Games" for Cinnabon: a tongue-in-cheek Olympics-style set-up of tracksuited contestants plays on the launch of the bite-sized Cinnabon Minis.

  15. Kahk Konafa - Amir El Domiaty · 2021

    A festive family spot for the Egyptian sweets kahk and konafa: three generations together at home ties the traditional treats to holiday togetherness and celebration.

  16. The Student - Madrange · 2020

    Part of Madrange's 'Stars of Everyday Life' saga, 'The Student' follows a young woman returning home to her father for the holidays, finding that while some things change, the comfort of their shared ham-and-pasta meal endures. The emotional, everyday-life story, directed by Philippe Locquet through

  17. This Is Our Norrland - Norrmejerier · 2019

    Norrmejerier reframed milk purchasing from a commodity choice into an act of regional preservation and northern pride. Competing against national dairy giants with larger distribution networks, the regional cooperative needed to give local consumers a clear reason to choose regional products over ch

  18. Weekend, Beef - Meny · Kitchen · 2021

    Handheld interior of a supermarket butcher counter: a gloved arm reaches across a glass-fronted chilled display packed with raw cuts - rack of lamb, bacon-wrapped parcels, tomato-topped rolls, marbled steaks and cured meats on dark trays. Warm tungsten light over green-tiled walls, staff in white sh

  19. Exotic - Boromir · Propaganda · 2020

    Macro, high-speed food shot: cubes of ripe mango suspended mid-air as golden juice splashes and droplets scatter against a warm orange backdrop. Glossy, saturated oranges and yellows with crisp specular highlights, appetising and tactile. A small black rf logo sits at the right. Studio lighting with

  20. Bike Ride - Clif Bar · Callen · 2019

    Directed by Andreas Nilsson for the Make It Good campaign, the film brings Clif Bar's logo climber to life as a cheerful cyclist who pedals through handmade forests and fields to the brand's own factory, doing good along the way. The craft-built miniature world dramatises Clif's mission-driven, sust

  21. It's Finger Lickin' Beautiful - KFC · 2025

    KFC's finger-lickin' platform celebrates the intimate, unselfconscious pleasure of eating fried chicken. Rather than glossy product shots, the film lingers in tight close-up on a real person surrendering to the taste and texture, reframing the messy ritual of eating and licking fingers as something

  22. Big Mac SOS - McDonald's · 2018

    Naturalistic restaurant interior with soft daylight. A young man in a grey sweatshirt bites into a burger, eyes closed, shot in tight close-up with shallow focus that blurs the McDonald's menu boards and seated diners behind him. Muted greys and browns are lifted by warm red and yellow accents from

  23. Al Wadi-I am strength - Al Wadi · Prodigious Worldwide · 2019

    "I Am Strength" for Al Wadi: fresh peppers and ingredients shot in glistening slow-motion tie the food brand to vitality and nourishment - eating well as a source of strength.

  24. Our Way - Nescafé · 2024

    Nescafe "Our Way". Nescafe frames coffee as part of shared, everyday rituals.

Why this collection is worth studying

Food advertising is one of the categories where brand personality matters most, because the rational product difference is usually small. What makes someone reach for one brand over another in a supermarket aisle is almost entirely emotional - a feeling accumulated over years of advertising. The brands that invest consistently in that feeling are the ones with the deepest loyalty and the most pricing power.

See also

Best Food & Drink Ad Campaigns - The Creatives Room