WATCH: THE TOP 5 CREATIVE BRAND IDEAS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW

Ad Age’s Creativity Editor Ann-Christine Diaz and Creativity Associate Editors Alexandra Jardine and I-Hsien Sherwood talk about the bright creative spots of the week, including one brand’s soap opera saga, a new way to approach therapy, and a stunt to make your heart explode.

5. HellloFresh: Hungry Hearts
Agency: Taxi

These days, our arms are wide open to content that takes us away from the chaos of the real world. Enter this campaign from Taxi for meal delivery kit company HelloFresh. The serialized campaign brings soap opera melodrama to deciding what’s for dinner with the help of actress Annie Murphy from “Schitt’s Creek,” who plays an angsty socialite who can barely keep it together when it comes to putting something on a plate.

4. Hotels.com: Under a Rock Getaway
Agency: ICF Next

We’ve become quite fond of how Hotels.com has been holding our hand through the pandemic, with mascot Captain Obvious helping us to do things like “remember places” and offering to marry quarantiners whose nuptials had been put on hold. But now, with the election looming, the brand is offering us a bit of respite from mayhem of another sort. In this contest, the lodging platform is offering a lucky consumer the chance to literally live “under a rock” during Election Week. Basically, it’s a man-made cave 50 feet underground in New Mexico, and it’s available for a five-night stay from Nov. 2-7 at the “presidential rate” of five bucks a night. For those unable to book, Hotels.com is also offering discount rates to hotels with the word “rock” in their names.

3. Samsung: Pour Laundry
Agency: Taylor Herring

Dior. Calvin Klein. Chanel. Samsung. The electronics giant dares to step into the world of the fashion giants in this comedic campaign from Taylor Herring starring U.K. gymnast Max Whitlock. To promote its new ecobubble washing machine, Samsung puts Whitlock in the sort of ridiculous scenarios that have come to define perfume and fashion ads, but here, he’s shilling something a bit more mundane. The agency said it was inspired largely by Brad Pitt’s head-scratching ads for Chanel. As part of the campaign, Samsung also created a new scent that comes in a washing machine-shaped bottle. Not surprisingly, it smells like fresh laundry.

2. Skillshot/Rise Above the Disorder: Gamer Therapy
Agency: The Community New York

This coming Saturday, October 10, is World Mental Health Day and this campaign from The Community New York approaches the issue in a really intriguing way, for esports company Skillshot and mental health organization Rise Above the Disorder. While video games have suffered the stigma of being a pastime that glamorizes violence, for many gamers, they’re an outlet for their stresses, a means to decompress and even develop meaningful connections with others. This effort takes that idea one step further and invites players to partake in actual therapy sessions while they’re playing an actual game. The initiative invites gamers to sign up for sessions, during which they’ll be matched up with therapists they can play with while they open up about what’s been bogging them down in the real world. The campaign also includes psychoeducation sessions for content creators that will be streamed on Twitch.

1. Ocean Spray: 420dogface208 Cranberry Truck Surprise
Agency: Jonesworks

Idaho resident Nathan Apodaca, aka 420dogface208 on TikTok, won internets hearts with his super-laid-back video showing him riding on his longboard while taking swigs of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” The video has racked up more than 30 million views to date and sent the classic hit back on the Billboard charts. It also helped earn Ocean Spray plenty of buzz, too, especially when the drink brand made most of the viral moment and surprised Apodaca with his very own cranberry-colored truck, filled with bottles of the beverage. TikTok eventually jumped on the moment as well, with a new spot that cut together Apodaca’s video with those of his copycat fans, including Mick Fleetwood.

That’s it for the Top 5. Make sure to check out more of the best in brand creativity at Adage.com/Creativity.